Smart Growth for Private Businesses Part 1

Video Lectures

W1 L1

Common beliefs (myths)

• All growth is good
• Bigger is always better
• Businesses must "grow or die"

Growth can be bad when it overwhelms people, processes and controls. Growth can dilute culture. Growth can cause you to change class, bringing on competition you're not ready for. The reality is "improve or die" (improve referring to your customer-value proposition).

Readings

W1: Growth is the Dynamic Confluence of Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Values

Consistent Value Creation

• Simple focused strategies
• Structures that enable entrepreneurial behaviors with customers
• Business purpose and meaning (values) above and beyond just creating shareholder value
• Relentless, constant improvement
• High employee engagement and high accountability
• Humble, passionate, values-based leaders
• Execution excellence

To meet short-term earnings projections companies engage in a widely acknowledged "Earnings Game".

Sustainable competitive advantage is not a realistic goal, instead a string of short-term advantages is more realistic.

Successful companies have simple, focused strategies.

Promoting employee engagement

• Stock ownership
• Promotion from within policies
• Humble passionate stewardship leaders
• Fairly applied, transparent and stable HR policies

I like the term "servant leadership".

W1: Eyebobs Eyewear

Boot-strapped startup - no external debts or investors.