Overview of the Business Best Seller Good to Great and
"Great" Internet Marketing Results
1. "Great" Business Leadership
"Great" business leadership refers to the world-class business leadership and financial results described in the business best seller, Good to Great - which as been regularly listed as one of Amazon's top business leadership books for the last 20 years - often the #1 book listed in the Strategic Business Planning book category.
The book's research team analyzed the financial results of 1,435 companies (all companies listed on the Fortune 500 list from 1965-1995). After an extensive review of the financial performance of these companies, it was determined that 11 companies stood out from the rest. These companies (11/1,435 companies = 1/130 companies) achieved incredible financial results - going from "good" to extraordinarily "great" financial results.
"Great" companies achieved 6.9x greater financial results than the general market
for 15 years following their transition point from
"Good" to "Great" financial results...
The percentage of companies that produced "great" financial results
from the list of all Fortune 500 companies from 1965-1995
was .77% - 1 in 130 companies!!!
Key Quote from the Book:
"All of the 'Great' companies had 'Level 5' Business Leadership in place
at the time of transition from Good to Great financial results."
The purpose of this web page is to:
- Summarize the research uncovered by the Good to Great book's research team on the qualities of the leaders that were able to lead businesses to such outstanding rates of business growth
- Provide related work examples (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), to demonstrate an extensive work history of production of similar, company leading and industry leading business results produced .
2. Qualities of "Level 5" Business Leaders
--
and "Level 5" Internet Marketing Directors
"Level 5" refers to the key business leadership qualities identified by the Good to Great research team as the
leadership qualities that were most consistently demonstrated by the leaders of the "great" companies -
the top 1% performers of all Fortune 500 Companies over a 30 year research period.
"The Level 5 Leaders
embody all five levels of the Leadership Pyramid."
3. "Great" Business Leadership Principles Discovered and
Producing "Great" Business Growth
- "Level 5" Leadership: "We were surprised, shocked really, to discover the type of leadership required for turning a good company into a great one. Compared to high-profile leaders with big personalities who make headlines and become celebrities, the good-to-great leaders seem to have come from Mars. Self-effacing, quiet, reserved, even shy - these leaders are a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will . They are more link Lincoln and Socrates than Patton or Caesar."
- First Who...Then What: "We expected that good-to-great leaders would begin by setting a new vision and strategy. We found that they first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats - and then they figured out where to drive it. The old adage "people are your best asset" turns out to be wrong. People are not your most important asset. The right people are."
- Confront the Brutal Facts (Yet Never Lose Faith): "We learned that a former prisoner of war had more to teach us about what it takes to find a path to greatness than most books on corporate strategy.
Every great company embraced what we came to call "The Stockdale Paradox":
You must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, AND at the same time have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be."
- The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within Three Circles): "To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence. Just because something is your core business - just because you've been doing it for years or perhaps even decades - does not necessarily mean you can be the best in the world at it. And if you cannot be the best in the world at your core business, then your core business absolutely cannot form the basis of a great company. It must be replaced with
a simple concept that reflects deep understanding of three intersecting circles."
- A Culture of Discipline: "All companies have a culture, some companies have discipline, but few companies have a culture of discipline. When you have disciplined people, you don't need hierarchy. When you have disciplined thought, you don't need bureaucracy. When you have disciplined action, you don't need excessive controls. When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great performance. "
- Technology Accelerators: "Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology. They never use technology as the primary means of igniting a transformation. Yet, paradoxically, they are pioneers in the application of carefully selected technologies. "
- The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: " ...the good-to-great transformations never happened in one fell swoop. There was no single defining action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no solitary luck break, no miracle moment. Rather, the process resembled relentlessly pushing a giant heavy flywheel in one direction, turn upon turn, building momentum until a point of breakthrough, and beyond. "
4. Great Internet Marketing and Business Leadership Results: 6 Examples
4.1 "Great" Internet Marketing and Business Leadership Results Produced: 1st of 6 Examples
2001-2025: JohnLutz.com - World-Class Internet Marketing, 21st Century Business Strategy
The below results are 2009-2013 Internet marketing and SEO results and rankings. The site rankings for these terms are no longer active nor being currently pursued.
- Ranked #1, #2, #3 and #4 on Google for "Top Ranked Internet Marketing Director" out of 1/2 billion search results
- Ranked #1 and #2 on Google for "World-Class Internet Marketing" out of millions of search results
- Ranked #1, #2 and #3 on Google for "Industry Leading Internet Marketing Results" out of millions of search results
- Ranked #1, #2 and #3 on Google for "Level 5 Internet Marketing Director" out of millions of search results.
- Ranked on the First Page of Google for "Internet Marketing Director Cover Letter" out of millions of search results.
- Ranked on the First page of Google for "Internet Marketing Director Resume" out of millions of search results.
Less than 20% of the capabilities of the Internet marketing systems that my coworkers and I developed over the last 20+ years were utilized to obtain these results. The systems were developed from the beginning (starting in 1999) with the goal of obtaining #1 positions for the most competitive search terms on the Internet: https://johnlutz.com/internet-marketing/. And, the results on the below listed web project examples further demonstrate the effectiveness of the systems developed.
Nutrition-based Medicine and Natural Healthcare Research and Consulting
Current Projects (October, 2025):
- Adding 200-300+ pages of nutrition-based medicine and natural healthcare research content.
- Then, implementing Internet marketing projects for the health content (rather than Internet marketing terms and content, such as those listed above), to help many people access top information and research on nutrition-based medicine and natural healthcare!
- Pursuing work on related projects (SEO, Internet marketing projects, and nutrition-based medicine and natural healthcare research and marketing projects).
4.2 "Great" Business Leadership and Marketing Results Achieved: 2nd of 6 Examples
1994-2003: Whole Foods Market - #176 on the 2017 Fortune 500 Company List (before being bought by Amazon in 2017)
Worked as the lead salesperson and team member trainer for a Whole Foods Market store that received the Top Store in the Company Award out of (at the time) 130+ stores - #1 out of 130+ stores = the same percentage of companies that produced "Great" business success in the Good to Great book!!!
Helped two Whole Foods Market Nutrition Departments (supplements, books and bodycare items) and three Whole Foods Market Stores receive company-wide recognition for achieving company-leading operational and financial success.
- Top Store in the Company (once)
- Top Store in the Region (twice)
- Top Nutrition Department in the Company (once)
- Top Nutrition Department in Region (twice)
Worked with an estimated 50,000 customers one-on-one researching their nutrition and natural healthcare questions, during 9 years' work in some of the highest volume health food stores in the country (stores with over 20,000 shoppers per week, and over 10% of the stores’ shoppers making a purchase in the Nutrition/Whole Body Department of the stores where my coworkers and I worked), and during an additional 10 years' work with top alternative medicine/natural healthcare researchers, doctors and medical clinics on retail and web-based projects (and, while researching consumer technology related questions during two years of work in some of the highest volume technology businesses -- with CompUSA, when they were the largest computer product retailer in the world, and some brief consulting work with Microsoft, at Microsoft's headquarters, in Redmond, WA). This work helped develop highly advanced skills within the areas of production of consumer educational content, marketing content, and web content of interest to many readers – very important skills for excelling in business in the 21st century, and excelling online in the fields of e-commerce and Internet marketing.
4.3 "Great" Internet Marketing and Business Leadership Results Produced: 3rd of 6 Examples
2003-05: Ayurvedaonline.com - Natural Healthcare Products, Education and Medical Services
Ayurveda is a nutrition-based medical/healthcare system from India. Ayurvedaonline.com was owned by former Chairman of Ayurvedic Medicine Department at Bastyr University, the top alternative medicine school in the country. The business and website were sold in 2006 after achieving outstanding financial success. The site was/is a web site for three businesses: (1) an alternative medicine clinic, (2) an alternative medicine school offering continuing education programs for medical professionals, and (3) an alternative medicine products company featuring a private label line of nutritional supplements, bodycare products, medical equipment and specialty foods.
I worked as Internet Marketing Director part-time from 6/03 to 1/04, full-time from 2/04 to 3/05, part-time from 4/05 to 6/05, and full-time from 11/05 to 12/05. A more traditional Good to Great business growth curve is shown below for Ayurvedaonline.com, with the longer development phase before the rapid growth phase. On the TaipanFinancialNews.com project and the LetFreedomRingUSA.com project, the "Great" results were obtained very quickly (80 to 150 days) due to the experience and skills obtained while working on the Ayurvedaonline.com project and sufficient funding provided by these projects to support rapid web traffic growth. Ayurvedaonline.com was sold in 2006 after achieving outstanding financial results and "Great" business success.
Web Traffic Stats for Ayurvedaonline.com, 11/20/03 to 1/29/06
Led the alternative medicine school's web site from non-functional - outdated content, non-optimized brand image, non-functional shopping cart and less than 10 visitors per day ... to a Top 100,000 Site Ranking on the Internet - a ranking higher than 99.82% of all sites on the Internet (ranking source: Alexa.com, 2nd quarter, 2005). Over 90% of the web traffic was "natural traffic" - traffic generated without any form of paid advertising, the highest profit margin form of web traffic.
Rate of Web Traffic Increase during my final 3 months of work on the project: An increase of 1,012,282 positions - equivalent or greater than results achieved by websites listed on Alexa.com as "Movers and Shakers" - sites gaining web traffic faster than any other websites on the Internet.
Topped all major alternative medicine web sites in web traffic growth (and over 99% of the sites on the Internet) and most major alternative medicine web sites in overall web traffic.
Produced all marketing content and web coding to enable online enrollment in the school's educational courses, which resulted in online sales of up to $11,000 per order.
Total online sales generated over 24 months (through web-based methods with some follow-up phone support): over $500,000. Increased online sales of nutritional supplements and books from $0 (non-functional online store) to over $23,000 over a 15 month period.
Produced a 49% increase in gross profit during my first 15 months of work on the project.
Produced a 117 fold increase in web traffic produced over 20 months' time (about 16 months of full-time work).
4.4 "Great" Internet Marketing and Business Leadership Results Produced: 4th of 6 Examples
2006-07: Taipanfinancialnews.com - Financial News and Investment Site, a Division of Theagora.com
Led a 23 million/year division of a 300 million/year e-commerce business with 87% of revenue generated online from 15 different web sites to a new primary domain name, a totally new site layout (fully optimized for search engine recognition and natural traffic generation), greatly improved branding and product merchandising, new trademarks, a new medium of delivery for content (video) and a top 50,000 Site Ranking on the Internet - a ranking higher than 99.95% of all sites on the Internet in 4.5 months' time. Ranking source: Alexa.com, owned by Amazon.com; 4th qtr. 2006/1st qtr. 07.
Rate of Web Traffic Increase on the project was similar to the traffic growth of web sites highlighted on Alexa.com as
"Movers and Shakers" - web sites gaining traffic faster than any other sites on the Internet.
Received the Most Profitable Division Award out of the 15 divisions for the 300 million/year e-commerce business.
(Taipan and other "divisions" were/are actually structured as independent companies, with some oversight from The Agora's leadership team.)
Led a marketing team of 10 web coding experts, 4 marketing experts, 15 content producers and 6 supporting team members (about 35-40 team members). Installed cutting-edge, search engine optimized XHTML/CSS web code on the site and a new site layout. Reformatted the site and product mix to increase natural traffic results and increase sales-per-transaction and sales-per- visitor. Marketed financial e-newsletter subscriptions (financial investment advice) - free introductory subscriptions up to $7,500 per year subscription (a one-time fee with a $99/yr annual renewal fee). Purchased 20K in computer equipment and 10K in Adobe training to quickly change the business from a text-based e-newsletter subscription format to a video-based format. This was way back in 2006 when YouTube was just beginning to become popular! Managed a 130,000 name e-newsletter subscriber list and a $40,000 monthly pay-per-click advertising budget. Distributed search engine optimized content to many top sites online with links back to the main site.
Alexa.com's Traffic Stats for TaipanFinancialNews.com, 1/7/07
The Rate of Web Traffic Increase during our final 3 months of work on the project was similar to the rates for sites
highlighted on Alexa as "Movers and Shakers" - web sites gaining traffic faster than any other sites on the Internet!
Notice the below web site ranking, #108,730, and the 3 month change - an increase of 4,833,732 positions!!!
Two months later, after all of our Internet marketing work was picked up by
search engines, the site reached a top 50,000 Alexa ranking!!!
4.5 "Great" Internet Marketing and Business Leadership Results Produced: 5th of 6 Examples
2009: LetFreedomRingUSA.com - A Conservative Political Website Promoting Limited, Constitutional Government, Economic Freedom and Traditional Values
Topped All Major Conservative Political Web Sites (CPAC 2009 Exhibitor Web Sites, over 100 top political web sites) in Year to Year Traffic Growth. CPAC, The Conservative Political Action Conference, is the largest annual event in Washington, D.C., for conservative political organizations.
*Alexa.com (a top 4,000 site online, owned by Amazon) and other top web analytics websites can provide third party documentation for these results (and the other Internet marketing results highlighted on this page) -- industry leading Internet marketing results on four different web projects covering five different industries.
Web traffic statistics referenced: Compete.com Yearly Change (total visits per month comparing April 2008 to April 2009).
4.6 "Great" Internet Marketing and Business Leadership Results Produced: 6th of 6 Examples
"Great" Educational Training
- Summary: Completed enough college credits for a master's degree. Fields of study: Web design/Internet marketing, nutrition/dietetics and mechanical engineering. The Internet, though, was (in 1999) and is a rapidly emerging and quickly changing medium – something best studied directly. There is no better way to study such a medium, and I've pursued this path for my Internet marketing studies since 1999. https://johnlutz.com/personal-profile/.
- Direct studies with world-class experts in my fields of interest: I moved 3,000 miles three times (in 1993, before the Internet became popular, and in 2003 and 2005) to pursue direct studies with top experts in my fields of interest. Now, 16 to 28 years later, education has adapted and changed to become more effective and deliver a similar educational model. This change is in the form of education from top universities being offered online. One major difference, though, is that in addition to direct studies with top experts in my fields of interest, I learned how to excel in unknown, challenging situations, far from home, where it was win or go home, and learning everything necessary to excel was part of the training. The Internet, and the fields of Internet marketing and business leadership, are exactly these types of environments.
The web traffic growth curves shown above are very similar to (or greater than) the growth curves
produced by the "Great" companies highlighted in Good to Great!
In Good to Great, only .77% of the 1435 companies studied (1 in 130 companies)
were able to produce comparable results!
