“Built to Last” Mega-Bestseller Author and Teacher of Enduring Great Companies, Shares Thoughts on Moving From Truly Great to Most Admired

What does it take to be a visionary company? According to Collins, the key is having the right people on the bus-in the right seats-to create a culture of success. Collins has worked with DPR since the beginning to clarify its purpose and core values and continues to help DPR build a solid foundation for Mission 2030.

Rather than trying to be an interesting person, try being an interested person. Ask questions. Listen,” said Jim Collins to more than 60 people from DPR.

His opening remark set the tone for the meeting. Collins gave a brief historical perspective on his work with DPR and then opened the room up to discuss the opportunities, challenges and future that the truly great construction company faces as it moves forward in its mission to be one of the most admired companies by 2030.

A Great Institution Needs “Genetic Coding” Early On

“Establishing a new company is much like being a new parent. You want to parent well when they’re young and instill core values so that when they grow older those basic standards remain intact,” said Collins.

The story of DPR and Collins, the student and teacher of enduring great companies - how they grow, how they attain superior performance and how good companies can be great companies - dates back to DPR’s infancy. In 1991, Peter Salvati heard the then Stanford professor speak and asked him to meet with a group from DPR since they had just started their own company.

“I was met with great skepticism. There was even a curmudgeon, or two, in the room,” Collins lightheartedly added. “But once we got started, it has been a continuous sharing of ideas - even arguing and screaming for the sake of understanding each other to get the best results and answers.”

The results of DPR’s first meeting with Collins were:
Purpose - We exist to build great things (it was almost great “stuff”)
Core values - integrity, uniqueness, enjoyment and ever forward
Mission - To be a Truly Great Construction Company by the Year 2000

And, at the end of 1999, when DPR met with Collins again to create Mission 2030, these results - the company’s essential “genetics” - are still strong themes that are demonstrated and built upon throughout DPR each day.

Create A Culture of Discipline

According to Collins, “DPR does not have regional offices. DPR has cultural export pods.” One of the primary reasons why the company has grown so successfully in such a short period of time is its great culture of entrepreneurship.

“Customers benefit from interacting with DPR’s culture,” said Collins. “Lots of companies build buildings but very few do it with the self-motivated enjoyment that DPR does. It’s the culture that sets it apart.” DPR’s solid genetic coding - purpose, core values and mission - serves as the basic model that has been replicated and enhanced regionally across the country.

However, as DPR enters its teenage years, the company is reaching a pivotal juncture and needs to prepare itself for increased growing pains, which Collins compared to a giant flywheel. The flywheel starts out slowly, but as more people join in and add energy, the flywheel begins rotating faster on its own, almost seeming out of control. To remain on track and retain a strong competitive advantage for providing exceptional customer service and building great things, DPR needs to embrace and welcome this natural tension and resist creating rules, which could potentially stop the flywheel. Rather, DPR must continue to foster a strong entrepreneurial environment.

“Fundamentally, a company with the ‘right whos’-the right people on the bus-does not need a lot of rules, because everyone is operating from the perspective that they don’t have a job but responsibilities,” said Collins.

He provided an example of when an assistant asked him for a job description and his response was “imagine that you’re an air traffic controller and everything that you do throughout the day is a plane coming in or flying out. It’s your responsibility to think five steps ahead so that the planes don’t crash. There are no lists or rules. There are only responsibilities.”

How to Paint a Picture of Self-Discipline

“Being a manager in a self-disciplined cultural environment is tough, because there needs to be a shared understanding between individuals without it feeling like bureaucracy,” said Collins. “Tension will always exist. It is how that tension is managed that is crucial to success.”

The first step, according to Collins, is making sure that people are equipped with the right tools and knowledge to fulfill their responsibilities. Ongoing training is critical. The second key ingredient is a strong framework-not a list of rules but some clearly defined, agreed-upon standards.

“Within a framework, there is freedom. The standards are set, and the framework offers individuals the flexibility to live up to their responsibilities by providing clear objectives,” said Collins. DPR has six Critical Success Factors (CSFs), preconstruction excellence, safety, schedule, project closeout, zero defect and change management, which provide a strong framework for building successful, quality projects.

Is DPR “Built to Last”?

Collins said that he spends little time with individual companies. He dedicates most of his time and energy on his research and books (his latest is Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t). Therefore, it is very unusual for him to speak at a company event.

When asked why he works with DPR, he thoughtfully answered: “I have met with very few companies where the desire to be great is as sincere as this company. Is DPR built to last? It deserves to last. Will DPR be great? I wouldn’t bet against it.”