Christianity Today has a really good interview with Jim Collins, from back in 2003 — shortly after Good to Great was released.
Here’s the intro, which captures part of the reason that Collins’ ideas resonate with me and many other Christians:
Jim Collins, a former professor at Stanford Business School and founder of his own management research laboratory, had already become well-known in management circles for his first book, Built to Last.
But with his recent book Good to Great, he became an even more established name in the Christian business world—quite an accomplishment given that Collins has no affiliation with Christianity.
Many of his findings resonated with the Christian audience, however, particularly the concept of Level 5 Leadership. Collins and his research team discovered that leaders who took their companies from good to great were not larger-than-life figures that typify today’s celebrity CEO culture, but instead were characterized by a unique blend of humility and resolve. As Collins explains in his book, “Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company.”