Great By Choice

A synopsis of the book in Fortune Magazine turned me on to this book, the results from a nine year study of how and why some companies thrive under chaos while identical companies fail.  It was a succinct (<200 pages) book that broke a vast study into a handful of major themes:

• Great companies refuse to accept outside influences (i.e. chaos) as any type of excuse.  They take direct responsibility for their success or failure, no matter what happens in the outside world.
• They are maniacal about consistently achieving short-term goals over the long haul, what the book refers to as the "20 Mile March".  Come hell or high water, they march their prescribed 20 miles each and every day.  Again, no excuses.  Conversely, they shun huge growth in any one year.  Consistent, measured growth, year in year out, is the name of the game.
• They constantly test new ideas for growth in small bites that pose no risk to the enterprise.  When any such test is proven to succeed - through rigorous, empirical data - they expand the ideas quickly.  The authors beautifully describe this approach as "First fire bullets, then fire cannonballs."
• They "Manage above the death-line," meaning that they see it as their first responsibility to not undertake any measures that could possibly destroy the enterprise.  This might sound obvious, but it's important to understand how big bets, no matter how rosy they look on the front end, can have fatal consequences when things go wrong (again, chaos).
• Their leaders are productively paranoid about what can go wrong.  They're not panic-stricken, but rather vigilant about keeping an eye over their shoulders.

I'm sure I missed a few other points, but working from memory, these are the major elements I've taken away from this concise, persuasive book.