How Great Churches Fall – “Leadership Learnings” Part 2

…a company can indeed look like the picture of health on the outside yet already be in decline, dangerously on the cusp of a huge fall…that’s what makes the process of decline so terrifying; it can sneak up on you, and then – seemingly all of a sudden – you’re in big trouble (Collins, 18)

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 (Collins, 21)

When an organization grows beyond its ability to fill its key seats with the right people it has set itself up for a fall…overreaching better captures how the mighty fall. (Collins, 21)

Organizational decline is largely self-inflicted, and recovery largely within our own control. (Collins, 25)

Dating back to ancient Greece, the concept of hubris is defined as an excessive pride that brings down a hero…or…outrageous arrogance that inflicts suffering upon the innocent. (Collins, 29)

A core business that meets a fundamental human need – and one at which you’ve become the best in the world – rarely becomes obsolete. (Collins, 32)

Whereas Walton engineered a smooth transition of power to a homegrown insider who deeply understood the driver’s of Wal-Mart’s success and exemplified the cultural DNA right down to his tippy toes, Ames’s CEO Herb Gilman brought in an outsider as his successor, a visionary leader who boldly redefined the company. (Collins, 42)