I believe the first duty of any business leader is this: “Leave your business stronger than you found it.” I’m unimpressed by leaders who prioritize short-term results and stock prices to the point of degrading growth capabilities and sacrificing the future. I’m mystified when companies enrich a business leader today who is working to impoverish the business tomorrow.
What your business really needs is a builder… someone who brushes aside financial gymnastics and business fads. Someone focused on created value for customers that delivers organic growth for their business. For more, see the 2-minute video, Be a business builder. Also consider a new metric, the Growth Driver Index, which measures how well a business leader is investing in long-term growth capabilities.
See white paper, New Innovation Metrics.
Extruder Die: This “output” represents your financial results. Fast-moving, high-quality output is like top-line growth and profitability. Feed Hopper: These are market-facing innovation projects supported by customer insight. Drive Screw: This is the work needed to transform the feed into high-value products, done by skilled, focused people.
The only way to get better extruder die output is to focus on the feed hopper input and drive screw horsepower. Watching the extruder die is just a spectator sport. Which is precisely what you’re engaged in during financial reviews. Wouldn’t you rather be in a participant sport? Then go to your feed hopper, and work on new products customers will love. See 2-minute video, Extend your time horizon.
More in article, B2B Organic Growth: 8 top lessons for leaders.
Your growth rate has three hidden components: Inherited Growth (from past employee’s innovations), Market Growth (from matching market growth using average innovation) and Earned Growth. You only accomplish the latter by doing a better job than competitors in understanding and meeting customer needs. Every year, purchasing agents and competitors work hard to commoditize your products. So every year you need to earn your growth. It’s the only way to rise above “mediocrity.” And who wants that? See 2-minute video, How much growth did you earn?
More in article, Own the Future with B2B Customer Insight
Do you want serendipitous growth each year… or superior, sustainable organic growth you can count on year after year? For the latter, you’ll need improved capabilities—training, methods and tools—across your organization in many areas. We’ve identified 24 of these “growth drivers” in our research, What Drives B2B Organic Growth. You can see your percentile benchmark rank against others on all 24 with our free B2B Growth Diagnostic. It’s the first step on the road from serendipity to sustainability.
More in article, Is it time for a growth capability diagnostic assessment?
How do you accelerate the organic growth of a business? And can you be confident your growth will outpace most competitors? For B2B businesses today—and the foreseeable future—the answer is yes. The steps you must take are surprisingly low-cost, simple, and ignored by most. To succeed, you need a new mindset, new capabilities, and new ... Read More
Be it chess or golf, champions know they must train. A striking difference between business leaders and rock climbers is that the former often think they can reach the top without proper training. Imagine showing up at the base of El Capitan with recliner-chair abs, the wrong gear, and no climbing skills. Ridiculous? What about businesses that proclaim double-digit growth plans year after year, but do nothing to prepare for their climb? A good start is acquiring business-wide training and tools for market-facing innovation. (See 2-minute video, Build your growth capabilities.)
More in article, New Product Training: Time to Build Growth Muscles
Subscribe to the series. Get 50 free videos, sent daily or weekly.You’ve covered a lot in 50 video chapters: Where do you start? This video covers 3 suggested steps on a roadmap to greater growth (and also covered in “Organic Growth Roadmap”).
b2bgrowth.video/50 Video length [2:28]
Subscribe to the series. Get 50 free videos, sent daily or weekly.The Vitality Index (% of sales from new products) is a helpful, but lagging indicator. Here are two new leading metrics: Growth Driver Index (GDI) and Commercial Confidence Index (CCI).
b2bgrowth.video/49 Video length [2:57]
Subscribe to the series. Get 50 free videos, sent daily or weekly.Companies that serve B2B markets have enormous engagement potential. Their customers have high knowledge, objectivity, interest, foresight… and there are relatively few of them.
b2bgrowth.video/14 Video length [2:42]
Subscribe to the series. Get 50 free videos, sent daily or weekly.Leaders need to balance their pursuit of “results” and “capabilities.” Today, most are way out of balance. They pursue near-term results, and then hit the “reset” button to do it all again next year.
b2bgrowth.video/13 Video length [2:17]
Subscribe to the series. Get 50 free videos, sent daily or weekly.AIM research based on 10,000+ years of experience shows B2B professionals are especially eager to improve their business capabilities to understand customer needs (vs. meet them).
b2bgrowth.video/12 Video length [2:16]
Subscribe to the series. Get 50 free videos, sent daily or weekly.First-order actions like spending freezes and travel bans lead to second-order growth declines. Your leadership team needs to be wary of “first-domino fixation” and “first-domino amnesia.”
b2bgrowth.video/11 Video length [1:55]
Subscribe to the series. Get 50 free videos, sent daily or weekly.Financial results are like the output of an extruder. For better output, change what you feed the hopper. Focus on new-product innovation to move from a spectator sport to participant sport.
b2bgrowth.video/10 Video length [2:21]
Subscribe to the series. Get 50 free videos, sent daily or weekly.When you stop innovating for customers, your path is marked by lower pricing, lower profits, budget pressures, cost reductions, reduced innovation capability, and then death or “life support.”
b2bgrowth.video/9 Video length [2:24]
