Grow to Greatness: Smart Growth for Entrepreneurial Businesses [Hardcover]

Edward D. Hess (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 25, 2012

Simply put, most entrepreneurial start-ups fail. Those fortunate enough to succeed then face a second, major challenge: how to grow. This book focuses on the key questions an entrepreneur must answer in order to grow a business. Based on extensive research of more than fifty successful growth companies, Grow to Greatness discusses the top ten growth challenges and how to overcome them.

Author Edward D. Hess dispels the myth that businesses must grow or die. Growth can create value. But, too much growth too fast outstrips effective processes, controls, or management capacity. Viewing growth as "recurring change," Grow to Greatness lays out a framework for how to approach business development—and how to manage its risks and pace.

The book then takes readers through chapters that explore whether the time is right to grow, how to do it, and how to manage the vital reality that growth requires the right leadership, culture, and people. Uniquely, this book aims to prepare readers for the day-to-day reality of growth, offering up the lived experiences of eleven entrepreneurs. Six workshops to assess where readers stand now and a suite of templates that will prove to be useful over time help bring the book's teachings to life. After reading this book, entrepreneurs will have a real understanding of their readiness to grow and place in the growth cycle, as well as a concrete action plan for where to take their businesses next.

Many books address how to start a business, but this is a unique, go-to resource for readers who want to learn how to thrive beyond the start-up phase.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[O]riginal and insightful . . . Highly recommended."—S. Gove, CHOICE

"In a world where too many business owners and investors are being taught that 'we must grow or die,' Ed Hess provides responsible research to expose, challenge, and disprove dangerous misconceptions about growth. Ed's findings are beautifully packaged into this easy-to-read book. Our company has had a great growth ride, and we keep returning to Ed's approach to guide our next steps."—Dave Lindsey, CEO & Founder, DEFENDER Direct, Inc.

"With curiosity and unwavering conviction, Ed Hess dives deeply into the heart of successful organizations. He illustrates the bold strategies that make these great companies thrive. But, more importantly, he uncovers the nuances of those strategies that truly build the foundation for enduring success. This book will give any savvy business leader the insights needed to achieve long-term prosperity."—Nancy Greatrix McGough, Human Resource Director, Room & Board

"Grow to Greatness is a 'must have' reference of best practices and lessons learned by others who have successfully taken the growth journey. If you are anticipating growing your business or already on that path, this evidence-based book can be your mentor and guide at every point. Simply put: another compelling 'real world' read from Hess."—Randall J. Bufford, Founder, President, and CEO, Trilogy Health Services, LLC

"Ed Hess has written a masterful work on business growth. Grow to Greatness provides a wonderful blueprint of critical steps to be completed along the journey of building a successful, profitable company."—Andrew L. Bourne, CEO, WayPoint, Serial Entrepreneur

About the Author

Edward D. Hess is a Professor of Business Administration and Batten Executive-in-Residence at the Darden Graduate School of Business. He is the author of over sixty Darden cases. His recent books include Growing an Entrepreneurial Business: Concepts and Cases and Smart Growth: Building an Enduring Business by Managing the Risks of Growth. His growth research has been featured in over 200 media outlets worldwide, including USA Today, BusinessWeek, Forbes, Financial Times, Fortune, Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox Business News, WSJ Radio, Dow Jones Radio, MSNBC Radio, Bloomberg Radio, and NPR. To learn more about Professor Hess, visit his website: www.EDHLTD.com.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: Stanford Business Books (April 25, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804775346
• ISBN-13: 978-0804775342
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #198,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Edward D. Hess is a Professor of Business Administration and Batten Executive-in-Residence at the Darden Graduate School of Business, The University of Virginia.He spent over 30 years in the business world prior to joining academia as a lawyer, investment banker, strategy consultant, and entrepreneur.

He is the author/editor of 10 books, over 60 business school cases, and over 60 articles dealing with high performance organizations, growth, values-based leadership, and family businesses. His current research is in the areas of Smart Growth, managing the challenges of private company growth,growth leadership, growth systems, growth processes, and enduring organizations. His work can be found @ www.EDHLTD.com. His work has appeared in over 250 media outlets worldwide the last 4 years including WSJ Radio, Dow Jones Radio,Bloomberg Radio, CNBC, NPR, Fox Business News, Forbes, Bloomberg, Business Week, Investor's Business Daily, CFO Magazine, Leadership Excellence, Chief Learning Officer, Washington Post, Financial Executive,Big Think, Business Insider, MSNBC Radio, and Money Magazine.

He has extensive experience advising and financing growth companies and multi-generational family businesses. He also has extensive research and consulting experience in the areas of public company organic growth and is the co-author of the Darden Growth/Innovation Model. His organic growth research has produced the concepts of The Growth System, The Growth Risks Audit, The Organic Growth Index financial model, and The Organic Growth Progression.

His business experience includes tenures with Warburg Paribas Becker, Boettcher & Company, The Robert M. Bass Group, Jones Lang Wooten, and Arthur Andersen Finance.

He is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the University of Florida, and obtained a J.D. from the University of Virginia and an LL.M. ( Taxation) from New York University.

He was raised in Carrollton, Georgia and worked his way through college as a student football mathematician for the Florida Gators. He is happily ( most days) married, loves to cook, travel, read, and play with his grandchildren and two tibetian terriers.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Bible for Smart Business Growers May 6, 2012

By Andrew Fleming

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

On the first page of this terrific book, the author writes: "Hi. I am Ed Hess." And he goes on to briefly describe his relevant background in an informative and friendly-but-no-nonsense way. After reading Grow to Greatness, I'd like to introduce the author is a slightly different way: "He is Ed Hess. He knows a 'boatload' about how to grow entrepreneurial businesses because he's run them, studied them (formally and informally...statistically and humanistically...Jim Collins has got nothing on him...), consulted to them, and written about them for a looooooong time. You're going to get it all in this book..."

So this is what you get in this book--the fruits of a comprehensive study of 54 high growth private companies along with a raft of ideas, inspiration, frameworks, tools, reminders, and real-life business stories and people--all delivered in a straight-forward, friendly-but-no-nonsense, "Hess-ian" (I've read his other books and know well the man himself) way; all intensely relevant and massively informative to the challenges of growing a business (Ed just packs it in here...so much good stuff and such a variety of the kinds of stuff...hence, a "Bible"); and all well-organized with a single, simple purpose: to help real people who want to grow real businesses do it in a smart, sustainable, and society-serving way.

Ed Hess is the best friend an entrepreneur could have; and you really do get Ed and his wisdom, both scholarly and practical, in his latest book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I use this book quarterly to grow our business! January 6, 2013

By Natalie Schafer Foley

Format:Hardcover

This was eerie to read in terms of how relevant the content is in my role as VP & COO of a small consulting firm. The book is so helpful in its combination of case studies, templates and discussion questions; I find myself referencing it once a quarter at least. As I read it, I went back and forth as I read thinking, "yep, that's exactly what's happening/that's so true" and then, "holy cow, we should be thinking about this." I'd recommend it to anyone desiring, experiencing or interested in growing their entrepreneurial business.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Grow to Greatness December 23, 2012

By Sean Castorina

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have to tell you, I try to read every business book I can get my hands on, and with that said I have read well over 100 in the last few years. I am also an entrepreneur, who has started over 15 successful companies, and I can say this book is groundbreaking. The case studies that illustrate whether growth is good are practical and easy to follow. The key thought that not all growth for a business is good was encouraging. I also found the exercises to determine whether you should grow were simple and easy to follow. This book should be every small business owner's must read. It is on the same level as Good To Great. But how many of us business owners can actually relate to those businesses? This book can be applied by any business owner small or large. As a matter of fact I can think of a few companies that should have read it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A rare book every business owner should own December 4, 2012

By Richard L. Stokes

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I don't write very many reviews but based upon the quality of this book, I felt compelled to.

Grow to Greatness is written in the manner of an interactive workshop. In fact, I frequently paused while reading to work through the worksheets the author provided. This resulted in a number of "ah ha" moments that have radically reshaped my business' strategic plan for the upcoming year.

Like many companies, we conduct an annual planning process where each executive creates a strategy for his team. This year was no different than the rest in that this resulted in a hodge podge of poorly defined goals with no internal consistency and few success measures. Even worse, some of these proposed plans would be expensive and would place pressures on other areas of the business.

I took these plans and used them for the raw material of this virtual workshop. The author walks the reader through many different concepts which I have not seen elsewhere. He insists that the reader address the "risks of growth", identify "preconditions to growth", and create a portfolio of S-curves to avoid placing all of one's eggs in a single basket.

This process was invaluable because it enabled me to make go/no-go decisions on many of the initiatives proposed by my managers. Should we have an office in London? Probably not due to the legal and financial expense, tax reporting complexities, and the distraction it would introduce to our domestic business. Should we pursue those lucrative but infrequent consulting contracts? Again, probably not because to do so would distract our sales team from lower-price but steadier product business. And so on....

By following this process, I was able to hone down our strategy to three simple initiatives with a high probability of success, a minimum of risk and which place a minimum amount of disruption on the business. Instead of killing myself (and my employees) with a massive number of initiatives, next year will be all about getting them to focus on the right things (and just one of them for each department).

Hands down, this is probably the single best book in my library on how to grow a business organically. Read more ›

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, great course. March 9, 2013

By Mr Shawn Truesdell

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have been reading this book as a supplement to doing the authors course about business growth through Coursera.org. This book as opened my eyes to many of the mistakes the business I work in is having and gives clear understanding on how to prepare for and control these problems. Highly recommended.

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting way of presenting a life management process February 14, 2013

By Pam Wiedenbeck

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I think this is an interesting way of presenting a process for a life management process. The advice and steps discussed apply to just more than starting a business.

4.0 out of 5 stars Book of wisdom February 10, 2013

By Karl Murphy

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I really loved the book, because each time I read it their is a new understanding of what one can do in business to elevate there business and make it grow and or improve quality. The book offers so much when you read it and open your mind to the possibility in your own business venture.