How The Mighty Fall (2009) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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People edit see section history

• Louis Gerstner: former CEO of IBM
• Anne M. Mulcahy: former CEO of Xerox
• Merck: Add a description of this character.
• Fannie Mae
• Pearlman
• Addressograph
• Giannini
• Gilmartin
• Scott Paper
• Churchill
• Ames
• Fiorina
• Walton
• Caesar
• Dunlap
• Platt

Quotes edit see section history

• “While no leader can single-handedly build an enduring great company, the wrong leader vested with power can almost single-handedly bring a company down.”

• “Gerstner returned to the intense, methodical and consistent approach that produces greatness in the first place. He understood that . . . you have to halt the cycle of grasping, and cease jumping from one false salvation to another - from silver bullet to silver bullet - from dashed hope to new hope - only to have hopes dashed yet again.”

• “Don't try to come up with the right answers; focus on coming up with good questions.”

  Bill Lazier

• “An organization is more likely to die of indigestion from too much opportunity than starvation from too little.”

  David Packard

• “When bureaucratic rules erode an ethic of freedom and responsibility within a framework of core values and demanding standards, you’ve become infected with the disease of mediocrity.”

• “It’s far better to create your own future, repeatedly, than to wait for external forces to dictate your choices.”

  Robert Galvin

• “We just didn’t have enough conclusive data to convince anyone.”

  NASA O-Ring Task Force (following the Challenger disaster)

• “Every institution is vulnerable, no matter how great. There is no law of nature that the most powerful will inevitably remain at the top. Anyone can fall, and most eventually do.”

• “When you have just a few people, and there's enemy all around you, the best thing is to say 'You take this section, from here to here, and you take this section, from here to here, and do not fire on automatic. Take one shot at a time.”

  U.S. Marine, turned entrepreneur

• “(marker for stage 4) Instead of passionately believing in the organization's core values and purpose, people become distrustful, regarding visions and values as little more than PR and rhetoric.”

• “Never forget, you pay your bills with cash. You can be profitable and bankrupt.”

  Bill Lazier

• “Not all companies deserve to last. Perhaps society is better off getting rid of organizations that have fallen from great to terrible rather than continuing to let them inflict their massive inadequacies on their stakeholders. Institutional self-perpetuation holds no legitimate place in a world of scarce resources. Institutional mediocrity should be terminated or transformed into excellence.”

• “The right people will drive improvement whether standing on a burning platform or not, and they never take well to being manipulated.”

• “However you slice it, lack of management discipline correlates with decline, and passionate adherence to management discipline correlates with a recovery and ascent.”

• “Be willing to evolve into an entirely different portfolio of activities even to the point of zero overlap with what you do today, but never give up on the principles that define your culture.”

• “The path out of darkness begins with those exasperatingly persistent individuals who are constitutionally incapable of capitulation.”

• “Success is falling down and getting up one more time, without end.”

• “Enduring great companies passionately adhere to a set of timeless core values and pursue a core purpose beyond just making money.”

• “Bad decisions made with good intentions are still bad decisions.”

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• Packard’s Law states that no company can consistently grow revenues faster than its ability to get enough of the right people to implement that growth and still become a great company.

  Highlighted by 43 Kindle customers

• When an organization grows beyond its ability to fill its key seats with the right people, it has set itself up for a fall.

  Highlighted by 37 Kindle customers

• When the rhetoric of success (“We’re successful because we do these specific things”) replaces penetrating understanding and insight (“We’re successful because we understand why we do these specific things and under what conditions they would no longer work”), decline will very likely follow.

  Highlighted by 35 Kindle customers

• 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.

  Highlighted by 33 Kindle customers

• In Stage 3, leaders discount negative data, amplify positive data, and put a positive spin on ambiguous data. Those in power start to blame external factors for setbacks rather than accept responsibility.

  Highlighted by 33 Kindle customers

• If you have the right people, who accept responsibility, you don’t need to have a lot of senseless rules and mindless bureaucracy in the first place!

  Highlighted by 32 Kindle customers

• I’ve come to see institutional decline like a staged disease: harder to detect but easier to cure in the early stages, easier to detect but harder to cure in the later stages. An institution can look strong on the outside but already be sick on the inside, dangerously on the cusp of a precipitous fall.

  Highlighted by 28 Kindle customers

• 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.

  Highlighted by 23 Kindle customers

• Any exceptional enterprise depends first and foremost upon having self-managed and self-motivated people—the #1 ingredient for a culture of discipline.

  Highlighted by 23 Kindle customers

• The path to recovery lies first and foremost in returning to sound management practices and rigorous strategic thinking.

  Highlighted by 19 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• America
• Wall Street
• Rome
• California
• Britain

Table of Contents edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Jim Collins (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 658.16

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Business & Investing › Biography & History › Company Profiles
• Books › Business & Investing › Management & Leadership › Management

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