One of the axioms that I have found in life is that human beings fundamentally underestimate the effort that it takes to grow...
to grow a company...
to grow a skill...
to grow an organization...
to grow character...
It's the reason why almost every company that I see has a projection for growth going forward that is far more exciting than the growth they have actually & historically experienced.
Our ability to conceive growth in our minds is easy...
"We will grow 10 percent per year..." There I said it... Now it shall be so...
yeah right!
If you expect to grow faster than you've grown in the past - you must have or do something that truly makes it so. And "selling harder" ain't it!
To grow
you must have a differentiated product...
To grow
the differentiation must be relevant to your clients.
To grow
the differentiation must become known...
Those are three challenging realities that TAKE TIME and effort, and must overcome all of the other noise in the system from all of the other people who are also trying to grow themselves!
It is a battle for attention.
It is a battle for time.
And when you finally WIN the battle, and you are NOTICED...
then your product or service actually has to deliver! Over and over and over again!
I see people; managers, business owners, parents...
over and over again
blaming people around them for NOT being enough
(smart enough, dedicated enough, responsive enough, good enough)
when the truth is THEY are the ones that haven't INVESTED enough in the growth of the people they are assessing.
If people show effort, show interest, show determination and responsiveness... be careful to make fast conclusions about their competence or their CAPACITY for competence.
If people show real interest in your product, or in the NEED for your product, but your company is not growing fast enough, be careful to make fast conclusions about your product's value and capacity for growth.
Real sustainable growth...
the kind that becomes a foundation
the kind that creates momentum
the kind that great, jaw dropping stories are made of
the kind you ride not like a crashing wave but a soaring bird...
that growth takes integrity...
Integrity in the richness and the depth of what you know...
In the granularity with which you understand your clients needs,
your products and the competition...
Real growth takes integrity in how truly and sincerely you know yourself...
Underestimating the investment that it takes to grow is a very common theme behind SO VERY MUCH of the disharmony we see in the world.
So often, we are drawn to those that want to convince us that "growth" can be easy, can be fast, can require little effort... And, without exception, snake oil and "overnight growth" doesn't work!
Growth requires investment...
It requires focus... focus on relevant differentiation.
It requires integrity... integrity in deep, consistent, applied understanding.
It most often requires TIME...
time to become good, time to be seen, time to build trust, time to build a following...
Growth requires
more than we care to realize...
more than we want to accept...
more than we are often willing to offer or spend...
But, when we do spend it... Invest it... focus it... over time....
we win and we win BIG...
And then everyone else thinks you were an overnight success... ;-)
and the cycle of misunderstanding continues...
INVEST wisely.
in your company and in your self...
Don't underestimate what it takes to really grow!
Growth takes ALL you've got...
Expect it, estimate it to be long, arduous and so very worthwhile!
In harmony,
Nestor