The Hedgehog Concept
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I won’t ruin the whole book but one of the key concepts in an old business book centers around the ability to recognize and constantly implement your “Hedgehog Concept.”
“From Good to Great”.
Trident Invents, the startup I used to help lead, had our leadership team reread the old business book From Good to Great. I read it first during a lazy college summer working the hot dog stand. The summer months at the stand weren’t exactly cash cow days but they were fun, a little stressful, and with the gaps during day with so fewer students I read one book per week.
I would encourage you that no matter what profession you are in, or if you don’t even have a job but want to understand teams, leadership, and economics, to take a dive into this classic business book.
What is the Hedgehog Concept?
You see a hedgehog can’t do a lot of things. Foxes hunt them and foxes are intelligent, quick, agile, and pure hunters. Hedgehogs can only roll up into a spiky ball but they do it so well that the fox, for all their incredible qualities, can never catch the hedgehog when they are rolled into those spikes. The hedgehog can only do one thing but holy smokes do they do it well.
The hedgehog concept as it relates to the book and to business is finding something that you are:
Passionate about
The best in the world at
Makes some form of revenue and profit
And then focusing in on that and only doing that. Saying NO to opportunities outside of the Hedgehog is a must.
Number two is a little tricky huh?!?! Most people assume you just have to be passionate like in the picture at the top of this post (I have in the past) but Jim Collins really takes us beyond that in this strategic concept.
Take a look and consider what you can be the best in the world at.
I realize that I was not the best social media marketing strategist in the world. I was decent at it, maybe even good at it.
But there’s a difference.
What about you?
If you find yourself struggling on bandwidth but not quite bringing in the money or hitting the goals you envisioned taking a read through “Good to Great” might be worth your while. Find your Hedgehog Concept!
Have you read this book? Are you a hedgehog by chance? Comment below!
To Your Health,
Mike