As we continue our expansion into new markets through the recent explosion of our Actionable Consultant Program, I’ve been speaking a lot with people lately about scaling up a business. Certainly, with new technologies and networks springing up every day, it’s never been easier for businesses of all sizes to cross geographic boarders and tap into new markets. But, like most things, just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. (Small Giants, by Bo Burlingham is a fabulous study on that)
And, even if you decide that expansion is appropriate for your business, there are smart ways (and not so smart ways) to do so. Here are a few of my favorite thought leaders on business expansion:
Predictable Success, by Les McKeown provides a starting point for any business leader to understanding where they are. Knowing where you’re starting from is a critical element of knowing how to get where you want to go. (If you missed it, I interviewed Les a couple weeks back)
In his book, The Lean Startup, Eric Ries provides excellent tools and process for considering new products & markets.
Jim Collins provides a great complement to Ries’s “Minimum Viable Product” concept in his book Great by Choice.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Bob Sutton a few weeks back on his latest, Scaling Up Excellence, where we talked about the dos and don’ts of tackling new markets. (Summary coming, I promise! The interview is live now)
One of my favorite authors on the subject of innovating intelligently as a team (and therefore growing intelligently) is Steve Shapiro. I particularly liked his book, Personality Poker. I’m half way through David Burkus’ The Myth of Creativity which tackles a lot of similar subject matter as well. (I’m looking forward to interviewing David about his book, and research in general, this week – interview should be up shortly)
And then there’s familiarizing ourselves with the nature of plateaus – the natural “leveling off” of any expansion or growth phase, and one that’s absolutely worth understanding. The Plateau Effect is a great introduction to that topic.
I’m a firm believer that growth for growth’s sake is a good way to kill your business. In the words of David Packard, “More companies die from indigestion than starvation.”
There’s nothing inherently wrong with growth, of course, but as any of the authors mentioned above will tell you, embarking on anything new warrants a pause for consideration and proper planning. Armed with the right tools and insights, it can be an exciting journey. Without… you may as well be rolling the dice.
Any gems that I missed? Books on business growth that should absolutely be mentioned?
