What to Make of a Life (2026)

Jim Collins, the international bestselling author of Good to Great, offers transformative lessons on constructing and reconstructing a life through the cliff moments and transitions that everyone faces repeatedly. What do we make of a life? It is a question we wrestle with more than once: how do we find our way in the world, get past the significant events that can radically change a life, and keep the inner fire burning brightly over time? Driven by relentless curiosity, Collins spends a decade studying these questions and closely examining moments when life shifts from clarity to confusion. His study compares different lives side by side at such turning points, exploring the choices made and the divergent paths taken. He considers two rock musicians facing a future without the group that brought them success, two suffragists who achieve their historic goal and must decide what comes next, two public figures rebuilding their lives after scandal, and two figure skaters seeking a new purpose after their Olympic careers end. Drawing on the lives of writers, actors, scientists, leaders and many others, Collins develops a framework for understanding how lives can be built, sustained and continually renewed. He explores how to discover a deeply fulfilling role and find another when the first ends, overcome a major turning point, establish the personal economics needed to focus on one defining pursuit, navigate uncertainty, make the most of good luck while limiting the effects of bad luck, build momentum across decades, and apply self-knowledge to every phase of life. For the first time, Collins also chronicles his own story, revealing how the project transformed his thinking and reshaped his emotions in fundamental ways.