Those who turn good organizations into great organizations are motivated by a deep creative urge and an inner compulsion for sheer unadulterated excellence for its own sake.
Interpretation
Great organizations are built by individuals driven by a passion for excellence, not just for external rewards.
In this quote, James C. Collins emphasizes that the distinction between good organizations and great ones lies in the mindset of their leaders and contributors. Those who drive the transformation are not merely seeking success or recognition; instead, they are fueled by an intrinsic desire for creativity and excellence, pursuing their ambitions for the fulfillment and joy it brings rather than for external validation or profit.
In practice
In a leadership seminar, one might quote Collins to inspire aspiring leaders about the importance of having a passion for excellence.
The kind of commitment I find among the best performers across virtually every field is a single-minded passion for what they do, an unwavering desire for excellence in the way they think and the way they work. Genuine confidence is what launches you out of bed in the morning, and through your day with a spring in your step.
If we allow the celebrity rock-star model of leadership to triumph, we will see the decline of corporations and institutions of all types. The twentieth century was a century of greatness, but we face the very real prospect that the next century will see very few enduring great institutions.
...the question, Why try for greatness? would seem almost tautological. If you're doing something you care that much about, and you believe in its purpose deeply enough, then it is impossible to imagine not trying to make it great. It's just a given.
Get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats...
It may seem odd to talk about something as soft and fuzzy as "passion" as an integral part of a strategic framework. But throughout the good-to-great companies, passion became a key part of the Hedgehog Concept.
A visionary company doesn't simply balance between idealism and profitability: it seeks to be highly idealistic and highly profitable. A visionary company doesn't simply balance between preserving a tightly held core ideology and stimulating vigorous change and movement; it does both to an extreme.
I don't mean I'd mind being rich and famous. That's very much on my schedule, and someday I'll try to get around to it; but if it happens, I'd like to have my ego tagging along. I want to still be me when I wake up one fine morning and have breakfast at Tiffany's.
Don't be misled into believing that somehow the world owes you a living. The boy who believes that his parents, or the government, or any one else owes him his livelihood and that he can collect it without labor will wake up one day and find himself working for another boy who did not have that belief and, therefore, earned the right to have others work for him.
Time well spent results in more money to spend, more money to save, and more time to vacation.
I think that once you've had a few No. 1s in your career that you've kind of proven yourself and I don't feel the need to prove anything anymore.
Success is a result of consistent practice of winning skills and actions. There is nothing miraculous about the process. There is no luck involved.
If you want to achieve your highest aspirations and overcome your greatest challenges, identify and apply the principle or natural law that governs the results you seek. How we apply a principle will vary greatly and will be determined by our unique strengths, talents, and creativity, but, ultimately, success in any endeavor is always derived from acting in harmony with the principles to which the success is tied.
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