Great by Choice

By: Jim Collins, Morten T. Hansen

Narrated by: Jim Collins

Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

The new question: Ten years after the worldwide best seller Good to Great, Jim Collins returns to ask: Why do some companies thrive in uncertainty, even chaos, and others do not? In Great by Choice, Collins and his colleague, Morten T. Hansen, enumerate the principles for building a truly great enterprise in unpredictable, tumultuous, and fast-moving times.

The new study: Great by Choice distinguishes itself from Collins’s prior work by its focus on the type of unstable environments faced by leaders today.

The new findings:

• The best leaders were more disciplined, more empirical, and more paranoid.
• Following the belief that leading in a “fast world” always requires “fast decisions” and “fast action” is a good way to get killed.
• The great companies changed less in reaction to a radically changing world than the comparison companies.

This book is classic Collins: contrarian, data-driven, and uplifting. He and Hansen show convincingly that, even in a chaotic and uncertain world, greatness happens by choice, not by chance.

©2011 Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers

You can do the same

Very clear with examples of how they did it, and how you can start to work now to be #great #company
#tagsgiving, #sweepstakes

This book is a gold mine!

LOVED this book (as I do all of Jim Collins books). I'm not sure if the visual explanations were added for the audio version but they were greatly appreciated. I also LOVED the chapter summaries, consistent terminology, and reminders of that terminology and where we are on the visual diagram being discussed. I especially love the chapter on luck... great job defining and quantifying luck (good & bad) and finding the truth! The stories were relevant and interesting and as always, Jim & his team deliver solid analysis and action points for success. Definitely will be reading this one again.

The audio quality bugged me a bit at first as it sounded like Jim was talking in a can with harsh 'S's but I got used to it. I listened mostly while driving so volume was up on my bluetooth to overcome traffic noise. I certainly appreciated Jim's effective pauses and inflection at key points throughout the book.

Do not kid yourself this by far one of the best!

Where does Great by Choice rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top 5 of all books.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Great by Choice?

20 mile march. What it means to be consistent.

Which scene was your favorite?

Made very specific points to the 10x'er. Are you a 10x'er?

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Persistence and value blew me away!

Any additional comments?

If this book does not motivate you, I am super sorry. This is one of the new age motivational and confidence builders of today.

Worthwhile Read

Jim Collins talks about a commitment to discipline and a concept he calls the 20 mile march. Calling for more discipline in business is not a revelation but it well deserves repeating and emphasis. The 20 mile march was the best and most empowering part of the book. Most of us are not, nor do we work for Steve Jobs, Bill Gates or some other visionary business leader. The 20 mile march throws open the doors for the rest of us. It says that most of us can do great things if we work within certain reasonable parameters. Collins attempt to pump up the energy with his spirited narration comes off as a bit over the top on occasion. Don't let that minor flaw dissuade you from benefitting from this fine piece of work.

I liked From Good to Great a lot better

It was a good book but I guess my hopes were that it would be a lot better than his earlier works but still a great book

Incredible

What made the experience of listening to Great by Choice the most enjoyable?

Jim Collins is the best and most important business author of the last two decades, period.

What other book might you compare Great by Choice to and why?

Fits directly in the Built to Last, Good to Great style, but more geared for triumph over chaos and uncertainty.

What about Jim Collins’s performance did you like?

Authenticity, plainly delivered from the author himself.

the author is a terrible reader

the story is good but I have a hard time listening because the author is the worst reader. his cadence is terrible, it's like he's trying to do a poor Christopher walken accent. if you really want to read the book, get the actual book, don't torture yourself with the audio version.

Must read for project or program leaders.

Lots of research into easy to grasp concepts on how to lead to be successful.

The best by far from Jim Collins

It is a marvelous study. Deep dive into stories of companies that thrive into good and bad luck outperforming their competitors and general stock market. Not only Jim and Morten extend on the topic from previous books they don’t overlap the concepts that have proven right and still stand and revisit those that have been incomplete by data.
There are a lot findings and much more to digest. I am grateful to both authors and their respective teams for their dedication of 9 years to this project. It’s a great lesson in history, leadership and building great companies from the ground up.

Gerat data for moving forward in business.

What did you love best about Great by Choice?

Simply great data.

Any additional comments?

Play this at 1.25 speed. Way too slow of a read for anything less.