Book Review: Good to Great | 65

Assalamualaikum. Hi friends! It's Faisal here and for this episode, I review "Good to Great" by Jim Collins.

It's a title that you've probably heard so many times it's practically become a professional cliché or a corporate meme by now 😂.

In this book, which is arguably one of the most influential and often cited business books of our modern times, author Jim Collins and his team produce a work based on extensive research of how some average companies break free from mediocrity and explode into GREATNESS, far ahead of their peers in the Fortune 500 ranks.

I don't normally read business books, but this book turned out to be one of my favorites, and I was genuinely surprised at how useful and practical the themes and ideas are, not only to drive organizations and businesses but also for personal development.

Themes like Level-5 Leadership, the Flywheel, Confronting the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith), and the hedgehog concept: are timeless principles we can implement, many of which are surprisingly already taught - either directly or implied indirectly - in the Qur'an and Sunnah!

In this book review discussion with brother Aziz, I summarize the core themes and approach of the book and give emphasis to sharing some of the concepts which I resonate with the most, and some practice ideas of how we can implement these ideas in our lives, where it be:

✅ Our Day to day interactions at the workplace

✅ Our careers

✅ Parenting

✅ Da'wah efforts

✅ The Barakah Effect podcast itself

Hope you guys find this discussion beneficial, and insha Allah, can learn a thing or two to help you propel yourselves and those around you to achieve that breakthrough into greatness!

Time stamps / chapters

0:00:00 Intro - Why Faisal selected this book

0:07:53 Overview & Summary: What is this book about?

0:10:49 The eleven Good-to-Great companies

0:14:45 Writing style & accessibility

0:19:21 Summary of Ideas

0:24:34 Ideas that impacted Faisal the most: "Good is the Enemy of Great"

0:26:09 Level-5 Leadership

0:34:34 the Prophet was the Level 5

0:37:44 Confront the Brutal Facts

0:44:52 Remembering Death

0:45:54 The Flywheel concept

0:52:49 Seerah of the Prophet: flywheel in practice

0:59:43 Closing thoughts: Unexpected personal lessons from the Book