Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies

In their extensive research, the authors discovered that many strategic triumphs of visionary companies resulted from experimentation and luck. Johnson & Johnson serves as a notable illustration, incorporating talc powder into products following customer complaints about skin irritation. Surprisingly, demand for the powder emerged, leading to Johnson & Johnson’s introduction of Toilet and Baby Powder, marking their initial venture into consumer goods. Similarly, Marriott’s entry into airline catering and American Express’s creation of the “Express Money Order” resulted from astute observations and client demands, emphasizing the accidental nature of these successes among visionary companies.

Collins and Porras acknowledge that visionary companies employ deliberate strategies and plans to drive progress. Yet, many of their triumphs unfold organically, characterized by what the authors term “evolutionary progress.” Unlike BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals), this form of progress is entirely unplanned. The authors draw parallels to Darwin’s theory of evolution, likening visionary companies to organisms adapting to their environment through mutation and variation coupled with natural selection. They describe this process as “branching and pruning,” suggesting that by introducing enough variations (branches) and intelligently eliminating unsuccessful ideas (pruning), companies evolve into robust and adaptive entities (140).

Examining the experimentation culture, Johnson & Johnson and