Why winning Streaks End (Bloomberg)
Why Winning Streaks End
04:08 PM Monday February 08, 2010
By Rosabeth Moss Kanter
That crashing sound you hear is not an accident caused by sudden acceleration of your hybrid car; it is the continuing toppling of idols, such as hybrid car companies, off their pedestals. Listen hard, lest you be next.
Toyota, the world's leading auto company, faces a series of product problems causing a $2 billion recall, an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and a galling loss of face for a company from face-conscious Japan. This follows its first annual financial loss in 50 years, with profitability regained partly through cost-cutting.
Sayonara for a while to Toyota's reputation for quality control and invincibility. But in Dearborn, Michigan, there are no smug smiles. Ford announced that it is also fixing electronic brakes in its hybrid cars after a damaging review by Consumer Reports and more generalized concerns about electronics in cars.
The noise continues. In banking, the latest jackhammer blow to any remaining pedestal pieces is a civil fraud lawsuit against former Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis. Okay, bankers might not be saints, but the saintly are crashing, too. Ten U.S. missionaries were arrested in Haiti on charges of abducting children, apparently admitting that they had neglected to secure all the necessary permissions, and with hints that some of the "orphans" had living parents. Do some people who feel they are doing good think that they can bend a few inconvenient rules to do it?
...snip
Winners become sinners when confidence turns into complacency and arrogance. They over-estimate their own invincibility and under-value mundane disciplines. Whenever someone feels on top over a long period of time, they are tempted to neglect the very fundamentals that helped them succeed in the first place. They might even start to feel that the rules don't apply to them.
snip...
read whole thing
bloomberg Feb 12/'10
04:08 PM Monday February 08, 2010
By Rosabeth Moss Kanter
That crashing sound you hear is not an accident caused by sudden acceleration of your hybrid car; it is the continuing toppling of idols, such as hybrid car companies, off their pedestals. Listen hard, lest you be next.
Toyota, the world's leading auto company, faces a series of product problems causing a $2 billion recall, an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and a galling loss of face for a company from face-conscious Japan. This follows its first annual financial loss in 50 years, with profitability regained partly through cost-cutting.
Sayonara for a while to Toyota's reputation for quality control and invincibility. But in Dearborn, Michigan, there are no smug smiles. Ford announced that it is also fixing electronic brakes in its hybrid cars after a damaging review by Consumer Reports and more generalized concerns about electronics in cars.
The noise continues. In banking, the latest jackhammer blow to any remaining pedestal pieces is a civil fraud lawsuit against former Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis. Okay, bankers might not be saints, but the saintly are crashing, too. Ten U.S. missionaries were arrested in Haiti on charges of abducting children, apparently admitting that they had neglected to secure all the necessary permissions, and with hints that some of the "orphans" had living parents. Do some people who feel they are doing good think that they can bend a few inconvenient rules to do it?
...snip
Winners become sinners when confidence turns into complacency and arrogance. They over-estimate their own invincibility and under-value mundane disciplines. Whenever someone feels on top over a long period of time, they are tempted to neglect the very fundamentals that helped them succeed in the first place. They might even start to feel that the rules don't apply to them.
snip...
read whole thing
bloomberg Feb 12/'10
posted by Walk a Kb or Two in my cassins | 8:18 am
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