Collins opens this chapter with a bold, provocative claim: “Good is the enemy of great” (1). The book is based on this premise, which he arrived at as a result of one of the unanswered questions of his previous book, Built to Last. While Built to Last explored the factors that led to enduring longevity in certain companies, it didn‘t directly address the question of what made the companies great in the first place. Curious to understand this journey to greatness, and what common steps companies shared in achieving this level of success, Collins assembled a vast team of researchers who embarked on a five-year process of data collection. This process eventually became Good to Great.

Collins then explains the four phases of their methodology. The first, which he calls “the Search,” consisted of finding companies that had reached stock returns three or more times the general market for at least 15 years, after a 15-year period of performing at or below the general stock market, and that demonstrated an observable transition between these two 15-year periods; this phase led his team to identify 11 companies. Phase 2 (“Compared to What?”) consisted of selecting companies that could serve as apt comparisons to the companies compiled during Phase 1; this process yielded 11 direct comparison companies, plus six “unsustained” comparisons, which experienced flashes of greatness but didn’t sustain it.