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

Good

I'm a mid level manager at a Fortune 100 company, and I enjoyed this listen. I'm not sure how practical it was as the target audience for actually doing any of these things is C-suite level, but I've always wondered why companies like Circuit City, Motorola, etc that were profiled in "Good to Great" failed. This does a nice job breaking down the stages of companies headed for the brink.

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.

Relevance.

Great and relatable content. Helpful references. I would recommend for all growth and mission minded business professionals. Thank you for this publication!

A Must Read for Leaders

If you enjoyed Jim Collins first two books, "Built To Last" and "Good To Great," you will love this book.

Good info

A book for class in my masters program. It was a quick listen with lots of good information and well illustrated examples.

Great book... a little too passionate reading

i loved the book and the learning contained. the narrator... also the author... was a little too over dramatic many times... just not required...distracting....

Every business owner must read

Along with every other book that Jim Collins has written, this is a must read for business owners.

Foresight

This is a must read for a business owner. The research was key. The author's voice is filled with enthusiasm.

another awesome book by JC

This book should be required reading for anyone in a leadership position from first-line supervisors to CEOs. I wish I had read it a decade ago before I began my career progression...it would have made my life significantly easier. 10/10

A Must Read

Another great and insightful book from Jim Collins on facts on the rise and fall of great business