Sparks Publications

A Relentless Drive Toward Growth
By Ellen Flynn-Heapes, FMP
Reprinted from ACEC’s The Last Word

Fast-growing companies are the stars of the business world. Evidence abounds: The Inc. 500 is one of the top readership publications in the world. Fast Company, the latest magazine for growth wannabes, is itself one of the fastest growing publications ever. In the last issue of Focus I couldn’t resist mentioning McClier Corporation, the “fastest growing design/build firm in the country.” When you meet a business colleague, do you ever ask “How many people do you guys have now?

I struggle with the idea of growth. Part of me wants to deny its virtue - it just seems so commercial. The other part of me, however, knows that there is something really important here.

The most compelling reason for growth is this: attaining a real leadership position in a target market gives a firm its strongest bargaining position. This positively affects the quality of your fees, clients, and staff. How can the market tell if you’re the leader? No one has time to analyze too deeply today, so they look to your “domination” i.e. your growth and size relative to your competitors in the market. Even nichers need to be the biggest in their specialties.

Bottom line: in the eyes of the perceiver, your size is tangible proof of the success of your business.

In firms that don’t grow much, look for controlling personalities, perfectionists, and technologists at the helm. If low-growth firms have premier work, they undoubtedly have a distinguished expertise that’s tough to copy in the marketplace. In a sense, this expertise makes them sizable in the eyes of the client, and they often have big name clients such as Harvard, Microsoft, and GE on their rosters. If they don’t have the premier work locked in, they’re wide open to competition - a risky position.

We were recently in Boulder, Colorado, where housing prices are among the highest in the country. Boulder has been led by “controlling” civic leaders with a low-growth policy for 20 years. With an exquisite mountain setting, a top university, and high-tech companies, Boulder forged a supply/demand equation that yields a coveted socio-economic climate and a preserved environment. Most A/E firms, however, don’t enjoy such natural competitive advantages. They simply have to grow in order to maintain a competitive position.

We know that there are pathologies involved in rapid growth. “Growth for growth’s sake,” cites environmentalist Edward Abbey, is the ideology of the cancer cell. In our industry, we use this phrase pejoratively, perhaps acknowledging the unconscious view that lots of entrepreneurs feel a driving (if dysfunctional) need to prove themselves and their worth. Lots are addicted to the incessant bombardment of stimuli. And lots overreach and lose it all, including their personal lives.

Yet… giant Anderson Consulting’s number one piece of advice to us is to develop a “relentless drive toward growth.” Taking this advice with several grains of salt, the fact remains - the best route to success is to lead your market.

A Relentless Drive Toward Growth By Ellen Flynn-Heapes, FMP Reprinted from ACEC’s The Last Word

A Relentless Drive Toward Growth
By Ellen Flynn-Heapes, FMP
Reprinted from ACEC’s The Last Word