Yep, poor old Hamlet and Bill Shakespeare are so often quoted; however, this premise does lean into the situation of now.
Can a business grow when its people are not growing?
What would it mean to help your people, or yourself, to grow so that your business can grow?
I have seen many business owners and executives struggle with the concept of growth, how to measure it, how to maintain it, and even how to do it. Many metrics are thrown around, GDP, inflation, clicks, EBITA, P&L, WOM, CTA, ROAS, more acronyms than your favourite AI can keep track of. Are you chasing these elusive metrics and reporting that you somehow forgot to grow?
What does growth look like for you? Have you got it down on paper? Is it in your head? Are you putting new ideas and products out to the market? Until the market decides that your thing is of value, you have successfully evaded criticism. Remember the saying “nothing happens unless someone sells something”, that’s shorthand for go to market, get in front of eyeballs, innovate and grow!
Growth is a fundamental power of all things in our world, and growth does come with its fair share of issues. How do we manage our impacts on the natural world and do more for social justice and equity? These are solvable problems of growth if we work together and collaborate.
My understanding, gained over 30 years of applying design thinking to diverse issues and needs, is that all business and much of life is a series of problems. Solving one problem opens the door for another confronting problem, which you had not had until you solved the previous one, and the cycle continues. This “Theory of Constraints” is detailed in Eliyahu Goldratt’s excellent business novel "The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement".
How are you solving the problem of growth?
According to a mentor of mine, Blair Ennis, “Problems are simply the frontier of your growth.” I agree with this sentiment, and my approach is painted with optimism. You can fret about this endless problem-solving or, like Sisyphus, you can come to accept that you will always be rolling that boulder up the hill, so you might as well embrace, even enjoy it.
Your problems will end when you do. A business or a life with no problems is a business or life that has ceased to exist. May you have many days of problems ahead of you. Importantly, you know help is just a click away. Ping me for a chat, whinge, rant, or let’s plan and do something constructive and amazing. Our choice is simple but not easy: grow or die.
