What if Michael Jackson read Jim Collins' and other business books about sustaining success? Does the same principles apply to things other than business?
Free-fall. Artists, more than any other career professional, should be no strangers to being on top of the game (or charts) one moment and forgotten the next all in one steep decline. It may be that they don't consider a 'hit' as being an accumulation of successive things they did (or did not) to not give too much thought about it or maybe it's the mindset of attributing everything to luck or being at the right place at the right time. After all, being called a 'one-hit wonder' is way better reputation than not making it at all.
Yet, what if it's not just all art and inspiration, that there is a science for sustaining such success? Take Michael Jackson for example. Is it really a given that after 'Thriller' there is no way to go but down? No way successful companies would accept that (although given the stats, exemplary companies are bound to suffer growth stalls - as if some kind of norm). Jim Collins wrote a terrific guide for companies in Good to Great and has followed it up with some sort of a hurried answer for critics, in his book 'How the Mighty Fall', who demand an explanation for the great companies he profiled but now languishing far worse than other companies suffering in the downturn.
In his latest book, Jim lists 5 phases on how the mighty fall:
Hubris born of success
Undisciplined pursuit of more
Denial of risk and peril
Grasping for salvation
Capitulation to irrelevance or death
Which is not far too different from an earlier article published in the Harvard Business Review called 'When Growth Stalls'! In it the authors completed an analysis of at least 500 successful companies of the past century and focused on 'stall points' or the start of when the fortunes of great companies fall. Worth noting that on average, these companies lose 74% of market capitalization within the decade surrounding a growth stall period. In music industry parlance, it simply means going bust big-time!
While both works identify seemingly 'unforeseen' causes of failure after huge success (I definitely suggest reading both), readers need not travel far to find out what both Jim Collins and the team of Olson, Bever and Verry found as probably the main culprit behind such a steep decline from being on top.
Success.
Would it have helped MJ to read both works and make the proper adjustments. I'm not so sure because it is never an easy thing to pontificate especially when on a high (who cares about learning when you're basking in the moment), same goes for other individuals and companies as well. Must be human nature.
But frankly, I think MJ reflecting on the Man on the Mirror song would have sufficed.
Related:
How the MIghty Fall - HBR Book Review
How the Mighty Fall - Mark McDonald (Gartner) Book Review