Collins, Jim, and Jerry I. Porras. 1994. Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. New York, NY. HarperCollins Publishers.
Jim Collins researches great companies to learn how they grow. He takes what he learns and teaches good companies how to become great companies. He has written and co-written four books including his latest, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … And Others Don’t, which has been translated into 35 languages with more than 3 million copies sold.1 Jerry I. Porras is the Lane Professor of Organizational Behavior and Change, Emeritus, at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. His focus has been the study of how companies pursue “their purpose and core values to produce lasting high performance” (back book jacket).
The thesis of this book is that the primary success of visionary companies is “from underlying processes and fundamental dynamics embedded in the organization and not primarily the result of a single great idea or some great, all-knowing, godlike visionary who made great decisions, had great charisma, and led with great authority” (41).
Collins and Porras use eleven chapters to develop and defend their thesis. Their methodology includes the comparison of eighteen visionary companies with eighteen good companies seeking to discover those factors that differentiate between visionary and simply good. The first two chapters introduce the companies studied and the methodology of the study. The remaining chapters each discuss a different factor that makes a company visionary.
I liked this book very much and believe that Collins and Porras did a very good job of defending their thesis. My interest lies in the development of a visionary ministry not in a visionary company. That being said I believe that most, if not all of the principles discussed in the book have application for ministry. In particular, I found two principles to be significant paradigm shifters in my ministry.
First, Collins and Porras discussed the concept of the Genius of the AND. (43-45) Most good companies are trapped by what is called the Tyranny of the OR, which is “the rational view that cannot easily accept paradox, that cannot live with two seemingly contradictory forces or ideas at the same time” (43). Visionary companies figure out how to do both A and B instead of believing that a choice needs to be made. I see one example of this being played out in our ministry in countries closed to the gospel. The Tyranny of the OR would force us to choose between security and aggressiveness. A visionary ministry, on the other hand, will figure out how to excel in both areas.
Second, the authors discussed in Chapter 5 the concept of Big Hairy Audacious Goals, which are defined as goals that are “clear and compelling and [serve] as a unifying focal point of effort - often creating immense team spirit” (94). Big Hairy Audacious Goals are bigger than life. They call for risk-taking and creativity. For our ministry, the Big Hairy Audacious Goals are seeing an entire unreached people group reached with the gospel of King Jesus. This is truly a daunting task, especially in the areas we work. As a leader of missionary teams I must help my missionaries fight the tendency to focus on seeing individuals come to faith in Christ, which is not a significant enough of a goal to get the task done. I must keep the Big Hairy Audacious Goal of the pursuit of people movements constantly at the forefront of my leadership.
1. Jim Collins “Biography,” http://www.jimcollins.com/bio/index.html (accessed February 8, 2009).
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