Organizational Inflation

During the early phase of the Universe, space expanded exponentially. It doubled in volume nearly instantly until it eventually chilled out. This process is called inflation.

Inflation happened.

And it continues to happen every day in our lives.

Inflation occurs every time we learn a new skill.

Learning to ride a bike is easy; becoming a pro cyclist is hard.

Juggling one ball is easy; juggling four balls is hard.

Starting a new job, signing all of the necessary HR paperwork, and finding out where the water cooler is is easy; making a plan, growing the business, and making a difference is hard.

In the early stages of a successful business, growth is easy. Do more of the same. Do what worked yesterday, today. Hire more salespeople, scale, and quickly take over the market.

This period can be referred to as Organizational Inflation. And — in today’s competitive world — it will eventually stop.

Making small, incremental improvements to your existing process is easy, but the strategy plateaus as you squeeze efficiency out of the system and your competitors learn how to better navigate the landscape.

You will hit a wall.

You just don’t know when or how thick the wall will be.

Your choices are:

1) You can keep building your forces to prepare to run through the biggest wall you can imagine.

Or, 2) you can build a rocket ship.

Build a rocket ship.

It’s a lot more interesting.