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Companies change. CEOs leave. For example, the thing that made Fannie Mae succeed (being able to manage risk) was abandoned with the loosening of the credit mar
by officemonkey 15y ago
Companies change. CEOs leave. For example, the thing that made Fannie Mae succeed (being able to manage risk) was abandoned with the loosening of the credit markets in 1999 and beyond.
Discipline is hard and success in the past gives you a false feeling of security. Interestingly enough, this is covered in the book, but a dismissive blogosphere article isn't going to admit that.
- ryanmolden 15y agoSure, but have you analysed these cases to see that is what happened or are you just saying that happened because they went on to do poorly? People have, for ages, been purporting to identify the secrets to success and sell you something that will allow you to predict the future/replicate the winners, and yet it is still rare. You could claim it is because it is hard and success breeds hubris, both of which are likely to be true, but it could also be because Jim Collins, like others before him, has not stumbled upon the secret to being great and found a way to distill it into a book or a simplistic maxim that actually works.
- officemonkey 15y agoThe research in the book says that Fannie Mae succeeded because they learned to manage risk better than any other company. Years of leadership by David O. Maxwell and James A. Johnson ended in 1998, and provisions of Glass-Steagall was repealed in 1999. There is no simplistic maxim, but the concepts and success described in the book are backed up with far more research than either blogosphere article cited.