"The Stanford-trained researcher whose multi-year studies decoded what separates merely good companies from truly great ones."
Jim Collins is an American business consultant and author whose research-driven books, including "Good to Great" and "Built to Last," have shaped how a generation of executives think about sustained company performance. A former Stanford Graduate School of Business faculty member, Collins runs a management research lab in Boulder, Colorado, where he and his teams conduct multi-year studies comparing great companies to their less successful peers. "Built to Last," co-written with Jerry Porras, examined what separates enduring visionary companies from the rest, while "Good to Great" identified the specific practices—like disciplined leadership and a clear-eyed grasp of brutal facts—that allow good companies to become truly great ones.
Our in-depth summaries and reviews of his work
Collins and Porras reveal why some companies thrive for generations while competitors fade. The research-backed blueprint for building an enduring organization.
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Jim Collins studied 11 companies that leapt from good to great and stayed there for 15+ years. Here's the full framework —…
Read Summary →Collins argues that settling for "good enough" is precisely what prevents most organizations and individuals from ever reaching greatness.
Great companies operate at the intersection of what they're deeply passionate about, what they can be best in the world at, and what drives their economic engine.
In "Built to Last," Collins and Porras found that enduring visionary companies hold their core values steady while constantly experimenting with everything else.
"Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great."— Good to Great
"Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline."— Good to Great
"Great vision without great people is irrelevant."— Good to Great
"Visionary companies make some of their best moves by experimentation, trial and error, opportunism, and—quite literally—accident."— Built to Last
Collins and Porras reveal why some companies thrive for generations while competitors fade. The research-backed blueprint for building an enduring organization.
Jim Collins studied 11 companies that leapt from good to great and stayed there for 15+ years. Here's the full framework — Level 5 Leadership, the Hedgehog Concept, and the Flywheel — with a 7-day plan to apply it.
