The following contains excerpts from the book, From Good to Great (Jim Collins).
In our music school in Odessa, Texas, we believe that incremental daily progress, regardless how small that progress is, will ultimately lead to success, and we encourage students to take a disciplined mindset towards their assessment of this growth each day.
The author begins his first chapter with the familiar colloquial proverb, ‘Good is the enemy of great.’
“In our study, what we didn’t find…larger-than-life, celebrity leaders who ride in from the outside…Ten of eleven good-to-great CEOs came from inside the company…The good-to-great companies did not focus principally on what to do to become great…paid scant attention to managing change, motivating people, or creating alignment…were not, by and large, in great industries.”
We believe the characteristics that follow are applicable to any industry, particularly to those in music and the arts. At our music school in Odessa, Texas, we encourage students to grow and develop in the following ways.
- Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith). “We learned that a former prisoner of war had more to teach us about what it takes to find a path to greatness than most books on corporate strategy. Every good-to-great company embraced what we came to call the Stockdale Paradox: You must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, AND at the same time have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
“One of the dominant themes from our research is that breakthrough results come about by a series of good decisions, diligently executed and accumulated one on top of another…The moment a leader allows himself to become the primary reality people worry about, rather than reality being the primary reality, you have a recipe for mediocrity, or worse. This is one of the key reasons why less charismatic leaders often produce better long-term results than their more charismatic counterparts.”
In leading people, it is important to, “engage in dialogue and debate, not coercion, and to conduct autopsies without blame…When you conduct autopsies without blame, you go a long way toward creating a climate where the truth is heard. If you have the right people on the bus, you should almost never need to assign blame but only to search for understanding and learning…The key, then, lies not in better information, but in turning information into information that cannot be ignored,” by building ‘red-flag’ mechanisms.
At our music school in Odessa, Texas, we believe that music is more than sound – it is relationships. In learning how to make music in ensembles and in collaboration, the student also learns the value of interaction in concert with others. This opens up the creative space for dialogue and debate, which is always a healthy start to a creative collaborative project.
It is vitally important to be honest about the facts, but still not lose faith. “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end- which you can never afford to lose- with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
- The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles). “To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence. Just because something is your core business- just because you’ve been doing it for years or perhaps even decades- does not necessarily mean you can be the best in the world at it. And if you cannot be the best in the world at your core business, then your core business absolutely cannot form the basis of a great company. It must be replaced with a simple concept that reflects deep understanding of three intersecting circles.”
“In his famous essay ‘The Hedgehog and the Fox,’ Isaiah Berlin divided the world into hedgehogs and foxes, based upon an ancient Greek parable: ‘The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.’ The hedgehog, sensing danger…rolling up into a little ball…becomes a sphere of sharp spikes, pointing outward in all directions. The fox, bounding toward his prey, sees the hedgehog defense and calls off the attack…Foxes pursue many ends at the same time and see the world in all its complexity. They are ‘scattered or diffused, moving on many levels…Hedgehogs, on the other hand, simplify a complex world into a single organizing idea, a basic principle or concept that unifies and guides everything…To be clear, hedgehogs are not stupid. Quite the contrary. They understand that the essence of profound insight is simplicity.”
“Those who build the good-to-great companies were, to one degree or another, hedgehogs. They used their hedgehog nature to drive toward what we came to call a Hedgehop Concept for their companies.”
“A Hedgehog Concept is a simple, crystalline concept that flows from deep understanding about the intersection of the following three circles: 1) What you can be the best in the word at (and equally important, what you cannot be the best in the world at…what you can be the best at might not even be something in which you are currently engaged.) 2) What drives your economic engine…how to most effectively generate sustained and robust cash flow and profitability…the profit per x that had the greatest impact on their economics. 3) What you are deeply passionate about…The idea here is not to stimulate passion but to discover what makes you passionate.”
In our music school in Odessa, Texas, we hope to help students find their own intersection of these three elements, so that they can find their most advantageous position in serving their communities.
“To quickly grasp the three circles, consider the following personal analogy. Suppose you were able to construct a work life that meets the following three tests. First, you are doing work for which you have a genetic or God-given talent, and perhaps you could become one of the best in the world in applying that talent. (“I feel that I was just born to be doing this.’) Second, you are well paid for what you do. (I get paid to do this? Am I dreaming?) Third, you are doing work you are passionate about and absolutely love to do, enjoying the actual process for its own sake. (“I look forward to getting up and throwing myself into my daily work, and I really believe in what I’m doing.’) If you could drive toward the intersection of these three circles and translate that intersection into a simple, crystalline concept that guided your life choices, then you’d have a Hedgehog Concept for yourself.”
“A Hedgehog Concept is not a goal to be the best, a strategy to be the best, an intention to be the best, a plan to be the best. It is an understanding of what you can be the best at. The distinction is absolutely crucial…few actually understand- with piercing insight and egoless clarity- what they actually have the potential to be the best at and, just as important, what they cannot be the best at…requires a sever standard of excellence…To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence. It requires the discipline to say, ‘Just because we are good at it- just because we’re making money and generating growth- doesn’t necessarily mean we can become the best at it.”
The value of having a teacher or coach is that they can provide the objectivity to help the student see what it is that they are truly ‘born to do.’ The teachers in our music school in Odessa, Texas endeavor to do this very thing.
“Throughout the good-to-great companies, passion became a key part of the Hedgehog Concept. You can’t manufacture passion or ‘motivate’ people to feel passionate. You can only discover what ignites your passion and the passions of those around you.”
In the process of finding your Hedgehog Concept, “It’s like groping through the fog. You’re making progress on a long march, but you can’t see all that well…Then, with the Hedgehog Concept, you break into a clearing, the fog lifts, and you can see for miles.”
“It took about four years on average for the good-to-great companies to clarify their Hedgehog Concept.” To arrive at the Concept, companies must: 1) Ask questions, guided by the three circles, 2) Dialogue and debate, guided by the three circles, 3) Make executive decisions, guided by the three circles, and 4) Conduct autopsies, guided by the three circles.” To accelerate the process, increase the number of times you go through the cycle of the above.
“When you get your Hedgehog Concept right, it has the quiet ping of truth, like a single, clear, perfectly struck note hanging in the air in the hushed silence of a full auditorium at the end of a quiet movement of a Mozart piano concerto. There is no need to say much of anything; the quiet truth speaks for itself.”
We hope to help students in our music school in Odessa, Texas come to a place of peace, internally, with their approach to the music making and their art, that gives them a sense of purpose and passion in serving their community.