How to Lead a Great Company

Have you ever wondered why your competition outperforms you year after year?

Have you been frustrated with your organization's inability to achieve the next level of performance and profits?

What is the key difference between good companies and great companies?

Let’s explore some organizations that have long exemplified greatness and glean from their proven formula.

Coach Saban has won six NCAA National Championships, five at Alabama and one at LSU. He is now entering his 13th season at Alabama. Coach Saban’s uncompromising dedication to excellence sets the bar for college football. He has won the National Coach of the Year eight times during his storied career.

Coach Saban is a master of finding the right fit for each assistant coaching position. His collection of coaches is the most sought-after for head coaching positions at other schools every year.

This is just one of many examples of the Saban coaching tree that has spread across the NCAA landscape in recent years. He is a master of picking great talent, mentoring it, and developing it into some of the best coaches in football.

The next factor in his success is his ability to recruit the top talent in the country to place him in Tuscaloosa. Alabama. The University of Alabama football program ranks in the top 3 of all recruiting classes in Division I football. Coach Saban realizes he must have the talent to win.

In addition to picking his players based on talent, he also looks at their character and work ethic. He wants team members who will come to work every day to get better and reach their full potential. If you think you have already arrived because you are a 5-star recruit, then you need not show up at Alabama.

Jim Collins, in his book Good To Great, argues that you must first determine you're who, then you're what. Collins does a great job of detailing the importance of this foundational organizational principle: First Who, Then What. He details the importance of having the right people on the bus and in the right seats on the bus. This principle seems so simple and straightforward when you encounter it on the pages of his book, but it is remarkable how few organizations seek to execute their businesses with this in mind.

While this concept is simple and easy to understand on the surface, executing it in your organization will not be easy. Making this concept a reality in your organization takes hard work and discipline. Most organizations are full of people who either don’t belong in their current position or in the organization altogether. Changing this situation is often challenging and difficult work, with many unpleasant conversations along the way to correct the issues that have been created over time by an undisciplined approach.

If you begin with “who” first rather than “what,” you can more easily adapt to a changing world!

Be rigorous, not ruthless!

Practical discipline #1: when in doubt, don’t hire – keep looking! It is important to recognize that growth in great companies is based on the ability to get and keep enough of the right people.

Practical discipline #2: when you need to make a people change, ACT! The moment you feel you need to manage someone tightly, you’ve made a hiring mistake.

Practical discipline #3: Put your best people on your biggest opportunities, not your biggest problems.