MICHAEL D.

CORTEZ
MBA 501 – ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT

BUILT TO LAST

Jim Collins and Jerry Porras tackles about visionary companies and emphasizes on
timeless management principles instead of trends and innovations. The authors discussed the
preservation of a core ideology, the Big Hairy Audacious Goals concept, owning a cult-like
culture, trying new things, refusing the idea of a “great idea” in establishing a company and the
aim for consistent innovation. The book hold on philosophy of constant innovation. Innovation
allows companies to keep products and services up to date in order to beat the competition. The
authors denounced the “great idea”. Past founders of companies did not start their companies
with established ideas. Some of them were discovered through trial and error or due to failure.

The authors define a visionary company as a premier institution in their industries, having
a good record of making a significant impact into the world. Its longevity depends on having a
great idea or having a visionary leader who can make the company prosper through the
company’s multiple product life cycles. In order to meet the demands of this changing world due
to rapid globalization and the technology, companies must prepare itself to change without
sacrificing its core ideology. Market conditions dictates the change in many business industries.
In response to this, visionary companies must over-all strategies and goals must change without
changing their sets of belief. They must ready to take risk and get ready working outside their
comfort zone.

The book acknowledges a cult-like culture within the organization. All of the employees
within the visionary company must learn to adapt and embrace the core values which includes
the common characteristic of a cult such as fervent in holding its ideology, indoctrination,
tightness of fit and elitism. The book also encourage visionary company to try everything that
they could try. To make evolutionary progress, the company must be persistent and opportunistic
when it comes to its experimentation, trial and error and accidents. Collins and Porras favors the
hiring of people within its rank rather than hire from the outside in connection to the vacancy on
high positions. Hiring the same people would mean adherence to company’s core ideology that
may result to consistent excellence. The authors define a visionary company as one who is never
satisfied with its result. They invest heavily on gaining and adapting to new ideas and
technology.

This book explain the composition of a great company and how they sustained that
greatness overtime.
MICHAEL D. CORTEZ
MBA 501 – ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT

BLINK

Blink convinces us to have greater confidence in our first instincts. It persuades us to

believe that the first two seconds of our instincts were all along correct. The author tells that a
quick decision is as good as the cautious decision. To become a great decision maker, one must
mastered the art of seeking out or filtering a very small number of important factors and ignoring
the large quantity of other seemingly-important variables. Thin-slicing can also predict how
likely it is that a medical doctor will be sued for malpractice. Gladwell adds to our understanding
just how little sensory input we need to use in making judgments and how often they are right
regardless of how they were quickly conceptualize.

The author’s plea on his book is to trust on our intuition more frequently without
prejudices. It also pin-point a good decision made on the basis of quick and subconscious
thinking is based on prior knowledge. Gladwell confuses instinct with an inability or
unwillingness to articulate in a language a complex thought pattern. The author perform a good
discussion in showing how our innate prejudices affect our decision making, and how those
prejudices can be manipulated without being conscious about it.

This book convince the reader that our naïve first impressions can be retrained to be more
reflective. How does that happen? We need to help those with whom we work to sort through
what created their impressions. Creating opportunities for the unconscious to come to awareness
is a first step.

Expert planners understand that first impressions cannot be ignored, either their own or
those of others. This does not mean that when we are outside our areas of passion and
experience, our reactions are invariably wrong. It just means that they are shallow. They are hard
to explain and easily disrupted. They aren’t grounded in real understanding.
MICHAEL D. CORTEZ
MBA 501 – ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT

GOOD TO GREAT
Jim Collins

Good to Great book tackle the eleven companies Good-to-Great companies such as
Abbot, Wells Fargo, Gillette, Philip Morris etc. The author established barometer or measures to
identify a company is good-to-great. On achieving it, one must have disciplined people. A good-
to-great leaders that will guide the company from good-to-great must have a blend of personal
humility and intense professional will.

Good to Great companies need a disciplined people in the rank of Level 5 Leaders. These
executives must ignites transformation within the company. They must possess modesty. They
do not aspire to be on the pedestal. These executives are ordinary people who produce gigantic
results quietly. The book stresses on choosing the right people who’ll drive the company towards
its greatness. Choosing the right people is very crucial in every company. The author suggests
that we must put our best people on our biggest opportunities rather than putting them on our
biggest problems. Building opportunities for the company is the only way to become great.

All good-to-great companies began the process of finding a path to greatness by

confronting the brutal facts of their current reality. One of the primary task in taking a company
from good to great is to create a culture wherein people have a tremendous opportunity to be
heard and for the truth to be likewise heard. To accomplish this task, one must lead with
questions and not answers. They must engage in dialogue and debate, not coercion. Good to
great leaders must take an honest look at decision its company takes, rather than blaming for the
outcome of their decisions. It’s important to note that a good-to-great leaders must provide
unfiltered information that can act as an early warning for the potential threats or loss to the
company.

Lack of discipline in the organization and incompetence of the people should be avoided
by establishing or creating a culture of discipline wherein the idea of freedom and responsibility
is given within their framework. Choosing the right person is still the answer on how to be good-
to-great. The company must develop self-disciplined people who are willing to fulfill their
responsibilities. The author strongly disagree with the tyrannical mode of discipline.
MICHAEL D. CORTEZ
MBA 501 – ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT
The book is very informational in achieving a great a company. Its main philosophy is
“You can’t achieve great things without the great people.”