Navigating the Growth Curve.

Navigating the Growth Curve, by James Fischer, Book, 2006, Origin Institute, LLC, $39.95.

Navigating the Growth Curve: 9 Fundamentals that Build a Profit-Drive, People-Centered. Growth-Smart Company is a 341-page thriller--and it's a business book!

The author, James Fischer, says nine fundamentals create a blueprint for growing your business. They allow you to:

* Adapt yourself and your organization to the change and chaos present in a rapidly changing economic landscape.

* Focus the resources (people, money, time, and attention) of the company on the correct goals and strategies.

* Effectively predict enterprise behavior, well in advance of critical decisions that need to be made.

The Story

"Kate, I'm going to lunch. I've got to get out of here for a few hours. If any of the staff feel the need to shoot me, I'll be back later."

With that, Peter Logan finds himself sitting on a park bench wondering how everything in his life has unraveled so quickly. Three weeks ago he had a well-deserved reputation as a hired gun, whipping young companies into shape and getting them sold in record time. Anything that didn't meet his requirements was considered extraneous and cut from the budget.

His success depended on getting companies to run like a well-oiled machine, and staff was just a necessary cog in that machine. Despite the immense obstacles in his latest assignment, he had managed to work miracles, getting the product to market faster than expected. He was well on his way to earning himself a place on the front cover of Fortune magazine.

And then the unbelievable happened. He was unceremoniously fired by the parent company, Santano Enterprise (remember this company), and he had just learned that his beloved older brother, Alan Logan, had died of an apparent heart attack.

Popping another Turns in his mouth, our hero wonders how he has managed in just two weeks of taking over his brothers company, Boulder Solutions, at the request of his sister-in-law, to alienate every single person in the company. Praying for divine intervention, he hears a voice informing him that "it isn't the stress that's killing you, it's your unwillingness to change!" With that, Horace Bedford makes himself known to Peter and becomes an integral part of helping him save his brother's company and, of course, in saving the world. There are bad guys out there, you know.

We are introduced to a cast of characters that makes this book a real joy to read. Characters like Grace McGregor of McGregor Communications, the mysterious Daniel Tayakanagi of Santomo Enterprise, and the challenging Dean Baldridge are beautifully interwoven with a number of CEO entrepreneurs who share with Peter the purpose of "Navigating the Growth Curvenavigating the growth curve."

An important part of the story is leadership style and how it influences what a company is. The author contrasts a business of constant change and chaos--the Beekeeper--with a business of enormous precision and control--the Watchmaker.

The watchmaker type of leader wants something that is predictable, something that can be controlled. Yet, companies that are rigid and can't adapt become extinct or bought. The beekeeper understands that the business is an intelligent, living thing that can self-organize and adjust to an array of challenges and changes in its environment. Internally directed companies adapt easily to meet market demands.

The nautilus on the front cover symbolizes the "growth curve process". The nautilus is known as the "living fossil." Newly hatched, it wears a shell divided into four small chambers. As it grows, it gains more living space by building new chambers that spiral out from the old ones. An adult shell can have 30 chambers.

Like the nautilus, companies are living organism with natural stages of growth. They can't skip over or speed through any of those stages without consequences. As with living organisms, developing a sustainable, thriving enterprise takes time, patience, and planning.

The Author

James Fischer is an entrepreneur, trainer, CEO coach, speaker, and co-founder of a consulting company called the Origin Institute. For a decade, Origin Institute has been conducting an ongoing national research study to understand and decipher the patterns, behaviors, and characteristics of growth in entrepreneurial enterprises.

Design and Layout

The publisher makes great use of one of the principles of design called contrast. Contrast adds interest to the page, emphasizes what is important, and directs the reader's eye. The pages have a two-column format, and the font, character spacing, and line spacing allow you to read without eyestrain. The graphics are beautifully illustrated on high quality paper, with quotes, headings, captions and illustrations strategically placed to create lots of white space.

Weak Points

I would have liked to have to read more on how Peter how hepersonallyimplemented what he has learned about each of the fundamentals of the Growth Curve Process. After the first couple of chapters, the author dwells primarily on the theory of the growth curve process. I would like more on implementation.

Instead of summaries at the end of each chapter, I would prefer a list of questions I could use to get me started.

When I finished the book I wanted to know, "What next?" Not everyone who reads this book will be a CEO or entrepreneur. I wanted to know how I, as a corporate educator, could implement some of the key points.

I hope the author considers a companion guide to the book, an online course based on the book, or even an online learning community where people can each other as they use the book to navigate their own growth curve. Creating an interactive learning community connected through communication and collaboration would be a wonderful opportunity to introduce the meaning of the beekeeper mentality.

Recommendation

James Fischer has been quoted as saying, "I am often intrigued with the transfer of insight and knowledge that occurs through the employment of a good story." In that he has succeeded. The learning is in the story. So to Mr. Fischer, if the last sentence of the last paragraph in the last chapter suggests a sequel, write fast!

Review by Mireille Massue

Product Ratings

Navigating the Growth Curve

Overall rating  *** 1/2