James C. “Jim” Collins (b.1958) is an American management researcher, author, and speaker. A management consultant, he focuses on company sustainability and durable growth.
Born in Aurora, Colorado, Collins earned a B.S. in Mathematical Sciences and an MBA from Stanford University. He worked at the management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. and the computer company Hewlett-Packard.
Collins is a researcher and teacher at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business since 1988, where he received the Distinguished Teaching Award in 1992. In 1995, he founded a management “laboratory” in Boulder, Colorado, where he researches durable, great companies.
Collins has authored or co-authored six books, including the best sellers Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (1994,) Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t (2001,) and How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In (2009.) These have sold about ten million copies combined.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Jim Collins
Good is the enemy of great. That good is the enemy of great is not just a business problem. It is a human problem.
—Jim Collins
Good is the enemy of great. And that is one of the key reasons why we have so little that becomes great. We don’t have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don’t have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life.
—Jim Collins
Topics: Good, Great
The most effective leaders of companies in transition are the quiet, unassuming people whose inner wiring is such that the worst circumstances bring out their best. They’re unflappable, they’re ready to die if they have to. But you can trust that, when bad things are happening, they will become clearheaded and focused.
—Jim Collins
The purpose of bureaucracy is to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline.
—Jim Collins
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