Grow and Die

Two of my favorite blogs both had interesting views about company growth and competition. First Seth Godin blogged about a colleague's despair about how a smaller more nimble competitor was about to eat his company's lunch - and how his company's past success was preventing them from reacting to the threat.

The guys at 37signals, (my new favorite business model), answered the question; How do you handle the pressure to grow (your business)?

What is it about human nature that morphs our motivation and our expectations, once we garner some success? Why is it, that CEO's are so attracted to the phrase "Grow or Die?"

I think it is a self destructive mantra. Self destructive, because it can lead you away from the very core capabilities that achieved some measure of success. Once you adopt a "Grow or Die" mentality, you set your corporate sights on adjacent business opportunities, or you focus only on the highest margin products or customers, or you set your sights on buying the competition.

You enter uncharted territory.

Just because your bagel shop is extremely popular locally, doesn't mean you should grow into a full line bakery. Nor does it mean that you should franchise your bagel shop. Nor does it mean you should open up a restaurant. Nor should you automatically consider buying up all the other bagel shops in town.

Because none of these strategies made you successful in the first place.

If you're like most successful entrepreneurs, you started you business to fill a need or to feed a passion.

Not to rule the world.

I think the guys at 37signals have it about right. Growth is in the eye of the beholder. They can remain true to their ideals, close to their passion, without adding hundreds of staff or moving into a large corporate office. They can add new products, attract new customers without all the traditional bulky infrastructure.

Because staying close to their passion and filling a customer need is their sweet spot. If you do something you love, you never work a day in your life.

If you're determined to grow your business at the cost of staying close to your passion you just may turn the phrase Grow or Die into Grow AND Die.

Your mission changes from serving customers to serving shareholders.

And a corporate mission of Get BIG or Stay BIG, is pretty hollow. Work becomes work.