FC Member Blog

Nonsense At Work

BY James McIntosh | 03-31-2010 | 6:36 AM

This blog is written by a member of our blogging community and expresses that member's views alone.

From good to great to bust:

A man once slept under a tree until an apple fell on his head. Then he jumped up and shouted, “What goes up, must come down!” That shout became Newton’s Law of Gravity.

Sadly, Newton got it wrong. The day the sputnik launched and stayed up, Newton’s Law stopped being a law. Newton wasn’t wrong; he just did not know better at the time. The same often applies to CEOs.

I’ve heard many a CEO shout the odds from behind the big desk and I’ve watched as company people act these shouts into laws. Sadly, even CEOs can get it wrong, yet many executives and board members act as if every CEO shout is a law.

Newton is right, if applied to business. Every company that goes up will come down. From good to great to bust. Sometimes it seems that the only way to disprove this law is to disobey the CEO. Mind your head if you try!

I’m James McIntosh at nonsenseatwork.com

Listen to the radio version of From good to great to bust (10 most recent radio files)