There are business books that are chock-full of wonderful case studies and recounts of personal success stories, and then there are those that are of a more practical slant that details, step-by-step, what you need to do when it comes to building or fixing your company. Mark Faust’s “Growth or Bust: Proven Turnaround Strategies to Grow Your Business“, a manual for business owners and executives to find untapped growth potential for their company, definitely falls into the latter category.
Faust – a principal at organizational development consulting firm Echelon Management – offers several strategies in “Growth or Bust” on how companies can grow their business. He takes a no-nonsense approach with the book and eschews fluffy feel-good stories or case examples, and delving directly into the nitty-gritties of identifying how to build a growth strategy. Have a problem trying to implement an innovation-driven culture at the workplace? Facing a challenge growing sales from existing accounts and developing their potential? An issue with getting your team to become more productive. Or perhaps you have no idea how to set objectives as part of your growth strategy?
Faust tells you exactly how – in no uncertain terms.
Of course, sometimes you get the feeling that Faust is talking down to you. “These are the 7 principles of innovation”, he’ll state. Thankfully, for the majority, such a direct approach will probably work – because we need it! But the interesting thing is that when Faust move away from his usual dictatorial style and does decide to introduce a case example – it’s usually very appropriate and meaningful. And these were the parts that I most look forward to reading.
“Growth or Bust” is a good addition to any executive’s library, especially if you’re in senior management or in sales and marketing positions, or if you’re an entrepreneur. The advice contained within is especially useful if your business is in some form of stagnation or regression, and has difficulty growing. It’ll provide you with fresh ideas on how you can leverage your existing organization for growth.
