Everyone wants growth.
We want growth in our personal lives, as parents, and in our friendships. We want to grow in our professional lives, as business leaders, entrepreneurs, and front-line employees.
The desire for growth lies deep down in each of us. It just makes sense that it is a key goal for most businesses. But growth, in and of itself, is not without its challenges. Chris Zook, partner at Bain & Co. and co-author of The Founder’s Mentality put it this way: “Growth creates complexity, and complexity is the silent killer of growth.”
Zook and co-author James Allen’s basic argument is this: The more your business grows, the more employees you hire. You create departments focused on specific areas. Market share becomes a priority. Executive leadership teams make all the calls even as they lose connection with customers, the product, and front-line employees.
Then suddenly the organization stops growing. Leaders are confused. “Nothing’s changed,” they think. In fact, as the company found success, everything changed.
Successful companies grow when people believe in something.
That belief usually comes from connection. Connection with customers or passionate leaders or coworkers. Solving problems with these small, committed groups of people is where the best ideas come from. It’s the source of the passion and hard work that brings these ideas to life. As companies grow, the connections weaken. So does engagement, innovation, and grit.
In an interview with Wharton on UPenn’s podcast Zook points out the following findings from 10+ years of research on growth and decline: - 94% of growth barriers for companies are internal;
- “only 13% of people in the world say they have any emotional commitment to the company that they spend half their waking lives with;” and...
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