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Fortune senior writer Jennifer Reingold has a great interview with Jim Collins on how companies can turn crisis into opportunity.

When asked how companies who are built to last get through tough times, Collins says “you have to have moorings.” In other words, your stability and security is directly related to “an incredible fabric of values, of underlying ideals or principles.”

Collins goes on to suggest that in times of crisis, it’s the caliber of your people that will get you through. The question isn’t how can we afford to attain or retain the best, it’s how can we afford not to?

When asked how to distinguish truly great talent, Collins says, “The right people don’t need to be managed. The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you’ve made a hiring mistake.”

The right people don’t think they have a job: They have responsibilities. If I’m a climber, my job is not [just] to belay. My responsibility is that if we get in trouble, I don’t let my partner down. The right people do what they say they will do, which means being really careful about what they say they will do. It’s key in difficult times. In difficult environments our results are our responsibility. People who take credit in good times and blame external forces in bad times do not deserve to lead. End of story.

The full interview is a quick read and full of good to great wisdom.

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