Good to Great book club questions

1. 1.

   Collins argues that who comes before what — getting the right people precedes setting strategy. In your organization or team, is the sequence actually followed, or does it get inverted?

2. 2.

   Think of a leader you've worked under or observed closely. Where would you place them on Collins's Level 5 hierarchy, and what evidence leads you there?

3. 3.

   The Hedgehog Concept asks what you can be best in the world at, not just good at. For your own career, what honest answer do you give to that question?

4. 4.

   Collins's great companies confronted brutal facts while maintaining faith they would prevail. Is there a brutal fact in your current work life that you're avoiding or softening?

5. 5.

   The book found that charismatic, celebrity leadership often correlates with short-term results and long-term fragility. Does your own experience confirm or complicate that finding?

6. 6.

   How would you describe the Flywheel dynamic in a project or initiative you've been part of? At what point did consistent effort start to feel like momentum?

7. 7.

   Collins says great companies are disciplined about what they stop doing as much as what they start. What's something in your work or life that you should stop doing but haven't?

8. 8.

   The research found that great companies rarely used large acquisitions to drive their transformations. Why do you think companies reach for acquisitions instead of the slower Flywheel approach?

9. 9.

   Technology as accelerator, not cause: Collins says great companies adopt new technology selectively, only when it fits their core concept. How does your organization actually make technology decisions?

10. 10.

    Several companies Collins labeled great — Circuit City, Fannie Mae — later collapsed badly. Does that undermine the book's findings, or does it say something else?

11. 11.

    If you applied the Hedgehog Concept to your personal career — what you can be best at, what drives your economic engine, and what you're passionate about — where do those three circles actually overlap right now?

12. 12.

    Collins says good is the enemy of great. Where in your life are you settling for good and telling yourself it's enough?

How to run the discussion

• Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
• Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
• Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
• Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.