| Title | : | How The Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In (Good to Great, 4) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0977326411 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780977326419 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2009 |
| Awards | : | Financial Times Business Book of the Year Longlist (2009) |
How The Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In (Good to Great, 4) Reviews
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This book came across less as a useful tool for avoiding disaster and more as a defense of why so many of the companies profiled in Good to Great failed (answer: they stopped following Collins' advice!) Additionally, Collins gives no data to support his assertions, relying solely on anecdotes and assurances that he has the data and has looked at it.
The biggest flaw is that he's essentially doing a post-mortem risk assessment on these firms, looking at each risk in a vacuum. Unfortunately, risks don't exist in a vacuum. They're very dynamic and Collins misses that dimension by pointing to the one or two things a company does (or doesn't do) that cause failure. -
Worthy of my trademarked award: SO GOOD, I'M READING IT TWICE!(tm) ;)
THE WORLD MAKES SENSE! This and other thoughts flooded my mind after finishing Jim Collins latest literary release. Concise and timely, the information applies to business as well as our personal lives!
I differ with another critics' premise that Mr. Collins' claims that "companies get into trouble because they overreach..."etc. That is NOT what Mr. Collins' found to happen first. There first is an arrogance, "hubris", which creeps in to the successful company's leadership. This, in turn, 'infects' everyone inside the company down the chain. I kept thinking "Pride goeth before a fall."
The author Jim Collins did not pose a black or white scenario. While I find the research sited by critics of Mr. Collins as interesting, it is NOT either/or. They seem to miss the point which the author goes to great lengths to remind us again and again: each of the five STAGES are indicative of what MAY be happening, and indeed a PATTERN which Mr. Collins and his associates found to be consistent. The stages in and of themselves are NOT the cause, they are all SYMPTOMS which may indicate mistaken direction and/or pending destruction. The further along in the stages, the more dire and imminent may be the decline. It is not a formula, but a set of consistencies.
I loved the book How The Mighty Fall and am re-reading it. I look forward to the soon-to-be released book from Mr. Collins on what to DO in these turbulent times! -
http://m360.sim.edu.sg/article/Pages/...
Even the Greatest Can Fail
THE Good to Great storyteller, Mr Jim Collins is back with How the Mighty Fall. Many great companies, even those that have lasted generations have fallen in recent years. This made Mr Collins question how and why it happens. More importantly, is there any way that companies can avoid the path of doom and gloom?
In his latest, he confronts these questions and gives an optimistic spin to leaders who may find themselves in a downward spiral and are seeking help.
Mr Collins’ four-year research uncovered the five stepwise stages of decline: Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success, Stage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of More, Stage 3: Denial of Risk and Peril, Stage 4: Grasping for Salvation, and Stage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death. Understanding these stages may help leaders climb back to the top.
This book is a great read, not just for leaders, but for consultants, entrepreneurs, and business coaches as well. It is one of those books that needs to be placed on an easy-to-reach shelf. I think this is even better than Good to Great. Maybe, Mr Collins is one of those authors who just gets better with each new book. -
The often confronted, Good to Great author comes up with another striking analysis of how big companies fail. Readers who opt to love research-based analysis might find this book not fully convincing.
People who are into business would better comprehend what Jim Collins says and certainly get some insights. Specially, his explanation about the five failing stages the big companies go through is something to draw more insights from, though not all companies necessarily fail this way. Because risks are sometimes unique, and not all risks could be approached the same way by all organizations.
Surely a good read. -
Well, I finally came across a business book that I actually liked. That's saying something.
Collins starts things off well by expressing his level of uncertainty in these studies (which he doesn't emphasize as much in his previous books, which is why it was harder to take them as seriously). But Collins has matured in his writing (perhaps, in part, because of the failure of some of the companies showcased in his book
Good to Great) and I find this new, writing style much more compelling.
My favorite part is a casual mention of how early readers of this manuscript found it to be too depressing. I think it illustrates that this genre is full of books whose only purpose is to give another hit to the "inspirational business stories" junkies. In that environment, a hard look at the unpleasant nature of business is a breath of fresh air. -
I love Jim Collins books. This book was written between two of his major two books (Good to Great followed by Great by Choice). I heard Collins speak at a conference and he explained how it struck him that he could pop out this book in the middle of the other big research projects he was working on. The book talks about the trajectory of company's that fail (some that save them selves and other do not). I have seen this trajectory many times (or parts of it) and it rang very true to me and was a very helpful read.
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I never cease to be amazed at how awesome Collins' books are. In How The Mighty Fall, he addresses the patterns evident in great companies when they fall, and how those patterns might be identified and reversed early.
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Finished in one seating. Great book with many cautionary tales and an optimistic outlook.
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If you’re particularly interested in detecting decline and reversing it before it’s too late, this book is for you.
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I dont think I've liked any Jim Collins book, despite his books are in my field of interest (business). It always lack the rigor or the indepth study. The author admit upfront that there is no way to conduct a proper study with control group because there is no way to repeat the same experiment and keeping every factors constant. This book is again not an exception. And it's probably worse than his other books because this book is born out of one of his extended article/research, which gets lengthened into a relatively short book (240 pages).
According to the author, great companies fall by typically going through 5 stages below (they don't have to go through all 5 stages, nor the speed of crashing is similar).
Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success (arrogance, no attribute to luck)
Stage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of More (undisciplined capital allocation and growth)
Stage 3: Denial of Risk and Peril (discount the negative, )
Stage 4: Grasping for Salvation
Stage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death
I can agree with the first two stages. And I agree the most with Stage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of More. But I find generally managers are biased and are optimistic about their companies due to the cognitive dissonance, a widely known phenomena in psychology. When a company is in stage 4 and 5, it's unclear if one can blame the managers anymore. Warren Buffett said: "When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.". It means turning around a declining business is very very hard.
Again, read the Halo effect if you think you like Jim Collins book. "The Halo Effect: ... and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers" by Phil Rosenzweig. While the book addressed Jim's other book "Good to Great", the idea is the same, that it's very hard to study failures this way, eg by study failure case study from outside and find common factors. In my view, a much better book about business failure is "The Ten Commandments for Business Failure" by Donald R. Keough, ex-chairman of Coca-cola. -
What happened to Kodak and Nokia?
All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way
I’ve concluded that there are more ways to fall than to become great
The failure of successful businesses isn’t due to the changing economic climate or bad luck, but to their leaders who steer them in the wrong direction and exacerbate crises through mismanagement
Whether failures or successes, these companies reflect the humanity of their leaders – and so does yours
We are not imprisoned by our circumstances, our setbacks, our history, our mistakes, or even staggering defeats along the way. We are freed by our choices
Every company is vulnerable to decline
The decline of the Roman Empire shows that, no matter how vast or successful something is, it will always be in danger of collapsing
While their competitors, such as Apple and Samsung, were researching and innovating in smartphone technology, Nokia’s management decided to innovate in other, less profitable areas. Thus, when smartphones became popular, Nokia was completely out of the race.
Diagnose and treat your organization’s problems as early as possible
Like cancer, corporate failure is a staged disease – hard to detect, but easier to cure in the beginning stages, and much more difficult to stop later on
Failing companies go through Five Stages of Decline
Stage One: Hubris Born of Success – Successful large companies can fall victim to their own success. Momentum blinds them to the long-term consequences of bad judgment or neglect. When corporate leaders believe their own hype – We’re successful because we do these specific things – they forget they are successful because they understand precisely why they do what they do. The ancient Greeks first recognized and defined hubris as a surfeit of pride. Such pride always causes the arrogant hero to fail. Hubris is outrageous arrogance that manifests when companies strike out into fields in which they have no expertise or when they grow past their ability to deliver with excellence
Example: Motorola
The cycle:
1) You create a successful product
2) You believe that novel business ideas will fuel success more than your primary creation did
3) You don’t keep improving your primary offering
4) Your novel offerings all take too long to prosper
5) By the time you focus on your primary offering, the company’s in trouble
Stage Two: Undisciplined Pursuit of More
Needlessly vast slate of new offerings that distracted a company from its core pursuits
Companies were more likely to die from taking on too much than from a lagging core business
No company can build revenues faster than it can bring in the right people to manage that growth
Example, before the financial crisis of 2008, banks chased quick profits at all costs. This led them to borrow heavily, invest in risky, yet highly profitable products, and ignore costs
What are the key seats in your organization? What percentage of those seats can you say with confidence are filled with the right people?
One notable distinction between wrong people and right people is that the former see themselves as having jobs, while the latter see themselves as having responsibilities
Stage Three: Denial of Risk and Peril
Executives are likely to blame their subordinates, outside suppliers or unforeseen events when things go bad
They cannot address the risk or peril right before their eyes. During this phase, companies often restructure. But that can generate a false sense that you are doing something productive. If reorganization is your primary strategy, you’re in peril
Indicators that your company is in Stage Three include a culture that minimizes or hides bad news, reaches for unlikely goals without the necessary research, loses its sound team dynamics, and blames people or factors outside the company for the firm’s problems.
The best way for any company to deal with bad news is to use it in a constructive, practical way. Yet so many firms don’t do this. They prefer to simply blame their situation on outside factors and continue on the wrong path
Stage Four: Grasping for Salvation
As companies realize they’re foundering; they reach out for any solution. They burn through their own capital, create new offerings with little market research, seek mergers or acquisitions, or bring in a savior CEO. Companies often mimic human panic behavior, reacting in precisely the opposite way they need to at the moment. Just when companies must be at their most deliberate, thoughtful and strategic, they react emotionally. At these moments, those running a flailing company must: Breathe. Calm yourself. Think. Focus. Aim. Take one shot at a time. Indicators that your company suffers from Stage Four behavior include seeking game changers in any form, touting a radical change, refusing to lower expectations realistically, going through brief periods of illusory success, experiencing increased cynicism in the office and suffering a gradual loss of financial strength
Stage Five: Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death
Nothing matters more than cash on hand. Companies can show profits and still go bankrupt. Even companies with sound earnings can fail if they don’t have enough cash. As the death spiral moves from stage to stage, dying companies find themselves with diminishing cash on hand. One day, they simply don’t have enough to go on.
The first thing business leaders must do to reverse decline is adopting the right attitude
UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill: a laudable example of perseverance. Disgraced after several disastrous tactical decisions during World War I, Churchill lost most of his wealth in the 1929 stock market crash. Shortly after, he suffered long-lasting injuries and depression after a car accident. In the mid-1930s, the English power elite regarded Churchill as a relic of the past. But when a Nazi invasion threatened Britain in World War II, the nation called on Churchill to lead. Churchill rallied his country with the thundering call: We will never surrender
Never give in. Never stray from your core purpose. Accept that some ventures fail, close large operations if they’re not generating profits – but never “give up on the principles that define your culture.”
Bouncing back from failure doesn’t only depend on the right attitude but also a lot of hard work -
Jim Collins is one of the GREAT business writers. His book, Good to Great, is one of the two most influential business books I have ever read [if you’re wondering about the other one … Hiring for Attitude by Mark Murphy]. How the Mighty Fall is a very readable examination of the 5 stages once great businesses go through in their plummet to the bottom. I have long thought about this topic so I found it especially provocative.
Despite what other reviewers here assert, Collins very clearly outlines his criteria for his study of the companies who moved from out-performing to failing. He learned they don’t just give up. And they just didn’t forget about remaining competitive or innovative. He notes that the decline is a steeper slope than we might expect in some cases, but it can also be a slow steady erosion of position as well. Yet as Collins observes, the stages are all there. The astute leader can act in stages 1-4 to pull the business out.
Failing is a darker topic to read about. It doesn’t have the rosy allure that most business books sell — “success”, “great”, “winning”, etc. Falling (i.e., failing) isn’t what any leader wants to see happen. Yet it can. The value of this book, is it gives leaders clear insight about what to look for in order to avoid that fate. As Collins asserts, great leaders push the business forward to achieve new heights while staying true to the core culture of the business. Yet any leader should be alert about the flip side as well — failure — and proactively guarding against it at all times. -
“...we are not imprisoned by our circumstances, our setbacks, our history, our mistakes, or even staggering defeats along the way. We are freed by our choices.”
If you like business books; Collins research reveals the commons stages of decline and provides guidance on what to watch out for and how to bounce back when you stumble. -
Very well explained along with the case study which seems to have been prepared after a lot of research.
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Essential guidebook on pitfalls and plunders. Analytical and insightful
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Not as moving as Good to Great, but I still enjoyed the read. (Didn't read all of the appendix)
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Jim Collins and his team have yet again delivered on neatly and concisely summarising years of research into easily digestible lessons and warnings. This book is both inspiring and terrifying. Full of cautionary tales and counterintuitive lessons for any aspiring business leader. The fact that the majority of this was written before the financial crash of 2008 makes this an even more enthralling read/listen with "flash-forwards" to the (at the time) present day adding context and relevance to the teachings here.
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Początkowym zamierzeniem Jima Collinsa, autora “Od dobrego do wielkiego” czy “Wielcy z wyboru”, było napisanie artykułu o tym, jak upadają wielkie firmy. Zebrany materiał okazał się jednak zbyt obszerny i w rezultacie powstała książka o znanych przedsiębiorstwach, które poniosły klęskę oraz o tym, co wskazywało nadchodzący upadek.
Collins poszukiwał odpowiedzi na pytanie nurtujące wielu przedsiębiorców - dlaczego upadają firmy, które odnosiły ogromne sukcesy. Na bazie dokumwntów takich firm jak Bank of America, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Merck czy Motorola przeanalizował czy są jakieś wydarzenia, które zwiastują katastrofę i w jaki sposób można wpłynąć na tendencję spadkową oraz przekuć ją w sukces.
Podczas pracy odkrył pięć charakterystycznych etapów, które jego zdaniem przyczyniały się do upadku firmy. Pośród nich znalazły się: pycha będąca wynikiem sukcesu, chaotyczne sięganie po więcej, negowanie ryzyka i zagrożenia, rozpaczliwe szukanie ratunku oraz odejście w niebyt lub nieistotność. Uzyskane wyniki przybliżyły go do wskazania markerów poszczególnych etapów. Dla wygody czytelnika na końcu każdego rozdziału autor zebrał najważniejsze informacje, by łatwo można było wrócić do tych najistotniejszych. Na szarym tle wyszczególnia on również uniwersalne myśli, które warto zapamiętać.
Collins w książce wskazuje ważną regułę, że firmy bardzo często szukają winnych na zewnątrz. Wymieniają nieuczciwą konkurencję, słabą gospodarkę, strajki czy kryzysy oddalając przyczyny jak najbardziej od siebie. W wielu przypadkach jednak porażki mają źródło w działaniach liderów oraz pracowników. Dzięki zrozumieniu własnych działań oraz interpretacji poszczególnych markerów można ograniczyć ryzyko lub na nie zareagować w odpowiednim momencie. Badane przypadki wskazują na to, że niektóre przedsiębiorstwa mają szansę jeszcze się podnieść, a nawet stać jeszcze silniejsze niż przed kryzysem.
W ostatnim, ósmym, rozdziale Jim Collins przywołuje historię Xeroxa, który podnosi się pomimo bolesnego upadku. Dodaje, że widmo klęski bardzo często działa jak katalizator i przytacza słowa Dicka Clarka, dyrektora produkcji Merck, “Zmarnowanie kryzysu byłoby wielką stratą”.
Warto sięgnąć po tę lekturę, ponieważ jako jedna z nielicznych nie opowiada historii wielkiego triumfu, ale przybliża proces upadku. Dzięki niej można dostrzec oznaki nadchodzącej katastrofy, a także zareagować na nie w odpowiednim momencie, nie dopuszczając do upadku własnego biznesu. -
This is a great gift in a small package and represents, in my view, the best of Collin's serial strong efforts. In a word, this book is fantastic. Why? Because it's conslusions are as piercingly insightful as always, but this book offers something new as well - it's wisdom works on both the institutional/organizational level and on the personal level. In other words, it's one of the few "business" books that's just as applicable and powerful a tool in a personal context.
In this book, rather than studying greatness as he had in his previous two classics of the business genre - Built to Last (with Jerry I. Porras) and Good to Great - Collins studies its contrast, failure. Specifically, he endeavors to divine why some companies/organizations fail, and, of these, why/how some recover and become even stronger than before. In so doing, he identifies a five-stage process of decline, a model in which the re-ascendant avoid the dreaded and irreversible fifth stage. I won't give away the stages, but suffice it to say that when you read about them, their relevance in personal assessment will be immediately obvious.
It's this dual applicability (i.e., on both the institutional and individual levels), in fact, that is the book's greatest contribution, though the 5-stage model is also compelling and uniquely useful. This being said, the book's not perfect (as none is). In particular, Collins could have dedicated more time/focus to describing the process of recovery and re-ascension. He addresses it, but not in great depth and primarily via three examples described not in the text of the book but in separate appendices at its end.
This is a minor quibble about an otherwise absorbing and insightful work. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in either organizational or personal performance and suggest that we all adopt his suggestion to use its model as a sort of checkup, looking for markers (as he calls them, borrowing a medical term) of the stages to afford us the opportunity to choose to change proactively (and, thereby, to avoid a far more challenging and damaging trip through the stages). It's also not exactly light reading, but it is written more peppily than most business-oriented books, so readers more interested in the individual applicability aspects may be pleasantly surprised by its accessibility. -
This was my first dive into Collins' work. This was an interesting read as too often we focus on how companies are successful versus what led to their decline. There were times that this work was presented as an "apology" of sorts for reviewing now defunct companies in his previous works. Alas, that is the cycle of business: some are great and some fall.
The work outlined what should be the obvious five states of decline but are qualities I think we so often overlook. Success-induced hubris can lead to thirst for power and more success that cannot be sustained. Left unchecked, this can lead to a downward spiral that leads to overreaching to try to overcompensate, denial and/or passing the blame, or grasping for salvation which may potentially lead to more catastrophic choices. Through humility and willingness to see the whole picture, there is a possibility for salvation and bounce back.
As a small business owner, I found the work informative as I was able to reflect on my business and where it's at. I also found the appendix notes and (copious) citations for further reading and context quite helpful. -
I thought I was going to be disappointed when Jim Collins mentioned in his introduction that this was originally supposed to be the size of a magazine article and not a large expanded book. After reading it, I believe he hit a proverbial home run. The size is perfect for the content.
As I write this review, Toys R Us has declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is facing liquidation while General Electric, with a new CEO, is trying to recover. These two companies were in the forefront of my mind when I read this. What Collins wrote about his five stages is exactly what is happening with these two companies and will happen to more of them if they aren't aware of which stage they are in.
The fact that his five stages are applicable today for those who pay attention to business and watch as some companies rise and others fail, goes to show that it is a useful tool for current and future business leaders. Consequently, I have no choice but to give it a five star rating. -
I am not a business graduate nor do I own a business, but reading about it did add to my existing perspectives. The references will obviously make more sense to a person who is in the respective field, but you sure can apply the same principles to anything that you are currently working on. Jim Collins creates space for life lessons among those meant for growing or in this case, saving a company.
This would be a great read for someone starting out as an entrepreneur, someone who has been in the industry for a good set of years or for some who has finished their own of cycle whether they worked for any company or owned one. The language is simple and the ideas well recorded and articulated. Collins has a lot to show for his work in terms of his research and case studies. -
This was an excellent look at how companies can fall from greatness to non-existence -- and what can be done to resurrect the company, if caught in time. As with Collins' other books, he draws on thorough research and presents his conclusions simply and compellingly.
In addition to leadership/management nerds, this book would be of interest to anyone interested in "success" or "failure" writ large, as many of Collins' conclusions are transferable outside of business to life: your church group, soccer team, sewing circle, etc. -
For a book that promises data and research-based analysis of corporate performance, this was really thin on that, and generally useless. Additionally, in the cases used where I knew a reasonable amount due to other books, research, or firsthand experience, the analysis was incorrect (mostly due to having only very superficial data). This feels like the author milking a (dumb to begin with) franchise for more money.
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A fantastic follow up to "Good To Great".
Jim Collins explains in this book how no company is impervious to failure - especially those that at one point become great.
The study in this books shows how an attitude of arrogance born out of previous success, combined with the loss of discipline in decision-making are the key for any success story to turn into a case study of failure. -
Wonderful!
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പഴയ പാമ്പു കഥ തന്നെ ...
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Una institución puede parecer sólida por fuera pero estar enferma por dentro, parada peligrosamente al borde de un precipicio.
