Built to Last

Three of the ideas you’ll keep

The Clif summary of Built to Last pulls out 7 insights. Here are the first three.

1. Be a clock builder, not a time teller: invest your energy in building an organization and culture that outlasts you, not in being the genius with all the answers.
2. Preserve the core AND stimulate progress: lock down a small set of timeless values and a purpose, then be willing to change literally everything else, strategies, products, structures, to stay relevant.
3. Reject the 'Tyranny of the OR.' Pursue purpose AND profit, stability AND change, continuity AND boldness at the same time instead of treating them as trade-offs.

The other 4 — and the full 11-minute summary — are in the app.

What’s inside: 9 chapters

The whole summary runs about 11 minutes, read or listened to.

1. Clock Building, Not Time Telling
2. The Genius of the AND
3. Core Ideology: Your Unchanging Foundation
4. Preserve the Core, Stimulate Progress
5. BHAGs: Big Hairy Audacious Goals
6. Cult-Like Cultures
7. Try a Lot of Stuff and Keep What Works
8. Home-Grown Management and Good Enough Never Is
9. Alignment and the Myths You Can Stop Believing