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In his best-selling book, Built to Last:  Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (New York:  HarperBusiness, 1994), James Collins makes these observations about visionary companies �" "companies that are the premier institutions in their industries, widely admired by their peers and having a long track record of making a significant impact on the world around them...."

"The critical question asked by a visionary company is not 'How well are we doing?' or 'How can we do well?' or 'How well do we have to perform in order to meet the competition?'  For these companies, the critical question is 'How can we do better tomorrow than we did today?'  They institutionalize this question as a way of life �" a habit of mind and action.  Superb execution and performance naturally come to the visionary companies not so much as an end goal, but as the residual result of a never-ending cycle of self-stimulated improvement and investment for the future....

"Visionary companies...attain their extraordinary position not so much because of superior insight or special 'secrets' of success, but largely because of the simple fact that they are so terribly demanding of themselves.  Becoming and remaining a visionary company requires oodles of plain old-fashioned discipline, hard work, and a visceral revulsion to any tendency toward smug self-satisfaction."

Contributed by Exchange, The Early Childhood Leaders' Magazine Since 1978

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