Built to Last Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
What separates legendary companies like Disney, Boeing, and 3M from their competitors? Why do some organizations thrive for generations while others fade into obscurity? This book reveals the answer.
Drawing from a six-year research project at Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras studied eighteen exceptional companies with an average age of nearly one hundred years. These visionary companies outperformed the general stock market by a factor of fifteen from 1926 to 1990. The authors compared each company directly to top competitors to uncover what truly makes greatness endure.
The findings shatter conventional wisdom about business success. Visionary companies don't need charismatic leaders or even brilliant ideas to succeed. Instead, they build enduring organizational systems around core values and purpose while constantly driving progress through bold goals and relentless experimentation.
Discover the timeless principles behind companies that stand the test of time. Learn about Big Hairy Audacious Goals that inspire extraordinary achievement. Understand why preserving core ideology while stimulating progress creates unstoppable momentum. Whether you're a CEO, entrepreneur, or manager, this book provides practical guidance for building a company that lasts.
Built to Last has influenced countless business leaders since its 1994 publication and remains one of the most important business books of our era.
Interesting Facts
Six Years of Stanford Research: This book emerged from an intensive six-year research project conducted at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where Collins and Porras meticulously examined what makes certain companies endure for generations.
Two Authors, One Vision: Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras co-authored this groundbreaking work, with Porras bringing his expertise as a Stanford professor specializing in organizational behavior and change, while Collins went on to become a superstar among MBA students.
Published in 1994: The first edition hit bookstores on October 26, 1994, through HarperBusiness, and it's been influencing business leaders for three decades now.
Eighteen Visionary Companies Studied: The authors examined eighteen exceptional, long-lasting companies with an average age of nearly 100 years, including household names like Disney, 3M, Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Marriott, and Procter & Gamble.
Head-to-Head Comparisons Matter: What makes this research brilliant is that each visionary company was studied alongside a direct competitor (like Boeing versus Douglas Aircraft, or Marriott versus Howard Johnson's), revealing what truly sets the exceptional apart from the merely successful.
Staggering Stock Market Performance: From 1926 through 1990, the visionary companies outperformed the general stock market by a factor of fifteen, while their comparison companies still managed to beat the market by two times.
Translated Into 25 Languages: This business classic has been translated into 25 languages and has sold more than one million copies worldwide, making its insights accessible to leaders across cultures and continents.
Not About Charismatic Leaders: The book explicitly states it's not about visionary leaders, products, or ideas, but about building visionary companies as institutions that transcend any individual founder or CEO.
Clock Building, Not Time Telling: One of the book's most memorable concepts distinguishes between leaders who can tell time (have great ideas) and those who build clocks (create organizations that last beyond them).
Myths Get Shattered: The research debunks common business myths, revealing that great companies don't necessarily start with great ideas (only 3 of the 18 visionary companies began with one) and don't require charismatic leaders to succeed.
Good to Great's Prequel: Jim Collins later called his bestseller Good to Great a prequel to Built to Last, explaining that Good to Great shows how to turn good into great, while Built to Last shows how to make greatness endure.
Inspired Generations of Leaders: Despite some academic criticism about methodology and luck versus skill, the book has inspired countless executives, entrepreneurs, and MBA students by showing that building enduring companies is possible and providing hope that "others have done it, I could too!"
Quotes
"Clock Building, Not Time Telling."
"Preserve the core and stimulate progress."
"Visionary companies pursue a cluster of objectives, of which making money is only one—and not necessarily the primary one."
"Good enough never is."
"Big hairy audacious goals."
"Profit is like oxygen, food, water, and blood for the body; they are not the point of life, but without them, there is no life."
"The only constant is change."
"Visionary companies are premier institutions—in the eyes of the wider world, above and beyond their just making money."
"Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice and discipline."
"Try a lot of stuff and keep what works."
"Cult-like cultures."
"Visionary companies almost religiously preserve their core ideology—changing it seldom, if ever."
"Don’t be a time teller, be a clock builder."
"Build for the long term."
"Embrace the ‘genius of the AND’ rather than the tyranny of the OR."
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