"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."  - Thomas Edison

I recently ran across an organization...a current Fortune 500 organization...that is dead.  That's right...dead.  Oh...you wouldn't know it yet.  They are still selling, still competing.  But they have been fatally wounded...they just haven't fallen over yet.  Maybe not tomorrow...maybe not even next year...but mark my words...they will eventually succumb to their mortal wound. 

Here are the symptoms that have led me to make this call:

• They make all serious strategy decisions based on any book by Jim Collins (hell...even Jim Collins would tell you he isn't the end all-be all of management strategy!)
  
  • They have a BHAG...that they can't reach legitimately so they changed the rules
  • They are on a quest to go from "Good to Great"...but they are actually going from partly average to mostly average
  • They have people "on the bus"...but in all the wrong seats doing all the wrong things using none of their passion
  • They are working hard to "preserve the core"...while looking only at numbers in the rear-view mirror
  • They realize that they are on the precipice of the "stage of decline" curve...which they are already free-falling down
• They have recently met, at an off-site, with the review of "How The Mighty Fall" as a mandatory pre-reading, to discuss 2010 strategy and to have their "only ideas to reduce cost will be considered" considered
• They have determined that they actually survived the recent horrors of the market and economy pretty well.  Only a few layoffs, and those were "voluntary" in a select few divisions of the organization. 
• Pay and bonus freezes for everyone at the Director-level down shouldn't negatively affect employee satisfaction scores because they all still had jobs.  This also should lead to low turnover after things "return to normal."
• They have an executive leadership team that is steered by a weak Board, preparing for a near-term CEO retirement, a COO pre-destined and pre-ordained to the top, and everyone else shining their armor to hopefully stay a little longer
• They have serious weaknesses in the "minor" C-level and even greater weakness at the VP level
• They are in a heavily regulated industry and let that fact drive too many of their decisions, serve as an excuse for not innovating and stimulate bloated projects that meet the regulatory deadline...but little else
• They have decided that their 2010 strategy is as follows:
  • Stick to the knitting...it got them through the disaster...and the disaster may not be over
  • Cut cost...no matter the cost
  • Do more with less...again
  • Pull back on new offerings...that will probably just confuse the customer anyway
  • Be a "fast follower"...although they can't do anything fast
  • Focus on the "cost of quality"...although they cannot consistently measure or define what that really means
  • Pursue "best practices" and "operational excellence"...sigh

Time of death...5:34pm...November 8th, 2009.

When they actually fall over, slide into the body bag, have the funeral and the burial...only time will tell.