Great by Choice
Uncertainty, Chaos and Luck - Why Some Thrive Despite Them All
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Great by Choice
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Narrated by:
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Jim Collins
About this listen
The New Question.
Ten years after the worldwide best seller Good to Great, Jim Collins returns with another ground-breaking work, this time to ask: Why do some companies thrive in uncertainty, even chaos, and others do not? Based on nine years of research, buttressed by rigorous analysis and infused with engaging stories, Collins and his colleague, Morten 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 not just on performance, but also on the type of unstable environments faced by leaders today. With a team of more than 20 researchers, Collins and Hansen studied companies that rose to greatness - beating their industry indexes by a minimum of 10 times over 15 years - in environments characterized by big forces and rapid shifts that leaders could not predict or control. The research team then contrasted these "10X companies" to a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to achieve greatness in similarly extreme environments.
The New Findings.
The study results were full of provocative surprises. Such as:
- The best leaders were not more risk taking, more visionary, and more creative than the comparisons; they were more disciplined, more empirical, and more paranoid.
- Innovation by itself turns out not to be the trump card in a chaotic and uncertain world; more important is the ability to scale innovation, to blend creativity with discipline.
- 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.
The authors challenge conventional wisdom with thought-provoking, sticky, and supremely practical concepts. They include 10Xers; the 20 Mile March; Fire Bullets then Cannonballs; Leading above the Death Line; Zoom Out, Then Zoom In; and the SMaC Recipe. Finally, in the last chapter, Collins and Hansen present their most provocative and original analysis: defining, quantifying, and studying the role of luck.
The great companies and the leaders who built them were not luckier than the comparisons, but they did get a higher Return on Luck. 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, USListeners also enjoyed...
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Desiree
- 20-05-12
Fantastic
This book was recommended to me and I ready enjoyed it and I wished it would never end. It just made everything clear.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Brendan
- 27-09-14
excellent book
Would you consider the audio edition of Great by Choice to be better than the print version?
Jim collins narrating himself makes a massive difference
What other book might you compare Great by Choice to, and why?
The 7 habits of highly effective people. In this book, the key thing I learnt is that much of what happens within business is in ones control and not dependent on the wider economy.
What about Jim Collins’s performance did you like?
He read with passion and did a great job of reemphasising the key themes throughout. He also had evidence to back up his theories.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No
Any additional comments?
An excellent book. Its back up by research. Were all looking to better our business but in this book jim shows that great companies are pretty methodical and ultimately its preparation that is essential for success. Were all faced with the same headaches and challenges in business but ultimately we can choose the path we take. Some companies in the same circumstances fail and some don't and Jim points out the traits which are common to both.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mike Hayden
- 11-02-17
great content
The material is brilliant it seems accurate and practical.
I wasn't very keen on the narration the author's passion came across as shouting and sounding angry at times.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- MTL
- 13-02-20
A useful build on Collins' earlier work
For those that have read other texts by Jim Collins, you'll find this to be a logical and helpful continuation. The examples are useful and the themes easy to identify and understand.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- AHMED H.MURAD
- 07-02-18
Great insight
Great book, but Jim is an awful and annoying narrator. He should stick to writing:)
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr Adam D Godfrey
- 28-03-19
Great insight
Really enjoyed this one, solid research provides some great insight. Already using some of the info
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jeremy
- 25-05-21
Wonderful narration, outstanding content
I’ve listened to this twice. I think it’s the first of the Jim Collins books I listened to.
So, why is it good?
1. The content.
The business lessons are fascinating, often counterintuitive and supported by what seems to be incredible research over a long period of time.
2. The way the content is delivered.
I’m not (yet) talking about the narration. The actual words in the book, the stories which illustrate the points are interesting and funny and poignant and bring the book to life. You can listen to this and enjoy it for its own sake, with learning as a happy side effect.
3. The narration.
Jim Collins is a wonderful narrator. It feels less like he is reading his book, more like you are one on one with him over a table and here he is - this deeply passionate storyteller and teacher, eager to help you learn and understand, helping you see through the fog with take, intonation, timbre, with every weapon a narrator has.
I’ve listened to something like 100 audiobooks and he may well be the best narrator there is. The fact he is also the author is fantastic.
So get it. Or don’t.
It is great though.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 10-06-21
Great book for entrepreneurs and the ones aim to be entrepreneurs
Sharing the 10X study results, exposing the reasons being a great company. Lots of practical things to learn from the book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Guy Arnold
- 20-06-13
Outrageously great information
Where does Great by Choice rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Just under the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
What was one of the most memorable moments of Great by Choice?
The great way it puts forward simple common sense concepts in an easy to undertsand and implement manner
Any additional comments?
It's amazing that material of this quality is available at such a low price
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- phil chadwick
- 09-05-22
Great book, well worth a listen for anyone wanting to build a great company
Fantastic book, based on empirical research about how to build great companies, that can thrive in uncertain macro environments
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