Great by Choice by Jim Collins
“Greatness is not primarily a matter of circumstance; greatness is first and foremost a matter of conscious choice and discipline.”
3 Main Messages:
To be successful you need to set realistic goals and hit them consistently
Creativity and innovation are important, but acting on empirical evidence is vital
To be successful in an unstable world we need to prepare for, and buffer against, the worst case scenarios.
Imagine working somewhere repeatedly named by The Sunday Times as one of the best places to work in the UK. A company whose clients praise the team for their “deep market analysis, storytelling ability, and strategic media placements”. A company whose employees describe it as collaborative and forward thinking, where the best thing about their workplace is “the people.”
Performance Communications is just that. One of their Founders and Joint Managing Directors, Andy Francis, recently read and recommended this book. I’ve known Andy for 35 years and, given that he is one of most driven, successful, analytical, determined and kind people I know, I knew I had to read it.
Chapter one opens with Peter L. Bernstein’s quote: “We simply do not know what the future holds.” This book was published in 2011 after a 9 year research project where the authors studied American companies that thrived through that challenging time. I wonder what they would have made of the 15 years since? One thing is certain: we never know what’s coming next and so it’s almost impossible to prepare for it.
Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen set out to discover what made some companies succeed spectacularly, despite this uncertainty, chaos and instability. They found that “companies, leaders, organisations, and societies do not thrive on chaos. But they can thrive in chaos.”
By identifying what they described as 10X Companies (those who beat their industry indexes by a minimum of ten times over 15 years) and comparing them directly to their competitors, they were able to identify some key traits which contributed to their success.
The first trait explored is the ‘20 Mile March’. It’s a classic story of the tortoise beating the hare. Success is the reward of consistency over impulsivity. Collins writes that this model is about “having concrete, clear, intelligent, and rigorous pursued performance mechanisms that keep you on track.” There are established markers which "delineate a lower bound of acceptable achievement,” AND “self-imposed constraints.”
Another necessity is to ‘Fire Bullets, then Cannonballs.” These 10Xers fired plenty of bullets and experimented repeatedly, then looked carefully at the results before taking big risks and moving in one direction. By doing this, these companies were able to “marry relentless discipline with creativity.” A big bet will likely prove successful when it is made on a “calibrated cannonball”, backed by empirical evidence.
These companies also shared the habit of building cash reserves and buffers and of always planning for the worst case scenario. They had back up plans for their back up plans. In fact Collins and Hansen found that “10Xers build buffers and shock absorbers far beyond the norm of what others do.”
There are examples and wonderfully inspiring stories throughout the book, including that of Howard Putman’s ‘Specific, Methodical and Consistent’ (SMaC) way of making decisions at Southwest Airlines - one of the classic 10X companies studied. They also looked at the luck which was in place for Bill Gates to be so successful and concluded that he “did more with his luck, taking a confluence of lucky circumstances and creating a huge return on his luck.”
Each of these traits is then demonstrated beautifully in the story of the race to the South Pole in 1911 and 1912. Roald Amundsen led his team successfully, as a result of rigorous research, worst-case scenario planning and carefully mapped consistency, while the British Team, led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, failed in the worst possible way.
We are wise to look back while planning forward. By learning the lessons of successful individuals and teams throughout history, organisations and companies can prepare for worst case scenarios in the future. As Bill Gates said “Life is a lot more fun when you treat its challenges in creative ways,” which is worth bearing in mind given the unknown challenges we are bound to be facing in the next few years.
There’s one thing I know for sure: Andy Francis and his team will be well-prepared. They will already be taking onboard the methodology of this book and will continue having fun and being incredibly successful as a result.
Will you?
