I've been thinking a lot about the material in Good to Great by Jim Collins. I'm wondering if his theory of a Hedgehog Concept, as he calls it, can be used for personal decisions as well as corporate strategy.

First let me explain the Hedgehog Concept. Borrowing a graphic from the book, a hedgehog concept is the intersection of three ideas - what you are passionate about, what you can be best in the world at, and what drives your economic engine.

I'm not in a position yet to say how I'm using this idea of a Personal Hedgehog Concept for my own career development. I may be able to say something more towards the end of the first quarter of 2004. However, I'd like to use another example - the recent career of blogerati cognoscenti - Cameron Barrett.

I've met Cam on a few occasions and had the pleasure of dining with him twice while I lived in Kansas City. Recently, he took a job with the Wesley Clark presidential campaign in Arkansas. A far cry from his web developer contracts in New York City. This has led to criticism on his Camworld site, such as this,...

Sorry Cam, but Clark won't win AND web-based campaigns are overrated. Yes, the build buzz, but it's miniscule and really has no impact on the real vote. Show me real data that disagrees with me. We can get all excited about this stuff, but it's mostly insignificant besides ego building.

Let's consider this criticism using Collins' Hedgehog Concept.

Those who know Cam or have followed his weblog for many years, will know that he is passionate about web standards, UI design and web development but they will also know that he is deeply passionate about politics - particularly traditionally democratic liberal issues. What drives Cam's economic engine? For years he has been paid to build state-of-the-art websites with a focus on open standards, good UI design and high performance to cost ratios. That leaves "What you can be best in the world at?" It seems to me that the market niche for building a winning online political presence is wide open.

Therefore I feel that it's irrelevant whether Clark wins or loses. Cam can only be a winner. He will come out of the experience with a Hedgehog Concept which positions him as the world's leading developer of political campaign websites. Now that is something which he could make a career out of for the rest of his working life. The web can only get more and more important as a political tool over the next 20 years.

What's your Personal Hedgehog Concept?