How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In

It is difficult to think that you might read a business book that can change your life, but this book might just do that - your business life, that is. I recently bought Collins' Good to Great, but saw this and decided to read it first. Having started a business in 2004 and a second, subsidiary business just over a year ago, I wanted to find ways in which to better react to what are difficult times, with recession and a whole lot of changes and avoid the temptation just to pack it all in and retire. Collins describes 5 steps or stages of decline: Hubris born of success; Undisciplined pursuit of more; Denial of risk and peril; Grasping for salvation and lastly, Capitulation to irrelevance or death. Even over a period of 10 years, I have seen my own business go through the first four stages and am only just beginning to see some green shoots of regeneration. The book, far from being doom and gloom, offers advice and positive steps, with good examples, for how to counter risks at every stage: obviously the further down the slipery slope you are, the harder it will be to recover, but not impossible and this is the point of the book - how to start to become great again. I found myself marking pages and returning to different sections of the book and using it it to plan, train and retrain myself and others into a different way of thinking. I have read and studied many books on business and management: while much is useful, even illuminating, few have the impact, for me at least, of this book. Counter-intuitively, a book about how companies fail, might just be the thing to ensure against failure, identify with ones own mistakes and make sure they will not be repeated. If you are in business and in tough times, I heartily recommend this book: if you are enjoying good times, you might just benefit also: a great read.

Important learnings for every business owner👍

Jim Collins has focused on the success of companies for his two other seminal books 'Built to Last' and 'Good to Great'. In this book he tries to understand why some of those companies previous studied fell from grace.The book was set against the backdrop of the collapse of the US housing market in 2008 and the implosion of many of the top financial and previously 'great' companies. In spite of this Jim doesn't conclude that the meltdown in itself was the cause but rather systemic issues that took years of poor leadership to build to.His five step model consist of five steps that are significant mostly for their fluidity and flexibility. He sets out his model of decline as:Stage 1: Hubris born of successStage 2: Undisciplined pursuit of moreStage 3: Denial of Risk and PerilStage 4: Grasping for SalvationStage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance or DeathHow the mighty fall was originally set out as an article and at 112 pages is short for a book. There are a further 78 pages of appendixes some of which add to the text by analysing businesses against the Good to Great principles to serve as a contrast. There is a good section on Fannie Mae, however it is not the most in depth analysis on this that I have read (suggest reading "All the Devils are Here" by McLean and Nocera).If you come to this from Jim's other books then you will find it written in much the same vein. If you disagree with his ideas of Leadership then you will find this very much a frustration as his idea of Level 5 Leadership is very much built into the book. Jim's ideas of how the businesses that recovered and did not fail very strongly resonate with this concept of leadership.Well referenced this is a good read. For me it lost a star on it's length and the subsequent lack of depth on some of the analysis that follows. Still well worth a look.

My main intention to buy this book was to follow the order of the books written by Jim Collins. Even the writer mentioned that he was planning to write an article not a book, suddenly it turned to be a great book! I really enjoyed while reading. You can see most of the problems that people are encountering in their daily lives. Additionaly, everything is given in a stuructured way. I really like this book and strongly recommend to everyone...

I love this book and all other Jim Collins stuff. He studied businesses and if you're into business this is a must read.

Informative and easy to read as most of the Collins books are.

This book wasn't on my reading list for my MBA - and it really should have been.

Book used as a basis for new corporate strategic planning with Jim Collins being a trusted source and guide. Recommended.Duplicate purchase and whilst refund request was approved and book returned, seller never refunded account.

Another great book to have and read!

Good book. Thanks

Tal vez sea el libro más crudo de Collins y por ello el más necesario. Analiza la caída de muchas empresas, algunas de las cuales eran tomadas como referencia en sus libros anteriores. ¿Cómo caen? ¿Qué errores cometen? ¿Hay pautas en común? Este libro es un poco "cuando las barbas de tu vecino veas pelar, pon las tuyas a remojar", un recordatorio de que las cosas pueden ir mal que sin duda ayuda a que no vayan mal.

All good

While I don't agree with all his conclusions the book is very valuable because of the study taken and the examples given to show how it's not done. No need to repeat THOSE mistakes. A must-read for successful people in the world.