Latest 6 Reviews Here is what people are saying about the Built to Last Rev: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins, ISBN 0060566108
"One of the Best Business Books"
2009-09-26
- Reviewed By User: A2XQMGE2YY88DC
There are some sections of the bookstore that don't really offer books per se but just a one-page powerpoint presentation of a trendy idea stretched far too thinly into a manuscript: the health section with all its diet fads, the lifestyle section with all its pretentious spirituality, and the business section with all its lame management-speak. "Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies" by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras is really only just a business book but for the banal business genre it's pretty good.
For one thing "Built to Last" actually says interesting things. Its main argument is that companies that are "built to last" are so because they have some core principles that they follow religiously and which constitute their identity and their long-term vision, and outside these principles they're dynamic and flexible. The authors point out that these habits are also indicative of successful NGOs, social/civic organizations, and government agencies -- I would even go further and point out that these habits are also indicative of a successful individual and a successful society.
Business executives who buy this book will discover two major flaws with it. First, the book's ideas and principles are good and sound but almost impossible to implement. The problem with being the best is that you have to be, by definition, better than everyone else. Second, there are no concrete suggestions in the book. "Preserve the Core/Stimulate Progress" and "Clock Building, Not Time Telling" may all be good and key but how do you implement them in an organization? More useful to read Machiavelli or watch "The Godfather."
What the book ultimately fails to mention is that great organizations cannot be engineered or created. Read Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point" -- another great and perfectly useless business book -- and you realize that for a phenomenon to have impact different individuals have to play different roles at different times. Perhaps a bookstore's business section suffers from ignoring a fundamental principle behind a business's section: that it makes good people who are fortunate to have good ideas that are also right for the times. But that's neither marketable nor worth mentioning, and so business writers must resort to either glibness or in the case of "Built to Last" lofty but impractical management-speak.
"Good Stuff and True Stuff"
2009-07-23
- Reviewed By User: A3Q9SVIVSDFXAV
A whelk's chance in a supernova is one who wants to succeed and does not read this book.
"How the Might Fall"
2009-07-18
- Reviewed By User: A230WXWKPTFA2W
This book is excellent and what was contained in it will be used to adress what was learned by it into as multi billion one time great International Shiiping Container Carrier that is struggling during the current economnic dowtunr as never before in its 40 year history.
The book being shared ir is being urged to be putchased and read.listened to so that all VP's an abive will be abke to discuss neasure abd implement what was contained in the book.
Dominic
"Great Analysis of Solid Businesses"
2009-05-04
- Reviewed By User: A22C06VN37SUZ7
This book is a great example of a useful business book. The authors back up all of their findings with solid data and they write it in such a way that it can be read in one sitting. Along with Good to Great, by James Collins, this book is one of the premier business books of the new century. Relevant and informative, I can't say enough good things. As a business owner, it is so refreshing to see a book that realizes the value of a stable team of executives and the importance of strong business-wide values. Please buy this book and create value with your business.
"Business Manager"
2009-04-29
- Reviewed By User: A2VQYCV2AVN8B6
This is a wonderful book. I used this book for my staff training. How people will buy into the company's philosophy is a key to grow the business as by-product.
"An Oldie but Goodie"
2009-04-22
- Reviewed By User: A7JTJOEV3F7JT
Built To Last was published more than ten years ago, and some of its examples of "enduring companies" may seem a bit out of place when you think about how the companies are doing today [Citibank being perhaps the worst example]. But the lessons are still potent, and maybe even help explain the fall form grace of companies like Citi, they lost touch with their core ideology and enduring values; they chased profits without real purpose, and it cost them their legacy.
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"One of the Best Business Books"
"How the Might Fall"