commbasics

I recently discovered Jim Collins' latest book,  How the Mighty Fall , and like all his stuff, it both depresses and encourages me.  Collins has made a bunch of money showing companies how to be great, but this book takes a look at why they fail and he wraps it up pretty succinctly in five stages. Hubris born of success Undisciplined pursuit of more Denial of risk and peril Grasping for salvation Capitulation to irrelevance or death The depressing part of what he describes is that many sectors of the technology industry is firmly in stage 4 with many entering into stage 5.  The encouraging thing is that Collins says you can escape the cycle by simply going back to what made you successful in the first place. And I'm further encouraged by seeing several companies figure that last part out all by themselves.  There is no magic to our recovery.  We just have to learn a little humility; learn that engineering, marketing, sales or charismatic leadership...

A few months ago I did a post on having courage in down economies.  Today, an essay popped up in CNN on the same subject.  It was a good reminder. Anyone who starts a business in this time is a hero.   Anyone who funds one of these businesses is a hero.   It doesn't even matter if the idea for the business is a brilliant one or a mediocre one.  What matters is that someone is making an effort to overcome fear. There were too many companies that should never have been funded in the 1990s.  That's a given.  There are too few companies being funded and founded now.  And it's all based on fear.   We really need a few heros right now.