Jim Collins (by Jim Estill)

I am blogging live at World Business Forum.

The first speaker is Jim Collins – author of Good to Great and Built to Last.

“Good is the enemy of Great“

Good to Great studied

Built to Last studied why some companies last and why others fail. He identified 5 stages of decline. The scary part is it is not until stage 4 that companies realize they are in decline.

The stages:

1 – Hubris. Arrogance. I have often seen this characteristic in not only successful companies but in successful people. The obvious answer – practice humility.

2 – Undisciplined pursuit of more. I can see how companies fall into this trap.

3 – Denial of Risk and Peril. I always like Andrew Grove‘s (Intel) quote and the title of his book “Only the Paranoid Survive“. To remain great, companies must see the risks.

4 – Grasping for Salvation.

5 – Failure.

Some Jim Collins quotes:

“I’ve never found an important decision made by a great organization that was made at a point of unanimity. Significant decisions carry risks and inevitably some will oppose it. In these settings, the great legislative leader must be artful in handling uncomfortable decisions, and this requires rigor“

“Level 5 leaders are differentiated from other levels of leaders in that they have a wonderful blend of personal humility combined with extraordinary professional will. Understand that they are very ambitious; but their ambition, first and foremost, is for the company’s success. They realize that the most important step they must make to become a Level 5 leader is to subjugate their ego to the company’s performance. When asked for interviews, these leaders will agree only if it’s about the company and not about them“

“A great company will have many once-in-a-liftetime opportunities“