Jim Collins: Session 2 – The Leadership Summit

Jim Collins: Nationally Acclaimed Business Thinker and Author

?    Relentlessly curious student of enduring great companies, he is the author of the leadership classics Built to Last and Good to Great

?    Groundbreaking researcher and founder of his own management research lab in Boulder, Colorado

?    Former faculty at the Stanford Graduate School of Business

?    Relentlessly curious student of enduring great companies, he is the author of the leadership classics Built to Last and Good to Great

?    His newest release, Great by Choice, answers the penetrating question, Why do some companies thrive in uncertainty, even chaos, and others do not?

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The “X” factor of great leaders is humility combined with will.

3 Distinctive Leadership Behaviors:

1. Fanatical Discipline
2. Empirical creativity
3. Productive Paranoia

The 20 Mile March Principle -You need a 20 Mile March in order to turn good intentions into great results.

The signature of mediocrity is not an unwillingness to change, the true signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency

The marriage of creativity and discipline is key to leadership success.

Creativity is natural.  Discipline is not.

The only mistakes you can learn from are the ones you survive.

If you are only strong when conditions are good, that is malpractice.  Great leaders are strong when people need you most.

Preserve the core (the values/the heart) and stimulate progress.

How do you use a bad event as a defining moment?

How do you make the most of a good event?

Greatness is not primarily a function of circumstances.  Greatness is a matter of conscious choice and discipline.

Markings of a Great Organization:

1. Superior performance relative to your mission
2. Make a distinctive impact.  What would be lost if we disappeared?
3. Achieve lasting endurance

Your organization is not truly great if it can not be great without you.

My Commentary:

Jim is quite likely one of the most influential business thinkers to my leadership development.  His book, Good to Great, rocked my world as a young twenty-something.  I’ve since soaked up every book he has written.  The depth of research behind his writing and the impact of his principles is profound.  Principles founded in truth prove to be true whether in business or ministry.