Why Maturity—Not Revenue—Is the Real Measure of Business Growth
For as long as I can remember, listening to my parents talk about their insulation business, "growth" in business has meant one of three things: more revenue, more employees, or more years in operation. These metrics are easy to track and look impressive on a dashboard. But with nearly three decades of boots-on-the-ground in working with organizations of every size and stripe, I've learned that these numbers rarely tell the whole story.
What if the real secret to sustainable success isn't about being bigger, but about being wiser?
The Problem with Traditional Growth Metrics
Revenue can surge, but if your systems are leaking profit or your culture is stuck, you're not actually moving forward. Headcount can balloon, but without clarity and alignment, you're just adding complexity. Even tenure—years in business—doesn't guarantee you're evolving. I've met 8-year old companies still operating with the mindset and systems of a startup, and 100+ year old companies wondering if they're still relevant.
Introducing Organizational Maturity
Maturity is the new currency of organizational greatness. It's the alignment of leadership, culture, and systems so your organization can predictably navigate challenges, seize opportunities, and sustain impact. In my work, I've seen that mature organizations aren't always the biggest or oldest—but they are the most resilient, innovative, and profitable over time.
The Growth Alignment Framework™: A New Blueprint
My latest book, Orchestrated Randomness: How to Create Your Own Luck in Business & Life (coming soon), introduces the Growth Alignment Framework™—a practical roadmap for building maturity, not just momentum. The Framework outlines six predictable stages every organization must pass through, each with its own unique challenge (what I call a Crisis Catalyst™):
Stage 1—Starting Up: Focused on survival and creativity—where adaptability to solving a problem or fulfilling a need in the marketplace is king.
Stage 2—Getting Organized: You've proven your product or service in the marketplace and are now focused on efficiency and scalability—where agility and systems matter most.
Stage 3—Growing Bigger: With a foundation of systems and processes in place, the focus shifts to expansion and consistency—balancing autonomy with alignment.
Stage 4—Pulling Together: You've stabilized and standardized and must focus your attention on simplification and integration—cutting through complexity for sustainable ROI.
Stage 5—Innovating Together: Now is the time for cross-functional breakthroughs—collaboration is the engine of innovation.
Stage 6—Staying Fresh: Dynamic agility—balancing growth and infrastructure for lasing relevance.
Why Maturity Matters More Than "More"
A Stage 2—Getting Organized company can thrive for decades—profitable, stable, and joyful—if that aligns with the owner's vision. This is the case of my parents' business that was Stage 2 for 40 years. There's no shame in choosing depth over breadth.
Mature organizations break the cycle of crisis and chaos. They leverage data to anticipate change, adapt intentionally, and don't get derailed by the unexpected. My clients did not suffer from the outfall of Covid 19.
Maturity is measurable. It shows up in how decisions are made, how teams collaborate, how quickly you recover from setbacks, and how consistently you deliver value to customers and stakeholders.
The Mindset Shift: From Luck to Leadership
The biggest leap isn't in your balance sheet—it's in your mindset. Sustainable growth comes from aligning beliefs, values, and actions at every level. Tools and models I've created over the years help teams move beyond imitation and into intentional, stage-appropriate action.
Ready to Measure What Matters?
If you're tired of chasing numbers that don't tell the whole story, I invite you to discover your organization's true stage of maturity. Take the Growth Readiness Scorecard™ and start a conversation with your team about what "next level" really means for you.
Because in the end, greatness isn't about being the biggest of oldest. It's about being the most aligned, the most resilient, and the most intentional. That's the kind of luck you can orchestrate—one stage at a time.
