The challenge is growth: where will it come from and are you prepared? Beginning last fall, most of our clients began to shift their focus away from responding to the economic contraction and returned their full attention to the challenge of growing their business. Yes, the effects of the recession are still with us: a battered workforce, a conservative mindset towards investments and an unsteady stock market. But leaders know that near- and long-term income cannot be driven by expense management alone. Leaders are focused on jumping to a new growth curve and, for publicly traded companies, Wall Street is looking for a clear growth strategy and indicators of action.

These observations were recently corroborated in our 2nd annual Business Climate Survey.  75% of respondents were confident of the short-term success of their business strategy, but only 50% were confident of long-term earnings growth.  There is a substantial focus on organic growth (44%), value delivery (58%) and on leaders’ need to focus on customers (68%). Underlying this need for growth is an increasing anxiety about talent. “Do I have the right team to drive the growth and will it stay with me when the job market begins to recover?” Over 75% of respondents view executives as needing to lead differently.  To address this need, the focus on leadership development has increased (by 60% over 2009). The question is, will leaders adapt and how effectively?  (For full report, please view or download the Business Climate Survey pdf)

All this suggests most businesses in varying levels are now engaged in a cycle of high business model innovation. Leaders will build from their core revenue platforms but must now also step back and assess:

• Do I have the business model and pipeline of products and services that will deliver long-term growth?
• Do I have the team that is capable and motivated to lead and drive the next growth curve?
• Am I personally prepared to make the changes necessary to the organization and to my leadership style to become a more effective catalyst for growth?

Successful leaders inherently understand the balance between pushing an organization through strategic change and allowing their team to stay focused on incremental improvements and execution. Experience and the Business Climate Survey tell us, even though many people are exhausted by the physical and emotional drain from the recession, now is not the time to settle into the current operating model and spend 80-90% of senior leadership time on execution excellence. Now is the time to challenge the business to reach new heights. Now is the time to draft off the inherent leadership motivation of never being satisfied and take a holistic approach to answering the critical questions above.  Now is the time to push your organization through an aggressive strategic business model reinvention and change curve for near- and long-term growth. In this regard, we offer the following self reflective thoughts and questions as an executive guide…enabling you to better know and grow your business, your team and yourself.

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