When More Is Not Better

Chapter 5

Achieving Balance in America’s Natural System

Toy lovers woke up September 19, 2017, to the shocking news that Toys “R” Us had filed for bankruptcy the previous day. Six months later, over twenty million radio listeners were similarly shocked when they learned that iHeartMedia, the owner of their favorite radio station, also filed for bankruptcy. We typically assume that bankruptcy is what happens to badly managed companies. But it is something of a stretch to think of America’s number-one toy retailer and its biggest radio-station operator as bad companies. Industry leaders are not usually badly managed.

What got those companies into trouble was not a failure to win customers. It was, quite simply, that both companies were owned by ...