Grow or Die
“For business and life, if you are not experiencing growth, you’re possibly dying”
- Nkem Paul, Author
Growth is an imperative for most businesses. It makes it easier to fund investments, attract and retain talent and drives improving economies of scale and scope.
In addition, numerous studies have demonstrated that higher growth businesses generate higher returns for shareholders and enable the shareholders to retain control over their destiny for longer.
However, sustained growth is difficult with fewer than 1 in 10 businesses sustaining year-on-year growth over the medium to long term and, in the current unpredictable and low economic growth environment, achieving and sustaining growth is doubly difficult.
Therefore, it’s critical that as businesses rebuild and recover post COVID they adopt a disciplined but pragmatic approach to growth.
In my 30 years of experience working with businesses of all sizes in the area of growth and innovation, I have identified four fundamental pillars for achieving sustainable growth:
Pillar 1: Strategic Context - understand the evolving industry landscape.
Pillar 2: Business Model – make considered choices about how value gets created, delivered and sustained.
Pillar 3: Plan & Measures – get clarity on what needs to get done by whom, when and what success looks like – both financial and non-financial.
Pillar 4: Agile Execution – work rapidly to make change happen in an iterative manner and course correct where necessary.