A Goldilocks Approach to Growth
Starting and growing a business is not for the faint of heart. Rare is the entrepreneur who can navigate the rapidly shifting market and technology trends to deliver and scale a solution which is well received, profitable and sustainable.
Yet people who are resilient, resourceful, remarkable and lucky continue to launch, expand, and grow. A key to success is choosing to grow - the up-sides - while respecting the guardrails - the limitations - around that growth.
In today’s environment of rapid change, choosing to grow is a foundational part of running a business. We all know the age-old story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. This is a story of how Goldilocks might approach growing a technology company.
Goldilocks was not satisfied staying in the forest living her very safe and predictable life. She ventured out and discovered a house in the woods. She tried out chairs, porridges, and mattresses and found what worked for her and what didn’t.
She was surprised by the house owners and learned from that adventure.
Goldilocks chose to grow, and learned how to do it in a way that’s not too much, and not too little. If Goldilocks were a tech entrepreneur, these might be her ten growth principles, the rationale for adopting them, and advice on how to grow in a way that’s not too much, not too little.
Choose to Grow and adapt to the times, for with growth comes opportunities, along with the challenges.
Too much growth too fast or in the wrong direction can set you back.
Too little growth too slowly may leave you behind, missing inflection points and market opportunities.
Create a people-first kind of Culture Your people are the ultimate difference-makers.
Too much ‘culture’ may mean insufficient consequences for poor performance or inappropriate behavior, which could lead to a very bad culture.
Too little ‘culture’ may reward and perpetuate leadership and management habits which disengage and disempower and ultimately drive away your most valued employees.
Focus on the needs of your Customers, because serving their needs is the reason you’re in business.
Too much focus on the customer may lead to adopting projects which are unprofitable or unexceptional, or projects which are misaligned with corporate mission and strategy.
Too little focus on customers may lead to producing solutions which don’t meet market and customer needs.
Align with the Purpose - the difference you’ll make for your customers.
Too much alignment to purpose may lead to change-the-world solutions which nobody buys, or which nobody can afford.
Too little alignment on purpose and the company may overstretch resources and muddy the focus and productivity, or confuse the brand and the partners.
Be Strategic with your planning because tracking and responding to market and technology trends will keep you relevant.
Too much strategic planning may delay making decisions and taking action.
Too little strategic planning may lead to drawing poor conclusions, or making bad decisions.
Commit to delivering Exceptional products and services to earn the trust and the business of your customers as well as the respect of the stakeholders.
Too much commitment to excellence may lead to poor profits and delays in completions and deliveries.
Too little commitment to excellence may damage your relationships with customers, and also damage your brand and your reputation.
Leverage Technology to efficiently deliver customized solutions, for it will help the company to deliver excellence with speed and at scale.
Too much technology adoption may lead to an overdependence on complicated or outdated solutions and processes which may delay deliveries and frustrate staff and partners.
Too little technology adoption may lead to an over-dependence on a wide range of manual processes which may depend on too many unmanageable variables.
Boldly Plan for the future, because keeping an eye on both the current and anticipated future needs of the customers will serve you both well.
Too much forward-thinking and bold planning and we may not be able to meet the current needs of our customers.
Too little future-forward bold planning and we could be the followers to a solution which has become commoditized or we could be inefficient in creating a scalable, modular solution.
Grow a Network of trusted partners. Together we are better.
Too much reliance on a network could make it difficult to manage a customer experience.
Too little reliance on a network of trusted partners and we may wind up providing a wide range of services which may be outside our expertise.
Align the way you think, speak and act about the growth plan because aligning with corporate goals and compliance requirements will help fuel growth.
Too much thinking and speaking without action makes the words sound hollow.
Too little thinking and speaking before acting could result in strategic gaffs, planning fiascos, and execution failures.
If you’re like Goldilocks and don’t want to settle for the standard bed, the mainstream porridge, the ordinary chair, consider adopting some Goldilocks principles for growth, and explore what it means to have a dosage of growth that is “juuust right” for your company.