Jim Collins is a student and teacher of enduring great companies -- how they grow, how they attain superior performance, and how good companies can become great companies. Having invested over a decade of research into the topic, Jim has authored or co-authored four books, including the classic BUILT TO LAST, a fixture on the Business Week best seller list for more than six years, and has been translated into 25 languages. His work has been featured in Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Harvard Business Review, and Fast Company.

Jim’s most recent book, GOOD TO GREAT: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … And Others Don’t attained long-running positions on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Business Week best seller lists, has sold 2.5 million hardcover copies since publication and has been translated into 32 languages.

Driven by a relentless curiosity, Jim began his research and teaching career on the faculty at Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he received the Distinguished Teaching Award in 1992. In 1995, he founded a management laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, where he now conducts research and teaches executives from the corporate and social sectors.

Jim has served as a teacher to senior executives and CEOs at over a hundred corporations. He has also worked with social sector organizations, such as: Johns Hopkins Medical School, the Girl Scouts of the USA, the Leadership Network of Churches, the American Association of K-12 School Superintendents, and the United States Marine Corps. In 2005 he published a monograph: Good to Great and the Social Sectors.

Jim invests a significant portion of his energy in large-scale research projects -- often five or more years in duration -- to develop fundamental insights and then translate those findings into books, articles and lectures. He uses his management laboratory to work directly with executives and to develop practical tools for applying the concepts that flow from his research.

In addition, Jim is an avid rock climber and has made free ascents of the West Face of El Capitan and the East Face of Washington Column in Yosemite Valley.;

About the co-Author Jerry Porras

Jerry Porras, Lane Professor of Organizational Behavior and Change, Emeritus, at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, is co-author of Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, one of Forbes’ 20 most influential business books.

Thirty years ago Porras co-developed the highly successful MBA class Interpersonal Dynamics, designed to lead students through the process of understanding personal style and improving the way they relate to others. He has an extensive and impressive background including having served on the editorial boards of half a dozen journals and has authored two books and over 40 scholarly articles. He also served Stanford University as the faculty athletic representative to the NCAA and as president of the Pacific-10 Conference Council.

Porras enlightens audiences with his groundbreaking theories of successful organization. He debunks myths about what makes companies successful by tracing the attributes of a selected group of visionary companies that demonstrate enduring core values, a purpose beyond profits, and a devoted workforce.