Suggested Reading

by James Collins

“How the Mighty Fall” is a look into top companies that had it all—a strong brand, global recognition and a seemingly immoveable presence in the market. They had it, and then they lost it. Decline, Jim Collins argues, is largely self-inflicted, and the path to recovery lies largely within our own hands. Collins’ research uncovered five step-wise 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. By understanding these stages of decline, Collins contends that leaders can substantially reduce their chances of falling all the way to the bottom. Collins presents a framework designed to help business leaders and companies identify the “silent creep of impending doom” and quickly set a correction course. “How the Mighty Fall” is an in-depth look at the decline of some of our nation’s greatest companies and offers leaders insight into how to stave off decline and, if they find themselves falling, reverse their course.