BE 2.0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0): Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company

I love Collins’ principles, metaphors and examples in his writing. My colleagues and I have many of Collins’ books, well worn and often quoted, open on the desk or handy on the bookshelf close by. The advice and leadership therein have helped create three private companies, now merged into a global business with offices in 17 countries. Somehow, we missed “Beyond Entrepreneurship”, version 1.0. I first downloaded 2.0 on Kindle. That primed the pump. I quickly picked up 5 copies for key executives in the organization. Subject matter thereof is beginning to emerge in emails and across the conference tables of the business. Judging from the number of existing Jim Collins books across the company, I bet there will soon be 200 copies, or more, in manager’s offices soon. It’s a great book to reinforce and teach business principles that have brought us success through the years. I recommend it.

Jim Collins, a business educator does it again - taking his research and making it practical for anyone leading an organization. Collins, using the book he and Bill Lazier wrote years earlier, reminds his readers that starting with core values is essential to building a great organization, because while missions, visions, and strategies may change over time, the core values are what sets the organization apart. Yet, Collins in his updated chapters adds the newest research about how building from values will enhance mission, vision and strategy.

Since I started reading Collins in the 90's and having watched videos, and heard him speak in person, I have never been disappointed in the practicality of his teaching, founded on solid research. That's true in this book as well. The choices we make as leaders do affect our organizations.

I'm thankful I read this book as it will influence my teaching. The choices I make do make a difference.

While maintaining everything contained in the first version of Beyond Entrepreneurship (highly valuable on its own) Collins adds a significant amount of new material based on the twenty years of research and writing since the Beyond Entrepreneurship was first published. Of special value is "the map" provided in this book. "The map” pulls together the full width, depth, and breadth of the research done by Collins and his team over the past 20 years in order to show the steps necessary to start well, move from good to great, and become an enduring business that is built to last.