
Professor Alex Hill
Director, The Centre for High Performance
Start-ups rarely survive their second birthday. Even established firms in the UK and the US average a lifespan of only fifteen years. So how can a company build and sustain success for decades to come? Professor Alex Hill has the answers. He has identified the habits that predict a company’s success and longevity. Hill is an academic and the Co-founder and Director of the Centre for High Performance. Hill started his career running organisations, before moving into academia at Oxford University. There he began specialising in what makes great organisations tick. He has since worked with a wide number of high-performing arts, business, education, sport, technology and military organisations globally.
Alex Hill is the author of several popular books on this subject of high performance. He has also published articles in leading academic journals such as the Harvard Business Review and was an advisor to the UK government on educational policy. His most recent book Centennials: The 12 Habits of Great, Enduring Organisations is based on a ground breaking 13-year study of a clutch of organisations that have outperformed their peers for over 100 years - from NASA to the New Zealand All Blacks, from Eton College and the Royal College of Art to the Royal Marines and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Centennials shows how these organisations have defied conventional wisdom and identifies the 12 traits that have set them apart for over a century. From the way they analyse success and failure to their approach to finding the best people and the brightest new ideas. In so doing, Hill identifies the strategies and habits an organisation can employ to create a strong, stable core and ensure the same long-term prosperity while remaining dynamic.