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  • Great by Choice

  • Uncertainty, Chaos and Luck - Why Some Thrive Despite Them All
  • By: Morten T Hansen, Jim Collins
  • Narrated by: Jim Collins
  • Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (252 ratings)
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Great by Choice

By: Morten T Hansen, Jim Collins
Narrated by: Jim Collins
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Summary

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, US

Critic reviews

"Jim Collins has built a reputation as something of a myth buster... This book is recommended." ( Financial World, Dec 2011)
"Luck is not a strategy’ the authors conclude. What determines any organization’s success is how it prepares for both good and bad luck. They call this getting a ‘positive return’ on luck and, if Good to Great’s four million-plus sales are anything to go by, this idea will be embedded in corporate speak before you know it." ( Philip Delves Broughton, author of What They Teach you At Harvard Business School in Management Today
“If you want to understand what it takes to run a great company in any circumstances and you admire brilliant analysis and a clear, evocative writing style, then Great By Choice is worth five stars out of five.” ( James Scouller, People Management)

What listeners say about Great by Choice

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

a good book however a bit dull in places.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

i did enjoy the book however i feel there could be more substance needed to make it a very good book

What about Jim Collins’s performance did you like?

he was very enthusiastic however rather felt over enthusiastic in some places. However still very enjoyable.

Did Great by Choice inspire you to do anything?

To use empirical evidence more often.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

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

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Should of paid someone else to narrate

If someone else had narrated this book rather than the author it would have been more engaging.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

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

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely on the money

This is a fascinating, data backed view on how to run a business that challenges many of the widely held beliefs. It doesn't present itself as a 'how-to' guide, but many of the lessons that it brings will be useful to all readers.

As with all of this type of text, it is for the reader to take from it what they think will benefit their situation and style - many of the scenarios map pretty well to my own however - so much so, that all of my board had copies on their desk within days of me finishing it!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not for me!

Is there anything you would change about this book?

It is very dull and repetitive in parts. The core concepts are good and I am sure many people will find the book very interesting. I did not finish the book.

Could you see Great by Choice being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

No.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

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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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

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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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Trilogy of leadership insight

Jim Collins research and benefited many leaders in their approach. His narration is as good as his writing

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

From good to great to greatest yet!

Excellently read by the author, a passionate and entertaining Jim Collins is an expert story teller who makes sure to repeat sentences that will really help land his message. The findings from the research covered in this book are both surprising and enlightening and provide a clear rationale for future leaders to reference for doing things the way they do or should do. I particularly enjoyed the learnings of the "20 Mile March" and the chapter on luck and ROL.

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