Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!
Rate this book!
Write a review?
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 well explained along with the case study which seems to have been prepared after a lot of research.
If you’re particularly interested in detecting decline and reversing it before it’s too late, this book is for you.
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.
http://m360.sim.edu.sg/article/Pages/...Even the Greatest Can FailTHE 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
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...
Like his prior research, Jim Collins looked at several companies and their direct comparisons to identify commonalities shared by the failing companies that were not present in the comparison (successful) companies.Study companies (those that succumbed to the five stages of decline):A&PAddressographAmes Department StoresBank of America (before it was acquired by NationsBank)Circuit CityHewlett-Packard (HP)MerckMotorolaRubbermaidScott PaperZenith5 Stages of DeclineStage 1: Hubris Born of SuccessG...
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
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
Essential guidebook on pitfalls and plunders. Analytical and insightful
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 favori...
Not as moving as Good to Great, but I still enjoyed the read. (Didn't read all of the appendix)
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
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 leng...
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 risk...
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 cr...
“...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.
Finished in one seating. Great book with many cautionary tales and an optimistic outlook.
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
What happened to Kodak and Nokia?All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own wayI’ve concluded that there are more ways to fall than to become greatThe 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 mismanagementWhether failures or successes, these companies reflect the humanity of their leaders – and so does yoursWe are not imprisoned by