- Early in the research, then, we made a very important decision. We decided to conduct the research for Good to Great as if Built to Last didn't exist. This was the onyl way to clearly see the key factors in transforming a good company into a great one with minimal bias from previous work. Then we could return to ask, "How, if at all, do the two studies relate?"

- Enduring great companies don't exist merely to deliver returns to shareholders. Indeed, in a truly great company, profits and cash flow become like blood and water toa  healthy body: Ther are absolutely essential for life, but they are not the very point of life.

- Enduring great companies preserve their core values and purpose while their business strategies and operating practices endlessly adapt to a changing world. This is the magical combination of "preserve the core and stimulate progress".

- Bad BHAGs, it turns out, are set with bravad; good BHAGs are set with understandin. Indeed, when you combine quiet understanding of the three circles with the audacity of a BHAG, you get a powerful, almost magical mix.

- The Boeing case underscores a key point: To remain great over time rquires, on the on hand, staying squarely within the three circles while, on the other hand, being willing to change the specific manifestation of what's inside the three cirlces at any given moment. Boeing in 1952 never left the three circles or abandoned its core ideology, but it created an exciting new BHAG and adjusted it Hedghog Concept to include commercial aircraft.

- Indeed, the point of this entire book is not that we should "add" these finding to what we are already doing and make outselves even more overworked. No, the point is to realize that much of what we're doing is at best a waste of energy. If we organized the majority of our work time around applying these principles, and pretty much ignored or stopped doing everything else, out lives would be simpler and our results vastly improved.

- Indeed, the real question is not, "Why greatness?" but "What work makes you feel compelled to try to create greatness?" If you have to ask the question, "Why should we try to make it great?" Isn't success enough?" then you're probably engaged in the wrong line of work.