IGSL's Hedgehog
The term “hedgehog” became part of popular culture after Jim Collins introduced it in his book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t (Harper Collins, 2001).
The concept originates from an old Greek proverb, "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing." The fox is clever, and has many ways of attacking the hedgehog. The hedgehog knows only one way of resisting attack—he rolls himself tightly into a ball, with his sharp spines sticking out. When the fox attacks the hedgehog, amazingly, the hedgehog always wins, no matter what clever tricks the fox comes up with. This idea was further developed in "The Hedgehog and the Fox" by Isaiah Berlin.
He calls people who have a wide assortment of goals “foxes” and those who focus on one thing “hedgehogs”. The hedgehogs are far more likely to succeed. Jim Collins developed this concept even further in Good to Great.
Collins said that “those who built the good-to-great companies were, to one degree or another, hedgehogs. They used their hedgehog nature to drive toward what we came to call a Hedgehog Concept for their companies. Those who led the comparison companies tended to be foxes, never gaining the clarifying advantage of a Hedgehog Concept, being instead scattered, diffused, and inconsistent. To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence” (Collins, back flyleaf) by focusing one’s efforts within three interlocking circles of analysis.
IGSL has redefined these circles for its purposes as follows:
1. What is our unique calling/stewardship before God?
2. What drives our ministry engine? What generates the greatest return-on-investment by
faculty, students, and school partners?
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3. About what are we deeply passionate?
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Our hedgehog is the intersection of these three dimensions of analysis:
1. What is our unique calling/stewardship before God?
We are building spiritual leaders who exhibit the knowledge, character, and ministry skills needed to facilitate strategic (quality/quantity) spiritual multiplication movements in their ministry contexts.
2. What drives our ministry engine? What generates the greatest return-on-investment by faculty, students, and school partners?
We seek to maximize the long term, Great Commission impact per training/interaction hour invested
in our students.
3. About what are we deeply passionate?
Our program functionally balances and integrates intellectual, character/spiritual, and ministry skill development in a relational mentoring environment to produce spiritual leaders who will have strategic impact in Asia and the world.
Taken from “The Hedgehog Concept” https://www.jimcollins.com/concepts/the-hedgehog-concept.html
Faculty members are encouraged to consult chapter 5, “The Hedgehog Concept,” in Good to Great to assist them in better understanding the concept of a “hedgehog.”