The idea behind the Hedgehog Concept is combine a three-pronged strategy to success: first, do what you can be the best at, relative to competition; second, do what you can be passionate about doing; third, do what drives your economic engine. This concept is introduced by Collins and his research team in Chapter 4 of his book, Good to Great, who effectively prove that this concept is a principle for one's actions to gain greater success than previously enjoyed; in the business world, that would be increased or even dominant profits. Collins cites companies that consciously or unconsciously utilized the Hedgehog Concept, as it is called, proving instances of success in its application.
This idea, or combination of ideas really, intrigued me, so I decided to use it in application to my classes. I have determined which classes I can be the best at, namely my venture capitalist internship with KickStart, and my 241 Business Law class. I have a few unique core competencies that are not shared by my colleagues: Excel/VBA mastery, Harvard and Bloomberg Certifications, finance internships with JNJ and GFA, plus my polished skills in oral presentation; I should dominate and earn an A, relative to my peer competition. I also love the material I am learning, so it's easy to be passionate and look forward to learning more each period, and the material has potential application to my future career, as I see myself as either a VC or an attorney one day. As a consequence, I have decided to dedicate the majority of my effort and focus in these two classes this semester. The other classes are so organized, including strategy, essentially applying the Hedgehog Concept in doing a cost/benefit analysis of my position relative to peer competition, since we are on a grading curve in the Marriott School.
I am excited to see if the application of the Hedgehog Concept can extend beyond the business world in my experimental test on my classes this semester.
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