“Change is not always equivalent to improvement, but to improve one must change.” – Sir Winston Churchill
Paraphrasing Churchill, “growth is not always equivalent to improvement, but to grow in a healthy way, improvement is essential… and both require change.”
In the world of SMEs in which I operate, almost every entrepreneur I know wants to increase revenue and EBITDA. Yet few of those who grow realize that growth should not come at the expense of improvement.
You need to have a clear vision and an adequate strategy before aiming to increase revenue, because unhealthy growth can seriously compromise any organization.
In over 30 years of providing commercial and strategic support to entrepreneurs across various industries, I have witnessed both success stories and business failures:
- I’ve seen companies turning over several million euros double their revenue, only to go bankrupt later—because of the entrepreneur’s ego or because they grew in an unbalanced way.
- I’ve collaborated with two brands that had a monopoly in their markets, both of which squandered their competitive advantage—one due to poor communication, the other because it mishandled the generational transition.
- I’ve seen companies get stuck because their partners were no longer suited to managing their business unit or were misaligned on objectives.
- I’ve met self-employed business owners who grew personally in wealth but not in company revenue, who neglected the growth of their collaborators—watching their teams become less motivated while competitors grew exponentially in the same market.
For those who want to excel and become a benchmark in their industry, growth and improvement must be a conscious choice. To attract valuable people around us, we need to create the right conditions for them to grow and improve — and it’s the company that will ultimately benefit.
An entrepreneur who wants to embark on this journey must know how to create the right environment to surround themselves with people who love challenges, because no one grows alone. The right people are not yes-men who agree with everything, but competent collaborators who stimulate reflection and often confront you with your own limits — the ones you need to work on.
Companies that increase their turnover inevitably raise the organization’s stress levels, and therefore the attention to workplace climate and corporate welfare becomes absolutely crucial.
Our country is full of businesses founded by managers or former employees who, feeling limited or constrained by their bosses, decided to start their own companies — to unleash their abilities and ideas.
I’ve set myself the goal of identifying entrepreneurs who truly want to grow and take the challenging path of improvement and change — aiming to double their company’s turnover.
Doubling turnover requires making some important decisions, including:
- Expanding commercial and organizational capacity;
- Updating software and systems;
- Hiring and/or training people to whom responsibilities can be delegated;
- Careful management of costs and financial planning, and risk protection;
- Re-evaluating business models and corporate structure;
- Reviewing the roles and tasks of partners and employees;
- Exploring alternative sources of financing;
- Making strategic choices to create real value for the company and the market.
To take on this journey, it’s essential to move step by step: define objectives, set priorities, plan control activities, and — above all — create a collaborative environment, a cohesive team working together toward a shared goal.
It takes leadership skills and vision — in short, it’s the sum of many significant steps that must be faced with awareness and determination.
How can you recognize an entrepreneur who has the right qualities for all this?
My partner Roberto and I have decided that the only way to succeed in these projects is to work alongside people who genuinely care about their company’s well-being and share our values.
We believe that our choice to become a Benefit Corporation can help facilitate this process.
Striving for improvement is a fundamental human need — and even more so for entrepreneurs. But if you don’t have people by your side who share compatible values, the journey becomes more difficult and risks not reaching its destination.
