Book Review | Great by Choice by Jim Collins

Great by Choice - Jim Collins

Great by Choice by Jim Collins tackles a question every investor cares about: why do some companies thrive in chaos while others get crushed by the same conditions? Collins studied companies that beat their industries by 10x over decades in volatile environments—he calls them "10Xers". This might be a big claim, but I’d argue this is Collins’ best book as he dives deep in the key drivers that made companies excel, by looking at factors like risk, luck, timing, decisions and paranoia levels.

Markets are unpredictable, and this book provides a framework for spotting durable, well-run businesses that survive turbulence—exactly the kind of companies worth holding over the long term. Three of my favourite quotes:

• "Successful leaders – they were not more risk-taking, more bold, more visionary, and more creative than the comparisons. They were more disciplined, more empirical and more paranoid."
• "What they did not find about 10Xers relative to their less successful comparisons – they’re not more creative, visionary, charismatic, ambitious, blessed by luck, risk-seeking, heroic, prone to making big bold moves."
• "One of the most dangerous false beliefs is that faster is always better, that the fast always beat the slow, that you are either the quick or the dead. Sometimes the quick are the dead."

‍Link to Book

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