Virtually
anything good that can happen to a company can be described as growth.
Sales, brand awareness, loyalty, brand value, the stock's price, the reputation...
all are measured by growth.
Growth is impossible without risk. But risk is crippling
without courage. Courage comes from a clear vision of the challenges that
need to be met, and the conviction that it is the organization's heroic
destiny to meet those objectives.
A simplistic view of growth is this: "Growth comes
from two things, doing what you're good at, and the leadership to get
good at doing it."
The Strategic Audit uncovers what a company is good
at, and certainly, how it got good. But it also inspires and strengthens
leading companies. It shows them why they should believe in themselves,
believe in their people and partners, believe in where they're going and
how to get others to go along.
It's (unfortunately) fairly straightforward to use the
cash-flow-return-on-investment framework to measure a firm's performance.
Unfortunate, because this framework, while expedient, has nothing whatsoever
to do with growth.
Think of a lineman on a high school football team.
last year he sat on the bench. This year, will his chances improve if
his wallet's bigger or because his body is bigger? If he grew, in stature
and strength, he will do better this year than last. The point is,
are you concerned about return-on-investment this year, or market share
next year?
We're not suggesting you stop asking yourself if you're
making any money; we're suggesting that, whether you are or not, may not
have beans to do with your growth, your ability to compete (and make money)
next year and five years from now. (Ask
the competitors in the game player market — Sony, Nintendo, etc.—
if they agree.)
How do you
determine your true growth? Where do you really compete? These
"fundamentals" questions are answered by the Image Analytics Strategic
Audit:
The
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities of Leading companies