Jim Collins executive summary

(Part 2)

Today is Part 2 of the executive summary covering Jim Collin’s two-day virtual class presented by WOBI. I presented Part 1 last Saturday. I would highly recommend that senior executives and business owners take advantage of their offerings and attend WOBI’s upcoming master classes.1

Driven by relentless curiosity and passion for his work, Jim Collins has been researching what makes great companies tick for more than a quarter of a century. During WOBI on Management, he encouraged us to think more deeply about managing our organizations and navigating from good to great using the roadmap and best practices he identified during his career.

In session two, Collins talks about building greatness that is sustainable and long-lasting. He presents three principles:

1. Embracing the genius of the AND.

Instead of deciding on one or the other “long-term or short-term,” “innovation or execution,” we should embrace “and.” “Long-term and short-term,” “innovation and execution.”

In his book Built to Last, Collins looked at some iconic and visionary companies that have changed over a long time. He found that the people who built the truly visionary companies never viewed their primary reason for profit. They viewed money as a necessity but embraced the idea of purpose and profit.

2. Confront the brutal facts and embrace the Stockdale Paradox.

One must never lose the unwavering faith of “we can and will prevail,” but never confuse that with the need, on the other hand, to confront the brutal facts as they are. During his Good to Great research, Collins found that they had the discipline always to confront the brutal facts as people built the best companies. They understood the greatest source of demotivation for the right people was to deny the brutal facts. The right people want to know that their leaders are confronting the brutal facts as they are.

3. The hedgehog concept.

As companies began to increase their potential, they began to ask a series of brutal facts questions.

a. What truly best ignites our best passion?

b. What can we be the best in the world at?

c. What best drives our economic engine?

As leaders begin to put energy into these questions, they begin to put passion, best at, and economics into motion. Do more rigorously of what fits within these three categories and less of what does not.

The Hedgehog Concept: The hedgehog concept consists of being passionate about activities that you love doing while being “genetically encoded” or “made for them” and making a living out of it. The hedgehog concept is something very dynamic that can expand. As one goes through life embracing the hedgehog concept, new capabilities that meet all three categories (passion, best at, economics) are discovered.

There is a multitude of possibilities. As companies grow and evolve, they learn new things that expand into all three categories.

Map of what Makes Great companies tick according to Jim Collins. The map consists of two parts:

Inputs: The path, how a great company is built.

Stage 1: Disciplined People

Stage 2: Disciplined Thought

Stage 3: Disciplined Action

Stage 4: Building to Last

Outputs: Define the destination, what a great company is.

The following three points are outcomes of the previous stages.

1. Superior Results

2. Distinctive Impact

3. Lasting Endurance

I will present the last and concluding part of Collin’s executive summary next Saturday. He talks about why great companies fall. We learn from success stories, but we also need to learn from stories that depict falls and failures. And as we go through his lessons, it would be a good gauge for us to objectively measure and assess how and what we are doing as leaders.

(Francis Kong’s highly acclaimed Level Up Leadership Master Class Online runs this October 13-15. Develop your leadership skills that translate into personal, career, and business growth. For inquiries and reservations, contact April at +63928-559-1798 or and for more information, visit www.levelupleadership.ph)

1 https://www.wobi.com/online-events-apac/