Smart Growth by Whitney Johnson

Introduction

We each live thousands of lives, for each day we become someone slightly different. [We] don’t change in one giant leap, but across a million little steps. The most important step a person can take is always the next one.—BRANDON SANDERSON

Growth is our default setting

If you’re reading this book, you are motivated to change and make progress. But maybe you don’t know where to start or you believe you can’t start. Perhaps you’re curious and motivated to grow, but also too overextended with existing obligations to believe you can succeed at something new. Or maybe you have started but want to grow faster still.

But because the fundamental unit of growth in any organization is the individual, our starting point for talking about growth is you. Some of the questions we will answer are:

• Why, despite the desire to learn, can it be so difficult to start something new and stick with it?
• What does it take to gain and maintain momentum?
• Once we’ve made considerable progress, why do we sometimes tire of what we’re doing and even feel we can no longer do it? Why do we outgrow things so quickly?

The more you understand about your deep longing to grow and how to grow yourself, the greater your capacity to grow your people, to grow your company. That’s smart growth

The S Curve of Learning: A Model for

In the early aughts I met the gentle giant, six-foot-eight Harvard professor Clayton Christensen and was introduced to disruptive innovation. This theory—that a Goliath-like legacy business could be overtaken by a silly little David—changed my thinking as a Wall Street equity analyst. It also revolutionized my thinking about growth. By 2004, I had been an award-winning analyst for nearly eight years. I loved it, but I felt like there was something more. After an especially discouraging conversation with my manager, who wanted me to stay right where I was, I had a flash of insight. My current equity analyst self was the incumbent—Goliath. My future self was the upstart—David. To wake up the giant, I had to disrupt myself. It was revelatory: disruption isn’t just about products, but about people. If we are willing to step back from who we are, we can slingshot into who we want to be—who people need us to be.

I codified a seven-point framework of Personal Disruption in a 2012 Harvard Business Review article and then again in my 2015 book, Disrupt Yourself.2 The gist is this: companies don’t disrupt, people do. When we commit to the practice of deliberate self-innovation (that is, Personal Disruption), we accelerate organizational growth. My 2018 title Build an A-Team teaches how to leverage the power of Personal Disruption to build winning teams

I have now studied, written, advised, and coached about human potential for nearly twenty years. This book is the next step. Some people are intuitively proactive in directing their own growth, but even they can benefit when the process is made explicit. A map can jumpstart a smart growth journey. The S Curve of Learning is that map.

A little background on S Curves: in the 1950s, Iowan and social science researcher E. M. Rogers’s PhD dissertation posed the question, Why did farmers [in his home community] delay for several years in adopting new ideas that could have profited them?

He found that the rate of adoption of any new idea is S-shaped. The initial rollout is slow, represented by the base of the S. If adoption reaches 10 to 15 percent, what had been considered novel will now be considered worthy of imitation. This is the tipping point of the curve; beyond it, the diffusion of an idea can be impossible to halt. Adoption is rapid through this steep back-of-the-S sweet spot, until about 90 percent saturation is achieved. With little room left to influence change, the pace of adoption slows dramatically

Which brings me to another important insight: the S Curve can also help us penetrate the science of how we grow.5 The same model that explains how human groups change is a meaningful analogue for how individuals change

The S Curve of Learning models personal growth. Every new skill learned, every challenge faced, takes the form of a distinct learning curve. We can pinpoint where we are in the growth process; we can decide what our next step needs to be. We can use this model to self-direct our growth; we can use it to help others grow

The Six Stages of Growth

This book primarily follows the S Curve, from the Launch Point of an S Curve (chapters 1 and 2), through the Sweet Spot (chapters 3 and 4), and into Mastery (chapters 5 and 6). We’ll diagram the six stages of growth you encounter along the S Curve in the six chapters of these three sections. They are Explorer, Collector, Accelerator, Metamorph, Anchor, and Mountaineer. The S Curve framework will guide you as you move forward, deliberately and autonomously accelerating your growth. A seventh chapter, Ecosystem, examines the environment needed to expedite growth

At the end of each major section, there will be detailed takeaways for organizational leaders. This is where we will be tactical, providing you with specific ways to apply this model, including how to use our S Curve Insight Platform

At the launch point, there are many new opportunities we can pursue. I call this the Explorer phase (chapter 1). We are a thrill-seeking species—and what can be more thrilling than standing at the precipice of becoming more of our own person? We may go headlong into this honeymoon of learning Jubilant. We may also be awkward and unsure—anxious, impatient, apprehensive. With so much pending and uncertain, we can experience this phase as slow.

Once we decide an S Curve merits further evaluation, we become a Collector (chapter 2), seeking input, feedback, and data that will help us assess the fit and value of a particular curve. It might still be a slog. It’s slow, but it will also help us grow

Once we reach the tipping point (assuming we reach it), we gain momentum up the rising slope of the S Curve. This is the sweet spot (part 2). What is new hasn’t yet become a natural part of us, so deliberate practice is still the order of the day. But because we are gaining confidence that we can become who we set out to be, hope swells as our growth accelerates. We are an Accelerator (chapter 3). We experience fast growth.

As we focus on doing something new, we are forging a new identity. What we do becomes who we are. It’s now natural and reflexive. We’ve conquered the change-averse instinct within us. Now we are a Metamorph (chapter 4). A lot of growth is achieved in a little time. Effort is still essential, but as our brain picks up the pace connecting the new with the old, growth accelerates and becomes difficult, if not impossible, to stop. It’s exhilarating and feels faster than before.

At the high end of the S Curve, ease displaces effort, and we are in the mastery phase (part 3). We have reached our objective and maximized potential growth. Whatever we were learning to do, or to be, has now been accomplished. This newly learned behavior is anchored in us. It is effortless and automatic. What was once novel, unfamiliar, and difficult can be labeled pro forma: the new normal, the new you. We declare victory, we are in the Anchor phase (chapter 5).

The caveat: once the skill we’ve mastered has become effortless, we have excess mental and emotional processing power. The new neurons are now the old neurons. We no longer enjoy the feel-good effects of learning. Exhilaration can wane, and our brains can become bored. Slow. We all reach plateaus, and it’s a praiseworthy accomplishment. It was hard work to scale the slope, hard enough that we may be reluctant to move on. But stagnation is a waste of life. In time, the familiar lethargy that goaded us to climb an S Curve returns. We need a new mountain to climb, a fresh S Curve of Learning. We become a Mountaineer

Nobody climbs their S Curve alone. We need guidance and support from our environment. This is the growth Ecosystem: the web of interpersonal relationships that makes growth possible (chapter 7). Ecosystems are not an afterthought. We can have a map to guide our growth, and a backpack of tools, but if the weather is unfavorable, we may be thwarted in our journey

The S Curve of Learning is a map to look at your life: where you were, where you are, and where you want to go—a continuous pathway to achieving potential. When you can picture yourself moving along this growth curve, you can more easily plan a trajectory and plot your progress. You can get smart about your growth

Grow or Don’t Grow. You Choose

Employee disengagement numbers are perpetually and depressingly high.

But people who want to grow and develop, who demand that we pay attention to their aspirations, are more challenging to lead. We want our candidates to be overqualified when they onboard and be willing to keep doing what they do forever. Instead, they want more training, additional opportunities, new roles

If you want to grow as a leader and grow your business

It is impossible to employ a growth-hungry person who wants to contribute to your organization, help them navigate through the entire growth cycle—to learn, leap, and repeat—and not gain an organizational advantage

The greatest force on earth is human potential. Nothing is accomplished without it; anything is possible because of it. People are not just the most valuable resources of the organization; they are the organization

When you as a leader are informed about every person’s mindset and expectations around their growth, you can impact their growth. When you not only see them on their S Curve, but help them traverse the curve, that’s smart growth

This is the order of operations: grow yourself, grow your people, grow your company

S Curve Implications for smart growth Leaders

The S Curve of Learning gives leaders and their people a shared language for conversations around talent development; healthy longevity at any organization is driven by a worker’s perception of their opportunities to grow and develop.

A smart growth leader understands that we all want to make progress, but don’t always know how. Sometimes, we don’t know where to start or even believe we can start. Once we do start, we can struggle to gain and maintain momentum, and once we have made considerable progress, we may tire of what we’ve been doing and need to do something new. A smart growth leader gives people the power to make progress by helping them navigate the entire growth cycle—or S Curve of Learning—from the launch point to sweet spot to mastery.

The S Curve Insight Platform, briefly mentioned in the introduction, is a smart growth tool that tracks and monitors individual and collective progress. A fifteen-minute assessment, it indicates how individuals perceive their progress (a powerful undercurrent in every organization), what tools they are employing to maximize their growth, and whether they feel the ecosystem (culture) is helping or hindering their growth. Its results can inform talent development, retention, and workforce and succession planning

Just as a biometric device can monitor steps, sleep, concentration, and behavior, it’s important to track growth in a role and to understand your individual team members’ perceptions of opportunities for, and expectations about, their growth. When you have the data on where people are, you can affect their growth

PART ONE LAUNCH POINT

1 Explorer

The S Curve of Learning is a powerful tool that helps you find your location in the growth process. It is a map with an X that says, You Are Here. Much as a topographical map tells you what to expect on unfamiliar terrain, the S Curve of Learning demystifies what steps you can take to reach your goals—the pinnacle of your S. The journey is filled with stages that mark your progress. No matter what speed you move through the Explorer stage—it may take two weeks, it may take two years this chapter will help you in this part of the growth cycle. The more you understand about exploration, the greater your capacity to explore

The first stage on the S Curve of Learning is exploring. As an Explorer, you are faced with the decision of choosing a new course. Exploring a new opportunity, taking the first steps toward personal and professional growth, isn’t just a mental process, it’s an emotional journey. Expect both positive feelings (thrill of discovery, excitement from new options) and negative (disorientation, anxiety, discouragement, impatience).

You are exploring the unknown and dealing with uncertainty. There will be many questions. You will be learning quickly, but it will feel slow. This is typical. Because it is so uncomfortable, there can be a tendency to not even try or conversely to rush through this part of the growth cycle. But don’t rush—this is the time to step back to grow and slow down to speed up. Meanwhile, life is a portfolio of often concurrent S Curves, but too many learning curves at a time can result in nothing completed, nothing mastered. Beware the riptide of cumulative stresses. The most successful approaches to new S Curves are characterized by patience and perseverance.

This stage in your smart growth comes with many questions that help you explore. Ask yourself the following questions before committing to a particular S Curve. Continue to ask them throughout your journey, and again when you have completed it in order to detect patterns and make meaning for future endeavors.

The Explorer’s Key Questions

• Is it achievable? Is this something I believe I can achieve?
• Is it easy to test? Can I easily obtain useful feedback to inform my decision and progress?
• Is it familiar yet novel? Is the S Curve of Learning I’m exploring familiar enough to be navigable, yet novel enough to promote growth? Find the optimal ratio of tried-and-true to new.
• Does it fit my identity? Is this S Curve of Learning compatible with my identity? Does it align with how I see myself and how others expect me to show up?
• Is the reward worth the cost? Are the incentives of this new learning curve sufficient to offset the tangible and emotional costs?
• Does it align with my values? Is this S Curve of Learning harmonious with my core values? To what extent does it compete with my shadow values? Does it lead me in the direction of my deepest aspirations?
• Is this my why? Do I understand my why in life and do I understand why I would undertake this new S Curve of Learning? Do these two whys intertwine?

Not every puddle will support a lily pad. Water needs to be deep enough—but not too deep—with sufficient sunlight and nutrients. Always be in search of a growth-friendly pond, where roots can form, and the shoots of a new S Curve can sprout.

At the launch point of a new S Curve of Learning, take time to explore and evaluate. Map your journey. Find an opportunity with the right fit. Be bold in your questioning. Persevere. Be an Explorer.

2 Collector

The second stage on the S Curve of Learning is collecting. As an Explorer, you used your mental and emotional capacity to explore many options. Now that you have decided a particular S Curve merits further exploration, you are a Collector. You collect the quantitative data of facts and the qualitative data of experience. You are collecting data that supports sticking (or not) with this S Curve. Progress is happening, but it can be hard to spot. Slow is the essence of this phase

This part of the launch phase involves recovering your brain’s ability to collect the way a child does: openly, with optimism. Yet it can include such a large volume of new information to process, and important decisions to make, that your brain can overload. The excitement associated with novelty can quickly give way to stress and alarm. The stress-linked brain hormones adrenaline and cortisol make the challenge of sorting new information and making decisions even harder. The Collector phase makes you confront how this new S Curve may impact your identity. Growing in this area may clash with the way others see you, or it may not fit in with the way you see yourself. Stress can result when you feel uprooted from your old self, even if you’re dissatisfied with who you are.

As a Collector, you identify and collect the resources you need. Then you make room for those resources by eliminating ghosts of self-doubt. You furnish your mind with the growth mindset of childhood. Three tips for being a world-class Collector are to:

• Audit your adult self; get reacquainted with your childlike self.
• Pay attention and cultivate childlike wonder consistently
• Become a world-class Collector of feedback.

When you approach new opportunities with a childlike mindset and collect data without reservation, you can evaluate whether growth, however slow, is leading to momentum. Does the data you’re collecting support staying on this path, or does it suggest you move on to another? Some S Curves are puddle jumpers: you hop on, you hop off. This is not failure. This is collecting

Launch Point Summary for smart growth Leaders

The launch point of the S Curve feels slow. It’s not that growth isn’t happening; it’s that growth may not yet be apparent. There is an amalgam of emotions—excitement, terror, discouragement, impatience. Stress levels are typically high with so much to process; making decisions is cognitively taxing. Confidence toggles between under- and overconfidence. Questions about identity emerge—Who am I if I am not who I was?

The hallmarks of the launch point are outlined in the following Goldilocks Table. Right now, the chair is not too small and it’s not just right. It’s too big, and it’s supposed to be

Once you know what it looks and feels like to be at the launch point, you can create an ecosystem where your people can successfully move through this phase of the growth cycle

GOLDILOCKS TABLE

Plotting the Emotional Journey of Growth

Grow Your People: Managing People at the Launch Point

What people on the launch point need from you, their manager, is support. What we are seeing in data is that individuals on the launch point are very aware that their work output is lower than their colleagues and that their capacity (for example, current skills and abilities) to complete their work is lower than that of their colleagues.

At the same time, a majority of the launch pointers are actively working to improve their situation. Make sure they have the tools, resources, and training they need to do their job; ensure they feel that what they are contributing is of value (which includes their inexperience and the Why are we doing it this way? question), that missteps are openly discussed (there will be many because the people on the launch point are exploring), and that there are learning opportunities.

Below is a summary table of how to manage people at the launch point based on both the career stage of the individual and the type of organization in which they work

HOW TO MANAGE PEOPLE AT THE LAUNCH POINT

Additional Tips for Managers

• Once you move someone into a new role (or hire someone), don’t test them all over again. In getting their footing, they need to believe that you believe they can be successful. Watch what you are mirroring. Tell your employees why you hired them. This will not only signal confidence, but help them uncover their why or their purpose.
• No matter how promising a person is, neither of you yet know if this is the right S Curve. Explorers have logs; Collectors collect and tag their specimens. Collect data: Where is a person on their current S Curve? Will this lead to achieving their long-term goals? Does the person have the necessary resources? Assess whether the current role or assignment is sufficiently novel that they have room to grow, but familiar enough, whether domain or relationship expertise, or both, that they can be successful. Continually evaluate momentum.
• Because of all the newness, to shore up a sense of identity, there can be a tendency to perform rather than to learn. Manage this by having your team set goals that are experiment-based (for example, what did you learn this week?) and process-oriented (for example, map out, meet, and serve your key stakeholders). Trust that behaviors, if practiced consistently, will lead to desired outcomes.
• Invest in frequent, honest communication: It is either time consuming or uncomfortable or both to give you feedback, so when I do, I am investing in you
• Watch for identity mismatch, overlap, and shadow values. If people are struggling in their role—consider to what extent it may be out of line with how they perceive themselves
• For team members who would prefer to be the expert, to perpetually remain in mastery, and not be learners, emphasize that while their learning is your priority, it needs to be theirs too
• Encourage inner work. Technical skills are necessary but not sufficient for growth. To grow your company, your people need to grow their childlike skills of curiosity, wonder, and attention and become world-class Collectors of feedback
• Practice gratitude. Publicly acknowledge and appreciate how the people on your team are growing. When you focus on and celebrate growth, you get more growth.

Grow Your Company: Launch Point Implications for Leaders

Following are specific, tactical ways to apply the S Curve of Learning model and the S Curve Insight Platform to grow your organization

• To orient your team for growth, the proportion of people on the launch point should be relatively small (that is, less than 20 percent) but significant enough to balance two factors: 1) ensure that the team can provide near-term efficient output; 2) counteract the tendency to have those on the launch point fit the mold of the existing team. Their newness can be a strength if you harness it properly, so help the whole team listen for how their fresh perspective can inform collective growth.
• Individuals on the launch point help provide the impetus to get your organization to the pinnacle of your S Curve. Their enthusiasm for the climb and their questioning helps you uncover opportunities for innovation—from products to process to people
• One of the major benefits of bringing people in at the launch point is that they feel you’ve taken a chance on them. The reward and payoff can be loyalty, dedication, and hard work from those in whom you invest. There is an esprit de corps among teams that move up the Curve together successfully
• Take stock of where your company is in its growth trajectory and what resources are available to support individuals on the launch point.
• Consider the impact of having a team heavily weighted at the launch point. If your organization has a disproportionate number of people at this point, the time and energy required to move people off the launch point is a worthy challenge, but it can deplete and exhaust leadership, as well as longer-tenured team members
• If you don’t currently have team members on the launch point, take a step back to grow. Create practices to ensure that you are collectively questioning the status quo

PART TWO SWEET SPOT

3 Accelerator

The third stage of your S-Curve of Learning is called Accelerator, when you reach the sweet spot phase and the pace of your growth accelerates. You are here because of the hard work you did in the launch phase, including the initial learning, data collection, and decision making. The first stage of the S Curve’s sweet spot is marked by an increasing ability to produce more results with less effort, increased accuracy of your brain’s predictive model, and a feeling of exhilaration. You have liftoff and have moved from slow to fast. Your pace up the S Curve has quickened and you are still picking up speed.

This stage in your smart growth consists of motivation to grow and the confidence that you can. According to self-determination theory, your needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness are being met. Use the mnemonic device (CAR) as you accelerate

The CAR Model

• Competence. Now that you’ve crossed over into the sweet spot, you are increasingly capable of producing results. You start to experience an equilibrium: progress toward your goal is getting easier, but not so easy as to create boredom and complacency. The data collection and decision making you completed on the launch point has strengthened your mind’s predictive capacity. You can now take on new challenges with a better understanding of what the results are likely to be
• Autonomy. Autonomy speeds up your acceleration. Note that this is not the I’m alone and doing this by myself type of autonomy, but rather the kind that harnesses your internal power to take responsibility, make decisions, and solve problems. Your sense of autonomy is strengthened when you know you’ve made a difference and is weakened if others are doing the work or making the key decisions for you. Successful Accelerators find ways to move forward even when circumstances offer limited options.
• Relatedness. Vibrant connection to something larger than yourself is the third component of your CAR. This relatedness involves two dimensions: the sense that you are connected (for example, contributing to a compelling vision, part of a larger effort) and the experience of belonging to a team or group. Relatedness is a basic human need and essential for maintaining momentum along the curve. We’ll talk about this in depth in chapter 7, Ecosystem.

In the Accelerator stage, difficult situations can actually be fun, as you have sufficient knowledge and resources to make things happen. It may feel like things are going smoothly, and this is normal. When work feels more hard than fun, be persistent to sustain momentum. You can make a conscious choice to stay and grow in the sweet spot—enjoy the flow

4 Metamorph

The fourth stage of the S Curve of Learning is Metamorph. This stage is exciting because everything is working; it feels fast-paced compared to the earlier stages, and you are exhilarated by the combination of challenge, productivity, and growth. Similarly, your brain chemistry shifts from the headwinds of stress response to providing supportive dopamine rewards as your predictive model improves. This Metamorph phase of growth involves a shift in identity; the S Curve moves from being something you do (for example, I exercise by running) to increasingly becoming something you are (for example, I’m a runner.)

This stage in your smart growth requires focus and a concentration of energy. As a Metamorph, momentum is strong and there is still considerable room for growth. The fact that everything is working well presents a paradoxical challenge. You may feel you are done; you may feel like jumping to a new S Curve, but now is the time to focus and concentrate your energy on the task at hand, so you understand your growth and shape it. The better your grasp of how growth is achieved, the greater your capacity to affect it. Here are five lenses to help sustain your focus—techniques to concentrate your energies so you can maintain momentum:

• Focus lens 1—Stay in the moment. You have the resources available, and the competence to utilize them, but success requires staying focused on the present moment, and being deliberate about what you focus on. You can consciously help accelerate your growth when you give your attention to the right things. Focus, so you can fly
• Focus lens 2—Triumph over your triggers. The pain or loss that you have experienced—especially in childhood—can be easily triggered and derail your focus. These emotional triggers can sap your confidence and leave you vulnerable to discouragement in ways that can slow the momentum of your growth. Pretending you don’t have triggers only increases their destructive power. But you can triumph over them. Successful people consciously know their triggers and have plans to minimize or work around them, and find healing and acceptance in meaningful ways.
• Focus lens 3—Healthy body, sharp mind. Maintaining focus through the excitement and distractions of this phase requires a sharp mind. Your body is the best whetstone to sharpen your mind, so what you eat, how you sleep, and how often you exercise all have a significant contribution to your focus. A healthy body helps your brain be its best self
• Focus lens 4—Say no to yes. The faster pace and exciting results of this stage will open doors to more opportunities. But increased opportunity can also increase the distraction from your main purpose. The few new opportunities to consider are those that directly contribute toward the goals of this S Curve. All others become a diversion that will slow the hard-won momentum you’ve started to experience. The Metamorph says no to distractions and yes to accelerating momentum on the S Curve.
• Focus lens 5—Pursue optimized tension. While you may fantasize about days free of any tension, your growth is maximized in conditions of optimized tension—you have enough resources, but not so many that you don’t need to be resourceful, creative, innovative, and persistent. You have enough expertise and capacity to make rapid progress, but not so much that you’re bored, disengaged from learning, and no longer growing. This is the good kind of stress: high levels of novelty but not enough to trip a circuit.

Make the most of the sweet spot for as long as possible, because that’s where you are going to do your best work. This is where the magic happens, where caterpillars become butterflies.

Sweet Spot Summary for smart growth Leaders

The sweet spot of the S Curve feels fast because it is fast. Growth is apparent. People at this stage are transitioning from doing to being. Depending on the personality type, confidence tends to strengthen, and overconfidence tends to dissipate as experience deepens. The sweet spot is exhilarating, with stress at optimal levels. There’s the right balance of familiar information and tasks, with the brain’s predictive model becoming increasingly accurate. The difficult questions around identity have faded. Potential is being realized, but opportunities remain.

The hallmarks of the sweet spot are outlined in the following Goldilocks Table. Right now, the chair is not too small, and it’s not too big, it’s just right. Once you as a leader understand the experiences and emotions of your sweet spotters, you can create an ecosystem where they can be successful during this phase of their growth

GOLDILOCKS TABLE

Grow Your People: Managing People in the Sweet Spot

Based on our data, people in the sweet spot are generally very comfortable in their work performance and believe they are excelling. They are capable of asking questions that lead to innovation and growth, and they also have the internal resources and network of relationships needed to put ideas into action. Highly competent, they are the go-to people on your team. They are experiencing flow. Help them stay in flow by coaching them on what to prioritize.

Sweet spotters are accelerating in part because of your focus on their growth. You are ensuring they are adequately resourced, have sufficient responsibility and accountability, and are connected to the team’s vision, to team members, and especially to you. Because they feel valued and appreciated, and know you are focused on their personal growth and development, they tackle challenges with gusto

It’s easy to ignore those who are producing well and take them for granted. Proactively encourage them to lift their heads occasionally to see where they’re going and what the pinnacle of the S looks like. Have conversations about the potential next S Curve. Key to retaining these high performers is not only helping them focus, but staying focused on their perception of where they are in their growth

Below is a summary table of how to manage people in the sweet spot based on both the career stage of the individual and the type of organization in which you work

HOW TO MANAGE PEOPLE AT THE SWEET SPOT

Additional Tips for Managers

• Sweet spotters are going fast. They are performing well. But even the fastest driver needs a pit crew. Help them drive their CAR—ensure that they feel competent, autonomous, and related.
• Competence. The sweet spot is the place of optimized constraints. Some of the natural constraints have dissolved. But just as a car can’t drive on ice, people can’t move up the S Curve without some friction. Allow people on your team to struggle; constraints are tools of creation. Stretch assignments are how an Accelerator becomes a Metamorph.
• Autonomy. Provide resources and then allow your people to self-govern. As managers (and parents), we often flip-flop between giving too much freedom and not enough. Too much freedom comes when we delegate too much—providing little guidance or feedback, and insufficient resources. Too little freedom is micromanaging. If you are micromanaging, is it because individuals aren’t yet competent, or because you don’t want to delegate? We tend to delegate work we need to do (because it’s hard) and hang on to the work we shouldn’t—the top of the S Curve stuff that soothes our insecure self. In the sweet spot, people are competent. If you don’t allow them the latitude to execute, you stunt their growth—and yours. Autonomy is also the freedom to say no. As you encourage your people to focus and prioritize, are you allowing, encouraging, and requiring them to say no, including to you?
• Relatedness. Because things are going well, it’s easy to start taking people for granted. I had a coaching client tell me that one of his sweet spotters was leaving because he didn’t know if his boss thought he was doing a good job. Acknowledge good work by delivering concrete feedback about what is working and what you and the team are learning because of and from the individual.
• The best way to help your team achieve confidence—to drive their CAR—is to listen to what they have to say. When you listen while people voice their ideas, they are teaching themselves and developing competence. When you listen, and your colleague feels heard, they will have the real-time experience of affecting the outcome, and they will feel that they belong and matter. Listening is magic.
• When your sweet spotters reach out, be available. When you have one-on-ones scheduled, keep those appointments. You may feel like you don’t have time, and things are working, so you don’t need to make time. However, if you cancel, you will have likely canceled the meeting they most anticipated and felt they needed that week
• Establish a practice that reminds your team to work together. At the beginning of most of our team meetings, we say aloud Alan Mulally’s Working Together principles so that we are all psychologically sitting on the same side of the table. These are twelve guiding principles articulated by visionary CEO Alan Mulally to deliver the Boeing 777 on time and on budget, and later to execute a turnaround as chief executive of the Ford Motor Company.1 Reinforce working together by calling out when people do cooperate (for example, This project was successful in part because of how the two of you collaborated).
• Beware your ego. As your sweet spotters get the work done, they increase their confidence and utilize the resources available to them, including your support. In this situation, there is the risk that you could feel like they are using up your resources, driving their car in your lane. Make sure there’s enough gas in your tank so you can emotionally fuel both your team’s growth and your own.
• When you are going fast, you may fear that you will revert to your mean. Remind your organization that momentum builds momentum. What you do today affects tomorrow, so invest the knowledge and resources you have today toward a stronger future. That is smart growth.

Grow Your Company: Sweet Spot Implications for Leaders

Following are concrete ways to apply the S Curve of Learning model and the S Curve Insight Platform to grow your organization.2

• To achieve peak performance as a team, a strong majority (that is, at least 60 percent) of your team should be in the sweet spot. Team members in this stage are able to build and sustain the momentum of accomplishments, getting the critical work done on time, on budget, day after day. Crucial though they are, they shouldn’t be 100 percent of your team. You also need fresh perspectives and energy from those on the launch point to fuel innovation and the wisdom of those in mastery to provide mentoring and guidance on difficult judgment calls.
• If the majority of your team is in the sweet spot, it’s humming along. Your team members are competent in their contribution and feel connected to one another and the overall mission of the company. They can draw on the experience of those in mastery (plus their own expertise) while shouldering the additional work that comes with helping those on the launch point become increasingly effective. Because everything is working, you may be tempted to relax, but you should watch for the possibility that your team can gradually, then suddenly, become slightly bored. Now is the time to develop a plan before a large contingent of your team reaches the top of their respective S Curves.
• Monitor and codify best practices so they can be replicated across the organization

PART THREE MASTERY

5 Anchor

The next phase of the S Curve of Learning is Anchor. Like a boat coming into harbor, the Anchor stage marks your arrival at the mastery phase. Here, at the high end of your S Curve, you have achieved your objective. Your new behavior is anchored and now a part of you. Your predictive modeling is fluent. Your experience more frequently aligns with your brain’s expectations. You feel a sense of completion on this specific S Curve journey. You have arrived.Here are three things to maximize your growth

1. Pause and Reflect

When your growth journey is complete, it can be bittersweet. Gratification is mixed with poignance. It may be disorienting, as you wonder where your life will go next. You may realize that the goals that inspired you to reach this point will no longer motivate you going forward. You may miss the old sense of direction, or the old energy. This is the time to pause, to reflect on your journey. Now that the rush of growth is over, you have the unique opportunity to detect patterns that will help you along future S Curves

Plan your time of pause and reflection to match the significance of this particular curve. Small accomplishments call for a brief anchoring moment at the end of the day. Life milestones (for example, completing an advanced degree, sending kids to college, moving into the C-suite) could precipitate a more extended personal retreat. Think through the phases of your journey and identify the factors that both inhibited and contributed to your growth. Think about the decisions you made and the actions you took. Which ones accelerated your growth? What would you do differently if you could do it again? Take time to reflect on the meaning of this experience, to acknowledge that you have anchored

2. Celebrate Your Achievement

Once you’ve paused to consider what you’ve learned and how you’ve grown, it is time to celebrate. You did it! Relish this accomplishment. Again, match your celebration to the situation. Celebrate small S Curves by yourself (for example, in a journal or with daily reflection) and/or with people you love. Celebrate the completion of big S Curves with a wider circle of colleagues, family, or friends. Either way, celebrate. Behavioral scientist B. J. Fogg writes, Celebration is the best way to create a positive feeling that wires in new habits.

3. Prepare for the Next S Curve

With your celebration complete, outline what you’ll do next. Is now the time to reconsider compelling opportunities you turned down to stay focused? Are you drawn toward a radically different S Curve such as a career pivot or a move? Anchoring gives you stability and confidence. Chart your next steps from this point of strength. One S Curve flows into another, and then another. Anchor aweigh

6 Mountaineer

The object of all life is development; and everything that lives has an inalienable right to all the development it is capable of attaining.—WALLACE D. WATTLES

As Mountaineers at the top of our S Curve of Learning, we take in the view. We smartly observe where growth was slow, where growth was faster, and how growth on this learning curve is coming to an end. From this vantage point, we can now see the trail we’ve traversed in its entirety, an illuminating perspective we didn’t have before. We spend time surveying and celebrating the accomplishment as Anchors and feel a pang of sadness as a meaningful journey comes to an end

Where do we go from here?

The answer is simple: find a new mountain to climb. To again experience sweet spot momentum, we need to navigate another launch point. In this chapter we’ll discuss the imperative of starting a new S Curve of Learning once we’ve attained the peak of a curve. We’ll see why it’s dangerous to set up camp at the top of a learning curve we’ve mastered. We’ll discuss why, in some cases, we may be good at something, but we don’t have the heart to keep doing it. Whether we have achieved peak performance on an S Curve or find our ascent abbreviated by the unforeseen, we must descend to ascend again. Understanding every stage of the curve is what allows you to take the summit or regroup when the way is barred. Smart growth requires knowing when you are about to complete a growth cycle and having the courage to embrace a new climb. You are a Mountaineer.

View from the Top

It is possible for human beings to stop learning and growing, but it is not possible for them to be content with it. The entire purpose of the human brain, says neuroscientist Daniel Wolpert, is to produce movement.4 You may have experienced this discontent. I know I have. Toward the end of my career as an equity analyst, work was clicking along. I was a well-oiled machine, but my gears weren’t engaging as they once had. I hadn’t consciously acknowledged it yet, but my Wall Street climb was finished. I was succeeding in the job, but I was failing to continue to grow.

Many Mountains to Climb

Intrepid Mountaineers will repeatedly undertake challenging S Curve climbs.

The Death Zone

Learning is the oxygen of human growth. When learning diminishes, so do we. Learning is essential to our continued development (remember neural plasticity from Accelerator, chapter 3), particularly in adulthood, when the sponge-like mindset we had as children hardens into a more fixed range of assumptions. Unless we engage in new learning opportunities, neural plasticity succumbs to neural rigidity. Precarious as it is, the peak of an S Curve can—ironically—feel like a good place to stop. Getting here was hard. We may be tempted to rest on our learning. But leaving may prove difficult if we linger, and our learning-hungry brain begins to starve

Boredom is a threat at the top, but so is regression. You might start doing poorly what you learned to do well. The novel information you worked so hard to obtain, chunk by chunk, is already delivered, integrated, and anchored in the vast neural circuitry of the brain. As you moved up the S Curve, you fine-tuned your brain’s predictive model, detecting a just right degree of novelty: enough to challenge, but not to overwhelm. This met the natural craving for reward via dopamine. That’s gratifying at first, but less so as time passes. When the predictive model running in your brain is accurate and what you expect to happen happens, that means no more dopamine rewards for taking a chance and making the right call.9

It’s true that stagnation can happen at any stage along the curve. Some S Curves just don’t offer the opportunity we thought they would. Progress is slow, erratic, or nonexistent. Maybe progress abruptly ends, shy of our objective. But stagnation is most likely to occur at the top of a learning curve. We anchor, we celebrate, we hope the party never ends.

It’s understandable. Who doesn’t want to be the life of the party, especially when it’s your party? As you detected patterns in your learning, your receptors became more sensitive to your serotonin levels, which improved your mood. Cortisol levels declined in sync with lower stress. The decision to continue to climb again, to become an Explorer anew, could mean that instead of pleasure, your brain feels pain. Why stop the party to return to that?

Freefall: When You Get Pushed Off the Mountain

Mountaineers may give up a summit, but you don’t give up. You may get booted down the current trail, but you don’t stop hitting trails. You are resilient, and that resilience is often accumulated on the path.

The Thrill of the Climb

It’s not the peak elevation of your S Curve that matters. It’s not about whether your mountain is the stuff of legend—an Everest, a Denali. It’s about being the guide on your own smart growth journey. You choose the mountain that means the most to you personally. You complete the growth cycle represented by your climb: base camp, climbing route, summit. Only you can know which mountains to climb.

Smart growth means getting off the mountaintop before the universe gives you the nudge, if you can control that timing. It requires having a growth mindset, and being open to possibilities outside your norm, like a graphic designer taking his young family to sea or a girl from the slums deciding she wants to learn Russian

Descend to Ascend Again

If you hike even occasionally, you know that coming down exercises different muscles than going up does. This is also true of S Curves of Learning, whether you’re coming down from the top, or have chosen or been forced to descend from an earlier stage in your journey. Mountaineers know it’s different to get down than it is to go up, and difficult in its own way

Mountaineer Takeaways

The sixth stage in your S Curve of Learning is Mountaineer: one who embraces the adventure of the climb. As a Mountaineer you are dedicated to learning and personal growth. You are not a casual trekker. You don’t limit yourself to Sunday strolls, or even the occasional hike. You tackle mountains. This stage is about climbing many micro S Curves as part of a life devoted to S Curve climbing

View from the top: This stage in your smart growth is marked by a sense of satisfaction at reaching the top and curiosity about what’s next. As a Mountaineer, you seek to summit one learning curve, celebrate your achievement, then plan the next S Curve ascent. From the top, you can look back and see where growth was slow, where growth was faster and, now that you’ve incorporated this S Curve into your identity, how growth may stall. Mountaineering is marked by two elements.

The Peril of Stagnation

At this stage of success, two dangers lurk:

• Freefall. The unexpected push or slip may come when complacency soothes you into letting down your guard or when other unexpected life events arise. Reaching the mountain top, the top of the S Curve, is perilous precisely because that’s when you tend to stop paying attention. When you slip or are pushed off by the unexpected, remember that you’ve reached a summit, but not the summit
• The death zone. In physical mountaineering, staying at a high altitude can be deadly because there isn’t enough oxygen to sustain life. Stagnation can happen at any stage, but you are at the greatest risk during this final stage of your growth because you’ve exhausted the potential for growth in this specific S Curve. The dopamine rewards associated with refining your brain’s predictive model have helped fuel your climb to this point. But now that you are getting what you expect, you experience few to no brain chemistry rewards, and you risk boredom. Things again feel slow

Learning is the oxygen of human growth. When learning diminishes, so do we

The Thrill of the Climb

Smart growth is filled with many S Curves, many climbs. Plan your next mountain to climb before you stagnate, fall, or get pushed off the summit of your current S Curve. Keep three things in mind as you consider your next steps:

• Not all summits are reached. Sometimes your climb is interrupted by factors outside your control from either work (for example, getting laid off, fired, a business failure) or your personal life (for example, divorce, illness, or loss of a loved one or key supporter). These hardships can force you to abandon a once-promising S Curve. Even though this is a part of life largely outside your control, it can still feel like failure. This death of your dreams is extremely painful, but with resilience, you will climb again.
• Descend to ascend again. A growth mindset means being willing to descend from a mountaintop achievement and become a beginner again on a new S Curve. Just as hiking downhill uses different muscles than hiking uphill, learning to successfully descend from the summit allows you to tackle a new S Curve and continue your smart growth
• Create, don’t compete. If you’re focusing on creating rather than competing, you will always win. The best of life is not found in the rare moments of mountaintop accomplishment, but in the everyday effort of joyful learning and growth

As a meaningful journey comes to a poignant end, where do you go from here? The answer is simple: you climb a new mountain. To experience sweet spot momentum again, you need to navigate another launch point

Mastery Summary for smart growthLeaders

For individuals in mastery, predictive models are accurate, behavior is anchored, and confidence is high. Support and good judgment are plentiful. With things comfortable and familiar, stress levels are relatively low. But because this growth curve has become a part of who they are, growth is and feels slow.

For a summary of what mastery feels like, see the following Goldilocks Table. The chair is no longer just right, it has become too small. A new chair, possibly a new table, is in order. When you as a leader understand the experience people are having atop the S Curve, you can help create conditions where they can be successful in this phase of their growth

GOLDILOCKS TABLE

Plotting the Emotional Journey of Growth

Grow Your People: Managing People at Mastery

Individuals in mastery are competent and productive. They have a sense that their work matters, have overcome obstacles, and experienced advocacy and support to reach this summit.

They are the pillars of a team, frequently sought out for advice.

The old questions around identity are gone. But new ones may emerge. I’m good at what I do, but why do I feel like I can’t keep doing this? Is there more for me? Boredom is a key risk. In our data set, a significant percentage of the people in mastery in their current role reported being very bored

What your people now need from you is a challenge, ideally inside of your organization. Even better, if you can help them turn what looks like a summit on their current S Curve into the base camp of a new one. Whether it’s new projects and team configurations that expand their skill set or tapping into a larger purpose, it must be a grander why that allows them to expand their influence and reach across your organization.

Below is a summary table of how to manage people in mastery based on both the career stage of the individual and the type of organization in which you work.

HOW TO MANAGE PEOPLE AT MASTERY

Additional Tips for Managers

• Celebrate milestones. The tendency in most companies is to stay focused on production and forget to stop and acknowledge accomplishments. Recognizing movement is important. We were made for movement, but when we pause, as happens every night when we sleep, we consolidate our gains and reinforce what we’ve learned. Celebration is about seeing people, as we do when we celebrate a birthday. It marks the end of one S Curve while giving permission to begin a new one. Remember, emotions create habits.
• Examine expectations. Where people perceive they are in their growth is an internal experience. You may not think they are in the mastery phase, but they think they are. Understand why. When they take the S Curve assessment and show up in mastery, it warrants a conversation.1 They may be in this place because of domain expertise but still feel challenged. If they don’t feel challenged, they are at risk of flight or complacency. Based on our data, approximately one-third of individuals in the mastery phase are bored. For retention and succession purposes, where workers perceive they are in their own growth is more important than how their managers see it. Sidenote: One thing to consider. Sometimes people are unhappy, not because they haven’t moved to a new S Curve, but because others were allowed to. Look for your own blind spots. Are you an equal opportunity manager?
• Set your ego aside. Some employees will actively seek new opportunities. As a manager, it takes a tremendous amount of confidence for this not to feel personal. It’s part of why it is so hard for people to move internally. Egos get in the way. But any internal move will require brokering and facilitation. Is it possible for people to move in your organization? Is it possible for people to move from your team? Do you allow for and advocate growth? If not, what expectations of your own need to be managed? If people think you are trying to fob off weak players onto their team, give them a money-back guarantee. You are sponsoring this move because it’s right for the organization and for them, even though it will be a setback for you. If they don’t want the people after three months, you will happily take them back.
• Encourage an external expedition. Sometimes it’s your job to push people to new S Curves. Maybe they are ready to move on and they don’t know it yet. Maybe their S Curve no longer fits with what your organization needs. Be clear and kind—just as you would want others to be with you. This honors their dignity. Once the decision is made, ask what they want to do—and how you can support them. We learned during the pandemic that we are more resilient than we thought. Make your decision. Then let them decide.

Grow Your Company: Mastery Implications for Leaders

Below we provide specific ways to apply the S Curve of Learning model and the S Curve Insight Platform to grow your organization

• To orient your team for growth, a minority (i.e., less than 20 percent) of your team should be in the mastery stage. Team members in this stage are frequently domain experts who can perform at high levels and also have the deep well of experience needed to inform difficult judgment calls and provide valuable mentoring
• Use the S Curve Insight Platform to track where people perceive they are in their growth—and to inform how you can support them in their growth. The tool helps spark an engaging and deliberate conversation. Is an individual showing up in the mastery phase, but fully engaged because they are finding new dimensions of excellence? Or are they feeling a need to stretch beyond this current role, excellence notwithstanding? In conversation, decide how best to grow this individual to grow your company
• Take stock of what resources are available to challenge individuals in mastery. While too many people in the mastery phase can create a crowded mountaintop, tipping the scale toward stagnation, high-growth companies will have a healthy distribution of people and teams who have the expertise to match the mountain you are climbing.
• Climbing together. People in the mastery stage have a more expansive perspective and typically have relationships across an organization. They are in a position to drive collaboration. We often talk about evolution as being a competitive activity, survival of the fittest, but without collaboration and cooperation, no progress would be made.
• Up and down the mountain. Experienced Mountaineers can do S Curve loops—heading back down the mountain to help those in the sweet spot and launch point along. These S Curve loops can not only create conditions that lead to innovation, but because of the tremendous exertion required, they can be the challenge that keeps your masters engaged. This can be meaningful for the person in Mastery and productive for others.
• If your team does get out of balance and heavily weighted toward mastery, small shifts (new projects, coaching/mentoring responsibilities, tackling BIG problems that you might typically manage on your own) can create opportunities for a team to reset and pull mastery people back into the sweet spot

Growing an organization is like baking bread. Bread needs enough yeast, water, and sugar in order to rise. If it doesn’t rise long enough, you get what the pioneers called hardtack. If you let it rise too long, it collapses. The rising of the bread is called proving. We are proving ourselves. Part of the magic (and challenge for engaged managers to learn) is that the bread does much of the work on its own. Start with raw ingredients, hiring for potential. As people grow, challenge them, appreciate them. Once they have risen, before they collapse, give them something new to do. Whether you lead a team of ten or ten thousand, you are in a position to help people rise

7 Ecosystem

The S Curve of Learning sits within an ecosystem. This final chapter considers your place within the ecosystem where your growth happens. Our human tendency toward competition and independence hides the fact that our growth is entwined with the resources and relationships that surround and support us. The rate of growth and success you experience will flow directly from the wise cultivation of relationships and practical resources (for example, technology, tools) that comprise your ecosystem.

Relationships. Many of the important relationships in your life spring from environments you cannot choose, such as the family into which you were born or the friends you met in your first schools. As you become an autonomous adult, actively cultivate long-term relationships that can help you succeed along the S Curve. We—all of us—live, work, and grow in relation to other elements that can be purposefully organized.

What we need depends on where we are on the curve. Your ecosystem needs to provide different levels of support at different stages of the S Curve. You need support on the launch point: teachers, trainers, and mentors. In the sweet spot you need help to focus. You are going fast and feeling confident, but you still need people who are focused on you and can raise the red flag if your speed could lead to a crash. In the mastery stage, you need people who can celebrate with you and then give you a nudge to keep climbing.

Keystone species—you. Just as you cannot grow without others, there are people who cannot grow without you. You are their keystone species. Ask, Am I contributing to a virtuous or a vicious growth cycle? Do I claim more than my share of resources—time, patience, energy, support—leaving a barren ecosystem for my fellow humans? Or am I generously contributing to this ecosystem? A force for positive growth? The ecosystem you cultivate is about what you get and give

As you travel the S Curve of life, your greatest legacy will be how you help others grow

Ecosystem Summary for smart growth Leaders

Contribution is the sum of what grows when you are gone.—TOM RATH

We are responsible for our own growth, but without a growth-friendly ecosystem little happens. Farmers monitor sunlight, water, and soil nutrients, and they control weeds and pests to maximize their crop yield. Similarly, when team leaders and organizations monitor their ecosystem for health, they can proactively direct team productivity.

In our research, we see that explicitly nurturing individual team members and positively and creatively approaching setbacks are uniquely important in helping people and organizations grow. Hence, this book. The data strongly suggest that teams provided with direct access to key decision makers have an ecosystem advantage. Conversely, even great team leaders can struggle when they are undermined by broader corporate systems.

Understand the current state of your team’s biosphere: where your people are individually and collectively along the curve. Then you can identify where to invest resources to increase your yield.Regardless of the size or type of your organization, the following series of exercises and questions—effectively a culture audit—will help you think about the ecosystem that you, as a manager, help create. In order to grow, every team member needs a culture that is healthy along these four dimensions: conducive, connected, resilient, and nurturing

Conducive

To what extent does my team have the resources it needs?

Does the work environment motivate people to do their best work? Do they have the tools and training, and access to the right people? How does when and where they are required to work factor in? Do they have what they need to be effective?

Working with an executive at a Fortune 500 consumer products company, we identified that individuals on the launch point of their curves struggled for access to the people inside the organization from whom they needed help. This lowered the team’s conducive score. Observe if people on the launch point in your organization face a similar challenge

Make a prioritized list of the resources that would help your team flourish. Put a plan in place to secure them. Also, help the team see a shortage of resources as a tool of creation, an opportunity for innovation

Connective

How healthy are the relationships among the members of my team?

How clearly have I explained the connection between the work tasks of my team and the broad mission of my company?

Connectivity results when people feel as if they are seen at work, and that their manager cares about them. It also depends on whether people feel that they are contributing to the mission of your organization, that they are of useful service, and that they belong. Often the core issue is prioritizing communication. Clarify to your team and its constituent individuals how their efforts contribute to a larger cause. If you don’t see the connection, address this with senior leadership. Perhaps they haven’t clearly communicated how teams are contributing, or there is strategic misalignment needing attention.2

The relationships team members have with each other are their responsibility, but you have an important role to play. Model positive team conduct. When people onboard, include other people already on board in the process so they see their new colleagues as friends, not potential rivals. Enforce a zero-tolerance policy regarding gossip and backbiting. Require people to work together and publicly acknowledge them for healthy collaboration and teamwork. Also be quick to apologize if you make a mistake, and quick to forgive others who apologize for their mistakes.

During a small group mastermind session with one of our clients, the CEO shared that a launch point executive made a misstep. Missteps frequently lead to disconnection, a feeling of not belonging. In this case the CEO reached out to the executive to say, We are in this together. The mastermind discussion also involved a postmortem assessment by the two most senior executives on how they personally may have contributed to his misstep. They discussed precautions for the future. No gossiping, no undermining. Friends, not foes, working together in common cause. Unsurprisingly, the connective scores for this senior team are high

Resilience

When mistakes happen, how and how often do they become opportunities to learn?

When there are setbacks—and there will be—what happens? Do you create an environment where constraints (for example, budgets and deadlines) are approached with positive motivation (We’ll figure this out) rather than sacrificing quality to meet the deadline? Are mistakes an integral part of the process of growth and development, and do people talk openly about what worked and what didn’t without blaming?

A CEO struggled with a major setback when the executive team discovered an oversight in the distribution process due to both the Covid-19 pandemic and an ordering error. The oversight could set off a chain reaction from which it would be difficult to recover; the company could lose millions. After the team had pulled together to find an alternative distribution channel, the CEO assembled everyone for a postmortem that included celebrating an excellent strategic pivot. He emphasized his pride in the team’s resilience in responding to this operational crisis, and supporting one another through personal and family challenges.

Improve how your team responds to mistakes by reframing. Why did the failure occur? What process could be improved? Was it due to a lack of effort or trying something new? Is the person failing because they are in the wrong role? Are unrealistic expectations partly to blame? Failure is a constraint, but it can also be a tool of creation. Now that you’ve invested in this mistake, what will be your return-on-failure (ROF)?3

Resilience was pressure tested by the Covid-19 pandemic. We weren’t surprised to see relatively low resilience scores for a number of teams we work with, and higher turnover. Monitoring resilience aids early recognition that to sustain momentum, an organization may need to provide more people support.

Nurturing

How well do I and my team encourage the growth of individual members?

Do the people who work with you feel that you care about their S Curve? This is not always easy to convey. Most of us are extremely task oriented. Tasks reduce anxiety. Think about how you plan your days. What if people, not tasks, were at the top of the list each day? What if every interaction was designed to develop the people that work with and for you?

Try this: make a list of all your direct reports. Then plan one day focused on helping the people on your team make progress. That is your only objective. See what happens.

When we support executives in facilitating off-sites, we emphasize the importance of the heads and tails of the interaction. Yes, the meat of the discussion—strategy and vision—is essential. But too often we start by leaving a discussion of people out of the lineup. All plants need water and sunlight, even the cactus. Put people, even the ones who don’t need a lot, on the top of the list.

That, of course, is the crux of this book: grow yourself to grow your people to grow your company

Epilogue

On such a full sea we are now afloat.—WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Growth is not inscrutable. The process through which humans change and ultimately chart their own destiny can be analyzed and replicated.

The S Curve of Learning is the model

On virtually any learning curve, the finite resources for growth will eventually be used up, the limits of carrying capacity will be reached and exceeded. Potential for growth in that specific situation will be exhausted.

But for human beings, growth need not stop. Our growth can be exponential; the more we grow, the more we can grow. There is never really a conclusion; there are only new beginnings

Every S Curve of Learning is a wave. Where there’s one wave, there are many thousands, infinite in variety. We can only ride a fraction of them in this lifetime. We want to be smart, pick our waves—direct our own growth—then use our ever-expanding capacity to help others do the same.

The S Curve of life, on inspection and introspection, is waves within waves within waves. Within the wave

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