Comments on: Beware the perils of success http://www.colin-beveridge.com/index.php/beware-the-perils-of-success/ joined-up management for a joined-up world ™ by Colin Beveridge Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:34:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: linear flow http://www.colin-beveridge.com/index.php/beware-the-perils-of-success/comment-page-1/#comment-11436 linear flow Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:02:25 +0000 http://www.colin-beveridge.com/?p=1918#comment-11436 [...] ... I use Activity Diagrams because they capture behavior using actions' and allow for flow. ...Beware the perils of success | Fighting the Trillion Dollar ...Genuine runaway successes may be few and far between in the world of business change. But when they [...] [...] … I use Activity Diagrams because they capture behavior using actions' and allow for flow. …Beware the perils of success | Fighting the Trillion Dollar …Genuine runaway successes may be few and far between in the world of business change. But when they [...]

]]> By: Nick Spanos http://www.colin-beveridge.com/index.php/beware-the-perils-of-success/comment-page-1/#comment-3924 Nick Spanos Thu, 28 May 2009 13:05:01 +0000 http://www.colin-beveridge.com/?p=1918#comment-3924 Colin, interesting perspective. I have a similar observation: Many organizations (if not most) "succeed in spite of themselves". In other words, they do many things wrong and yet they still succeed. This has been especially true in the United States. Our economy was always strong enough to reward both mediocrity and excellence. Mediocre organizations or managers viewed their success as an affirmation of their management skills and their processes. They do not look at the heroic efforts of their staff or the luck that helped them to avoid failure. Another factor: "Bad news never travels upward". The staff may see the problems and may identify them but the problems tend to get filtered as they travel up the chain of command. This promotes a culture based on "self delusion" which supports your argument about the perils of success. Interesting dialog. Colin, interesting perspective. I have a similar observation: Many organizations (if not most) “succeed in spite of themselves”. In other words, they do many things wrong and yet they still succeed.

This has been especially true in the United States. Our economy was always strong enough to reward both mediocrity and excellence. Mediocre organizations or managers viewed their success as an affirmation of their management skills and their processes. They do not look at the heroic efforts of their staff or the luck that helped them to avoid failure.

Another factor: “Bad news never travels upward”. The staff may see the problems and may identify them but the problems tend to get filtered as they travel up the chain of command. This promotes a culture based on “self delusion” which supports your argument about the perils of success. Interesting dialog.

]]>