Book · 2011 · Business & Economics
Good to Great
Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't
#120 of 16,686 books, ranked by how many different people bring it up on podcasts
- mentions
- 40
- people
- 18
- podcasts
- 15
- episodes
- 35
- recommendations
- 13
Jim Collins books Beyond Entrepreneurship, Good to Great, Built to Last, those have been the most impactful books for me.
What they say about it
- Mentioned alongside Built to Last“Good to Great and Built to Last”3
- Discussed concepts from the book“concept in Good to Great called the Hedgehog concept”3
- Called a great business book“great business book”2
- Noted massive sales figures2
The best things said about it
The premier book in the last 30 years probably that most of us love and we love the man too is our friend Jim Collins wrote the book Good to Great.
Dave Ramsey The Ramsey Show · Jun 2026 There's a beautiful book by Jim Collins, Good to Great, great business book.
Good to Great, which will forever be something that you know completely changed my life.
Because it's most famously in um uh Jim Collins is good to Great and the the paradox is effectively you have to on the one hand unflinchingly accept the reality of the situation you're in.
Ryan Holiday The Daily Stoic · Jul 2023 Good to Great by Jim Collins which has sold tens of you know probably 10 million copies still in hardcover even though it's a 20 year old book.
Ryan Holiday My First Million · Oct 2022 You know, Jim Collins, the writer of author of Good to Great and Built to Last and these iconic books, he tracks his creative hours.
Tim Ferriss On Purpose with Jay Shetty · Apr 2026 Where and when it comes up
Mentions per year
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2
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6
4
9
4
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7
How it comes up
18 people who brought it up
Jason Calacanis8 mentions · 4 recs- Ryan Holiday7 mentions · 2 recs
- Dave Ramsey3 mentions · 1 rec
- Andy Ramage1 mention · 1 rec
Chamath Palihapitiya1 mention · 1 rec- Grumpus Maximus1 mention · 1 rec
- James Watt1 mention · 1 rec
- Reed Hastings1 mention · 1 rec
- Jim Collins2 mentions
Les Snead2 mentions- Tim Ferriss2 mentions
- David Sacks1 mention
Why people recommend it
Good to Great by Jim Collins is a prominent business and management book that investigates what makes companies transition from being merely good to achieving sustained greatness. The text has drawn enthusiastic endorsements from numerous podcast figures. Ryan Holiday recommended it on The Daily Stoic as an exceptionally important business read and even stocked copies at his bookstore. Dave Ramsey praised it on The Ramsey Show, describing it as the premier business book of the last thirty years and recommending it to small business owners. Reed Hastings told listeners of The Book Review that Collins's books, including Good to Great, were among the most impactful for his own business philosophy. Andy Ramage brought up the title on The Rich Roll Podcast to explain the flywheel effect regarding the growing momentum of alcohol-free lifestyles, and Chamath Palihapitiya called it a master class in structural writing during an interview on How I Write. Additionally, a ChooseFI listener and guest Grumpus Maximus both shared how discovering Jim Collins and his work through podcast interviews fundamentally altered their perspectives on financial independence and building long-term momentum in life and business ventures.
Every mention
Jason Calacanis If you're a VC, if you're investing in companies, this book along with Good to Great, Crossing the Chasm, D… 8
Discussed
“it's kind of like that good to Great Book Jim Collins wrote I don't know if you ever read that one but yeah for sure back when there were only like you know 100 business books that was one of the ones that always the the lesson there”
Discussed
“and then the other thing that's happened correct me if I'm wrong here is you know on the web if there's a great book like good to Great by Jim Collins there have been 10 000 blog posts articles summaries”
Recommended
“If you're a VC, if you're investing in companies, this book along with Good to Great, Crossing the Chasm, Delivering Happiness, you know, Start With Why, all those should be in the gift bag after you make your investment.”
Recommended
“some people really like good to great read the business management book some people would say lean startup there's many different ones out there”
Recommended
“bob iger's book you know mike ovitz's book good to great all the jim collins books crossing the chasm there's plenty of books out there”
Discussed
“and jim collins good to great”
Discussed
“then when in 2001 when i got on the train good to great”
Recommended
“good to greats another good one yeah I think good to great would be on that list”
Ryan Holiday we have copies of good to great and uh what to make of a life at the painted porch bookstore 7
Recommended
“Jim Collins, good to great. This one's very important.”
Recommended
“we have copies of good to great and uh what to make of a life at the painted porch bookstore”
Discussed
“So in his if he was in his world of paradigm of good to great, you just you just proved you were good. Yes. Now it's time to go do great.”
Discussed
“because it's most famously in um uh Jim Collins is good to Great and the the paradox is effectively you have to on the one hand unflinchingly accept the reality of the situation you're in”
Discussed
“Afterwards, he's speaking to Jim Collins who wrote who writes Good to Great.”
Discussed
“and this is why Tim ferriss's books are not widely available in paperback Good to Great by Jim Collins which has sold tens of you know probably 10 million copies still in hardcover even though it's a 20 year old book”
Discussed
“good to Great by Jim Collins which has sold tens of you know probably 10 million copies still in hardcover even though it's a 20 year old book”
Dave Ramsey The premier book in the last 30 years probably that most of us love and we love the man too is our friend J… 3
Recommended
“The premier book in the last 30 years probably that most of us love and we love the man too is our friend Jim Collins wrote the book Good to Great.”
Discussed
“go open his own forpractice, for-profit research firm that led to the book Built to Last, Good to Great, Great by Choice, How the Mighty Fall, all these masterful works”
Discussed
“here's the thing Jim Collins told me this that wrote the book good to Great M”
Andy Ramage There's a beautiful book by Jim Collins, Good to Great, great business book. 1
Recommended
“There's a beautiful book by Jim Collins, Good to Great, great business book.”
Chamath Palihapitiya or go back and read good to great too these are master classes in that structure they are master classes 1
Recommended
“or go back and read good to great too these are master classes in that structure they are master classes”
Grumpus Maximus gosh I guess a little over a year ago I was listening to um tarabi uh what's her first name podcast and uh… 1
Recommended
“gosh I guess a little over a year ago I was listening to um tarabi uh what's her first name podcast and uh She interviewed Jim Collins and I'm like whoa this is what what's he talking about this you know idea of Fu money and he's making some references in this interview about this idea that you might be”
James Watt and it's actually in the book good to see by jim collins which is a fantastic business book 1
Recommended
“and it's actually in the book good to see by jim collins which is a fantastic business book”
Reed Hastings because he shows how hard you know all the things are not directly about culture but I would say Jim Collin… 1
Recommended
“because he shows how hard you know all the things are not directly about culture but I would say Jim Collins books Beyond entrepreneurship good to Great built to last those have been the most impactful books for me”
Jim Collins my answer is you can't all you can do is write the best piece of work you're capable of at the moment that… 2
Discussed
“my answer is you can't all you can do is write the best piece of work you're capable of at the moment that you're writing it good to great which will forever be something that you know completely changed my life”
Discussed
“there's a concept in good to Great called the Hedgehog concept and the idea of the Hedgehog concept is to sort of simplify F down”
Les Snead That's what going back to if I bring Jim Collins back where I when I read good to great and the level five… 2
Discussed
“That's what going back to if I bring Jim Collins back where I when I read good to great and the level five leader.”
Discussed
“I'm fortunate enough again through care for a birthday present one time connected me with Jim Collins author of good to great and and he's asked he's if you ever if you ever meet Jim or get to have a conversation with him he asked really really good questions”
Tim Ferriss You know, Jim Collins, the writer of author of Good to Great and Built to Last and these iconic books, he t… 2
Discussed
“You know, Jim Collins, the writer of author of Good to Great and Built to Last and these iconic books, he tracks his creative hours.”
Discussed
“I was looking at a reference to the Good to Great acknowledgements. This was also something that I think you may have brought up and I'll just read the line”
David Sacks it was good to great 1
Critiqued
“it was good to great”
Guy Spier So, yeah, it comes from uh good to great. So, yeah, it's a beautiful idea that I haven't thought about for… 1
Discussed
“So, yeah, it comes from uh good to great. So, yeah, it's a beautiful idea that I haven't thought about for for an enormously long time.”
Hayes Barnard Well, it's interesting now when you sit down with with people um that have achieved extraordinary outcomes… 1
Discussed
“Well, it's interesting now when you sit down with with people um that have achieved extraordinary outcomes and Jim Collins wrote a book about this called Good to Great.”
Mohnish Pabrai So, yeah, it comes from um a Good to Great. So, yeah, it's a beautiful idea that I haven't thought about fo… 1
Discussed
“So, yeah, it comes from um a Good to Great. So, yeah, it's a beautiful idea that I haven't thought about for for an enormous amount of time. The idea is, and this is a story I think is in his is in his book Good to Great.”
Nicholas Bloom that was just you know most of the books that i read that are popular good to great and built to last 1
Discussed
“that was just you know most of the books that i read that are popular good to great and built to last”
Stephen Dubner you wrote a blog post a few years back about good to great, the companies that were featured in that book,… 1
Discussed
“you wrote a blog post a few years back about good to great, the companies that were featured in that book, Good to Great, by Jim Collins, and how the companies that went from good to great often ended up going to crap years after the book came out.”
Tony Hsieh and so ugh if you read books like good to great or tribal leadership there's a clear at least correlation r… 1
Discussed
“and so ugh if you read books like good to great or tribal leadership there's a clear at least correlation right if not cause between companies that do well in the long term financially”
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker4
Recommended
“he is a brilliant series called the stock series I think I'm not sure at last counties probably up to about 30 different blog posts in that particular series and he's actually turned it into a published book called The Simple path to wealth”
Discussed
“and then this book came out in 2000-ish called good to great I was given this book as a gift by my brother”
Discussed
“there's been a bunch of studies done on this i can't remember what book it was in but one of the sort of hot good to great books where like and they they tested it outside of tech too”
Discussed
“but if you read books like good to great or tribal leadership there's a clear at least correlation right if not cause between companies that do well in the long term financially Although if you look at the good to Great companies if you looked at those lately”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
Other mentions (18: passing, ad reads, own books)
Passing
“And one of the things I learned, I I was talking to Jim Collins, the guy who wrote Good to Great last night on stage cuz he's a new book out.”
Passing
“this is from jim collins who wrote good to great as well”
Plugged
“I was off working on Built to Last and Good to Great.”
Plugged
“And so, I've essentially is very similar to what happened with Built to Last, with Good to Great, whatever. I started with a narrower question.”
Plugged
“And one way that it has really affected me is we talked about the right people on the bus from Good to Great. Still true.”
Plugged
“In my prior work, Good to Great, Built to Last, Great by Choice, How the Mighty Fall, so forth, where I was doing match pair studies”
Passing
“like reading corporate management literature like it's a you know it's little bit like good to Great hire the best thank you but how the hell do I find them”
Passing
“first up Jim Collins author of iconic business books that include good to Great how the Mighty Fall and great by choice as well as built to last and Beyond entrepreneurship 2.0 which he co-authored with his mentor bill lazir”
Passing
“guys we had so many reviews come through over the last several weeks and we want to go ahead and announce our two winners for the drawing for the simple path to wealth”
Passing
“and just to really show our appreciation we're increasing that to one book giveaway of the simple path to wealth for every five written reviews so again we realize you're helping us more than we're helping you with those reviews”
Passing
“and that goes back to what Jim Collins talked about on the very first episode we had them on talking about the simple path to wealth which is these are not stock symbols”
Passing
“the principles for business are the exact same just told in a different Parable every time and whatever your Parable is that's what you glom on to say oh man it's good to great that's the best one this one it's your Bible”
Passing
“He just finished a book that I believe will become as important as Crossing the Chasm, Good to Great, and some of the other Five Dysfunctions of a Team.”
Passing
“The book is particularly strong in talking about product market fit. Getting the right people to Jim Collins and good to great on the bus, demanding and setting great targets and then also sales.”
Passing
“that's known as the flywheel you know jim collins style there's no debt”
Passing
“like you know there might have been a book like good to great or something or you know you maybe you went to stanford and they taught you that stuff”
Passing
“and they would have already read you know the the good to greats or you know this business bio”
Passing
“I believe Jim Collins calls this basically as close to a sure thing as anything you can ever get”