Decline can be avoided. Decline can be detected. Decline can be reversed. Amidst the desolate landscape of fallen great companies, Jim Collins began to wonder: How do the mighty fall? Can decline be detected early and avoided? How far can a company fall before the path toward doom becomes inevitable and unshakable? How can companies reverse course? In "How the Mighty Fall", Collins confronts these questions, offering leaders the well-founded hope that they can learn how to stave off decline and, if they find themselves falling, reverse their course. Collins' research project - more than four years in duration - uncovered five step-wise stages of decline: Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success; Stage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of More; Stage 3: Denial of Risk and Peril; Stage 4: Grasping for Salvation; and, Stage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death. By understanding these stages of decline, leaders can substantially reduce their chances of falling all the way to the bottom.