When UC Berkeley professor of management Morten Hansen worked with “Good to Great” author Jim Collins on “Great by Choice,” the goal was to take the book that’s widely considered one of the best business books of all time to a new level.
The original book is focused on “companies in a stable world,” says Hansen, while “Great By Choice” takes a different perspective, looking at companies “in an uncertain world, where things are changing all the time.” That world, says Hansen, is today’s reality, which is why “Great By Choice” was necessary.
Hansen will speak to more than 350 attendees this week at the NSCA Business and Leadership Conference, calling the integration world “a very interesting industry” and one that’s “facing challenges and changes and that means a lot of uncertainty.”
Hansen, who speaks to large audiences about 30 to 40 times every year, is excited to deliver his message to the integration community.
“They’re very vulnerable with all the changes that are going on these days,” he says. “They can create a great future for themselves or make too many mistakes and run into some trouble.”
Hansen knows companies that have succeeded tend to want to stick with the formula that made them successful in the first place. But to be a truly great company, it involves making the choice to try something new, and to do it sooner and better than others in the same industry.
“If you keep doing what you did yesterday and expect it continue to work for you, you’re going to be out of business,” he says.
