Skip to main content

“In a world of constant change, the fundamentals are more important than ever.” – Jim Collins

When Jim Collins published his seminal book, From Good to Great, in July 2001, he wrote about the fundamentals being important to the sustainability and long-term success of companies during times of change.

Compared to today the world was a nervous zit-prone teenager, not an outraged, pock-marked adult.

Consider this:

  • YouTube wasn’t a registered domain.
  • The twin Towers had not yet fallen.
  • The war in Iraq had not occurred.
  • Isis had not been born.
  • The iPhone was a twinkle in Steve Jobs eye.
  • Google was only 3 years old.
  • Twitter was not a verb.

Based on the recent election of Trump, it seems there is a large segment of the U.S. population who wants to return to the 1950’s, their anxiety steeped in nostalgia for a by-gone world, and fuelled by bitterness built on that which has been trampled by time.

In a world now rampant with change (and thus, anxiety) the fundamentals are more important than ever, not only in business, but in life: honesty, trust, excellence, integrity, open discourse.

We can’t turn back the clock. But we can get back to basics and build better, longer-lasting businesses.

If you never learn how to add, multiplication is out of reach.

The fundamentals matter.

And nothing of values lasts without them.