Mismanaged

Kodak invented the digital camera in 1975, then spent the next 37 years protecting a film business so profitable they couldn't bring themselves to replace it. The company that taught the world how to capture memories forgot how to capture the future.

A company that once defined Friday night for millions of families had every chance to own the future of home entertainment and passed on every single one. One bad bet, one wrong hire, and one investor focused on the wrong numbers later, the most recognized name in video rental was gone.

A government agency that was once considered a national model got reorganized, defunded, and handed to someone with no relevant experience — right before the moment it was needed most. What followed was a case study in what happens when preparation is treated as optional.

A CEO convinced the world his company was a revolution. It was a real estate business that forgot to pay its landlords.

The Challenger disaster wasn't an accident. It was a decision — made the night before launch, in a phone call most people have never heard of, by managers who told their own engineers to sit down and stop worrying.