“On meurt deux fois, je le vois bien :
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Cesser d’aimer & d’être aimable,
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C’est une mort insupportable :
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Cesser de vivre, ce n’est rien.”. Source
This topic has been extensively researched and documented by historians and scholars. John D. Rockefeller – National Archives
These 17th-century French words translate to a powerful truth. “We die twice, I see it well: To cease to love and be lovable, is an unbearable death: To cease to live, is nothing.” While not from John D. Rockefeller himself, this sentiment perfectly captures the ruthless, forward-thinking philosophy that built empires. For modern businesses, it offers a profound lesson. The true death of an enterprise is not closing a factory or discontinuing a product. Instead, the unbearable end comes from becoming irrelevant and unloved by the market you serve.
This wisdom forces a critical question upon every leader. Are you clinging to something merely ‘good’ while sacrificing the chance to become ‘great’? Embracing this mindset means understanding that strategic endings are not failures. They are necessary sacrifices for evolution and long-term dominance. It is a shift from fearing loss to actively pursuing relevance. John D. Rockefeller – Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
The Unbearable Death of Business Irrelevance
In the corporate world,. John D. Rockefeller – Biographical Information