I finished How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins last night. What a fantastic read! I took a ton of notes and almost went through an entire highlighter. Collins builds upon his previous two masterworks, Built to Last & Good to Great, to paint a compelling and relevant picture of once great companies who at the crossroads chose poorly, lead unwisely, and with foolhardy ambition allowed their organizations to fail.
I loved this book! To be honest I have loved just about everything I’ve heard from Collins.
</div>The man knows his stuff and is an amazing storyteller. It is hard to argue with his methods and even harder to ignore his findings.<p> </p> <p>The main idea behind the book is that companies/organizations move through <strong>5 stages of decline</strong>: arrogance, undisciplined pursuit of more, denial of risk, grasping for the silver bullet salvation, and capitulation to irrelevance or death. Collins argues that decline can be avoided or reversed but only when organizations get back to basic principles and values.</p> <p><strong>I think this book can speak truth into the life of any leader or organization that seeks not just to avoid failure but who truly desires to make a difference in the lives of those they serve.</strong></p> <p><strong>Here are some of my favorite takeaways from <a mce_href=”http://www.amazon.com/How-Mighty-Fall-Companies-Never/dp/0977326411/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244219257&sr=8-1″ target=”new” xhref=”http://www.amazon.com/How-Mighty-Fall-Companies-Never/dp/0977326411/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244219257&sr=8-1″>How the Mighty Fall</a></strong>:</p> <p><em>A core business that meets a fundamental human need- and one at which you’ve become best in the world- rarely becomes obsolete.</em></p> <p><em>The best corporate leaders we’ve researched remain students of their work, relentlessly asking questions- why, why, why?- and <strong>have an incurable compulsion to vacuum the brains of people they meet</strong>.</em></p> <p><em>Innovation can fuel growth, but frenetic innovation- growth that erodes consistent tactical excellence- can just as easily send a company (organization) through the stages of decline. </em></p> <p><em>The greatest leaders do seek growth- <strong>growth in performance, growth in distinctive impact, growth in creativity, growth in people</strong>- but they do not succumb to growth that undermines long-term value. And they certainly do not confuse growth with excellence. Big does not equal great, and <strong>great does not equal big</strong>.</em></p> <p><em>Any exceptional enterprise depends first and foremost upon having <strong>self-managed and self-motivated people</strong>- the number one ingredient for a <strong>culture of discipline</strong>.</em></p> <p><em>Audacious goals stimulate progress, but big bets without empirical validation, or that fly in the face of mounting evidence can bring companies down…</em></p> <p><em>The greatest danger comes not in ignoring clear and unassailable facts, but in misinterpreting ambiguous data in situations when you face severe or catastrophic consequences if the ambiguity resolves itself in a way that’s not in your favor.</em> (Collins powerfully discusses the lead up and failures surrounding the Challenger explosion- the fateful decisions to proceed with the launch- to illustrate this point)</p> <p><em>When making risky bets and decisions in the face of ambiguous or conflicting data, ask three questions: <strong>1) What’s the upside, if events turn out well? 2) What’s the downside, if events go very badly? 3) Can you live with the downside?</strong> Truly?</em></p> <p><em>You can be profitable and bankrupt</em></p> <p><em>Institutional self-perpetuation holds no legitimate place in a world of scarce resources; <strong>institutional mediocrity should be terminated</strong>, or transformed into excellence.</em></p> <p><em>If you cannot marshal a compelling answer to the question, “What would be lost, and how would the world be worse off, if we ceased to exist?” then perhaps capitulation is the wise path. But if you have a <strong>clear</strong> and <strong>inspired purpose</strong> built upon <strong>solid core values</strong>, then the noble course may be to <strong>fight on</strong>, to <strong>reverse decline</strong>, and try to <strong>rekindle greatness</strong>.</em></p> <p><em><strong>The point of the struggle is</strong> not just to survive, but <strong>to build an enterprise that makes such a distinctive impact on the world it touches, and does so with such superior performance, that it would leave a gaping hole- a hole that could not be easily filled by any other institution- if it ceased to exist.</strong></em></p> <p><em>To accomplish this requires leaders who retain faith that they can find a way to prevail in pursuit of a cause larger than mere survival (and larger than themselves), while also maintaining the stoic will needed to <strong>take whatever actions must be taken</strong>, however excruciating for the sake of that cause.</em></p> <p><em>Lack of management discipline correlates with decline, and passionate adherence to management discipline correlates with recovery and ascent.</em></p> <p><em>If you’ve fallen into decline, get back to solid… disciplines- NOW!</em></p> <p><em>We all need <strong>beacons of light</strong> as we struggle with the inevitable setbacks of life and work.</em></p> <p><em>“This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never- in nothing, great or small, large or petty- <strong>never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense</strong>. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” -Winston Churchill </em></p> <p><em>Failure is not so much a physical state as a state of mind; success is falling down, and getting up one more time, without end.</em></p>