Last Friday, I presented my synopsis of the new Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen book, Great by Choice:  Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck – Why Some Thrive Despite Them All.  It is a great addition to the Jim Collins canon.

Jim Collins is a vocabulary creator.  In his earlier books, he introduced hedgehog circles, and Level 5 Leadership, among other terms.  In this new nook, he continues his tradition.  So here is a Great by Choice glossary, to help you when you run across these terms.

• A Great by Choice Glossary:

1)    10Xers – companies that beat their industry, over the long haul, by at least 10 times
2)    20 Mile March – a set, pre-decided “advance,” on schedule (Learned from the daily goal of Roald Admundsen’s team, which trekked a set, pre-determined distance every day, on their way to the South Pole)
3)    SMaC – Specific; Methodical; and Consistent
4)    Bullets and Cannonballs – Bullets – an empirical test aimed at learning what works, it meets three criteria:  low cost; low risk; low distraction.  Cannonballs:  big cost, big risk, big focus/energy/distraction.
Two kinds:  Callibrated (based on empirical validation)
vs. Uncallibrated (you don’t want many of these!)
5)    The Death Line – the end, with no coming back.  (you don’t want this – “duh!”)
6)    Luck – there’s good luck, there’s bad luck.  And it is in the response to bad luck that the tale is told…  — ROL – Return on Luck.