How Companies Die
Why companies fail when everything still looks functional.
The company was still growing.
The damage had already been done.
Companies don't die in public.
A concern goes unspoken because it's easier not to bring it up.
Bad news takes longer to travel.
Objections move from the room to private conversations.
Leaders hear less friction.
They mistake it for alignment.
From the outside, everything still looks functional.
Revenue grows.
Hiring continues.
Projects move forward.
The people closest to the problems stop talking about them.
Disagreement gets delayed.
Problems become harder to raise.
Then harder to resolve.
By the time they show up in the numbers, the damage is already old.
That's why most leaders miss it.
They're watching metrics while the organization changes underneath them.
By the time it hurts, they're no longer dealing with the problem.
They're dealing with its consequences.