The Curve Ahead: Discovering the Path to Unlimited Growth describes how growth companies can build innovation into the rhythm of their business operations and culture using design thinking, prototyping, business model design and other Innovation Power Tools. The author Dave Powers offers a practical approach to sustaining long-term growth.
Related Podcast and Transcription: Dave Powers on Business Growth
Excerpt from the podcast:
Joe: What have you seen is the biggest thing that prevents people from understanding and taking that next step (Business Growth/Innovation)?
Dave: What happens is, even if you intellectually understand everything that I’ve been saying, when you’re running a growth company, you’re running like mad making the next quarter, hiring more people, figuring out what’s the next way to execute on the operating plan of your fast growing company. It doesn’t give you any time to think about what’s next.
On the other hand, if you let that happen to you, what will happen is, your business model will mature faster than you expect and you haven’t done anything to lay the groundwork for your next step’s curve.
If you or any of your listeners have read Stephen Covey, who talks about the importance of paying attention to things that are important, but not urgent; we pay a lot of attention to things that are unimportant but urgent like email. But things that are important and not urgent are things like strategic planning. They’re like doing research with your customers to uncover a problem worth solving. Spending time with R&D and looking at potential new technologies. Those slow processes that builds you your future.
If you want six pack abs and you don’t do your sit-ups today, no problem. In fact, if you don’t do your sit-ups tomorrow, no problem either. But at some point, if you don’t start doing your sit-ups, you’re never going to have six pack abs.
Let me bring it back to this sustainable growth energy. If you didn’t get out to see your customers and find out some problem they have to solve today or tomorrow, no big deal. But if you don’t look at your calendar every month and say, “These three days, I’m going to be out of the office talking to my customers and understanding how their world is changing, the new problems they’re going to be dealing with and what are the new problems that are going to be the basis for growing my business in the future,” then I don’t think you’re going to sustain the growth of your company over the long run.