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| Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big | 
 enlarge | Author: Bo Burlingham
Publisher: Portfolio Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $0.35
You Save: $14.60 (98%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (40 reviews)
Sales Rank: 6533
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: Updated
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 268
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 1591841496
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.409
EAN: 9781591841494
ASIN: 1591841496
Publication Date: March 27, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Defining Good Growth February 19, 2008
Small Giants is a set of stories about a selected group of outstanding companies that have had the option of very fast growth, but instead have chosen to be great rather than as big as possible. Each company described, has defined their own meaning of greatness.
Ari Weinzweig of Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor, MI was determined to serve the best sandwiches known to man. By many accounts he achieved that goal. So much so, that the opportunities to expand seemed countless. Nevertheless, Ari applied the brakes. With a manageable 7 locations he could say "I look forward to coming to work even more now than I did in the beginning. I'm having more fun and I'm more at peace with the realities of life. Success means you're going to have better problems. I'm very happy with the problems I have now."
Ari and others in the book have learned to say no to too much growth. The problem is that many others haven't. Even if the entrepreneur knows his team and resources can't handle the growth, he plunges forth anyway. For someone that has struggled their whole career to grow the business and add customers, turning down business feels immoral; wrong on many levels.
Jay Golz of Artist Frame Service struggled with this. "For me, it was having to do as much as I could. I was always worried. Am I missing an opportunity here? Am I leaving money on the table? How do you turn that off? How do you keep the success bug from becoming the success disease?" Like many driven entrepreneurs, Golz suffered from a major disability, his own blindness to what he had accomplished.
As Golz hit 40, he began to understand better the impact he had on his employees and clients' lives. His mission turned from fully leveraging all opportunities, to quality of life for his team and his family. He no longer had to chase Gates and Dell.
Fritz Maytag of Anchor Brewing "got it" from the beginning. Perhaps it was because of watching his family in the famed appliance company. He consciously strived to keep his headcount as low as possible. He wanted a culture "where everyone knows they're all interrelated and where, as far as possible, everybody is in charge, and nobody is looking over anyone's shoulder and there are no time clocks."
The themes of success, balance, quality of life, and transcendent values, echo though all of these small giants. Entrepreneurs who discover that people trump profits, and that the profits come anyway when the mission is on target. Growth is good, but not always and at all costs. Good growth is always good. Small Giants helps define what good growth really is.
 Hybridizing Non-profit and For-profit Goals January 20, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
One of the most fascinating things about Bo Burlingham's book is that it presents a more complete look at one of the most popular human organizational structures: the private corporation. It's within the context of the private, closely-held company that we appear to be experiencing a trend of hybridization between non-profit and for-profit goals. This book will provide you with many examples of the well-balanced private corporation, seeking to identify their own metrics for success based on their own personal beliefs.
It is this reconciliation of work and personal values that is a common theme for Burlingham - these private companies are the artistic creations of their founders, and an inspiration to entrepreneurs who hope to maintain their creative freedom. The significance of small, entrepreneurial companies and their non-profit activities is simply that it allows society to be governed and aided from the bottom-up, by great leaders who are acting on their very best nature. The companies here give meaning to their employees' lives, and foster a genuine work environment, while at the same time projecting their values into the community.
In economics, supply and demand is everything, but these ideas have been interpreted to be wholly significant only to goods and services that someone can profit from financially. In this far more flexible and personalized knowledge economy the private freedom to do good, and to do so by one's own definition, represents a new and wonderful power. As the companies in Small Giants exemplify, this power is robbed by investment bankers, shareholders, and advisors who have a one-dimensional definition of success, and an interest in growth for growth's sake.
With my own company, I plan to spend an enormous amount of up-front effort clarifying the kind of contribution I'd like to make, and ultimately turn SelfReliant into the same sort of "small giant" Burlingham's promoting. Great companies should always represent a point of view and I can only hope mine will be as compelling as those represented in Small Giants.
A book that every small business person, employee or owner should read December 6, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book provides some meaningful insight in how well run small businesses keep their mojo. After reading the book, I distributed a copy to all of my department managers. Here's to being great!
Small Giants - a Giant of a Book December 1, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Excellent analysis of winning strategies at small to medium sized companies that decided to go for excellence rather than size. Very inspiring for owners of smaller businesses.
Great counter-point to Good to Great October 28, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book offers great insights into how small private companies deal with growth pains - by staying small. The old mantra of "a company either grows, or it shrinks, it can't just stay the same size" it shown in all it's falsehood.
This is a great counter-point to Jim Collin's "Good to Great" which deals with large, successful public companies.
You don't have to be a big company to be successful - the proof is in this book.
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