How appropriate, I thought, given the history of Bixby Land, which was founded in 1896 and is one of those rare real estate companies more than 100 years old. That's endurance. Bixby Land originally owned most of the land that is now the City of Long Beach, California. In recent years, it has diversified its activities into the Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernadino Counties) and now balances its portfolio roughly 50-50 between industrial and retail.

In discussions with both Terry Dickens and Mark Bixby, two themes from Jim Collins' stand out. First, practice the Hedgehog Concept. Understand the one thing that you're good at like a hedgehog, as opposed to the sly fox that tries to be good at everything. To do this, Collins urges you to focus on the overlaps of three circles -- your passion, your expertise, and your income.

Secondly, recognize that technology is an accelerator of change, not the primary means of igniting transformation, although enduring companies often pioneer "the application of carefully selected technologies." According to Mark Bixby, Bixby Land was an early adopter of Yardi's new (at the time in 1994) Windows property management application. Has Bixby Land's business fundamentally changed in 100 years? Not really. But with leases digitized, project files online, and marketing materials at its public web site, Bixby Land continues to accelerate its development and management activities.

--Peter Pike