Great By Choice

Great By Choice, didn’t disappoint me. The subtitle is “Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck – Why Some Thrive Despite Them All.” If the challenges of uncertainty and chaos aren’t on your mind as a ministry leader, perhaps you shouldn’t be in your role! No one will debate that the ministry environment has been turbulent for a number of years, but few offer the kind of in-depth, empirical analysis that Collins does in this book. As in his other books, Collins’ analysis is based on pairs of companies in the same industry, with one company in the pair having experienced great success and the other having had the same potential to excel but producing much worse results. Collins is great at coining unique, memorable phrases that describe his findings, and this book is no exception with terms like “leading above the death line,” “productive paranoia,” and “return on luck.” Another very interesting term and concept is the “20 mile march,” which I’ll unpack in my next blog. Collins also loves to defy conventional wisdom. In Great by Choice, Collins concludes that innovation is not one of the characteristics that set the great companies apart from their less successful counterparts. One theme that runs throughout the book is the importance of discipline and consistency. I believe this is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for ministry leaders. In struggling churches, they bounce from one program or strategy to another, in search of a silver bullet that will fix all their problems. Even in growing ministries, many leaders seem to get bored quickly and want to try something new, often causing convulsions and confusion in the organization. If you’ve read and enjoyed any of Collins’ other books (and even if you’ve not), I recommend that you get a copy of Great by Choice. Of course, it’s your choice, but I believe it can help you and your organization thrive in an unpredictable world.]]>