Increments and Exponents

I want to throw up when I hear a company say, “I want to grow sales by 10% this year.”

Why only 10%?

Why not 7% or 23% or 62%? Why 10?

It’s the sheepish shrug of the shoulder that pisses me off the most.

The real answer is that it’s the default answer. There is no plan. No real strategic planning. Gut feel, market demands it, the dog ate my homework kind of answer. No actual thought. No strategy or hammered down tactics of how that will happen. No additional resource allocation; no capacity evaluation. No new markets or marketing. No evaluation of the marketplace and if it is growing (or contracting). None of the hard work to actually come up with a real number – a plan. Chicken Little, “Just do more with less, everyone because I’m too lazy to create a plan.” 

It’s awful. It’s toxic. It’s fucking boring. It’s not compelling. And, it isn’t fair.

Why is this a no good, awful mindset? Let’s start here:

• Are you really only 10% better than the marketplace? Fix that.
• Do you really not have a plan to do something differently – ANYTHING – yet you want 10% better results? Lazy leadership.

Talk about a toxic atmosphere. It implicitly states: “I not executing on creating massive, unfair advantages for my people. I don’t have a plan. I don’t care to make a plan. But, I’m going to put my thumb on top of my organization and demand more from them. Hit the numbers. I want 10%.”

As if there’s fairy dust sprinkled upon the declaration. Fix that mindset problem first.

The Two Types of Companies

There are two types of companies: 

• Companies that benchmark and only want to be incrementally better – say 10% better
• Companies that innovate and culturally instill exponential thinking – at least 10x better

Companies that look right and left to other industries to borrow innovations to change the industry are exponential thinkers. They do the work to create the strategic plan and they know what is (im)possible.

Benchmarking companies mail it in. They do the same thing. They expect better results. They are keeping up with the Joneses. 

Stop and think. Are you a benchmarking company looking to see how far ahead or behind you are to the marketplace? Or are you an innovative company looking to change the rules to create a game without peers?

Innovative companies inspire. They break boundaries. They don’t settle for the “good enough” principle. They deliver a strategic plan to their people and a roadmap for success. 

They’re also ruthlessly honest. And, they know that in the current state with the current technology and the current supply chain and the current people that 3% growth is a miracle.

That’s ok.

But, there’s a plan. They’re also working on fixing these issues and solving the problems to accelerate the growth.

These companies live in a world of possibility. They let their minds collectively wander and problem solve. They ruthlessly challenge the status quo in the pursuit of outstrategizing, outinvesting and outexecuting. 

They think, “Why not us?”

Exponential thinking takes work. It takes courage. It takes making hypotheses on the marketplace and then resourcing against those hypotheses. 

You may be wrong. But, you may be right. 

Innovation and exponents aren’t for the faint of heart. But, what’s I’ve found that benchmark thinking puts you in the middle of the road. And, the only thing I ever see in the middle of the road is dead animals.

Get left. Get right. Pick a spot. Innovate. Change the game. Your people are counting on you – or they’ll be leaving you.

Create the strategic plan.