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What Jim Collins Learned About Greatness That Most CEOs Still Miss
The Hidden Link Between Humility, Growth, and Enduring Success
Andrew Grinbaum
June 18, 2026
The Big Idea 🚀
What Jim Collins Learned About Greatness That Most CEOs Still Miss
The Hidden Link Between Humility, Growth, and Enduring Success
When Jim Collins set out to identify what separated good companies from great companies, he expected to find charismatic visionaries, bold personalities, and larger-than-life leaders.
Instead, he found something surprising.
The leaders of many of the highest-performing companies were not the loudest people in the room. They were not the most charismatic. They were not obsessed with personal recognition.
They were humble.
In Good to Great, Collins called them Level 5 Leaders. They combined fierce professional will with personal humility. They were ambitious, but their ambition was directed toward the mission and the organization, not their own ego.
This finding runs counter to much of what we see in business media. We celebrate confidence, certainty, and self-promotion. Yet some of the most successful leaders in history quietly focused on building great organizations rather than building their own personal brands.
Why does humility matter?
Because humility creates learning.
The ego says, "I already know."
Humility says, "What can I learn?"
The ego defends. Humility listens. The ego seeks credit. Humility seeks truth.
From a spiritual perspective, humility is not thinking less of yourself. It is seeing reality more clearly. It is recognizing that no single person has all the answers and that growth requires openness.
This mindset has enormous business implications.
Humble leaders are more likely to listen to customers, hear difficult feedback, adapt to changing markets, and attract talented people who want to contribute. They create cultures where people feel safe speaking up rather than simply agreeing with the boss.
The result is often better decisions and stronger execution.
Many entrepreneurs unknowingly become the bottleneck in their own businesses. Their need to be right prevents them from learning. Their attachment to old ideas prevents innovation. Their identity becomes tied to being the smartest person in the room.
But great companies are rarely built that way.
They are built by leaders who are committed to the mission more than their ego. The spiritual path and the leadership path may be closer than we think. Both require the willingness to let go of certainty, stay teachable, and serve something larger than ourselves.
Jim Collins studied business performance.
What he discovered was a timeless spiritual principle hiding in plain sight.
Humility scales.
Don’t work harder, work smarter….
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Thanks for reading The Zen of 10X
I’m here to help founders and CEOs build businesses — and lives — rooted in purpose.
I’d love your feedback: reply with your thoughts, topics you’d like me to cover, or even the deeper questions you’ve been wrestling with about business and your greater mission on this planet.
And if you know someone who would benefit from this quick read, please feel free to share it with them.
Thanks,
Andrew