What makes a company truly great

Mr. Dithers is a good guy and an even better company.

 

Poindexter just smiled and doesn't know why.

 

But when it's all over and they get rescued, does Hagar scream to Lucky Eddie, "WE HAVE TO GO BACK!!"

 

Utopia.

 

This notion dissolved with the death of small business.

 

Many companies did what Tony Schwartz described, for many decades.

Then they were crowded out and swallowed up by deregulation, consolidation, big-box expansion and the relentless desire of the American public to own too much shit for the cheapest possible price and in the most convenient, think-proof method possible.

Now the remaining giant-sized companies must feed cash to their gluttonous overlords on Wall Street and in their Bentonville mansions. Who do you think feels the screws in that situation? We're all living it. It's so simple.

 

I've never seen a company mission statement say alone: "We want to make money." So whatever the mission statement is, I'd say that's a good place to start. Those goals may lead to making more money, or they may not. A company could perhaps make money by placing a factory in Bangladesh. But it may also involved working conditions that run counter conventional morality. Hence the company decides against making more money to make a little less a little more honestly.

I suspect you already know this.

 

Interesting discussion and I guess it comes to how you define "great".

I can't make it through most business books but the one I have found most useful is Collins "Good to Great". He examines the characteristics that make a great company and what sustains it.

I know some corporate people who are big fans of Simon Sinek who says that great companies have to have a "why" for existing. I am not sure I agree but his theory is a good starting point of discussion.

 

fleshlight

 

"What is Humungus' only outlet for sex?"