How the Mighty Fall

And Why Some Companies Never Give In

By: Jim Collins

Narrated by: Jim Collins

Length: 4 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

Decline can be avoided. Decline can be detected. Decline can be reversed.

Amidst the desolate landscape of fallen great companies, Jim Collins began to wonder: How do the mighty fall? Can decline be detected early and avoided? How far can a company fall before the path toward doom becomes inevitable and unshakable? How can companies reverse course?

In How the Mighty Fall, Collins confronts these questions, offering leaders the well-founded hope that they can learn how to stave off decline and, if they find themselves falling, reverse their course. Great companies can stumble, badly, and recover. Every institution, no matter how great, is vulnerable to decline. There is no law of nature that the most powerful will inevitably remain at the top. Anyone can fall and most eventually do.

But, as Collins' research emphasizes, some companies do indeed recover. Decline, it turns out, is largely self-inflicted, and the path to recovery lies largely within our own hands. We are not imprisoned by our circumstances, our history, or even our staggering defeats along the way. As long as we never get entirely knocked out of the game, hope always remains. The mighty can fall, but they can often rise again.

©2009 Jim Collins (P)2009 Jim Collins

Excellent Listen

If you could sum up How the Mighty Fall in three words, what would they be?

I thought this book was excellent. It shows that even at the highest levels of performance and business that the basics of work ethic, logic, and following fundamental practices are paramount for sustained success.

What other book might you compare How the Mighty Fall to and why?

Great by Choice
From Good to Great

Have you listened to any of Jim Collins’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is as good as the other Jim Collins audio books. I highly recommend it.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

no

Don't miss this hidden gem.

Most people who are serious readers of business and personal development books have read "Good to Great" by Jim Collins. I was not familiar with this title until it was recommended to me by a friend. It is full of astute observations and is very preventive for those who want to avoid a fall.

The Right Book at the Right Time?

When listening to this book I kept thinking about the story of the guy who made a fortune by selling the book "How to Survive a Shark Attack" after he fell into shark-infested waters with 20 people who were much slower swimmers. However, I don't think this scenario applies here. The author is aware of the unusual situations in the business world at the end of 2008 and makes a case that their findings and conclusions are relevant. The mighty fall for some reasons you would suspect. But there are some surprises as well. Read on, listener.

Classic Jim Collins

Informative, exciting, insightful, and full of hope. I am officially a Jim Collins super fan!

Another great Jim Collins book

Jim Collins is by far my favorite business book author. Good to Great remains as my favorite Business book, but How The Mighty Fall is now a close second. The book is very straightforward in its methodology and in analyzing case by case the studied companies. In addition, the book has a great appendix part that must be read.

Clarity, focus and inspiring

To be sure, these are stories of failures. But more so, these are lessons on how to be successful. What are the signs of danger? What action do you take to recovery? How to navigate in through the tough and successful times. I look forward to the next book as I just ordered the hardback version of this to have for reference and review.

Over Dramatized

I forced myself to listen to the book because I was warned by previous readers. They were right - great content, but highly dramatized & it didn't need to be. Just read the book! It is is as if Jim Collins is giving a State of the Union Address, his words are THAT important! LOL.

Funny thing, I had never heard the word HUBRIS before (and hoped I never would again!) because it is SOOOO overused in this book; when I just looked it up to make sure I was spelling it correctly, the short definition of the word is "exaggerated pride or self-confidence." It occured to me that Jim Collins is quite hubristic in his reading! LOL. I was thrilled to be done with the book so I never have to hear him say the word again, then I started on the next book (not his) and the word popped up again! OH NOOO...but so far, it was used only once. :)

If you are a listener than can gleen the content from the drama, this is a fantastic book. It is amazing to learn from the failures of great companies. If you can't get past certain types of narration however, you better forget this one; buy the paperback...because the content is truly awesome.

I predict the next company to fall is WalMart. It is now led by a new CEO who is so very full of hubris and in his fake attempt to "go back to the roots" he is putting up far too many new WalMarts and he will overextend the company. I have yet to see any new WalMart around me filled with customers (even at Christmas!). He is making a huge mistake 1) by fighting everyone for the right to build on certain locations; and 2) putting them up so close together. It comes to mind that new Sam's Clubs are right in there as well.

if you are in charge of anything listen to this

this book if approached with humility and a ton of self awareness is great to help get your company, market. district, or team back on track.

To understand success you first need to understand failure

There are a lot of books analyze success. While factors that define success are important, understanding when you get from success to failure is way more important. Sometimes you will need to know what not to do and this book Shows overview of stages for mighty companies that failed:
1. Hubris
2. Undisciplined pursuit for more
3. Neglect of frisk
4. desperate attempt for salvation
5. Dismay to irrelevance or death

Understanding this indicators can help you understand potential mistakes that you might do in your business or that happen in your company and find a way to overcome them and avoid failure and eventual end of your company.

The Flip Side of Collins' Good to Great Research

I've read Jim Collins' other research books (Built to Last, Good to Great, Great by Choice), and finally listened to this one. The recommendations are backed by solid research, something that is not the case with many other business books.

Collins reads this book himself. He's sometimes overly dramatic as a reader, but you can certainly tell which ideas he thinks are the most important.