Professor Jim Collins is a giant in the world of Business literature. Shortly after leaving a prestigious post at Stanford University to pursue a path as an independent researcher and business author, he met and made friends with another giant of the field, Peter Drucker. The Austrian business thinker was already 86 years old but would still go on to write 6 more books before his death aged 92.
In a recent interview with Tim Ferris, Collins recalled two lessons he learned from his friendship with Drucker. The first came shortly after the two first met. Collins had just left a stable and tenured position at Stanford, a move he described as his "Thelma and Louise" moment. If you've seen the movie, you'll remember the final scene when the two desperadoes drive headlong over the lip of a canyon in order to evade capture by the law. "I was genuinely scared," recalls Collins. "All we had was $10 000 in our bank account and there was no going back."
The author of "Good to Great" recalls his first meeting with Drucker. Indebted to the sage for so generously sharing his experience, Collins asked if there was any way he could repay him. "I don't need anything," replied Drucker "but I do have a request - change your question a little bit. It seems to me you spend a lot of time worrying about IF you're going to survive - you will probably survive. It's the wrong question. The question is how to be useful". It was, said Collins, the last thing Drucker said that day. "He just got out of the car and closed the door and walked away".
Another gem that emerged from Collins' association with Drucker was more of an observation than a piece of advice. According to Collins, a careful reading of Drucker's formidable body of work (some 40 books over a 70-year career), reveals the mind of a thinker devoted to answering a "single, beautiful and gigantic question" namely: "Can a society become more efficient and more humane at the same time?" That's what inspired him, fed his curiosity, fuelled his extraordinary work ethic.
Collins has unquestionably followed suit: Look at the sub-text to some of his great titles:
- Why do some companies radically outperform their peers? (Good to Great)
- Why do some companies thrive in chaos and uncertainty? (Great by Choice)
- Why do great companies fall? (How the Mighty Fall)
I have always been inspired by Jim Collins. His insights are piercing, his writing engrossing. There is a timeless wisdom to his work that few of his contemporaries can match. I'm sure there's way more to his success but for now, these two nuggets will do:
- It's not a case of if or when I will succeed, it's a case of whether what I do is useful to others
- I am not a mercenary who takes on the highest paying job on offer. My life is a single and epic quest for the answer to a beautiful and gigantic question. Now it's just a case of figuring out what that is
