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The Icarus Paradox: How exceptional companies bring about their own downfall
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The Icarus Paradox: How ExceptionalCompanies Bring About Their Own Downfall 25
formed from managerial tools into an all-consum- their product lines and markets--was lost in a
ing, lock-step way of life. The corporate culture sea of financial abstractions. By concentrating
worshipped growth, and it celebrated, lavishly exclusively upon what it did best, FIT pushed
paid, and quickly promoted only those w h o strategies, cultures, and structures to dangerous
could attain it. The venturing trajectory had got- extremes, and failed to develop in other areas.
ten under way, and the momentum behind it was Greatness had paved the way to excess and de-
awesome. cline as IT]? the BUILDER became ITT the IMPE-
To achieve rapid growth, Geneen pursued RIALIST.
ever more ambitious acquisitions that were fur-
ther afield from existing operations. From 1967 to Configuration and M o m e n t u m
1970, just six of ITT's larger acquisitions--
Sheraton, Levitt, Rayonier, Continental Baking, The example of ITT reveals two notions that
Grinnell and Canteen--brought in combined surfaced again and again w h e n we looked at
sales of $1.8 billion; a seventh, Hartford Fire, one outstanding companies. We call these notions
of the largest property and casualty insurers in configuration and momentum.
the U.S., was about to be added. Loads of debt Outstanding corporations are a bit like beau-
had to be issued to fund these acquisitions. In tiful poems or sonatas--their parts or elements fit
less than 10 years, G e n e e n the imperialist bought together harmoniously to express a theme. They
a staggering 100 companies, a proliferation so are perhaps even more akin to living systems
vast it exceeded the complexity and scope of whose organs are intimately linked and tightly
many nation states--250 profit centers in all were coordinated. Although organizations are less uni-
set up. Geneen, quite simply, had created the fied than organisms, they too constitute configu-
biggest conglomerate on earth, encompassing rations: complex, evolving systems of mutually
375,000 employees in 80 countries by 1977. supportive elements organized around stable
Even G e n e e n and his sophisticated staff central themes. We found that once a theme
troops, with all their mastery of detail and their emerges--a core mission or a central strategy, for
status as information system gurus, could not e x a m p l e - - a whole slew of routines, policies,
manage, control, or even understand so vast an tasks, and structures develop to implement and
empire. But they tried, meddling in the details of reinforce it. It is like seeding a crystal in a super-
their divisions, and pressing home the need to saturated solution: once a thematic particle is
meet abstract and often irrelevant financial stan- dropped into solution, the crystal begins to form
dards. Political games took place in which head naturally around it. Themes may derive from
office controllers would try to impress Geneen by leaders' visions, the values and concerns of pow-
making the divisions look bad. Divisional execu- erful departments, even c o m m o n industry prac-
tives, in turn, would try to fool the controllers. It tices.
got to where more than 75 percent of divisional ITT's configuration, like all others, had a
managers' schedules were taken up preparing central theme and a "cast of players"--human,
budgets and going to meetings at the head office, ideological, strategic, and structural that com-
leaving them little time to direct their own units. pleted the scenario. The theme was "rapid
This obsession with acquisitions and financial growth through expansion"; the cast of players
control detracted from the substance of divisional included an entrepreneurial, ambitious CEO with
strategies. The product lines of many units were a strategy of diversification and acquisition, a
neglected and became stale. Return on capital powerful financial staff w h o dominated because
fell, and by the late 1970s many of the divisions they could best implement this strategy, elaborate
were experiencing major operating problems. A information systems and sophisticated controls,
subsequent CEO, Rand Araskog, had to sell off and even decentralized profit centers that infused
more than 100 units in an attempt to revive the expertise into the far-flung divisions amassed by
company, which shrunk the workforce by more diversification. All these "players" complemented
than 60 percent. The great ITT had become a each other and were essential to the enactment
flabby agglomeration of gangrenous parts. of the play. And as with all configurations, the
The general pattern is dear. Over time, ITr's parts only make sense with reference to the
success---or more specifically, its manager's reac- whole BUILDER constellation.
tions to success--caused it to amplify its winning Our research uncovered a number of excep-
strategy and to forget about everything else. It tionally c o m m o n but quite different configura-
m o v e d from sensible and measured expansion to tions associated with stellar performance: BUILD-
prolific and groundless diversification; from ERS, CRAFTSMEN, PIONEERS, and SALESMEN,
sound accounting and financial control to op- each subject to its own evolutionary trajectory.
pressive dominance by head office hit men; and Our second finding showed that organiza-
from invigorating divisionalization to destructive tions keep extending their themes and configura-
factionalism. The substance of basic businesses-- tions until something earthshaking stops them: a
process ,are call m o m e n t u m . Firms perpetuate tire candidates for diversification, and that's what
and amplify one particular motif a b o v e all others they did. Diversification increased still further,
as they suppress its variants. T h e y choose one set requiring even larger legions of accountants and
of goals, values, and champions and focus more financial staff. And so the spiral continued. In
and more tightly around them. The powerful get short, m o m e n t u m , by extending the BUILDER
more powerful; others b e c o m e disenfranchised as configuration, led to the dangerous excesses of
firms m o v e first toward consistency, and then IMPERIALISM.
toward obsession and excess. Organizations turn Outstanding organization, it seems, extend
into ~heir "evil twins"--extreme versions or cari- their orientations until they reach dangerous ex-
catures of their former selves. tremes; their m o m e n t u m issues in c o m m o n trajec-
Once ITF b e g a n to diversify, for example, it tories of decline. And because successful types
accelerated its policy because it seemed success- differ so m u c h from one another, so will their
ful; because it was very m u c h in line with the trajectories.
dreams and visions of what leaders and their
powerful financial staffs wanted; and because it THE TRAJECTORIES
was undergirded by a vast set of policies and
programs. Similarly, having implemented their ur four trajectories emerged in a study
financial control systems, I2T continued to h o n e
and develop them. After all, these systems were
d e m a n d e d by the expanding and diverse opera-
O w e conducted of outstanding compa-
nies. Our earlier research identified four
very common, wonderfully coherent configura-
tions; they were favored b y the growing staff of tions possessing powerful strategic advantages.
accountants; and they were the only w a y top We studied the long-term evolution of outstand-
managers could exert control over existing opera- ing firms conforming to each of these types by
tions and still have time to scout out n e w acquisi- tracking them for m a n y years. The types are de-
tions. scribed in Figures 1 and 2.
Momentum is also contagious and leads to a CRAFTSMEN, BUILDERS, PIONEERS, and
vicious cycle of escalation. As diversification in- SALESMEN were all susceptible to their o w n tra-
creased at ITT, so did the size of the head office jectories, and firms of a given type followed re-
staff and the time spent on divisional meetings. caarkably parallel paths, albeit at differing speeds.
The staff's role was to generate still more attrac- For purposes of simple comparison, our four
The Icarus Paradox: How Exceptional Companies Bring About Their Own Downfall 27
marketers and accountants were
Figure 3 barely tolerated, C o m p o n e n t specs
The Configurations and Trajectories Arrayed and design standards were all manag-
ers understood. In fact, technological
fine-tuning b e c a m e such an all-con-
Very Very suming obsession that customers'
Little Change Much needs for smaller machines, more
Very economical products, and more user-
Broad DRIFTERS IMPERIALISTS friendly systems were ignored. The
%
Decoupling
/
Venturing
DEC PC, for example, b o m b e d be-
cause it was so out of sync with the
budgets, preferences, and shopping
habits of potential users. Performance
\ / began to slip.
CRAFTSMEN are passionate about
doing one thing incredibly well: Their
SALESMEN BUILDERS
leaders insist on producing the best
Scope products for the market, their engi-
CRAFTSMEN PIONEERS neers lose sleep over micrometers,
/
Focusing
\Inventing
and their quality control staff rules
with an iron and unforgiving hand.
Details count. Quality is the primary
The Icarus Paradox: How Exceptional Companies Bring About Their Own Downfall 29
service, and penetrating distribution channels, Monolithic Cultures and Skills. The culture of
they create and nurture high-profile brand names the exceptional organization often becomes
that make them major players within their indus- dominated by a few star departments and their
tries. To place managers in especially close con- ideologies. For example, because CRAFTSMEN
tact with their broad markets, SALESMEN are see quality as the source of success, the engineer-
partitioned into manageable profit centers, each ing departments who create it and are its guaran-
one of which is responsible for a major product tors acquire ever more influence. This erodes the
line. prominence of other departments and concerns,
Unfortunately, SALESMEN tend to b e c o m e making the corporate culture more monolithic,
unresponsive DRIFTERS. They begin to substitute more intolerant, and more avid in its pursuit of
packaging, advertising, and aggressive distribu- one single goal.
tion for good design and competent manufactur- To make matters worse, attractive rewards
ing. Managers begin to believe they can sell any- pull talented managers toward rich, dominant
thing as they con- departments, and bleed them away from less
~ _ _ coct a mushroom- august units. The organization's skill set soon
r ing proliferation of becomes spotty and unbalanced, compromising
"Failure teaches leaders bland, copycat versatility and the capacity for reorientation.
i offerings. This Power and Politics. Dominant managers and
valuable lessons, but g o o d growing diversity departments resist redirecting the strategies and
results only reinforce their of product lines policies that have given them so much power.
and divisions Change, they reason, would erode their status,
preconceptions a n d tether makes it tough for their resources, and their influence over rival
them more firmly to their top managers to executives and departments. The powerful, then,
master the sub- are more likely to reinforce and amplify prevail-
'tried and true" recipes. " stance of all their ing strategies than to change them.
businesses. So they Structural Memories. Organizations, like
rely increasingly people, have memories. They implement success-
on elaborate bureaucracy to replace the hands-on ful strategies using systems, routines, and pro-
management of products and manufacturing. grams. The more established and successful the
Gradually DRIFTERS become unwieldy, sluggish strategy, the more deeply embedded it will be in
behemoths whose turf battles and factionalism such programs, and the more it will be imple-
impede adaptation. In scenarios that come mented routinely, automatically, and unquestion-
straight from Kafka, the simplest problems take ingly. Indeed, even the premises for decision
months, even years to address. Ultimately, the making--the cues that elicit attention and the
leader is decoupled from his company, the com- standards used to evaluate events and actions--
pany from its market, and product lines and divi- will be controlled by routines. Yesterday's pro-
sions from each other. grams will shape today's perceptions and give
rise to tomorrow's actions. Again, continuity tri-
FORCES TO WATCH umphs.
The Icarus Paradox: How Exceptional Companies Bring About Their Own Downfall 31
Conversely, 1. What kinds of customers do we prefer?
middle-of-the-road Why?
strategies m a y be 2. What assumptions are w e making about
"Stellar performers view anathema to competi- our customers and competitors? H o w have our
tive a d v a n t a g e - - t h e views of clients changed in the last few years?
the world through nar- jack-of-all-trades is too 3. Which aspects of strategy have not
rowing telescopes. One often master of none. changed in m a n y years? Why?
point of view takes over; The same is true of 4. To w h o m do we p a y the most attention,
culture and structure. both inside and outside the organizatioK? W h o m
one set of assumptions Equality a m o n g mar- do w e ignore and why?
comes to dominate. The keting, production, and 5. What are our most cherished goals and
R&D departments values? H o w have they evolved?
result is complacency might slow d o w n deci- 6. Which of our strengths are declining?
and overconfidence." sion making and pre- Which are on the rise?
vent a coherent strate- 7. H o w will w e find out if our strategies are
gic theme from emerg- wrong? H o w quickly?
ing. Similarly, organiza- 8. Which departments and types of employ-
tional cultures that nurture too m a n y dissidents ees do w e treasure and reward the most? Why?
might be stymied by conflict. 9. What biases might filter our views? Who
Managers, therefore, should reap the benefits might tell us about these biases?
of a well-ttmed configuration without regret. 10. H o w do others in the industry see us?
They should take care not to kill their competi- It might be useful for managers individually
tive edge b y prematurely watering things down, to answer these deliberately general questions, to
introducing too m u c h noise into the system, or then circulate their written responses to col-
permitting too m a n y discordant practices. leagues, and finally, to come together to frankly
I wish to a m e n d Peters and Waterman's the- discuss the answers.
sis: It is not just the pieces of a configuration--
closeness to customers, innovation, high quality, Gathering Information
differentiated products, loose-tight structures, or
s k u n k w o r k s - - t h a t create excellence. Stardom is Self-knowledge cannot be attained in a vacuum.
attained also through configuration, the w a y the Many of the best sources of such knowledge can
pieces fit together--their complementarity, their be found outside the organization. To discover
organization. To achieve success, form or con- whether m o m e n t u m is driving organizations to-
figuration must animate and orchestrate the sub- ward dangerous excesses, managers must test
stance of individual elements. their assumptions against reality--against evolv-
ing customer needs, new technologies, and com-
Liberating Self-Reflection petitive threats.
The whole point of gathering information is
Unfortunately, configuration and synergy are to create uneasiness, to combat complacency.
usually attained at the cost of myopia. Stellar Information must serve as the clarion call that
performers view the world through narrowing awakens a somnolent system, the brakes that
telescopes. One point of view takes over; one set slow d o w n a runaway trajectory. Combined with
of assumptions comes to dominate. The result is self-knowledge, it can prevent m a n y of the ex-
c o m p l a c e n c y and overconfidence. cesses that have plagued our firms. What follows
The only w a y to avoid myopia and the re- are some general maxims for corporate informa-
suiting excesses of the trajectories is for managers tion gathering, written in the more lively pre-
to reflect on their o w n basic assumptions about scriptive tone.
customers, competitors, and what they d e e m Dedication and Commitment. Information
g o o d or bad about strategy, structure, and cul- gathering should not be viewed as a routine ac-
ture. They must search for the underlying values, counting function; it is the sentinel that guards
presumptions, and attributions that drive their the fort. Gather and analyze information as if
organization. Only after they b e c o m e conscious your c o m p a n y ' s life depends on it. It often does.
of the various inbred premises for action can they Look at what h a p p e n e d to Sears w h e n it ignored
begin to question them. K mart and Wal-Mart, or to Caterpillar w h e n it
Managers need to b u y mirrors. They have to missed the shift away from heavy equipment.
engage in more self-reflection and be less self- Managers at m a n y levels and from a variety
centered. They must audit themselves and solicit of departments must religiously watch and ana-
the views of objective third parties to discover lyze their customers, suppliers, and competitors.
their o w n blind spots. They can start by asking Such devotion may take lots of time and money,
themselves the following questions: but it is usually worth it. Xerox, for example,
The Icarus Paradox: How Exceptional Companies Bring About Their Own Downfall 33
• Which offices make the most photocopies, the rate of eight per week in the mid-1980s.
write the longest and the most memos, and order Some items went from conception to debugged
the most stationery per capita? (Is this the locus prototype in just 17 weeks.
of too much bureaucracy or overstaffingD Many Japanese companies also use such
• How many days are salespeople out of the small development teams to increase the number
office? Are they traveling more? What percentage of new product experiments. These teams always
of calls are made to new clients? Is this increasing work outside the normal structure. They are
or decreasing? (Are we reaching out or closing populated by young turks with tremendous en-
up?) ergy (the average age at Honda was 27), and are
• Which departments have the highest ab- fast tracks for advancement. Most teams fail, but
sentee rates? The most turnover? The greatest loss the ones that succeed go on to b e c o m e very
of highly rated employees? The smallest loss of significant business units.
poorly rated employees?
• From which departments are all (or none) I n his monumental A Study of History, Arnold
of the promotions coming? What is the back- Toynbee has painstakingly traced the rise
ground and profile of those promoted, those left and fall of 21 civilizations. All of these once
behind, and those leaving the firm? (What kind of great cultures, except perhaps our own, have
culture do we have? What are its values?) collapsed or stagnated. Toynbee argued that their
Almost everything done in an organization declines came not from natural disasters or bar-
leaves traces of information. These potential barian invasions, but from internal rigidity, com-
"watchdogs" should be tapped regularly. placency, and oppression. He saw that some of
Pattern Recognition. Use your ability to rec- the very institutions and practices responsible for
ognize patterns to discover what the mountain of ascendence ultimately evolved into the perverse
data is saying. Are ominous trends developing idolatries that caused decline: "When the road to
that have a c o m m o n and dangerous cause? Are destruction has perforce to be trodden on the
symptoms intensifying? Is there a vicious cycle quest of life, it is perhaps no w o n d e r that the
that explains this? Ask which configuration is quest should often end in disaster."
emerging, which trajectory applies. Generate Organizations too are built into greatness and
questions that would complete the picture and then launched toward decline by similar factors:
gather new data accordingly. focused strategies, galvanized cultures, special-
Enlist managers from the different functions ized skills, efficient programs, and the harmoni-
in these tasks of probing and interpretation. Meet ous configuration of all these things. When used
with them regularly, not to plug numbers into a with intelligence and sensitivity, these factors can
pro forma budget, but solely to spot important make for tremendous success. But w h e n taken to
threats and opportunities. This is the only way of extremes, they spawn disaster. Ironically, success
finding out w h e n it is time to change. No bells itself often induces the myopia and carelessness
will ring when that happens. There are no hard that lead to such excesses. It turns inspired inno-
and fast rules. It is all a matter of judgment. The vation into blind invention, acute controls into
only imperative is that all leaders must operate imprisoning regulations, cohesive cultures into
with the firm assumption that one day they will monolithic cabals. In the process, rich, nuanced
have to go to war with the past. firms become distended caricatures of their
former selves, transformed from intelligent, adap-
Learning and Innovating at the Boundaries tive systems into programmed, insular machines.
Paradoxically, the power of a tool increases
Concentrated, orchestrated configurations pro- both its potential benefits and its dangers. Icarus
duce wonderful results but can slow learning and could not have flown without the wings so deftly
renewal. One way for a large organization to crafted by his loving father Daedalus; but at the
have its cake and eat it too is to establish small same time the wings placed a terrible onus upon
independent units to experiment and do new Icarus's mastery and his discipline. Similarly, fo-
things outside of that is, without disturbing--the cused cultures and strategies and orchestrated
configuration of existing operations. Firms might, configurations contribute mightily to outstanding
for example, set up small-scale development performance. But they carry with them daunting
teams that have the flexibility to get things done risks of rigidity and isolation. To c o m p o u n d the
quickly and economically. Companies such as 3M problem, it is terribly hard to distinguish between
give such teams much independence but limited the concentration n e e d e d for success and the
resources, killing projects that remain unsuccess- narrowness that guarantees irrelevance. Managers
ful after five years or so. Hewlett Packard's small, of thriving organizations must forever remain
agile teams collectively introduced products at alert to such "perils of excellence." El
The Icarus Paradox: How Exceptional Companies Bring About Their Own Downfall 35