1. How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In
In the midst of the desolate landscape of fallen great companies, Jim Collins began to wonder: How do the mighty fall? Detection and avoidance of decline can happen early on.
The path toward doom for a company becomes inevitable and unshakable when it falls too far. What are some ways that companies can reverse course? If they find themselves falling, Collins offers leaders the well-founded hope that they can learn how to stave off decline and reverse their course in How the Mighty Fall. Collins' research project, which spanned more than four years, uncovered five step-wise stages of decline:
Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success
Stage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of More
Stage 3: Denial of Risk and Peril
Stage 4: Grasping for Salvation
Stage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death
This is a fascinating read for techies, documenting in detail how, as the title puts it, Apple has "lost its soul." The book is centered around three men: Steve Jobs, whose ghost haunts the book; Jony Ive, the genius designer of many of their products; and Tim Cook, Jobs' successor. The book explores the fundamental tension between creativity and commercialism. Ignoring concerns about a project's cost, Jobs and Ive built and rebuilt Apple, confident that consumers would appreciate game-changing technology that was second to none in quality.
The sentence highlights that with the more bottom-line mentality of Cook, the Spare-No-Expense mentality of I've may have also contributed to Apple's problems. Mickle argues that fundamentally, Apple has lost not only its soul but its vision. Instead of creating new technology, it has concentrated on the incremental refinement of its products and generating new revenues by expanding out into services like Apple+ TV. Although Apple is still the first trillion-dollar company, its competitors are nipping at its heels, giving the impression that Apple is a company in decline. Draw your own conclusions after reading the sentence.
This is a great book for students who are considering a career in investment. What they studied, how they got into their specific areas, and the mistakes they made - you get to hear the "origin stories" of world-famous investors. What comes through most importantly is finding the area of the investing world that suits your personal disposition. This book can help you to do this.
Everyone should have this book in their top 100. I think that Ayn Rand, who was not a very pleasant woman, wrote it as a response to communism. The principles in the book could apply today. The book argues that people should be rewarded for their intellect, especially those who are able to design things for the betterment of mankind. These skills should not be donated for the greater good free of charge. Some of the precedents will make a modern reader balk, but the ideas put forward are interesting and thought-provoking. If the brains of the world went on strike, what would happen? You must not be late
Do not be late.
Onassis has lived an exceptional life, just as in the book. I wish I had been close enough to him to call him Ari and learn some of his tactics.
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