The Hedgehog Concept

So we all know that foxes are wiley and intelligent. They are kind of the woodland's version of George Clooney: smart, good at a variety of things and great eyes.

Hedgehogs on the other hand: only good at one thing:

And Jim Collins, author of Good-to-Great, reckons that being great at just one thing is better than being good at lots of things. 


Rupert Grint's bank account agrees.


Collins says that the companies who are truly great (who consistently outperform their market comparisons by more than 300% for at least 15 years) do three things based on this concept:


1. They know what they can be the best in the world at,
2. They are passionate about it,
3. They understand where they can see the most profit per effort.


So the example Collins uses is that of Walgreen's pharmacies in the US:


1. Could be the best in the world at providing convenient pharmacies (not cheapest, not biggest... most convenient)
2. They were passionate about it 
3. They understood that focusing on most profit per customer was in line with their Hedgehog concept (if they had focused on profit per store then they wouldn't have been convenient because they would have built big, efficient stores on cheap, inconvenient land)


What if this applied to paddling as well? For example...


1. Could be the best in the world at exiting upstreams
2. Passionate about exiting upstreams (but be honest with yourself - if you've got more love for nailing staggers than exiting gates, then your plan needs to revolve around tapping into that)
3. You understand that shaving 0.5sec per upstream is where you can see more results per effort (but maybe you don't, maybe pure sprint speed between moves would yield greater results, in which case you need to be the best at sprinting and be passionate about it).

But bear in mind that Collins also reckons:

- It takes time. Great companies took an average of 4 years to work out their Hedgehog concept because there's a lot of self-analysis needed for it to get specific enough to work for you.

- You have to be really disciplined. Companies often faltered on the road to becoming great when they diversified into opportunities that were 'too good to miss' and yet had nothing to do with their Hedgehog concept. If it's not in line with what you can be best at, are passionate about, and you see the greatest returns from (all three remember!) then you have to be disciplined enough to walk away. 

Interesting theory, eh? 

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To visit Jim Collins' website click here but I WARN YOU that he is really American and his accent may put you off the whole thing ... maybe stick to the book instead.