Playing to score. The game of Growth. 

Growth is business. But it doesn’t need to be serious business.

Growing an idea, a team or an enterprise is no different from practicing a sport, planning a weekend cookout or competing in a treasure hunt. Plenty of action, loads of adrenalin, and yes, serious doses of fun. The same difference between a seminar and a carnival, if you will.

The whole idea behind this Playbook is to celebrate that aspect of Growth: To take it out of the seminar presentation and that boardroom discussion – and turn it into a something we can approach with the same eagerness as our favorite board game or adventure pursuit.

Each article featured here tackles growth from all the traditional angles – and some unexplored ones – but all in a fresh new optic.

As it does so, the Playbook provides a broad level perspective of the theme it tries to tackle – without getting into the nitty-gritties, or defining the boundaries of what’s acceptable. The idea is to tickle the imagination with the lure of possibility and let it take a leap, not bog it down or straight-jacket it with the polemic of righteousness. The desire is to convince the DO-er that thinking is equally essential to ultimate consequence – and to the THINK-er that there’s no substitute for action.

Those who toe the two extremes will probably be the last ones standing, but in a sport that’s played purely for the fun – and glory – of it, that result, shouldn’t matter.

The central idea behind the Playbook is that, just like all play, Growth is all about getting one’s hands dirty. Pushing the parcel. Risking the 10th yard. And having a ball, all the while.

In other words, it’s all about Execution.

Execution is the X factor that can pull the rabbit of Growth out of a hat even when the strategy, the team and the processes are weak. Conversely, poor execution can render everything else effete – no matter how strong they look on paper. Great execution is the last word in any enterprise, and can stretch its own potential spectacularly. Which is why it makes sense to stretch the spelling of Growth itself with an extra ‘e’ at the end – the ‘e’ of execution. 

The new sound of Growthe – then – is all about playing the game hard. Fair. And enjoying every minute of it.