Pulled-forward growth
Why it backfires and what to do instead
2024-08-24 by Luca Dellanna
We often pull growth forward, taking the time we should dedicate to building skills and instead use it to meet prospects or do more work.
This always backfires.
I get it, though. Bosses, investors, peers, society, and our egos set aggressive objectives, which pressure us into adopting short-term tactics. Moreover, when we look left and right and see those around us pursuing short-term objectives, we feel like we’re falling behind, which also pressures us into adopting short-term tactics.
But what then? After this objective, there will be another one, even harder to reach.
And reaching that objective will require skills we didn’t build (which require time).
The belief that pulling growth forward works is downstream the belief that if we get the most out of each day, then we also get the most out of the year. But it’s a false belief.
Long-term growth requires spending some days doing things that bring no immediate return but are necessary to enable growth beyond a certain point.
Principle
Those who skip building strong foundations grow fast until they inevitably plateau.
Don’t be tricked by their early success in believing you’re falling behind and must pull growth forward in order to keep up.
It’s almost never worth it.
