In a keynote address to the American Staffing Association on Wednesday, management guru Jim Collins reminded recruiters that settling for simply ‘good’ will prevent them from achieving greatness.

Collins is the author of best-selling management books Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t and Built To Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies.

“Greatness is not a function of circumstances…or the cards we’re dealt. Greatness is a matter of conscious choice,” he told more than 2,000 recruiters during the ASA’s opening keynote speech at the Venetian resort in Las Vegas.

Some companies he said attempt to make excuses for not achieving more by blaming market conditions or other external causes. In fact, he said, companies and individuals who aspire to greatness should actually “pray for turbulence; it is your friend. It is in difficult times that the great pull further ahead”.

Key to achieving greatness as a company, he emphasised, is “to get the right people into the right seats on the bus”. Then, he said, it’s time to “figure out where to drive”.

The conference and exhibition continues until Friday in Las Vegas.