How the Mighty Fall
Success is fleeting when arrogance takes flight; true leaders stay grounded, remembering the climb, not just the height.
Adam Danyal & Julia Danyal
August 26, 2023
WRITTEN BY: ADAM DANYAL
Success breeds hubris. When we rise high, we risk losing sight of how we got there. Like Icarus flying too close to the sun, we can crash from the dizzying heights of achievement.
Staying grounded takes vigilance. As leaders ascend the ladder of success, they must resist arrogance. Pride comes before the fall. Glory achieved today offers no immunity from mistakes tomorrow.
Think of Enron, once mighty and now a cautionary tale of greed gone wild. Or the automated desperation of Kodak as smartphones ate their lunch. Titans laid low by the belief their winning streak would never end.
The higher we climb, the more we crave the view. The oxygen gets thin up there. Dizzy with the accomplishment, we breathe rarefied air reserved for the special. If only we could bottle this feeling forever.
Alas, the universe has other plans. What goes up must come down. Gravity remains the great equalizer. We remember our wings are wax and the sun still scorches. Back to earth we tumble like Icarus with melted wings.
Success today is no promise of achievement tomorrow. Yesterday's trophies gather dust in the attic. Our winning legacy means little if we lose focus on how to win again.
Stay hungry. Stay humble. The mighty fall when they forget how they rose. We celebrate past glories at our own peril. True leaders know success comes from the climb, not merely reaching the summit.
The higher you fly, the harder you fall. Keep climbing but check your wings along the way. Remember what matters is the next mountain awaiting your footsteps, not the view from where you stand today. Destiny calls us higher still.
From our Leadership Bookshelf:
WRITTEN BY: JULIA DANYAL
The book "Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't" by Jim Collins provides valuable perspectives on how even the most successful companies can falter if they become arrogant and lose sight of the foundations that made them great.
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Key lessons:
1. Great companies preserve their core values and purpose even as they grow and evolve. Straying from your core principles is a recipe for decline.
2. Leadership hubris and arrogance are warning signs of impending fall. Success breeds overconfidence and blurred vision.
3. Retain humility by confronting brutal facts and not gloating over achievements. Yesterday's accomplishments don't guarantee future success.
4. Conduct autopsies on failures and near-misses to extract learnings. Understand how and why things went wrong to avoid repeats.
5. Preserve a culture of discipline, even in good times. Complacency and entitlement kill the drive that spurs greatness.
The mightiest can fall if they forget the foundations of their success. Leaders must retain humility, discipline and commitment to core values - the seeds that can grow a good company into a great one. Past triumphs are poor predictors of future success. Stay hungry, stay paranoid, stay true to who you are.