Jim Collins Review

An Analysis of Selected Jim Collins Articles

I will begin by saying that at first I found Jim Collins articles confusing. I could understand the point he was trying to make in each article but when I tried to put together the train of thought that ran through all his work I found it very confusing - I couldn't see which direction he was heading in. So I decided that if I read his books, Built to Last and Good to Great, it hopefully would make what Jim Collins was getting at clearer to me. I read the books and I found them very entertaining. More importantly I realised that Collins does not intend to be "revolutionary". He is merely reporting facts and statistics. He is simply highlighting the factors that were critical to the success enjoyed by some of the companies he studied.

Another key point that I overlooked in the articles but that was made clear to me when I read the works as a whole was that you do not have to be a captain of industry, a 'Bill Gates', for these theories to apply to you.

The Kimberly-Clark paper plant on the Everett, Was...

Collin

English: Jim Collins (James C. Collins), an Americ...

The good-to-great concepts are applicable to any situation -- as long as you can pick the people around you - that is the crucial thing. But fundamentally, most of us do have a lot of discretion over the people in our lives, the people we decide to let on our bus, whether it's in our department at work or in our personal lives. To put in Collins words you can build your own 'flywheel'. You can start to build momentum in something for which you've got responsibility. You can build a great department at work. You can build a great localcommunity or sports club. You can take every one...