:INFO
How Many of These Visionary Companies Still Exist?
Collins and Porras published Built to Last in 1994 and it became the standard text for anyone studying what makes great companies endure across generations. I reread it in 2025 with a printed list of every company they profiled and checked the current status of each one. The results are more instructive than any follow-up study I have read, and not entirely in the direction you might expect.


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368 Pages
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31 Years Since Publication

:QUOTE [quotetype:plain, subtitle:Jim Collins]
Visionary companies are premier institutions in their industries, widely admired and impressive by those who have had the opportunity to observe them closely.


:JOURNEY
Reading Built to Last
5 Most memorable
4 Still sharp
2 Aged badly
4 Most durable

:NOTE
Sears, Citicorp, Motorola, and American Express all appear as visionary companies in this book. Checking where each one stands today is its own kind of business lesson.


:POLL
Do you think books about great companies age well?
Yes if the underlying principles are sound
Only when the companies they profile are still great
No, business case studies expire faster than other genres
It depends entirely on how specific the book gets