How does a company that dominates an industry go from global leader to the first throes of bankruptcy?     
    Actually, it was pretty easy for Kodak. All their leaders had to do was not pay attention to the rest of the world but instead focus on themselves. 
Goodbye...
    And here’s the kicker: Kodak produced the world’s first digital camera, (how many of you knew that?) but intentionally failed to focus on exploiting this now ubiquitous product because it would mean short-term discomfort.  
    The news last week that Kodak was in the process of filing for bankruptcy wasn’t a shock to anyone who has been following the company for the past ten years. What took many people aback, though, was how blatantly the company’s leadership let down shareholders and employees.
    Kodak was one of the world’s first global companies – you couldn’t go anywhere in the world without seeing the iconic yellow and red signs – and a behemoth of American industry. It invented the world’s first easy-to-use camera, the Brownie, in 1900 which moved picture-taking out of the hands of professionals and gave it to anyone who could press a button. In 1929, it offered the first film with accompanying sound. In 1935, Kodak introduced Kodachrome, the first commercially successful film for amateurs. In 1963, the company brought out the Instamatic camera the first product line that offered easy picture-taking at a low price.
    The company’s demise began in 1975 when it invented the first digital camera but failed to take the lead in exploiting it because it would cannibalize its film business.
    Why didn’t they see that the future of snapshots didn’t include silver-halide film when everyone else did? Of course they saw it, but ignored the evidence because it would hurt their short and medium-term profits and take them in a foreign direction, a path without chemicals, which had been their comfort zone since 1888.
    Going digital would have meant scrapping their chemical expertise, which was world class, and enter the realm of computers, the internet and bits and bytes. They could have made the move because the company attracted the best engineering, marketing and sales people in the world. Some people now describe them as the Apple of Google of their time.
    Kodak attempted a small foray into digital photography with an attempt at building a website for people to upload and share photos in 1997 but it was too little and too late. Besides, anyone could do it. Instead, they saw their film business die and just watched the funeral pyre burn in slow motion.
    Indeed, they continued to make ridiculous choices when in 2005 their CEO Antonio Perez from Hewlett-Packard decided to enter the printer business, a commodity business in which margins are slim and in which they had little expertise. Why enter a business if you can’t bring something new to the table?
    If you haven’t yet figured out the lesson, here it is:
    Leadership means giving up short-term gains for long-term survival. It’s not an easy decision for CEOs as the stock price may degrade during the transition period and that often means lower pay and bonuses. On the other hand, being a leader means making choices that are best for the company and not its executives. The other takeaway is to accept change, company-shattering change, even if it makes you uncomfortable.
    How many leaders are willing to do these things?
The William G. McGowan Charitable Fund provides grants in three program areas including Health care and Medical Research; Education, and Community Programs for Those Most Vulnerable. It gives priority to programs that have demonstrated success, measurable outcomes, have a plan for sustainability, and aim to end cycles of poverty and suffering