Finally got around to reading Built to Last, Jim Collins’ best selling book on visionary/exceptional companies. It is a dense business school oriented read, but also has a soft/conceptual side that was unexpected.

One of the main points of the book is that visionary/exceptional companies are focused on the company as the “product”. That is, it is not about a specific product or service, or key leader, or whatever. The effort is in building a company that can execute on its core purpose with consistency and effectiveness over a long period of time.

In contrast to the games biz, how many studios are started on the “big idea” approach? The vast majority, no? In my mind, BioWare is one of the few studios that is taking the “building a clock” approach of intentional company evolution. Then again, Ray and Greg both took MBA’s and are big fans of Jim Collins… Hmm, Don Daglow is probably another with his efforts to build company culture/etc with Stormfront…

Anyway, wonder what would happen if execs took a deeper look at building a great studio as the ultimate goal, making great games along the way (instead of vice versa)?