How the Mighty Fall

How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins is another really good read for all business leaders and its principles can also be applied to everyday life.  Some key points from the book are the following. 

#1 Success breeds Entitlement

Most successful people work hard to gain their success but once they have it, some turn away from what got them there in the first place, and they eventually lose it.  I love sports and you can see this with star athletes from time to time.  A talented athlete will reach a point in their abilities were they are told they are “elite” or “the best” and after hearing this over and over again they begin to believe they can maintain their status while stopping the work that got them to that point in the beginning.  And before you know it, a promising sports career turns in to a bust. 

This “fall” or change in direction is often not dramatic or quick but more normally it is a gradual eroding of those things that got us to the top.  The point is, once we stop doing the core things that helped us gain success, we put ourselves at high risk for a fall.  The book refers to this attitude as hubris or having excessive pride. 

Truly successful companies and people hold fast to the principles that brought them success in the beginning, knowing that success could all be gone tomorrow.  They find ways to keep their fire lit and avoid feelings of entitlement that deceive so many in to believing that they’ve “earned” or “deserve” a life of being on top or a life of ease.  Instead the truly successful consistently keep doing those things that breed success.    

#2 Entitlement blinds Risk

Once we’ve succumbed to entitlement or hubris we fail to appropriately see and weigh the risks we are taking or are considering taking.  We begin to blindly do what we never would have done prior to our success.  As proven in the book, many successful companies begin to over-reach and expand or grow with the idea that they are too big or successful to ever fail.  They essentially become blind to their own vulnerability to falling and find ways to justify any decline in performance or reason to worry.

Again, successful organizations and successful individuals fight against the feelings of entitlement knowing that doing so keeps them grounded and helps them to see risk for what it really is.  This allows them to avoid unnecessary and unwise risk-taking while taking action when decline is present.      

#3 Changing Courses can happen

As you can image, the way to beat these problems are recognizing that we have a problem and then changing courses which often means reverting back to those things that brought us success in the first place.  This can be a humbling process but the comforting knowledge gleaned from the author is that “falls” are almost always self-inflicted and therefore can be avoided or turned around.  Those that are able to believe this, see that they are headed for disaster, and still have the discipline to change courses can save themselves from a catastrophe and can get back on the road to success.  

At the end of the day, I feel this book reinforces and emphasizes Collins previous book “Good to Great” with the crux of the matter centering on discipline.  Having disciplined people, disciplined thought, and disciplined action is what led good companies to become great.  Likewise, organizations or people that can have and maintain the discipline required to achieve success will avoid a mighty fall and enjoy tremendous results.         

To see how I rated this book, click here