Jim Collins explores what went wrong in companies that were once darlings of Wall Street but later collapsed.3 He finds that for many, falling into “the undisciplined pursuit of more” was a key reason for failure.

four basic causes of failure: sex, alcohol, deception, and stealing.

Too much success is the enemy, too much failure is demoralizing.

One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when overtaken by temporary defeat.

the pursuit of success can be a catalyst for failure. Put another way, success can distract us from focusing on the essential things that produce success in the first place.

One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat. Every person is guilty of this mistake at one time or another.

The undisciplined are slaves to moods, appetites and passions

The reason many people fail is not for lack of vision but for lack of resolve and resolve is born out of counting the cost.

More than those who hate you, more than all your enemies, an undisciplined mind does greater harm.

I think maybe part of what got him into trouble was that he did too much thinking. Sometimes he tried too hard to make sense of the world, to figure out why people were bad to each other so often.

The habit of giving up when the present task is half finished and try something else is one of the chief causes of failure.

Generally, when a leader struggles, the root cause behind the problem is that the leader has leaned too far in one direction and steered off course.

As often happens to driven, ambitious people, his earlier success had distracted him from his clarity of purpose.

Much wants more and loses all.