In Chapter 4 of the book Good to Great, Jim Collins asserts that taking good decisions represents one of the key factors for a good organization to become great. The good decisions flowed from the fact that all good-to-great companies made an effort to confront reality, while at the same time maintained absolute faith that they could prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties. The author calls this the Stockdale Paradox. Collins also states that it is crucial to create a climate where honesty is valued and he continues by offering tips about how to create this environment. By crafting this culture where people have the opportunity to be heard and for the truth to be heard it will not be necessary to motivate people - if you have the right people, they will be self-motivated.
In this chapter we particularly noticed an abundance of examples of different companies that were in more similar situations at a specific moment in history, but which then diverged dramatically. We are first given the case of A&P vs. Kroger. A&P was led by Ralph Burger, a CEO who tried to preserve the past and was reluctant to change. For at least 20 years, he followed a past model, ignoring the reality and the changes the present was bringing. The company showed no signs of stability and consistency by often changing strategies and implementing a so-called “scorched earth policy” that did not meet customers’ needs and requirements. On contrary, Kroger, having conducted an extensive research, confronted the brutal facts it found out, and decided to act in consequence, thus becoming a great company.
Unlike the comparison companies, the good-to-great companies continually adjusted the path to greatness with the brutal facts of reality. For example, Roy Ash, CEO of Addressograph, was a charismatic visionary leader who had a bold plan for his company, but at one point, refused to believe his plan was failing and turned a blind eye to any reality inconsistent with his own vision of the world. In addition, executives were worried about the feelings of the management, whereas in Pitney Bowes, a good-to-great company, the entire management team was open to challenges and suggestions. As Collins described in Chapter 2, they relied principally on inspired standards: “[…] what we just accomplished, no matter how great, is never going to be good enough to sustain us”, as one executive at Pitney Bowes said. The lesson here is that less charismatic leaders often produce better long-term results than the more charismatic ones.
The author also concludes that spending time and energy trying to motivate people is a waste of effort. The point is that if you have the right people, they will be self-motivated and the key is to not de-motivate them. The solution to the latter is to create a culture that gives people the opportunity to be heard and, eventually, for the truth to be heard. Several tips are presented as basic practices to create this climate:

• Lead with questions, not answers.
 Why: to gain understanding
 Make particular good use of informal meetings
 Case of Alan Wurtzel, CEO of Circuit City

• Engage in dialogue and debate, not coercion.
 Strategy is evolving through many arguments and fights
 Case of Ken Iverson, CEO of Nucor

• Conduct autopsies, without blame.
 No one points fingers to single out blame
 Learn from the mistake

• Build “red flag” mechanisms.
 The key is to turn information into information that cannot be ignored.

In confronting the brutal facts, the good-to-great companies became stronger and more competitive. They did not just have the goal to merely survive, but also to prevail in the end as great companies. Collins brings to our knowledge the case of Fannie Mae, a company that never entertained the possibility that it would fail, rebuilding the entire business management and reshaping the corporate culture into a high-performance machine. The chapter ends with a biographical subchapter in which we are being introduced to the Stockdale Paradox concept. The author gives the definition, stating that good-to-great companies all embraced the Stockdale Paradox in their transition to breakthrough results. All good-to-great companies retained faith that they would prevail in the end and, at the same time, confronted the most brutal facts of their reality.

Comments/ Issues:
- Again, as in the last chapters, we notice how countercultural and counterintuitive what we read is: charisma can be as much a liability as an asset. In addition, the author says that spending time and energy trying to motivate people is a waste of effort.
- Is it normal to have raging debates and so much yelling and screaming as they had in Nucor? The author uses “intense dialogue” to mask the real situation. If you are a middle-age employee, wouldn’t you like your day to go by productively, but peacefully, then go home and enjoy the rest of it? After all, you cannot restore the nervous cells.