Some of my graduate students reacted rather negatively to my two previous articles in this series reviewing Jim Collins’ national bestseller, “Good to Great,†claiming conclusions from Collins and his research team gave minimal regard to techniques to improve human performance. In Collins’ words, “the good-to-great companies paid scant attention to managing change, motivating people, or creating alignment†(p.11).
Instead, the great companies studied by Collins et al. hired the right people in the first place — conscientious and self-motivated, whose talents and interests matched their job function. Plus, great companies did not let the wrong people hang around. The right people inevitably compensate for their inadequacies and become de-motivated.