How the Mighty Fall
by Jim Collins
Collins's short study of corporate decline in five stages: hubris born of success, undisciplined pursuit of more, denial of risk and peril, grasping for salvation, and capitulation to irrelevance or death. It is a mirror for leaders of anything that is currently doing well, and the stages are recognisable in teams and careers as well as companies.
Read it if…
your organisation is succeeding and you want to know what decline looks like before it starts.
Skip it if…
you want the growth playbook; see Good to Great.
Three things you will actually use
- Decline begins in success, not failure.
- Undisciplined growth is the most common fatal move.
- Grasping for a saviour accelerates the fall.
Do this first
Read stage two and list where you are pursuing 'more' without the discipline that made you good.
Our verdict
A mirror for anything doing well.
Compare with other Leadership books
Only the Paranoid Survive
Andrew S. Grove · Leadership
How to survive an inflection point.
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