How tall can your child grow?
On average, a healthy child grows at 2.5 inches per year. By this logic, the child would grow into a 10 feet tall adult. Isn’t that insane?
We know it’s not true.
Our body doesn’t work that way.
But we forget that organizations are also like complex bodies. It is not only unreasonable but also foolish to expect them to keep growing YoY.
So-called business journalists have created an atmosphere where the only indicator of success is YoY growth. Nothing else matters. Check out Felix Ritcher’s article on Netflix’s decrease in subscribers. The phrases that he has used are “Netflix *suffered* its first subscriber drop” […] “make things worse”. Our language shapes the culture. It sets the expectation.
When we blame emerging startup founders for adopting a growth at cost mindset, we often forget what kind of expectations we have set for them. Expectations where cheating and shortcuts are the only way to qualify.
The gate-keepers of the status quo need to be identified, educated and ignored to create a culture of healthy competition.