The Harder They Fall

Kramer describes how brilliant executives who are hard-working, driven, and politically savvy manage to reach the top, only to fall from grace due to surprising changes in behaviour or moral standards. He calls this the genius-to-folly syndrome and believes that the pursuit of power profoundly changes people—and most of us are not immune.

The top represents a winner-takes-all market where margins for error are small, stakes are high, and winners enjoy the spotlight whilst generating the most value. This market creates winner-wants-all elite players who desire everything but end up with nothing.

According to Kramer, several factors contribute to this phenomenon.

Obsessive risk-taking emerges first. In highly competitive markets, top performers must take greater risks to move faster and generate performance that distinguishes them from equally excellent peers. Unfortunately, this risk-taking often leads to recklessness. Combined with cognitive shortcuts, it’s easy to see why winner-takes-all markets induce reckless behaviour.

The rules-are-for-fools mindset presents another danger. Despite stories of successful people reaching the top by breaking rules, this mindset encourages contempt for those who follow them. When someone believes they’re invincible, they’ll likely make poor decisions and venture into dangerous territory.

People often assume they’re immune to temptations of fame, luxury, and status. The reality differs significantly. Success carries a high price tag, and many revel in their newfound lifestyle. Maintaining perspective at the top proves challenging.

At the summit, people rarely highlight your shortcomings; instead, they remain passive due to your position. This can blind leaders to their own flaws.

However, having it all whilst at the top isn’t impossible. Kramer offers several pieces of advice to help leaders stay on track:

• Keep your life simple
• Acknowledge your shortcomings—don’t deny or cover them up. Use humour when possible
• Test ideas carefully before full implementation
• Pay attention to details
• Reflect more, not less

References

Kramer, R. (2003) ‘The Harder They Fall’, Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2003/10/the-harder-they-fall (Accessed: 22 August 2022).