Tag Archives: Jim Collins



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  • Realizing Your Purpose

    A lot of what happens in business seems to be based on default. What do I mean by default? Well it goes like this: “I lost my job so I went into business myself”, “These clients buy my product so, this is the audience I sell towards”, “I was making all the money for the company, so I decided to go out on my own”, or “I was a really good engineer, carpenter, programmer, haircutter, etc, etc, so I decided to go into business for myself”. This is exciting, but it doesn’t create a great business until you determine its purpose for existence, beyond making a living.

    If you’ve ever wondered why it is that other companies seem to be doing so well, and you are always struggling, it could be because you haven’t found or awakened to your true purpose for being in business. Making sure that purpose is always alive in your daily and weekly interactions and the culture of your business is essential to real success.

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  • A wise fox learns the ways of the hedgehog…

    If you’re familiar with The Hedgehog and The Fox, you know that the hedgehog revolves around one known truth, and the fox around many. The hedgehog is focused, and strategizes around that “one thing”, while the agile fox uses multiple strategies, many time uncoordinated and unrelated.

    In Good to Great, Jim Collins uses this analogy to describe how some companies become great, and others never realize their goals. He says, “Those who built the good-to-great companies were, to one degree or another, hedgehogs.

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  • Proactive Vs. Reactive

    I’ve written a lot about execution and getting things done. A few years back we created a software program (FlockGPS) to help us execute on our strategic plan by knocking out quarterly goals on the way to reaching our longterm BHAG, or Bug Hairy Audacious Goal (as coined by Jim Collins, author of Good to Great).

    Another aspect to execution is in the day to day – how to manage your time effectively and have productive days that add up to your longer term goals. We all struggle with getting tied up in so many things we must be reactive to, and not making time for those things where we must be proactive.

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  • Designing Your Life at EO Barcelona

    I’ve attended EO Universities for several years now, but this year was unlike any I’ve ever attended. I went for the first time to Barcelona, Spain. The theme of the University was “Design Your Life”. The idea was to focus on what you really want out of life, and what you’re doing to get there. It’s like choosing a personal BHAG – your very own Big Hairy Audacious Goal.

    As entrepreneurs, we set goals all the time, but experience has taught me that we tend to view are business goals and life goals as one in the same; that by reaching our business goals we receive all we want out of life. Shouldn’t our businesses really be the means to our personal goals and the life legacies we want to create? This isn’t the case, in that, more often than not we let our businesses consume our lives and distract us from our families, spousal relationships, and our own personal paths.

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  • 3 Keys to Business Greatness!

    If you asked me the business authors out there who I think provide the most value, I would have to say Jim Collins and Peter Drucker. Both of these guys have provided huge insight to the business community on how to run a successful company. Like most businesses, we at Efficience are starting the year formulating strategies and goals to make forward progress toward our destination, and reading Collins’ and Drucker’s material has always been good preparation.

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  • When there’s more than one right answer…

    Dewitt Jones tells an exceptional story. He does it with a passion and purpose that he has put into his life as a National Geographic photographer. The title of his talk, Extraordinary Vision, was truly extraordinary. He shares the stories behind these fantastic photographs that make them real and meaningful in a way that sticks with you. I was fortunate enough to see him at both the EO Arizona University and the EO Canada Regional, and was captivated both times. Many people said they felt teary eyed listening to his presentation.

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