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Have you ever said something to someone senior, then immediately thought, “Why on earth have I just said that?”
My coaching style has been called direct and challenging. I’ll take that. Most business owners don't have time to have their egos stroked while they’re trying to build something real. I hold the mirror up, and when a leader is hiding behind a "comfortable" number, I say so.
Years ago, I was working with a CEO who was proud of his growth—double digits, 12%. By most measures, it was a genuinely good year. His territory was the growth engine, outperforming regions hovering around 2–3%. He had every right to feel satisfied.
So I asked him one question: “What is the growth potential here?”
He thought about it for a second. “Forty per cent.”
I didn’t miss a beat. “So 12% is underperformance, then.”
I held my breath. I thought to myself: Have I just crossed the line?
There was a moment of silence that seemed like an eternity as he pondered my statement. Then, he looked up. “I guess you’re right.”
Relief!
My point wasn’t that 12% was a bad number. It wasn’t. But when you measure yourself only against last year, you aren't measuring your opportunity; you’re measuring your complacency. The gap between 12% and 40% wasn't a lack of success. It was the cost of a mindset that had quietly settled.
Complacency is the enemy of high performance. You can't aim at the right thing if you're looking backwards
We usually talk about strategy as "focus"—cutting out the wrong work. But there's an earlier question that almost nobody asks honestly: Are we even aiming at the right level?
When you set a target based on last year, it will almost certainly be wrong. Consistent forecasts satisfy shareholders, but they hide the friction. Most businesses aren't held back by a lack of strategy; they’re held back by friction—the hidden tax on your margins, your team, and your sanity.
It’s easy, even lazy, to simply add a percentage to last year’s number. It could be too low, and you're lowballing your own potential. Too high, and you set your team up for burnout.
The secret is to do the thinking. Friction in your current reality—broken processes, clunky systems, or teams working hard on the wrong tasks—is costing you growth. You don't need to rethink your strategy; you need to remove the drag. Find the friction, fix what matters.
So, how do you use this?
1. Find the friction: Name your real ceiling. If you did this properly, with the people and resources you already have, what’s genuinely possible? If you’ve never asked that, your targets are just guesses dressed up as plans.
2. Focus the team: Once the ceiling is honest, focus gets sharp. You’re no longer asking, "How do we do a bit better than last year?" You're asking, "What are the few things getting in the way of what's possible?" That’s a much clearer, shorter list.
3. Fix what matters: Be laser-focused. Pick the single biggest constraint holding you below the ceiling and go at that. Not ten things. The one that’s actually capping the number.
"Isn't that just unrealistic pressure?"
It’s a fair challenge. Won’t naming a big number just pile on pressure?
There’s a difference between a fantasy and an honest ceiling. Plucking 40% out of the air to sound ambitious is pressure. Naming a real, evidenced potential is clarity. People work differently when they can see the gap is genuine. The target stops being a stick to beat them with and becomes the truth about what’s left on the table.
The CEO I worked with didn't need to hit 40% the next year. He just needed to stop calling 12% the finish line.
A business that aims at its real potential gets further than one that quietly congratulates itself for beating last year. The question was never, "Did we grow?"
It’s, “Did we grow anything like as much as we could have?"
Most owners have never asked that honestly. Are you ready to see the answer?
Get a clear, honest look at where friction is quietly costing you time, money, and momentum. See where your business is losing ground and get practical guidance on fixing it.
