Jim Collins is an American business 🏷️#author and researcher whose work focuses on what differentiates enduring great companies from merely good ones. His best-known book Good to Great (2001), based on a multi-year research project, identified patterns including Level 5 Leadership, the Hedgehog Concept, and the Flywheel — frameworks that have become standard vocabulary in management discourse.
Earlier in his career, Collins co-authored Built to Last (1994) with Jerry Porras, examining the long-term habits of visionary companies. Subsequent books — How the Mighty Fall (2009), Great by Choice (2011) with Morten Hansen, and BE 2.0 (2020) — expanded his research into the dynamics of decline, success under uncertainty, and the foundations of small enterprise. He runs his own management laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, where he conducts the long-horizon research that produces his books.