Jim Collins

Management researcher and bestselling author — Author of Good to Great; authority on leadership, organizational performance and sustained impact.

Organizational leadership and Level 5 leadershipStrategy and long-term planningExecution and momentum creationScaling and building enduring companies/organizationsRisk, adaptation, and performance under uncertaintyNonprofit and social-sector leadership

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About Jim Collins

Jim Collins is a management researcher, teacher and consultant whose empirical studies of high-performing organizations produced widely adopted concepts such as Level 5 Leadership, the hedgehog concept, and the flywheel effect. He began his academic career at Stanford Graduate School of Business, later founded a Boulder-based management laboratory, and has authored or coauthored several influential books including Good to Great and Built to Last.

James C. Collins was born May 8, 1958. He studied mathematical sciences at Stanford University and later earned an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. After business school, he worked briefly in consulting, including at McKinsey & Company. Collins joined the Stanford Graduate School of Business faculty, teaching entrepreneurship and management. He coauthored Built to Last and authored Good to Great, introducing durable management concepts. In 1995, Collins established a management laboratory in Boulder, Colorado to continue multi-year research projects and to advise executive teams outside academia. He remains an active speaker, advisor, and writer.

Learn from Jim when you're...

Transforming a stable 'good' organization into a sustainably excellent one
Shaping senior-team composition or succession
Defining long-term strategy and choosing a clear, focused economic or mission engine
Building disciplined execution and resilience during uncertainty or disruption
Adapting private-sector practices for nonprofit or social-sector leaders
Seeking evidence-based diagnosis rather than quick fixes
Navigating major life transitions or seeking guidance on constructing a meaningful life arc
Evaluating why some firms endure and others decline

Career Highlights

Author of Good to Great (2001), which identified 11 companies that made the leap from 'good' to 'great' using a rigorous analysis of 1,435 firms.
Co-author of Built to Last (with Jerry Porras), a foundational work on visionary companies and enduring core values.
Introduced widely used leadership concepts: Level 5 Leadership, the hedgehog concept, the flywheel and confront the brutal facts.
Founded a management laboratory in Boulder, Colorado (1995) to conduct long-term field research with CEOs and leadership teams.
Recipient of Stanford Graduate School of Business Distinguished Teaching Award (1992).
Recognized among influential business thinkers (e.g., inclusion in Forbes lists and Thinkers50 recognition).

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Jim Collins