It's hard for me to believe that Built To Last is soon to be celebrating its 25th birthday.  I was introduced to this book back in 1999 by a colleague that I very much looked up to.  Cam was a vice president in our organization and he had introduced it to the general manager that oversaw the particular division I was working in. Our GM had purchased copies and distributed them to the entire senior team - a team that I was certainly not part of at this early stage of my career.  However, Cam had taken notice of my interest in areas such as this and had requested our GM provide me with a copy as well.  Needless to say, I was grateful to both of these gentlemen back then and still am today.

Built to Last was one of those books that had a lasting impact on me and my career.  I had read a number of management/leadership books by this point, many of which were both good and helpful.

But this book was different.  It took a much broader view of what it takes for an organization to experience sustained success over the long term.  It wasn't about the one or two extraordinary leaders who had catapulted a company from mediocrity to excellence within their specific tenure.  Rather, it was about organizations that somehow managed to maintain a long term commitment to core and fundamental beliefs that allowed them to be market leaders in their specific industries, decade after decade.

The subtitle of this book is worthy of a quick comment - Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. Twenty-five years after the publication of Built To Last, we are regularly inundated with quick tips and hacks to get ahead.  Hacks to improve our fitness, make more money, be more efficient and change our lives! The ideas shared within Built To Last are not hacks.  They are indeed habits.  In other words, they are behaviours that are intentional and designed to bring about a specific result, and are woven into the very fabric of the organizations profiled within.

Companies today are experiencing change like never before and the ability to build organizations that can withstand the test of time is of critical importance.  The lessons to be gleaned from this resource are many and are as relevant today as they were 25 years ago.  This is what makes Built to Last a classic in its own right.