James C. Collins
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For the football player of the same name see Jim Collins (football player).
| James C. Collins, III | |
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| Born | 1958 Boulder, Colorado, United States |
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| Occupation | Management consultant and writer |
James C. "Jim" Collins, III (b. 1958, Boulder, Colorado) is an American business consultant, author, and lecturer on the subject of company sustainability and growth. Jim Collins frequently contributes to Harvard Business Review, Business Week, Fortune and other magazines, journals, etc. He is also the author of Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, and Good to Great.
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[edit] Beginnings
He began his research and teaching career on the faculty at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, where he received the Distinguished Teaching Award in 1992. In 1995, he founded a management laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, where he now conducts research and teaches executives from the corporate and social sectors.
Collins has served as a teacher to senior executives and CEOs at over a hundred corporations. He has also worked with social sector organizations, such as: Johns Hopkins Medical School, the Girl Scouts of America, the Leadership Network of Churches, the American Association of K-12 School Superintendents, and the United States Marine Corps. In 2005 he published a monograph: Good to Great and the Social Sectors.
[edit] Jimmy Collins
He also re-published an autobiography called Test Pilot (Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1935), written by Collins own grandfather Jimmy Collins, for whom both Jim Collins and his own father were named. Grandfather Jimmy Collins was the chief test pilot for the Grumman military aircraft company during the 1930s, and Spencer Tracy portrayed him in the movie version of his book. Jimmy Collins died testing the F3 biplane, which crashed while he was testing it.
[edit] Writings
Having invested over a decade of research into the topic, Jim has authored or co-authored four books, including the classic Built to Last, a fixture on the Business Week best-seller list for more than six years, and has been translated into 25 languages.
His latest book, Good to Great, "about the factors common to those few companies ... to sustain remarkable success for a substantial period", attained long-running positions on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Business Week best seller lists, has sold 2.5 million hardcover copies since publication and has been translated into 32 languages.
[edit] Level 5
Level 5, a term Collins often uses, refers to the top of a five-tier hierarchy of leadership characteristics; a Level 5 Leader is someone who embodies a “paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will.”
[edit] Criticism
Robert Sutton at Stanford University has critiqued Collins reliance on great leadership to make great companies, stating that he "greatly overstates" the importance of leadership in running a successful organization.
[edit] Family
About his wife, he stated “We’ve been married 20 years and we have 50–50 ownership ... [b]ut she holds all the voting shares.” Actually, Mr. Collins makes no major decision without the unanimous agreement of a triumvirate consisting of Collins, his wife, and their longstanding research associate, Brian Bagley, who, combined, comprise what Collins calls his “executive council”.
[edit] Books
- 1994: Built to Last by James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras (Paperback, Hardcover, CD)
- 1995: Beyond Entrepreneurship: Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company by Collins and William C. Lazier (Paperback & Hardcover)
- 2001: Good to Great:Why Some Companies Make the Leap … And Others Don’t by Collins (Paperback, Hardcover, CD).
- 2005: Good to Great and the Social Sectors by Collins (Paperback)
