ADVISORY/GOOD TO GREAT GOVERNMENT With Jim Collins.

News/Assignment Editors

ADVISORY...for Wednesday (Oct. 17)

--(BUSINESS WIRE)

      When: Wednesday, October 17th, 8:30am breakfast

      Where: National Press Club, Zenger Room 529 14th Street, NW
           Washington DC 202-662-7500

      Jim Collins, author of the bestselling business classic, BUILT TO
LAST, and the new book, GOOD TO GREAT: Why Some Companies Make the
Leap...and Others Don't (October 31, 2001) will present "Good to Great
Government," a discussion of applying successful corporate management
strategies to government leadership. Points addressed will be:
      Good to Great Leadership: Government leaders need to rise to Level
5 Leadership. This means being ambitious first and foremost for the
long-term interest of the nation, not for party interests or for
personal political goals. It also means having the humility to say, "I
don't know all the answers," combined with the will to do whatever it
takes to produce the best long-term results. The model here is
Lincoln, not Patton.
      Good to Great Institutions: The most resilient institutions blend
freedom and entrepreneurship with discipline and responsibility. The
magic of America at its best is the ability to blend these two
contradictory elements into a culture where people ask not "what is my
job?" but "what is my responsibility?"
      Good to Great Discipline: As Adm. Jim Stockdale taught about his
survival as a prisoner of war, it is leadership's responsibility to
help people understand that they have many brutal facts to confront,
but also to see that we can (and will) win any struggle, however long
it takes. We need to retain absolute unwavering faith that we will
prevail in the end, while retaining the discipline to confront the
most brutal facts of reality, whatever they might be -- The Stockdale
Paradox.
      Good to Great Results: Going from good to great in any endeavor is
like pushing a huge, heavy flywheel, one turn upon another. At first,
it takes an enormous amount of effort to just go one or two turns. But
with persistence, you eventually hit a point of breakthrough results.
We need the patience to build momentum and to not fall into a doom
loop of frantically searching for a quick fix. Technology can be a
powerful adjunct to well-thought plans. But we should not be lulled
into thinking that our technological sophistication alone can bring
results, as we learned all too well in Vietnam. The best results come
when you tap the passions of your people, when you build off of what
you can do better than any other entity in the world, and when you
build a strong economic engine.
      Enduring Greatness: The signature of enduring greatness is the
ability to remain true to one's core values during times of great
difficulty. If we abandon our national core values for the sake of
security or expedience, we will begin to erode our greatness as a
nation.
      To RSVP: Kate Kazeniaco Senior Publicist [phone],
[e-mail] .