As a leader, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to simply keep doing something because that’s the way it has always been done. It is easy to fall into this trap without even realizing it. Everyone is busy and it can be tempting to default to autopilot and keep going about “business as usual” with the thinking that if it worked once, why not continue doing it? While a proven process or method can often be repeated successfully in multiple circumstances, it is important to reevaluate these processes with a fresh perspective and today’s business environment in mind.
When you take a step back and consider it, this is self-evident. The very nature of business is change. As time passes, industry evolves. New technology, capabilities and competitors pop up and customer demand changes and successful leaders must respond accordingly.
In this series of posts, we will explore five key ways you can rethink your approach to strategic growth as a leader:
- Understand your own company
- Be proactive
- Consider external growth
- Ask your team for input
- Use criteria for objective decision-making
My goal is to help you generate fresh ideas for growth by offering insights and practical tools that will challenge assumptions and encourage you to think in new ways. Sometimes, by simply approaching a problem from a different angle we can come up with innovative solutions.
In the next post we will take a closer a how you can better understand your own company.
Photo credit: Mihn Hoang via Flickr CC BY-ND 2.0
* A version of this post originally appeared in the AMA Quarterly Magazine
