Let go to Grow:

why some businesses thrive & others fail to reach their potential

By Doug and Polly White

Doug and Polly White, Partners at Whitestone Partners, Inc., guide small and midsize business through profitable growth. Together they have more than 50 years of experience in the areas of people management and human systems, strategy, operations, and finance.

Immediately in Chapter 1, the authors relate the story of a furniture/cabinet maker who started working out of his basement. As the demand for his products increased, he moved the business into rented space, purchased equipment, and hired employees. Life was good. But, despite its initial success, the company developed difficulties in meeting delivery schedules, which created reliability issues with contractors who eventually took their orders elsewhere. The business slowed and profits diminished. The business was in trouble, trouble which could be traced directly back to the owner who “simply couldn’t get to everything that was on his plate.”

With this backdrop, the authors move on to classify businesses:

Micro – The principal does the primary work of the business.

Small – The principal manages employees who do the primary work of the business.

Midsize – The principal manages an enterprise.

And, they tell us, “for a business to grow successfully, the principal must develop a new and very different set of skills at each transition (from micro to small, and from small to midsize).” The chart below (taken from the book) shows what skills are needed by the principal for each size of business, as well as those which should be relinquished as the business grows.

The authors spend a lot of time on each of these skills, on how to transition from one size business to the next, and more
. The information presented is not only from their personal business experience, but from interviews with more than 100 key decision makers in a broad range of small and midsize businesses. No matter the current size of your business, Let go to Grow can be a guidebook to which you can refer over and over again as you move forward.

At this time of the year, most blogs focus on preparing and implementing strategies to grow your business in the coming 12 months, and that is a valid concern for all business owners. You certainly don’t want your business to stagnate
. However, increasing revenue is not the only issue in play.

You’ll need a plan in place to handle the increased activity that results from that growth. If you don’t plan for it now, you may find that the expansion of your business can actually lead to stagnation and even loss of business down the road. One of the strategies you’ll need to develop is determining what tasks can and should be outsourced/delegated off of your plate and onto someone else’s. To help you do this from an administrative standpoint, I invite you to complete our online Outsourcing Needs Assessment. This tool is available at no charge and includes a complimentary 30-minute phone consultation/review of your responses.

Our next blog will be a review of a book by Doug and Polly White of Whitestone Partners, Inc. entitled Let go to Grow. This is a must read for business owners. And, if you’ve already read it, I suggest you read it again. (For those who “don’t have the time” to read, it’s available on CD and as an mp3 download.)