Death From Indigestion - Sustainable Growth

Many contractors are faced with a nearly overwhelming amount of profitable work in the current economy.

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Many are posting record bottom-line profits helping their balance sheets recover from the recession.  

Quote: More organizations die of indigestion than starvation. David Packard.

With that it is important to remember the critical observation from David Packard:     

 “More organizations die of indigestion than starvation” 

Toyota is a very strong company with an amazingly strong culture and even they weren’t immune as they pushed their worldwide expansion a little too quickly.  Toyota was far from death but they did have some operational and quality problems. 

The ultimate root cause was discussed in Developing Lean Leaders at All Levels:  Their rate of revenue growth outstripped the rate they could develop their leadership (talent).  


Will the markets you are in today support you through the next cycle in the economy?  

Do you have a predictable way to develop new business - even in a tight economy?  

Are you investing enough today in building your competitive advantage for tomorrow?  

How does your talent acquisition, development and retention compare to your growth rate and your competitors?  

Learn more about sustainable growth for contractors




Lean Principle - Value Add vs. Non Value Add
For specialty contractors the field workforce represents most of their competitive advantage as well as their biggest source of variability. Making improvements to field productivity requires deeply understanding what truly adds value to the customer.
Opportunity Pipeline Target Size: The Basic Math
The biggest leading indicator for performance of a contractor is the size, quality, and trajectory of their opportunity pipeline. There are lots of nuances and complexity to evaluating your pipeline, but it all starts with the principles and basic math.
Evaluation: Stage of Growth + State of Management Team & Systems
Management teams and systems develop through three phases at each stage of growth. Use these 7 steps to evaluate where your team is at.