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Bigger Isn't Always Better: The New Mindset for Real Business Growth

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What we have in this volume is a brilliant explanation of what "real business growth" is, and, how to achieve and then sustain it. Tomasko suggests seven characteristics which "growers" share. They are guided and informed by a mindset which recognizes that real growth "is about reaching full potential, not maximum size. It means progress, not excess; it is fueled by imagination, not expansion." He devotes a separate chapter to each of the seven common characteristics. In Part 1, he describes what growth is and isn't, then in Part 2, he explains what growers do. They know what they need to know and where to locate it. They know what they want to achieve and tell the truth when pursuing it. They initiate creative attention to generate and sustain forward movement, meanwhile winning hearts and minds of others involved. They master what Tomasko characterizes as "momentum with bounce." They know when to let go, agreeing with Jason Jennings that "if it's DOA, bury it." And they "share the wealth" when collaborative effort achieves the given objectives.

The more "growers" there are within a given enterprise, the more likely that it will achieve "real business growth." Hence the importance of recognizing and supporting them, of course, but also doing so with regard to prospective "growers" as well. Every effort should be made to accelerate their development. When paraphrasing one of the exemplary growers, psychologist Martin Seligman, Tomasko observes that "business is not just about fixing what is broken. It is about taking what is best in an enterprise and nurturing its further development. Leading this kind of growth requires a very different mentality from that needed to manage ongoing activities. The best growth champions are not the people who are in charge of today's successful organizations. What makes best sense for sustaining the status quo is often irrelevant or counterproductive for surpassing it." When Reginald Jones selected his successor as GE's next CEO, he urged Jack Welch to "Blow it up!"

While re-reading this book, as is my custom, I highlighted key passages. In this instance more than 100 which caught my eye. Here are two representative excerpts.

When knowing where to look for growth opportunities: "Blinders from existing business models or getting caught up in the hot concept (convergence, deregulation, Internet-means-that-everything-is-different, and so on) will also limit our ability to see the market clearly. When we see something new, we seldom stop to appreciate it for what it is. Instead, evolution seems to have trained us -- hard-wired our brains -- to slot things into categories or explanations that are derived from our past experiences. In pigeonholing things this way, wee run the risk of filtering out what it is that makes the novel news." (page 119)

However, "As Picasso once noted: `Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction.' The trick is to plan the movement from old to new in a way that does not lead to mindless destruction and chaos. This means starting out with the grower's clear idea of somewhere better to end up, and knowing what is wanted with as much clarity as what is not wanted. That's how real growth happens. This kind of growth, of course, has little to do with getting better or prevailing over others." (page 238)

In this book, Tomasko shares brilliant insights in combination with practical recommendations which can help his reader to develop and then sustain a new mindset, "an internal logic system, the model that you carry around in your head." With meticulous care, Tomasko explains how and why a mindset gives birth to our beliefs and assumptions, how it determines what facts we notice and what we make of them. "And even more important, it determines what [we] do as a result." I continue to be amazed by those decision-makers whose mindset causes them to follow the same course of action which had repeatedly failed before... and then expect different results. That doesn't make any sense, does it?

Robert M. Tomasko's BIGGER ISN'T ALWAYS BETTER: THE NEW MINDSET FOR BUSINESS GROWTH draws some important distinctions between growth and expansion. While increased size is desirable, too often companies grow too quickly and many may ultimately see their demise in their very growth-oriented goals. Real growth lines in progress and knowing how to link success to strategic plans and logical organizational changes - the types of changes BIGGER ISN'T ALWAYS BETTER covers in chapters which probe growth cycles, judgement calls, and knowing how to access opportunity for its real-world applications.