From rags to riches - people love such success stories. This myth continues to thrive today in numerous start-ups and corporate tales: Facebook, Google, and Uber are just the most well-known examples. But who can really be sure that today’s stars won’t face the same fate as yesterday’s stars? Whether it's Nokia, Kodak, Grundig, or Neckermann, their legendary successes are now just history. A look at the Fortune 500, DAX, MDAX, or the ranking of family businesses shows that hardly any organization, big or small, manages to stay at the top permanently. Is there perhaps a risk of failure inherent in every remarkable rise? In the search for reasons behind rapid corporate declines, people quickly blame digitalization or speak of disruption today. But that is only half the truth.