We’re obsessed with growth in business.
More customers.
More revenue.
More employees.
More locations.
More followers.
More everything.
Ask somebody how their business is doing and they’ll often answer with a number.
Turnover is up.
The team has grown.
They’ve opened another site.
They’ve hit a new milestone.
And I understand it.
Growth is exciting.
But I’ve started wondering whether bigger and better are always the same thing.
I’m not convinced they are.
Who Decided Growth Was the Only Scorecard?
Most traditional measures of business success are financial.
Revenue.
Profit.
Market share.
Company valuation.
Those things matter. I’m a business owner – I’m certainly not suggesting we stop looking at the numbers.
But what happens when they’re the only numbers we value?
Imagine two businesses.
One has grown its turnover dramatically but its employees are exhausted, its environmental impact has increased and its founder hasn’t had a weekend off for six months.
The other has grown more slowly but has created secure jobs, happy customers, strong community relationships and a healthy profit.
Which is more successful?
The answer depends entirely on your definition of success.
Sometimes Growth Costs More Than We Realise
Growth can be brilliant.
It can create jobs, opportunities and resources.
But growth also has a cost.
More people require more leadership.
More customers create more expectations.
More complexity creates more systems.
More revenue doesn’t automatically create more profit.
And more responsibility can quietly consume more of your life.
I’ve experienced enough of the rollercoaster of entrepreneurship to know that what looks like success from the outside doesn’t always feel like success from the inside.
That’s why I think leaders need to ask themselves something before chasing the next milestone:
What am I actually trying to create?
What Does Enough Look Like?
This might be one of the most uncomfortable questions in business.
What is enough?
We rarely ask it.
If turnover reaches £1 million, the target becomes £2 million.
Reach £2 million and somebody starts talking about £5 million.
The finish line moves constantly.
But without defining enough, it’s possible to spend an entire career chasing a destination that doesn’t exist.
Enough doesn’t mean becoming unambitious.
It means knowing what you’re ambitious for.
Maybe you want financial freedom.
Perhaps you want to employ 100 people.
Maybe you want to change your industry.
Perhaps you want to create a business that gives you more time with your family.
Maybe you want to generate enough profit to fund positive impact elsewhere.
Those are very different definitions of success.
Impact Can Grow Too
One of the things that excites me most about purpose-led business is that growth doesn’t only have to mean financial growth.
Your impact can grow.
You can create better jobs.
You can support more local suppliers.
You can reduce your environmental footprint.
You can share what you’ve learned.
You can mentor another entrepreneur.
You can use your platform to champion something important.
You can create opportunities for people who might otherwise not have them.
You can give more.
You can influence how other businesses operate.
Those things rarely appear on a conventional profit-and-loss report.
But perhaps they should feature somewhere on our personal definition of success.
Success Can Include Joy
Here’s another radical suggestion.
What if enjoying your business counted as success?
We talk endlessly about productivity, performance and growth.
We don’t talk nearly enough about joy.
Yet many of us started businesses because we wanted freedom, creativity or the opportunity to build something we cared about.
Then somehow we create organisations that make us miserable.
That’s quite an achievement when you think about it.
I’ve become increasingly interested in the role of joy in business.
Not forced workplace fun.
Not motivational slogans.
Real joy.
Working with people you like.
Creating experiences you’re proud of.
Having ideas that excite you.
Laughing.
Doing work that feels meaningful.
Building something that gives energy rather than consuming all of it.
Surely that deserves a place on the scorecard too?
Your Business Shouldn’t Consume Your Entire Identity
Entrepreneurship can become all-consuming.
The business needs you.
Customers need you.
Employees need you.
There’s always another problem.
Another opportunity.
Another email.
Another idea.
Before long, your answer to “Who are you?” becomes almost entirely about what you do.
I’ve learned that stepping away can sometimes give you a much clearer perspective than pushing harder.
Travel has taught me this.
Challenges outside business have taught me this.
Life has definitely taught me this.
Your business is something you build.
It isn’t all that you are.
And sometimes remembering that makes you a better leader.
Conscious Growth
I’m certainly not anti-growth.
Far from it.
I’m interested in conscious growth.
Growth where we understand what we’re trying to achieve and why.
Growth that doesn’t sacrifice people in pursuit of numbers.
Growth that considers environmental and social impact.
Growth that creates opportunities.
Growth that leaves something positive behind.
Growth that still allows us to recognise when something is already good.
Because sometimes the smartest business decision isn’t:
“How do we make this bigger?”
It might be:
“How do we make this better?”
Create Your Own Definition of Success
There isn’t one correct answer.
Your definition of success doesn’t need to look anything like mine.
But it should probably be yours.
Not something inherited from LinkedIn.
Not somebody else’s revenue target.
Not an entrepreneur on a podcast telling you that sleeping four hours a night demonstrates commitment.
Yours.
Ask yourself:
What kind of life do I want?
What kind of organisation do I want to lead?
How do I want people to feel working here?
What impact do I want the business to have?
How much is enough?
What would make me proud?
What would make this worthwhile?
And yes – how much money do I want to make?
Put all of those answers together and you have a much more interesting scorecard.
Bigger Isn’t Always Better
Sometimes bigger absolutely is the goal.
Go for it.
But don’t grow simply because business culture tells you that standing still means failure.
Sometimes maintaining something wonderful is an achievement.
Sometimes simplifying is progress.
Sometimes saying no is growth.
Sometimes protecting your time is success.
And sometimes the most ambitious thing you can do is build a business that works for your life rather than consuming it.
So yes, measure revenue.
Measure profit.
Celebrate growth.
But perhaps add a few more measures alongside them.
Impact.
People.
Purpose.
Freedom.
Joy.
Because when we eventually look back at what we’ve built, I suspect those numbers might matter rather more.
