Be [2.0] Turning your business into an enduring great company

Introduction When Bill Lazier and I co-authored the original edition of Beyond Entrepreneurship , based on the course we both taught at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, we set out to create a road map for leaders of small to mid-sized enterprises who want to build enduring great companies. Bill embodied a rare combination of practical experience and academic reflection, and Beyond Entrepreneurship encapsulated much of his accumulated wisdom. And while I'd go on to author or co-author multiple New York Times and Wall Street Journal best sellers on the topic of what makes great companies tick, many leaders have told me that this very first book remains their favorite. When Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix, introduced me at a gathering for KIPP Schools in 2014, he surprised me by saying that when he was a young entrepreneur, he'd read Beyond Entrepreneurship six times. When Netflix won the Stanford ENCORE Award for the most entrepreneurial company, Hastings gave a piece of advice to aspiring young CEOs: "Memorize the first eighty-six pages of Beyond Entrepreneurship ." Through Beyond Entrepreneurship , Bill became a mentor to entrepreneurs whom he'd never meet, inspiring them to strive to build truly great companies that can long endure. But why create a re-release of Beyond Entrepreneurship , and why now? I decided to re-release Beyond Entrepreneurship as BE 2.0 for three reasons. First, I'm still fiercely passionate about entrepreneurs and leaders of small to mid-sized companies, whom I've always seen as the readers I most want to reach. This might surprise readers of my later books in which I'd researched companies that had become huge. But the eventual size of those companies obscures the fact that all the companies studied for books like Built to Last , Good to Great , and Great by Choice were once small start-ups, and I researched their entire histories all the way back to their beginnings. I devoted much of my curiosity to understanding why some early-stage companies became great and lasting, and why others didn't. Second, I had substantial new material that could be directly useful to today's entrepreneurs and leaders of small to mid-sized companies. This new material, about people decisions, leadership, vision, strategy, luck, and more, found the right home in a re-release of Beyond Entrepreneurship . As you move through this book, think of it like a classic old home that has had a major addition. The new material appears in entirely new chapters and "insert essays" spread throughout the book, which are called out with the header "Jim's View from 2020." Nearly half of the text that follows is entirely new to the 2020 edition. I have, however, left the text of the original chapters fully intact as Bill and I wrote them in 1992 (with only a few corrections and minor adjustments). The original text appears throughout with a shaded backdrop. Third, and most important, this re-release is meant to honor and extend the legacy of my co-author, the greatest mentor in my life, Bill Lazier. Without his shaping hand, I would not be who I am, and my life would not be what it is. When Bill passed away in 2004, I wanted to write something about him and the profound impact he had on people. Immediately following this introduction to BE 2.0 , I share the story of Bill and what I learned from this wise and generous soul, a man who altered the lives of thousands of young people. I hope BE 2.0 helps you create an iconic company. Even more, I hope some of Bill's mentorship carries from these pages to live on through you and those you lead. Jim Collins Boulder, Colorado March 2, 2020 Excerpted from BE 2. 0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship 2. 0): Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company by Jim Collins, William Lazier All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.