Harvard Business: Book Review: Jim Collins' How the Mighty Fall

by Julia Kirby

Jim Collins' latest volume of management thinking, How the Mighty Fall ... and Why Some Companies Never Give In, begins with Collins recalling the advice of his mentor, Stanford professor Bill Lazier: "Don't try to come up with the right answers; focus on coming up with good questions." And certainly that describes Collins' achievement here. Why do leading companies, seemingly in possession of every competitive advantage, so often manage to blow it? That's surely a good question.
So good, in fact, that the last management researchers to tackle it in a serious way won last year's McKinsey Award for the best article published by Harvard Business Review. "When Growth Stalls," by Matt Olson, Derek van Bever, and Seth Verry, summarized the results from the Corporate Executive Board's extensive inquiry into the downfalls of formerly high-flying companies. (more)