The Hedgehog Concept as a Get-Rich Tool
I am currently reading Jim Collin’s highly acclaimed book- Good to Great. Reading, should I say, is really an understatement. I am in fact lavishing each of its pages. One of the ideas that have kindled my soul was the Hedgehog Concept. The Hedgehog Concept maybe the answer to our quest for financial supremacy.
Good to Great was borne out of the hard work and passion invested by Jim Collins and his research team. Their book outlines the significant differences between good versus great companies. His team identified 11 great companies who demonstrated the good to great results pattern. From these, Collins and his researchers culled the characteristics of great companies.
Among the many aspects discussed was their discovery of the hedgehog concept. The research team members found out that all good to great companies attained a very simple concept that they used as a frame of reference for their decisions and actions. But to describe it simply as simple is not the idea. The hedgehog concept, despite its simplicity, originated from ones perception of the three circles.
The three circles require us to answer three very important questions:
Circle 1: What you can be the best in the world at.
Circle 2: What drives your economic engine.
Circle 3: What are you deeply passionate about.
The point at which the three circles interlock is the hedgehog concept. The book mentioned this analogy to help us understand the hedgehog concept.
Suppose we are employed in a work that meets the three requirements mentioned in the circles. For example, you are naturally endowed with singing abilities. Because you feel like you can be one of the best singers in the world (Circle 1), you pursue this calling. You eventually become a world-class performer enabling you to amass great wealth and fortune from your career (Circle 2). Your unwavering passion for singing (Circle 3) sustains your drive to be the best in this line. Upon realizing your three circles, your hedgehog concept can be: To build a one-of-a kind singing school.
In effect, once we are able to ascertain what our three circles are, we can start determining what our hedgehog concept can be. It should be a simple idea that uniquely addresses the conditions of the three circles. Otherwise, you will not be able to sustain it. For example, you are earning a lot of money doing things that you are not really the best at (Circle 2). Later on, you will see yourself being overtaken by other more qualified and better individuals. Or say, you are in a career where you seem to be the best and are therefore earning a lot (Circle 1 and 2). However, you are not 100% passionate about it. In this scenario, you might be successful but still not able to sustain success in the coming years.
This concept initially catered to companies who wish to be great. However, I see its vast significance in our own personal lives and out attempts to attain greatness- with the financial aspect only belonging to one side of the coin. If we really want to be great- financially, personally, and professionally, let us seek the answers to these three circles. We would hopefully arrive at a very simple idea that could be the key to our holistic success.
As a personal reflection, I am still in the process of discovering my own hedgehog concept. First and foremost, I know I am good at a lot of things, but to determine that one thing that I am the best at is a complicated process for me. Also, I am currently employed as a Teacher. I know I am one of the exemplary teachers in our school and I am deeply passionate about it but I believe that I am also not the best. To add, the career is financially OK but it is not my only source for financial security. Well, for the readers of this article, it is not too late to search for our hedgehog concepts. Once you find it, who knows, you might be able to attain the greatness (and riches) that we are all seeking for!
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