Enterprise Failure: 3 Things to Remember

Jim Collins talks about failure in enterprises big and small in a recent interview in Time: How Mighty Companies Fall. It's definitely worth the read.

Here's his 3 things to remember about enterprise failure:

;Number one, the seeds of decline are usually in place long before decline becomes visible — like a disease where you look strong on the outside but you're already ill on the inside.

Second, we tend to think decline happens because of complacency — people just sitting still, not being aggressive or innovating. But we found there's often tremendous change and innovation leading right up to the point of fall. It's overreaching: undisciplined growth, undisciplined risk-taking.

Finally, I was surprised by how far you really can fall and still come back — it's one of the most wonderful things to come from this work. The tendency for many of us might be to give up too early.

Looking back over my periods of decline, I can clearly see the seeds were always planted by the means of my success. My attitudes developed, habits practiced, opportunities presented, my support network all contributed to my success. And in them, lay dormant the seeds of my eventual demise for that period.

Maturity has helped me see this trend, understand its importance and recognize when those seeds of destruction, seeds of change, are about ready to sprout. Maturity, repeated experience of these cycles of success and its end, has also helped in me taking more responsibility for ; failures and sharing more of the credit with others for my success.

I bolded the last sentence. It's that important. I read too many quotes from too many successful people whose success arose only from their refusal to ever, ever, give up.

Don't. Success is never overnight. Success is always the result of never giving up, early or late. Never give up. Never.