I’m just off the phone with a person whom I can’t name.  But for the sake of this blog, let’s call him Phil.  Phil is a real guy working at a real company.  How real?  $2.5 billion real.  This year, his company’s growth target is to increase income by ten percent.  That’s a nice, easy-to-understand goal, isn’t it?

I get it.  Goals can motivate people.   Goals can make you feel committed, even passionate.  But why a ten percent top-line increase? 

“Because we believe that if we’re not growing, we’re dying.  Growth is good,” Phil justified. 

I paused and said, “But you’re flushing $6 Million down the toilet because you can’t hang onto employees. You’re working them to death trying to hit this growth goal!” 

Phil cut me off, “I know!  I don’t know how we’ll ever make this goal!”

In an effort to pursue “growth,” people get stupid.

Take Governor Terry Branstad.  He “grew” Iowa’s economy by 10,000 jobs during his tenure.  Sounds good, right?  Yea, well, those were low-paying jobs, which attracted lots of folks who put tremendous pressure on Iowa’s education and social service providers.  When they turned to Gov. Branstad for help to pay for the additional services, he pulled empty pockets out of his pants. Oops, he didn’t have the money to give them… because he’d used it to lure those 10,000 jobs to Iowa.

Next time someone tells you they want to grow their business or grow the economy, ask them how they define “growth.”  The goal of economic development is to raise the standard of living for all people.  And all jobs are NOT created equal.  If you want to “grow” your economy, then you need to grow the number of high paying jobs in your area, and you need to make sure your workforce is outfitted with the skills needed in a knowledge economy.  Let’s create wealth, not just jobs.

The books Small Giants and Let My People Go Surfing are two books that fly in the face of many corporations’ traditional ideas of “growth.”  Yet, I think the natural growth that these books outline is far more sustainable - for employees, for markets, and for our planet.

Speaking of the planet, please consult your local library to loan these books, or if you do decide to buy them, share them after you’ve read them.  You can give it to a friend, or join Book Crossing, a nifty little service that’s part scavenger hunt, part pay-it-forward.

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