Good to Great

In his best-selling book, Good to Great, Jim Collins introduced the hedgehog concept, which is a company’s discovery and laser-like focus on the one thing that meets all three of the following criteria: it is something the organization can be the best in the world at, is deeply passionate about, and drives their economic engine. The subject of this book is business, but one can see how this can be applied to the professional trying to build their brand or the individual trying to define their life purpose.

In one of my favorite chapters, Mr. Collins distilled the wisdom of military officer, philosopher, and Hanoi Hilton POW camp survivor James Stockdale into the following phrase he called the Stockdale Paradox: “Retain faith that you will prevail in the end regardless of the difficulties AND at the same time confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” This philosophy takes constant practice but has a powerful return on the time and effort invested in applying it in one’s personal and professional life.

If you have read this book and found it helpful, please share your favorite insights.