#20: Leaping from good to great, with Jim Collins

What makes a company truly great? Conversely, what makes it fail? We get answers to those questions in part one of Paul’s interview with author and business expert Jim Collins. Jim has made a science out of greatness. He’s a man on a mission to study and scientifically determine what makes some companies succeed while others fail. With more than a quarter of a century of research under his belt, Jim has authored and co-authored six books that have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.

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In this interview, we zoom in on insights from Jim’s book Great by Choice. The question he tackles there is “Why do some companies thrive in uncertainty or even chaos, while others don’t?”

SHOW NOTES:

3:15  Jim found answers to the key questions noted above through decades of exhaustive research.

5:45  Paul asked Jim if he feels change is happening faster nowadays.

8:00  Change is good for many people. But good or bad, how do people survive constant change and disruption? That’s a key question that Jim and his co-author, Morten Hansen, pose in their book.

9:45  One of the things Jim talks about in Great by Choice is the core competencies that need to exist to be a so-called “10X leader.”

12:00  Jim delves into the first part of the triangle: Fanatic Discipline.

15:15  How important is Jim’s 20-mile march concept for a salesperson or small business owner?

17:20  The second part of the triangle is the Empirical Creative Side.” Jim talks about what “creative time” really looks like for a salesperson or business owner.

19:40  What does all of this mean to salespeople who might not see themselves as creative?

23:10  The third part of Jim’s triangle is Productive Paranoia – something that Jim says is vitally important to 10X leaders, provided they manage it the right way.

25:15  In the middle of that triangle – this great “success pyramid” – is what Jim calls Level 5 Ambition.

27:30  The people Jim studied who were truly great had a mission of service, regardless of the business they were in.