No, Jim!

Don’t want to give Jimbo (Collins) too much of a Free Ride. I just blurbed a superb new book, The One Thing You Need to Know, by Marcus Buckingham (first famous as co-author of First, Break All the Rules); I went so far as to compare him with the otherwise incomparable Peter Drucker. I’ll tell you more later, but for now I just want to offer up his swipe at a Collins-ism to which I am inalterably opposed. Buckingham: “Although I appreciate what Collins was railing at—egomaniacal leaders such as Al “Chainsaw” Dunlap, Dennis “Shower Curtain” Kozlowski, and Jeffrey “Off Balance Sheet” Skilling—the most effective leaders are not self-effacing and humble. In fact, a powerful ego, defined as the need to stake grand claims, is one of their most defining characteristics (although, obviously, not the only one).”

Yup.