In 2004, Blockbuster laughed Netflix out of the room when they offered to sell for $50 million. Six years later, Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy while Netflix is now worth over $300 billion.

This episode explores organizational drift: the silent force that destroys successful organizations not through catastrophic decisions but through thousands of small, reasonable choices that gradually pull them away from market reality.

Kevin examines why success itself creates vulnerability, the six psychological factors that enable drift to take hold, and a strategic framework for recognizing the warning signs before recovery becomes impossible.

Key Takeaways

1. Organizational drift happens to successful organizations, not failing ones. Success breeds comfort, comfort breeds complacency, and complacency breeds irrelevance.
2. Six human factors enable drift: living in oblivion, confirmation bias, complacency, intelligence gaps, insularity, and erosion of standards.
3. Motion isn't the same as direction. Being carried by momentum isn't the same as actively steering toward strategic objectives.
4. Warning signs include declining market share, increased competitive pressure, employee dissatisfaction, leadership disconnection, and stagnant growth in a growing market.
5. Organizations that avoid drift stay uncomfortable. They constantly test whether their strategy is still right rather than assuming yesterday's alignment works tomorrow.

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