Chris Mance II - Mental Skills Coach

Earlier this week I wrote that Anders Ericsson’s research on how to become an expert is the simplest way to explain how to go from good to great. However, I can’t put a button on that point without mentioning the famous Jim Collins’ book that goes by the name Good to Great.

Unquestionably, a book with the name Good to Great is the first source most people will think of when considering this subject. However, Jim Collins writes this book 100% from the perspective of Fortune 500 companies. To put it another way, Jim Collins is the expert of good to great companies and Anders Ericsson is the expert of good to great people.

Therefore, if you want to learn how to be a great Olympic wrestler, gymnast, piano player, violinist or ballet dancer start with Anders Ericsson’s research. On the other hand, if you want to lead a great company or be a great manager start with Jim Collins.

Anders Ericsson and Jim Collins Two Sides of the Same Coin

Even though Ericsson and Collins take different approaches on good to great and have no overlapping research, it turns out they are still two sides of the same coin. If I had to condense the Collins approach for good to great, I would simplify it with just 4 of his 7 major concepts:

1. First who, then what (getting the right people on the bus)
2. Confronting the brutal facts (facts are better than dreams)
3. Focusing on the one big thing (hedgehog concept)
4. Cumulative step by step process (flywheel)

I would also condense the Ericsson approach for good to great into just 4 concepts as well.

1. Find an expert coach or a great performer to research and learn from
2. Identify the specific skills that make the great performers great
3. Use deliberate practice or purposeful practice techniques to master those specific skills.
4. Develop a goal progression process to manage and track practice time over thousands of hours (~10,000 hours)

As you can see, at this summary level Ericsson and Collins are basically recommending the same process. Collins talks about the “who” as the management team and employees. Ericsson talks about the “who” as the expert coach who teaches you or the expert performer you research and learn from. Both agree that if you don’t get the “who” right, nothing else matters.

Similarly, each step from 2 through 4 also mirror one another. The brutal facts mirror the specific skills, the hedgehog concept mirrors deliberate practice, and the flywheel mirrors the 10,000 hours rule of thumb.

Indeed, it does appear that these two great minds took two completely different approaches and ultimately reach a similar if not the same conclusion.