PART II of II
As described in the previous blog post, Jim Collins has attempted, as with many of his peers, to go from management guru to life sage. He has failed with his latest book, What To Make of a Life[:] Cliffs, Fog, Fire and The Self-Knowledge Imperative.
His misdirected musings started earlier than in his current book. As covered in a previous blog post, Collins is out of his zone in a previous book titled Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0, when he says: “You too can build a company that you look back on at the end of your life, and say, 'I’m proud of what I’m leaving behind, and I respect myself for the way I’ve gone about doing it. My life has been well spent.” No. Wrong. Your life has not been well spent building a company. You should build a life, and your work fits into it.
At the core, Collins stays away from the source of ultimate meaning. He posits that, “All of us, no matter when we do in life, and no matter how the roulette wheel spins, can choose responsibilities beyond ourselves. It doesn’t matter how many people you touch with the responsibility you choose; it might be many, or it might be one or a few. What matters is the very act of honoring a self-chosen responsibility” [287]. Why? Self-chosen? Why? What are ethical guidelines? Like Pinker, another secular humanist, it’s untethered to a value system, so just make up something for yourself and believe in it.
As covered in a previous blog post, Collins’ view is in tune with well-known humanist Stephen Pinker's view that a “spirituality” that sees cosmic meaning in the whims of fortune is not wise but foolish. The first step towards wisdom is the realization that the laws of the universe don’t care about you. The next realization is that this does not imply that life is meaningless, because people care about you and you care about them. You care about yourself, and you have a responsibility to respect the laws of the universe that keep you alive, so you don’t squander your existence” [434-5]. Wow, that’s a stretch!
Collins talks about happiness. He notes that “This study changed my views on happiness.” The people in this study “demonstrated that happiness happens for many successful people, even if they’re not explicitly seeking happiness as a primary life goal” [324].
In a discussion of happiness, he makes no reference to the work of Arthur Brooks, Professor at Harvard, who is the world leader in the study of happiness. Brooks provides more compelling frameworks—regarding crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence.
Is there an alternative approach? As covered in a previous blog post, according to Arthur Brooks, happiness is often related to meaning. What is “meaning?" Brooks uses this equation: “Meaning = Coherence + Purpose + Significance” [26]. Coherence is “an understanding that things happen in your life for a reason” [26]. This is particularly important because “life feels meaningless when you see it as totally random and incoherent” [26]. By contrast, Pinker's view is that a “spirituality” that sees cosmic meaning in the whims of fortune is not wise but foolish, and Collins, with his roulette wheel, echoes those thoughts.
A secular approach always ends up in a circle. Collins offers his personal wisdom: “One of the biggest lessons of this entire work is that our younger selves need not tower over our older selves.” [291] He is cherry-picking examples that can be contradicted. How do people do well later in life?
Brooks offers a much more compelling analysis than Collins in his book From Strength to Strength, as highlighted in a previous blog post. Brooks explains that there are two types of intelligence. First, there is “fluid intelligence,” which is the ability to reason, think flexibly, and solve novel problems; this is raw smarts [26]. He explains that “Innovators typically have an abundance of fluid intelligence” [26]. Second, and quite distinct, there is “crystallized intelligence.” This is “the ability to use a stock of knowledge learned in the past” [27].
He explains that for people to move from strength to strength, they need to understand this difference in forms of intelligence. Brooks notes, “if your career requires crystallized intelligence—or if you can repurpose your professional life to rely more on crystallized intelligence—your peak will come later but your decline will happen much, much later, if ever, and if you can go from one type to the other—well, then you have cracked the code” [28].
There is good news. The joys of the second curve: it favours people who are older [32]. He notes that, for those who make the jump, the reward is almost always enormous [33]. As a result, he advises people to “devote the back half of your life to serving others with your wisdom” [40].
While Collins keeps stressing his exhaustive research, he intentionally neglects a massive amount of helpful material, as anyone with cursory knowledge would know the sources. His conclusions reflect things that the readers would have heard elsewhere.
A better alternative to the pursuit of the meaning of life is contained in the book What’s My Point? The message for each reader? You are on a unique journey for which you’ve been specifically equipped. You are a category of one. The clearer you are about purpose, the more fruitful and fulfilled your life will be. The points of your life, from low points to turning points, fit together to shape the life you were designed for.
Sadly, the author of Good to Great has, with his recent book, gone from great to bad.