How can managers deal with mistakes and risk of failure when leading a fast-growing company?
Leaders of high-growth businesses might be facing life-and-death situations every day, but they don’t even think about it. Their passion overrides their fear. In every one of my interviews with the executives featured in ‘Outsmart!,’ I asked what mistakes they had made in growing their companies. With rare exception, they appeared flummoxed by the question or said they had never focused on their mistakes. All told me that they were always learning and saw mistakes as a natural process in the development of their companies. How important are shared values and a strong corporate culture in high-growth companies? Shared values and beliefs drive and control behavior. Sometimes, these bedrock values are made explicit; sometimes, they are undeclared and simply appear in time of need. In incumbent businesses, especially big ones, rules and controls often dominate. The prevailing assumption is that, when given the chance, people will do the wrong thing — exactly the opposite view of companies
