As a complement to the original Seven deadly sins, there are a set of classic organizational patterns that are equally hazardous to achieving an organization's potential. I offer them here, in no particular order, to stimulate consideration about their pervasiveness, validate the seriousness of their impact, and educate and instruct others regarding the risks which they represent.

1. Arrogance
2. Corruption
3. Failure to invest (and adequately manage those investments) for the future
4. Over-reaching
5. Merger-mania
6. Unwillingness to confront realities / propensity to spin
7. Reliance upon unsustainable business models

There are many other causes for individual projects to fail, but it seems to me that the above problems tend to have a much broader impact, and can threaten the business's very ability to survive (unfortunately, most companies don't, in the long run). Such organizational sins can be particularly unsettling when when they occur in combinations, or frequently recur. In 1997, Arie de Geus identified four key traits of companies that had prospered for 50 years or more:

• Sensitivity to the business environment - the ability to learn and adjust
• Cohesion and identity - the ability to build a community with personality, vision, and purpose
• Tolerance and decentralization - the ability to build relationships
• Conservative financing

The first four steps in addressing such corporate sins are pretty obvious:

• admitting you have the problem
• containing the problem so that further damage is minimized
• addressing the root causes of why the problem occurred in the first place
• repairing the damage caused by the problem

Go, and sin no more!