"How the Mighty Fall" by Jim Collins

This was one of the best business books I listened to this year.  Like his previous audio books on "Good to Great" and "Built to Last", Mr. Collins, a Stanford professor, lectures about the book's material often citing charts and graphs contained in the hardcopy version.   Mr. Collins is passionate about his topic and brings that excitement to this audio book. Yet, he gives attribution to his research staff for the hard work and input.  Given the amount of research Mr. Collins and his staff puts into each book, there is an average of 10 years between publications.  Hopefully, we will not have to wait that long for Mr. Collins' next book.  Regardless, I know that it will be well-researched and thought-provoking.  Below is a link to Mr. Collins' interview with Business Week earlier in 2009 which contains a link to a video.

Also worth mentioning is that the lessons learned from failure of big companies are applicable to individuals in both their personal and professional lives.

Business Week link for "How the Mighty Fall"