Built to Grow
A Survival Manual for Growing Companies
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As the complexity of the business grows, the problems begin to pile up. Each new sale seems to make things worse. More balls are dropped. More mistakes are made. More fires are being fought. More customers are unhappy. More profits are lost. Whatever way it appears, more and more things are going wrong. Read More
By far the toughest skill for a CEO to learn is the ability to manage his own psychology. The technical aspects of running a business – creating systems and processes, designing structure, developing people, and so on – are relatively straightforward skills to understand and master. But growth is also psychological – you must mentally and emotionally prepare yourself to change as the business changes. Read More
Early in my career, I assumed that all business growth was good; I assumed bigger was always better. After a $1 billion bankruptcy, it’s safe to say that I was wrong. Looking back, I can see that we stumbled and fell over the same fundamental issues that I see growing companies tripping over today. Read More
Much of what we believe about what it takes to scale a successful company and keep it growing is just plain wrong. Despite all the conventional wisdom about the greatness of America’s entrepreneurial culture, the fact is most companies start small and stay that way. Read More
Of course there’s no alarm that’s going to go off to warn of an impending business disaster. But there are many clues. As the leader of a growing business, you need to be on the lookout for these clues because these common mistakes are critical signals that foreshadow catastrophe. Read More
Whatever your level of experience, you can unleash the growth leader within you. That may mean developing a productive relationship with change, reorienting your beliefs about learning, growth, and failure, or developing new ways to think and act as a leader. You can start today, from wherever you are. Read More
Entrepreneurship is not the exclusive domain of venture-backed start-ups. And you don’t need to own a business to be an entrepreneur. What makes you an entrepreneur is the context in which you operate. Entrepreneurship is needed to create something new in an environment of uncertainty. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, or the size of the company. This view of entrepreneurship applies to anyone creating innovation anywhere. Read More
“I don’t delegate because it’s easier just do it myself.” Or “No one can do this as well as I can.” Sound familiar? We’ve all said it. But this thinking is flawed. Delegating does take time and effort. And maybe you can do it faster or better. But there’s only one of you, and you don’t scale. Read More
There’s an inescapable truth I’ve found over twenty years of working with fast-growth companies: Instead of bringing out the hidden strengths of a business,success tends to bring out the hidden weaknesses. Read More
The biggest distinguishing factor between success and failure is almost always the senior management team. A high-performing team, with broadly differing viewpoints and perspectives, determines how far a business goes – more than the idea, more than the timing, and even more than the resources of the company. Read More
