Are you caught in the success trap?

During my work as a coach, one of the situations I come across most frequently is business owners and leaders that are operating profitable, growing companies but do not feel successful. There is a misalignment between what the numbers are saying and how things are really progressing both for them and their team. They fit the analogy of the swan well, where things seem serene above the water, but this is at odds with the stress and strains below which are maintaining momentum. I call this condition the success trap.

Over the past thirty years, first as company owner and later as a coach, I have identified some of the key reasons for the frustration and paradoxical feelings amongst business leaders.

I know from experience that achievement can sometimes feel unfulfilling; therefore, I have written Better before Bigger – Rethinking Business Success to offer leaders a tested methodology, which can assist them in transforming their organisations, to align with their aspirations. The ideas and recommendations in the book provide a route out of the success trap and outline a fresh and alternative way to run their business.

The challenges of running a company can sometimes feel overwhelming. You may have nurtured your business from infancy to adolescence, but the processes and structure currently in place might not allow you to progress to rewarding maturity. You may feel exhausted by the workload because you’re the centre point for all operations, and this disrupts your work-life balance. You might be hesitant to alter the way your company functions for fear of failure, or even what new stresses this might bring. 

I created Better before Bigger for business leaders who may have these concerns and could therefore be caught in the success trap. This is where a business has reached a point where things are running to a satisfactory standard, but the rate of growth once attained has started to slow or plateau. This can be a difficult situation to avoid as it can develop unnoticed, and be even more challenging to escape, as its negative results can be hard to reverse.

The content in Better before Bigger covers many aspects of business from leadership to using data. This material is presented in a structured way, so each element can be approached both separately and also in relation to each other. This coherent framework is designed to make interconnected concepts easy to understand, so they can be clearly applied to daily work. The book provides a step-by-step guide for those who wish to improve their business sustainably but are unsure, either of what changes to make or how to implement them.

The book includes a number of philosophies it is worth establishing within a company, alongside six critical components, each divided into three essential elements. This organised information, makes Better before Bigger a perfect reference guide which can assist leaders in confidently improving their business. This tested material can offer a reassuring source of ideas, and definite plan for a building a better future.

Perhaps most importantly, Better before Bigger hopes to stimulate thought on how the content it presents can be best transferred to the reader’s organisation, and what exciting new opportunities this can create. Case studies and key takeaways are designed to provide a real-world context and make the suggested actions and possible outcomes more tangible. This inquisitive and productive thought is the fundamental component needed to achieve sustainable growth and success.

Writing Better before Bigger has provided me with a fantastic opportunity to share the unique theory I have developed over the past thirty years. The knowledge I have gained by working in the different disciplines of business owner, coach, and academic, have allowed me to approach the subject from a variety of positions; the book represents an organised collection of the most useful information I have learned in these roles. Sustainable improvement can only be achieved if the right conditions are in place, and the correct actions are taken; you have to get better before you can get bigger.