Grove points to a recurring difficulty during periods of change: people who succeeded under an earlier set of conditions may be especially attached to the methods, assumptions and skills that produced that success. Their experience gives them status and confidence, but it can also make it harder to recognise when the environment has changed and those previous strengths are becoming less useful.

In organisations, this can create resistance precisely among people who were once central to success. Grove’s observation does not mean that experienced high performers are incapable of adapting, but that past achievement can create incentives to preserve familiar approaches. The quote therefore highlights the importance of questioning established assumptions and separating proven ability from continued relevance. During technological, competitive or organisational change, leaders may need to encourage successful people to reconsider practices that once worked well but no longer fit emerging conditions.

Full quotation

“It’s yet another example illustrating that the person who is the star of a previous era is often the last one to adapt to change, the last one to yield to the logic of a strategic inflection point and tends to fall harder than most.”