Elevating your self-awareness with Jim Collins

Elevating your self-awareness with Jim Collins

From ReThinking by TED

April 28, 2026 · 36 min

About this episode

Jim Collins discusses self-awareness techniques and the importance of self-comparison in leadership.

When leadership researcher Jim Collins was choosing a career, he used an unusual method: he studied himself like a scientist. In this episode, Adam and Jim dive into the techniques for self-study and how self-comparison can be more effective than comparison to others. Jim shares takeaways from his investigation of people who have found their callings, and highlights how he’s learned to stop being disappointed by others. They also rethink the relationship between freedom and responsibility. Featured guest Follow Jim Collins at jimcollins.com/ Buy Jim's book, What to Make of a Life Connect with the team Follow Adam on Instagram , LinkedIn , and at adamgrant.net/ Subscribe to Adam’s substack Watch ReThinking videos on YouTube at TEDAudioCollective Follow TED on X , Instagram , Facebook , LinkedIn , and TikTok ReThinking is produced by Cosmic Standard . Our Senior Producer is Jessica Glazer, our Engineer is Aja Simpson, our Technical Director is Jacob Winik, and our Executive Producer is Eliza Smith. For the full text transcript, visit ted.com/podcasts/rethinking-with-adam-grant-transcripts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Adam Grant

Guest: Jim Collins

Topics covered

  • self-awareness
  • leadership
  • self-study
  • personal growth
  • freedom and responsibility

Keywords

  • self-awareness
  • leadership
  • self-study
  • personal growth
  • freedom
  • responsibility
  • Jim Collins

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: TED, Cosmic Standard, Acast, TEDAudioCollective, jimcollins.com, adamgrant.net, ted.com

Books & works: What to Make of a Life

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