Book Summary Preview : When Growth Stalls

The Big Idea

One of the biggest challenges any business leader faces is generating consistent, profitable growth. But stalled growth is the rule, not the exception, even for the best-managed companies. That’s especially true in today’s tumultuous economic environment.

In this book, marketing expert Steve McKee presents fascinating evidence that demonstrates that sluggish growth is usually produced not by mismanagement or strategic blundering, but by natural market forces and destructive internal dynamics that are widespread – and often unrecognized.

All companies struggle with external forces such as economic upheavals, changing industry dynamics, and increased competition. When Growth Stalls explores how these forces conspire to take companies down. But the book also looks beyond these natural market forces and explains how four subtle and highly destructive internal factors conspire to keep companies down: a lack of consensus among the management team, a loss of nerve, a loss of focus, and marketing inconsistency. Conquering these, McKee’s research shows, is the real key to overcoming stalled growth.

When Growth Stalls demonstrates that no matter what’s going on outside an enterprise, it’s what’s inside that counts. Public or private, for-profit or not-for-profit, consumer-focused or business-to-business – organizations of every size and shape are subject to the same challenges. Throughout this groundbreaking book, McKee explains how to turn things around, offering proven and practical advice for rekindling growth.

Why You Need This Book

This book is a practical, hands-on guide for executives, managers, and entrepreneurs who are struggling with stalled growth as well as for those who hope to prevent it.

IT’S NOT JUST BUSINESS, IT’S PERSONAL

If your company is struggling at the moment, take heart. You may feel as if you’re failing, but you may be as much the victim as the cause of your company’s problems. And understanding the whys behind your woes is the first step to fixing them.

On the other hand, if your company is doing well, it’s good that you are reading this now. The simple truth is that growth is never guaranteed. Practically every organization will face a growth decline at some point in its history. You may be able to minimize or even avoid altogether a slump by understanding and applying the principles put forth here.

GROWTH STALLS

Consider one of the most popular and influential business books of our generation: Built to Last by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras. Based on solid research, the book highlights eighteen visionary companies that managed to stay atop the business world through the ups and downs of four turbulent decades (1950-1990). In the book, the authors themselves noted that “as extraordinary as they are, the visionary companies do not have perfect, unblemished records.” Indeed, since Built to Last was published in 1994, more than half of these “truly exceptional” companies have suffered from one or more years of revenue declines.

At some point in almost every company’s history, growth stalls. It doesn’t matter how well the organization is managed, how great its products are, or how appealing its marketing and advertising are. Growth stalls in every industry, it stalls in every phase of the economic cycle, and it stalls no matter who gets elected president of the United States.

Generating consistent growth is just plain hard, no matter how smart, experienced, or talented you are. As one of the company leaders said, it’s like “trying to keep an ice cube from melting.” It can be done, but only in the right environment.

Ries Robinson, chairman and CEO of InLight Solutions, said something one day with stalled growth that will stick on your mind: “An entrepreneur us someone who can make progress in an ambiguous environment.” There’s no more ambiguous environment than the one within a company experiencing stalled growth.

Progress is still possible, but acceptance must come first. There will always be obstacles to growth in your company’s path; that’s the painful fact. But if you understand those obstacles – and the damaging chain of events they can set in motion – they can be overcome.

MARKET TECTONICS

There are similar principles at work in the world of commerce. They are called market tectonics because like plate tectonics, they’re unavoidable facts of life driven by forces far greater and more powerful than any individual or organization can control. While market tectonics are not nearly as serious or as deadly as plate tectonics, they share similar characteristics in that they affect every company, often come as a surprise, especially for those who are not prepared in dealing with them.

When growth stalls, market tectonics almost always play a role, with the specific forces tending to fall into certain predictable categories.

Before you can determine what to do when growth stalls, it helps to have some perspective on why it happens.

 

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