Read "The Halo Effect" instead of a Jim Collins book. https://www.amazon.com/Halo-Effect-Business-Delusions-Manage...

A great book on this is "The Halo Effect". It specifically calls out "Good to Great" as an example of really poorly done research that does nothing but call out coincidences.

The one part I loved about the book is when it provides tips on how to identify these "empty" claims. Things like "we spent 3 years putting this analysis together!", which does nothing to support their claims, but just creates the impression that "wow! this must be true!".

https://www.amazon.com/Halo-Effect-Business-Delusions-Manage...

Have you heard of the "halo effect"? It's a very common fallacy where people mistake cause and effect. If a company is doing well, people will say "this company has great management and has a great, productive work culture." If a company is not doing well, people will say "this company has inefficient management, and has an unproductive, corrupt work culture."

They will say this, even if it is the exact same company say, right before a crisis and 6 months into the crisis. See [1] for more information.

When Germany's economy was doing worse than EU average, Germany was the "sick child of Europe". Now they are doing great and they are the "locomotive engine of Europe".

Besides, how do you reconcile these "ex protestant" work ethics with the breathtaking corruption of the VW scandal?

[1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Halo-Effect-Business-Delusions/dp/...