How Businesses Fail to Scale

The key to avoiding failure as a company grows is ensuring that business leaders agree from the very start on what its products, ideal customers, and internal processes are. Solidifying these is critical before scaling up, as they clearly define a company’s business model. 

Failing to do this step is one of the primary reasons some startups fail in the scaling process, as they didn’t have a clear vision of where their company should’ve gone before the unprecedented growth took place.

Here’s a closer look at what scaling means and its potential impact on your growing business.

Summing Up 30 Years of Insights Studying Corporate Culture

Harvard Business School professor emeritus James Heskett, now 88, is still making the business case for corporate culture.  He's summeds up the insights he’s gleaned in more than 30 years of studying corporate culture in his new book, Win From Within:  Build Organizational Culture for Competitive Advantage.

“Strategy is hard; culture is soft,” Heskett writes, beginning a list of common misconceptions. “The impact of a strategy on growth and profit can be measured, but that of a culture cannot. If you get the core values shared by everyone right, the rest will take care of itself. A strong culture helps assure good performance. To change an organization’s culture requires a long time. All of these assertions have been passed around in management circles over the years. And all of them are essentially wrong.”

Heskett’s thesis:  most leaders don’t devote nearly enough time to managing the culture of their companies, and the time that they do spend on it is often wasted.

Is that you?  

Follow Heskett's lead and "live the culture."  Because meaningful change, like many things, begins at the top.

Blog Post of Interest: In 2013, Will You Manage or Lead Your Business?

Dr. John P. Kotter, the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus at Harvard Business School and the Chief Innovation Officer at Kotter International, a firm that helps leaders accelerate strategy implementation in their organizations, makes a case here on the radical differences between management versus leadership.

In more than four decades of studying businesses and consulting to organizations on how to implement new strategies, I can't tell you how many times I've heard people use the words "leadership" and "management" synonymously, and it drives me crazy every time. 

Find out why Dr. Kotter is driven to madness on this topic:  Management Is (Still) Not Leadership

As always, be sure to read all the reader comments for the optimum level of insights.

Meanwhile, how will you take your organization into the future - by managing or leading? 

Illustration credit:  Kotter International

Article of Interest: Values-Driven Companies

Whether you run a Fortune 500 company or a vibrant small business, the values you put forth play a vital role in managing and transforming a company.

According to Harvard Business School Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter ...

A new type of 21st century company is emerging that is transforming how business is conducted. These are values-driven companies that define a core set of values and rely on these values in making all strategic decisions. Such companies are transforming themselves, their industries, and the world.

A snapshot of the key concepts includes:

• Ability to change themselves and the world because they put values at the center of their company.
• Gain tremendous advantages.
• Hold true to core values.
• Identify, understand, and stay true to values.
• Operate a business that brings value to the world.
• Influence the behaviors of other corporations and leaders.

For more in depth knowledge, go here.

Are you willing and able to change and bounce back quickly from challenging situations? As always, we welcome your comments.