Leadership Lunch and Learn Book Review: BE 2.0 Beyond Entrepreneurship reviewed by Dr. Steve Siegelin

by Lisa Davis - November 18, 2024

"BE 2.0: Beyond Entrepreneurship" by Jim Collins and Bill Lazier is a follow-up to their earlier work, "Beyond Entrepreneurship." According to Dr. Steve Siegelin, professional development specialist at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, the book serves as a guide for leaders who want to build enduring, high-impact organizations, and it expands on the principles of successful entrepreneurship in a modern context.

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In "BE 2.0," Collins and Lazier introduce a refined framework that not only focuses on growing a organization but also on ensuring its long-term success and sustainability. The book is centered around creating organizations that can thrive by embedding strong leadership, values, and systems that allow the organization to scale and remain competitive over time.

The key themes of the book include:

Building a Strong Culture: A focus on cultivating a resilient organizational culture is essential. The book emphasizes the need to build a culture of discipline, innovation, and responsibility to support growth. 

Siegelin shared great vision without great people is irrelevant. He said organizations need to get the right people on the bus and in the right seats. He asked, “Are you beginning to lose other people by keeping this person in the seat?”

Leadership style: True leadership only exists if people follow when they would otherwise have the freedom to not follow. Leadership by title is coercion. True leaders do not use coercion to get their way.

He shared the following elements of leadership style.

1. Authenticity
2. Decisiveness
3. Focus
4. Personal touch
5. Hard/soft people skills
6. Communication
7. Ever forward

Vision: Vision is the beginning of organization or sustained success. Vision includes core values and beliefs, purpose, and mission. The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture's (UADA) core values are shared in the phrase "I CARE," which stands for integrity, collaboration, accountability, relevant and excellence.

UADA’s purpose/mission statement is "We strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to adoption of best practices."

Next, Siegelin shared the author’s view from 2020 about luck. He said luck favors the persistent. Luck is not caused by you, has significant consequences, and an element of surprise. Luck is unbiased. The response to luck is key. Do you seek the big win or persistent excellence?

Siegelin then discussed what makes great companies tick.

• Disciplined People—Level five leadership-first who then what.
• Disciplined Thought—Genius of the AND, brutal facts, hedgehog concept (idea that hedgehog does one thing well.)
• Disciplined Action—The Flywheel—starting with big heavy steel wheel, working hard to get wheel moving forward, 20 Mile March-have ability to take action quickly, fire bullets then cannon balls.
• Building to Last—Productive paranoia-always evaluating where you are, build clocks over time telling, preserve your core, stimulate progress.

He also suggested organizations should be aware of the five stages of decline.

1. Hubris born of success
2. Undisciplined pursuit of more
3. Denial of risk and peril
4. Grasping for salvation
5. Capitulation to irrelevance or death

Adapting to Change: The book addresses the need for organizations to remain agile in the face of technological and market changes, underscoring the importance of continuous innovation and adaptability. Strategy is an important part of this.

• Originates in your vision
• Do what you are good at
• Be realistic
• Established with those who make it happen

He shared the following questions for organizations to ponder.

1. What significant changes in your world are you highly confident will have happened by 15 years from now?
2. Which of those changes pose a significant or existential threat to your organization?
3. What do you need to begin doing now—with—urgency to mark ahead of those changes?

He said in extension, the topic of the day, is what do we do with Artificial Intelligence? How do we get ahead of the game in which we are better/stronger for it and our clientele are better/stronger for it.

Conclusion: "BE 2.0: Beyond Entrepreneurship" provides a roadmap for leaders who want to build lasting organizations. The book offers practical insights into how to be a successful, sustainable enterprise, emphasizing the importance of leadership, culture, values, and disciplined growth strategies.

The Leadership Lunch and Learn Book Review series features leadership experts from across the south. Each presenter reviews a leadership development book. The series gives you the opportunity to hear the cliff notes version of many popular leadership development books. Join us for future book reviews.