Create Marketplace Disruption: How to Stay Ahead of the Competition

Chapter 4. The Dark Side of Success—Defend & Extend Management

Why do business leaders claim success even when rates of return are not acceptable? Why do we have so much business failure? Why don’t business leaders, knowing their practices are not producing acceptable results, change business practices? Why haven’t we gotten any better at managing businesses for long-term success?

As recently as the 1980s, most U.S. college graduates thought they could work their entire careers for one business. This implicit employment contract is gone forever, a victim of adaptation to changing market conditions. Private sector union participation has declined by more than 50% since the 1980s, and lay-offs—blue collar and white collar—appear almost ...