This document discusses key themes from several books and authors on building effective organizations. It highlights that visionary companies are guided more by a core ideology of values and purpose beyond just profits. Having a deeply held core ideology gives an organization a strong sense of identity and continuity. Effective strategies are about understanding your core capabilities and meeting customer needs to create competitive advantage. Mission statements should clearly convey how the organization intends to win in its industry through specific behaviors. Maintaining faith in prevailing while confronting brutal facts is seen as important for organizations.

1. The difference between good and great
organizations
by Jeph Maystruck

2. Strategy is a way to win
and nothing less.
-A.J. Lafley, Playing To Win

3. Those who built the visionary companies
wisely understood that it is better to
understand who you are than where
you are going – for where you are
going will almost certainly change.
-Built to Last by Jim Collins & Jerry I. Porras

4. In 17 of the 18 pairs of companies in our
research, we found the visionary
company was guided more by a core
ideology—core values and a sense of
purpose beyond just making money—
than the comparison company was.
-Good to Great by Jim Collins

5. A deeply held core ideology
company both a strong sense
and a thread of continuity that
organization together in the
change.
gives a
of identity
holds the
face of
-Jim Collins

6. In the end, building a
strategy isn’t about
achieving perfection; it’s
about shortening your
odds.
-A.J. Lafley, Playing To Win

7. The Stockdale Paradox

8. You must maintain unwavering faith that you
can and will prevail in the end, regardless
of the difficulties, and at the same time
have the discipline to confront the most
brutal facts of your current reality, whatever
they might be.
-Jim Collins’ Good to Great

9. There are also several themes you’ll hear again and again:
The team with the best players wins, so find and
retain the best players;
don’t over-brain things to the point of inaction;
no matter what part of a business you’re in, share
learning relentlessly;
have a positive attitude and spread it around;
never let yourself be a victim;
and for goodness’ sake—have fun.
-Winning by Jack & Suzy Welch

10. A good mission statement and a good set of values
are so real they smack you in the face with their
concreteness.
The mission announces exactly where you are going,
and the values describe the behaviors that will get
you there. Speaking of that, I prefer abandoning
the term values altogether in favor of just
behaviors.
-Winning by Jack & Suzy Welch

11. A strategy is a coordinated and integrated
set of where-to-play, how-to-win, core
capability, and management system
choices that uniquely meet a consumer’s
needs, thereby creating competitive
advantage and superior value for a
business. Strategy is a way to win
—and nothing less.
-A.J. Lafley, Playing To Win

12. In my experience, an effective mission
statement basically answers one question:
How do we intend to win in this
business?
-Winning by Jack & Suzy Welch

13. An effective mission statement does not
answer: What were we good at in the good
old days? Nor does it answer: How can we
describe our business so that no particular
unit or division or senior executive gets
pissed off?
-Winning by Jack & Suzy Welch

14. At the end of the day, effective mission
statements balance the possible and the
impossible. They give people a clear
sense of the direction to profitability and
the inspiration to feel they are part of
something big and important.
-Winning by Jack & Suzy Welch

16. What company
is it?

17. “Organize the world’s
information and make it
universally accessible and
useful.”

18. “Organize the world’s information and make it
universally accessible and useful.”

19. “Invoke the imagination,
provoke the senses and
evoke the emotions of the
people around the world.”

21. “Invoke the imagination,
provoke the senses and
evoke the emotions of the
people around the world.”

22. “To provide the best
customer service possible.”

23. “To provide the best customer service possible.”

24. "to reinvent protection and
retirement for the
consumer.”

26. “To be the number one
athletic company in the
world.”

27. “To be the number one athletic company in the
world.”

28. "Every book ever printed, in any
language, all available in less
than 60 seconds."

29. "Every book ever printed, in any language, all
available in less than 60 seconds."

30. ”The world’s premier food
company, offering nutritious,
superior tasting foods to
people everywhere.”

31. ”The world’s premier food company, offering nutritious, superior
tasting foods to people everywhere.”

32. “To inspire and nurture the
human spirit – one person,
one cup and one
neighborhood at a time.”

33. “To inspire and nurture the human spirit –
one person, one cup and one
neighborhood at a time.”

36. So, what’s your core ideology?

37. @jephmaystruck
http://strategylab.ca

38. Sources:
Built to Last – Jim Collins & Jerry I. Porras
Good to Great – Jim Collins
Great by Choice – Jim Collins & Morten T. Hansen
Winning – Jack and Suzy Welch
Playing to Win – A.J. Lafley