Kathleen’s Reviews > Built To Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies > Status Update

Is it possible this is qualificative study boils down to the fact that visionary companies are simply more skillful at motivating people? Continuous improvement, employee training, core values, ambitious goals… these are just hacks to keep the meatspace locked in 😉

I love the challenge of institutionalizing experimentation and learning. What does that look like at a company that’s not tinkering with physical products? The second half of the product viability equation is also crucial; data tells you it works, but you can’t really commit until you’re sure it’s mission-aligned

Audacious goals and all-consuming cultures put a lot of moral responsibility on leaders to deliver… in terms of authenticity and results

“To become visionary requires translating intangibles… this is where most companies fail to make the grade… The single most important point to take away from this book is the critical importance of creating tangible mechanisms aligned to preserve the core and stimulate progress.”

Forgive me for my impatience with the incredulity the authors treat having a founding manifesto. I mean... any religious person realizes having a purpose is the reason people get out of bed in the morning. Still, given the original publication date, it's reasonable to consider that this was a significant finding at the time. Nowadays, you have saturation of ideals that are greenwashing for corporate greed

This is breezy reading if you've already read Good to Great. Some theories proposed as speculative here (charismatic CEOs are negatively correlated with long-term performance) are empirically tested in Good to Great. What's puzzling so far: the desire to build a company is, in it of itself, is worth building one for. Legacy for the sake of legacy is worth a lifetime of work? Hmmm