So why am I bringing Dave to Philly?  And more importantly – what can he teach you about dealing with the challenges of growth?

Dave Power has spent his career helping growth companies to grow…and helping them do what they don’t want to always do – acknowledge that today’s success doesn’t insure any success going forward, unless you’re willing and able to innovate.

Dave brings a unique perspective to the issue of growth – one could say a 360 Degree view of the problem.  He’s sat in many seats from CEO to General Manager to Board member to Advisor to Educator.  And no matter what seat he’s sitting in, he firmly believes that if companies fail to keep a constant eye towards innovation, they’ll ultimate hit a plateau and fail to deliver on their potential.

“There’s no rising tide to lift you now,” he told me in a recent call.  “We’re not going to have the economy to help businesses who can’t innovate.  And no matter what business you’re in, all of them will reach an “S” curve.  You can buy time and stretch the curve out with your current customer base, or product, or business model or market – but you’re just delaying the inevitable.”

He goes on to say that growth requires asking some key questions of yourself, your team, your customers and the market.

* Why is the engine sputtering?

* How can we get it going again?

* What kind of problems are our customers and our markets having that haven’t been solved?

* What can we learn from other companies like SalesForce.com, Zoots and Dell that can give us an edge in our market?

And – you’ve got to make getting the answers to those questions just part of your routine of doing business.

But what about some practical examples of companies that have done exactly that?  Stay tuned – I’ll be sharing some in my next post.

And if you haven’t yet registered to hear Dave speak at our Sixth Annual Growth Strategies Breakfast on Friday, March 16th, sign up here!

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