Rigorous adherence to a Hedgehog Concept saves companies from panic acquisitions or misguided projects. Good-to-great companies make the jump because they constantly refer to and consistently realize their Hedgehog Concepts. How to achieve it: A company’s “Hedgehog Concept” is derived from the answer(s) to three questions: (1) At what can I be the best in the world? (2) What is my financial engine? And (3) What am I profoundly passionate about? 5. “Foxes” know many things and see the world in all its complexity, whereas “Hedgehogs” know one big thing and order the world according to that thing.Ī good-to-great company thinks like a hedgehog by developing a “Hedgehog Concept”-an elegant, easy-to-understand guiding philosophy based on facts-that it adheres to fanatically. Leaders can encourage truth-telling by: (1) Beginning meetings with questions, not answers (2) cultivating, rather than stifling, debate among the team and (3) conducting clear-eyed analyses of mistakes without assignation of blame. How to achieve it: With the right management team-one comprising sharp, critical thinkers-the facts should never be in short supply. The key is to be stoic yet hopeful, realistic without turning cynical. That said, no matter how dire the facts, they never lose faith that, eventually, they’ll prevail. Good-to-great companies are evangelical about recognizing market realities and reacting in kind. How to achieve it: (1) Don’t hire until you’re sure you have the right person (2) recognize when you need to make a change (whether by shifting a role or letting someone go) and act swiftly and (3) assign your best people to your biggest opportunities rather than your biggest problems.

Good-to-great companies retain the right people before embarking on any specific program.Ī good-to-great team is composed of people who care deeply about the company and will argue passionately for the decisions they believe are right (but will come together to support whatever decision is eventually reached).Īvoid at all costs the “genius with a thousand helpers” model management teams should be composed of independent and critical thinkers, not “yes people.”

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