[The Knowledge Project Ep. #110] Jim Collins: Relationships vs. Transactions

Shane Parrish: I think we’re going to start with Bill Azir and the role of great mentors that changed your life. You said he was the closest thing to a father for you. So I want to start there. What does it mean to be a father? Not in the biological sense. Anyone can do that, but the essence of what it means to be a father.

Jim Collins: Let me, I guess, answer that question a little bit by talking about how I saw Bill as a father, a specific case, and to expand that out to what father is about. In our last conversation, I shared the story of going down to New Mexico to try to connect with my real, biological father when he was living in the adobe hut with the dirt floor. And actually, that was the first time I think I’ve publicly shared that story. And so that was the recognition there was no father.