Introduction

What does it take to get your name on the news? How can you be legendary in a way that everyone in the room will automatically recognize you? What things can you do to get to the top and stay there indefinitely?

Who doesn't want to be rich and famous? The bad news is that everyone's trying to scramble to the top. The good news is that anyone can be #1. If you have the goal of being the best company in your field, what’s stopping you? Is it because you don’t know where to start or you have no clue how to sustain success?

You can bet that the questions you have now are something the CEOs of visionary companies also thought about. Even the famous brands you know had to start somewhere, and that’s usually at the bottom. Believe it or not, the companies you will learn about didn’t start successful right away. They stayed in the dark for many years—even decades—before they got to where they are now. They worked hard, disciplined themselves, and faced challenges.

In this book, you’ll learn about the findings of a 6-year research project made by the authors themselves. Jim Collins and Jerry Porras studied visionary companies, analyzed what they had in common, and what made them the best of the best. You’ll also get to see how other less successful companies fared in comparison to these visionary companies.

You’ll also learn how these companies managed to thrive over the years despite the increasing competitors in the industry they’re in. If you’re planning to start your own business read on and learn a thing or two about how companies like IBM, Disney, and Sony achieved success.

TO READ OR LISTEN COMPLETE BOOK CLICK HERE

The Best of the Best

The authors of this book made sure to use the word “visionary” when it came to the companies they studied instead of “successful” or “enduring”. The visionary companies that they researched for six years were visionary because they proved themselves to be the elites of the industry. They’re more than successful or enduring. These companies are the best of the best. They were in the game long before you were born, and they survived each setback that time has thrown at them.

Although they’re considered visionary, these companies are far from perfect. Walt Disney almost had to shut down when corporate raiders tried to claim the company as theirs in the 1980s. Boeing suffered difficulties in the mid-1930s, late 1940s, and in the early 1970s when they had to let go of 60,000 employees. Sony had nothing but product failures during the first five years of its life. IBM almost went bankrupt in 1914, 1921, and in the 1990s. Yet, these visionary companies are thriving even now. It's because, amidst these multiple setbacks, they showed resiliency. They managed to bounce back every single time.

It's because of the resiliency that they attained long-term performance. These visionary companies are here now, and you bet that they'll still be around in the next 50 years. Being at the top also means that they have high financial returns. If you decide to invest $1 in one of the visionary companies, your stock fund will grow up to $6,000 by the end of the 60 years. Aside from being a good investment, these companies also shaped the society that you’re a part of right now.

3M’s Scotch tape and Post-It Notes greatly helped students when it came to their projects and note-taking. ATMs pioneered on a wide scale by CitiCorp made accessing money easier. Sony's Walkman made a huge impact when it came to making music portable. A lot of people’s childhoods were touched and inspired by Mickey Mouse. These visionary companies left a huge mark on this world, and they have ultimately influenced the products that will come out in the years to come.

As the authors spent six years of their lives studying these companies, they took extra care in determining which companies were considered “visionary”. They also debunked several myths, such as leaders that had to have charisma or that companies only exist to maximize profits. One of the many things that the authors learned from their research was that anyone could start a visionary company. You should stop saying, “It's not for me” because a 6-year research proved that anyone could make it to the top and stay there.

TO READ OR LISTEN COMPLETE BOOK CLICK HERE

More Than Profits

As mentioned in the previous chapter, it isn’t just money that drives visionary companies to consistently be at the top. It’s their core ideology that guides and inspires people within their organization to do the best they can. This core ideology sparks a sense of purpose within people and discourages them from only focusing on the money. They let their ideals come first before the profit.

Think of core ideology as the foundation of who you are, what you stand for, and what the company is all about. Visionary companies are visionary because they apply their core values to what they do. They don’t treat it as just words to put on the hallways of the building. The core values drive them to do what they are good at, and they think of profit as just something that happens after.

This is the ideology of Merck & Co., a pharmaceutical company. When they reached 100 years, they published a book entitled Values and Visions: A Merck Century. In the book, the company didn’t focus on how they were a pharmaceutical brand that prospered for a hundred years. Instead, they emphasized their history that had been guided by ideology.

George Merck II articulated this ideology by saying that they were workers who were inspired by the thought of advancing medical science and being of service to humanity. In 1991, Merck’s chief executive Roy Vagelos also said that whatever success they had as a company was also a victory against diseases. Merck & Co. didn't just decide to have a humanistic angle so that they'd appear more likeable, they embodied this purpose as well

Consistent with their ideals, Merck developed a drug to cure “river blindness” that was currently infecting over a million people in third world countries. This disease came in the form of parasitic worms that went into the eyes, causing painful blindness. The company knew that most of the people who needed the cure couldn’t afford the medicine. That’s why Merck gave it away for free. When CEO Vagelos was asked why they made that decision, he said it would have been such a demoralizing moment for scientists at Merck & Co if they didn't help out. Especially since what the company stood for was preserving and improving human life.

You might be wondering if whether Merck’s decision at that time was based on their ideology or because they could gain something from it. The answer is both. Merck was hitting two birds with one stone because not only did they help out the people with “river blindness”, but they also created a good reputation for themselves. CEO Vagelos didn’t have to choose because Merck could do both. They gave more, and they earned more.

Although it might seem that Merck lost a lot of money when the company gave away the drug for free, this decision paid off in the future. It boosted the company’s reputation and gained them more investors.

TO READ OR LISTEN COMPLETE BOOK CLICK HERE