The road to failure ...
... is paved with inflexibility.
I believe that one major reason successful companies, individuals and families fail is their inability to modify their actions, attitude and behaviour in accordance with changing circumstances.
There are several commonplace sayings that are used to attribute causes to the downfall of a successful entity - "Its bad times" (Romba ketta neram, in Tamil), "Bad things never come alone" etc...
Lets take the case of families that have grown to a position of prominence through hard work and vision (My example is going to be India-specific). Once they are in that position, they automatically command a great deal of respect from the police, judiciary and the state administration through their power and money. In this position, there is a tendency for members of the family to become arrogant, reckless and lawless. These lapses are quickly brushed under the carpet by an accomodating administration.
However, if for some reason, the family business starts unravelling, all support from external agencies is qucikly lost. This is however, not the end of things. If the family members at once modify their behaviour and become more meek, they can probably quickly re-build their empire. However, unfortunately, most people dont modify their behaviour and continue to act as if they were in the past positions of power. This quickly becomes unsustainable and once one blow is stuck on the family (an arrest for example), the whole edifice comes tumbling down, with every old criminal/civil case being dug up from the dusty recesses of the administration.
Thats why once-rich families are considered to have "a whole lot of bad luck" and "bad times". They are sowing the seeds for this by their misbehaviour while rich, and worse, continued misbehaviour while poor.
I believe that one major reason successful companies, individuals and families fail is their inability to modify their actions, attitude and behaviour in accordance with changing circumstances.
There are several commonplace sayings that are used to attribute causes to the downfall of a successful entity - "Its bad times" (Romba ketta neram, in Tamil), "Bad things never come alone" etc...
Lets take the case of families that have grown to a position of prominence through hard work and vision (My example is going to be India-specific). Once they are in that position, they automatically command a great deal of respect from the police, judiciary and the state administration through their power and money. In this position, there is a tendency for members of the family to become arrogant, reckless and lawless. These lapses are quickly brushed under the carpet by an accomodating administration.
However, if for some reason, the family business starts unravelling, all support from external agencies is qucikly lost. This is however, not the end of things. If the family members at once modify their behaviour and become more meek, they can probably quickly re-build their empire. However, unfortunately, most people dont modify their behaviour and continue to act as if they were in the past positions of power. This quickly becomes unsustainable and once one blow is stuck on the family (an arrest for example), the whole edifice comes tumbling down, with every old criminal/civil case being dug up from the dusty recesses of the administration.
Thats why once-rich families are considered to have "a whole lot of bad luck" and "bad times". They are sowing the seeds for this by their misbehaviour while rich, and worse, continued misbehaviour while poor.
Comments
Yeah, many believes about those bad time stuffs. Worst part is there are few who sits idle doing nothing under BADTIME cover. Your example was the best one!
Have a nice day,
Ponnarasi Kothandaraman.