When you look at companies in decline—five or six years of slow downward trajectory—the one consistent signal is that teams aren’t happy and don’t feel connected. The conventional reading is that unhappiness follows decline. Joe’s observation is the reverse: disconnection precedes the decline.
Connected teams show up for each other, do things they wouldn’t do for someone they feel disconnected from, and solve problems before they reach the market. Disconnected teams at best perform at a subpar level. Nobody has ever told Joe they want disconnection from their team.
“My noticing is that it’s always that disconnection that precedes the decline of a company, not the other way around.”