Rodent Regatta

One of the best books I’ve ever read is about hubris. Here’s what the dictionary says about hubris:

Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance: There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris (McGeorge Bundy).

I’m watching two businesses fail before my eyes. They are both great businesses. They’re going to fail because their leaders won’t listen. That’s hubris.

In both cases there are people who don’t want their lifestyles disturbed – even temporarily. They cannot see that their lifestyles will soon be altered forever and unfavorably. They also don’t want to consider the possibility that change is required to allow their companies to survive. They currently believe that you cannot argue with success. While I’m not putting a timeline on either company, I’m convinced that neither business will survive under current management using habitual methods.

The best book I ever read on the subject of hubris is about incredibly smart people who got so caught up in their own intelligence and their methods, models and mathematics, they failed.