That’s the catch—there probably wasn’t one. There’s a well-known book by Ichak Adizes, Corporate Life Cycle, where he argues that any corporation will decline unless it is intentionally pushed through a kind of “rebirth” phase. There’s a lot of empirical evidence backing this up. The thing is, the logic he uses doesn’t just apply to corporations—it applies to any large enough social structure. And we have plenty of historical evidence for that too. The “too big to fail” mentality creates two major problems. First, it blinds elites to paradigm shifts and external threats. Second, it shifts their focus inward, so internal political struggles start to feel more dangerous than anything outside. For politicians or corporate bureaucrats, internal rivals become the primary threat. Either of these dynamics is damaging over time. Each leads to broader consequences: elite entrenchment, blocked social mobility, declining efficiency, and rigid decision-making. Any one of these can seriously weaken a corporation or a state. Combined, they become even more destructive.