EXPLOSIVE GROWTH BY GLENN E. DAWSON
SRG Publications, 1995

Article by Herb Rubenstein
CEO, Herb Rubenstein Consulting

Introduction

In his book, Explosive Growth, Glenn Dawson instructs readers in the skills necessary to create task-oriented growth plans for their businesses. Dawson believes that today’s economy has become largely reactive, functioning merely to stabilize its own downward spiral. He argues that the old rules, axioms and approaches to business are no longer working, and he sees a need for a new proactive strategy to combat economic stagnation. Business, according to Dawson, needs a vision for long-term growth and an effective strategy with which to implement this plan. Dawson believes that “Any business can experience significant growth”. In his book, he imparts his own knowledge and experience in the business world in order to provide a foundation from which readers can launch their own explosive growth.

Chapter 1: Four Principles of Superstardom

In Chapter 1, Dawson introduces the four principles of superstardom.

1. Presentation with clarity of strategy
   Clarity in your growth task is essential in order to communicate a clear choice to the investor. This clarity instills confidence in important actors including investors, stockholders, media, peers, supervisors and subordinates. Clarity keeps the growth plan in perspective and prevents others from disorienting the plan.
2. Investors need to see due diligence study and analysis commensurate with their proposed investment.
   Proposals to potential investors and budget committees must be justified.
3. What you can see is likely all the business will ever become.
   Perspective limits the growth of a business. But, a change in perspective can allow any business the potential for significant growth.
4. The growth task is not a goal, worthy only of strategic planning, but rather it is an operations task, requiring action today.
   A task-oriented growth plan is designed to be used today. Strategy and growth are the direct result of today’s tactical and operational endeavors, so it is imperative to connect the present with the future.

Chapter 2: Your Patriotic Duty

This chapter presents the novel idea that persons leading businesses and non-profit organizations have a “patriotic” duty to grow. A person’s own standard of living depends upon his ability to monitor cash flows, gross margins, profit before taxes, and revenues.

Government bureaucrats and programs are largely reactive, seeking to uphold the status quo. Thus, American businesses have largely focused on reactive business methods including business relocation, business retention, and existing skills enhancement. The economy is participating in a strategic retreat. In order to win the war, businesspeople need to launch a new economic offensive using proactive techniques. The growth of internet-related businesses, which has occurred after the writing of this 1995 book seems to address the “proactive” call by Dawson and to have reduced the “reactive posture of American businesses.

Chapter 3: A Task Orientation

In Chapter three, Dawson argues that in order to succeed in growth, businesspeople need a new technology, The Human Task Orientation Technology. He feels that the key to growth is to understand human tasks, and then organize using them.

In today’s technology-oriented workplace, Dawson believes that humans are merely Information Managers who are robotically directed by the artificial intelligence of the computer and its software. Explosive growth, however, requires businesspeople to become Managers of Information who are human-knowledge motivated. In this context, automation and organization are tools used at the discretion of the Manager.

In order to move from Information Manager to Manager of Information, it is necessary to develop a new language. People are limited by the language of the functional organization, which consists of repeatable incremental steps of organization and a separation of doing and thinking. This limits workers by only promoting the effectiveness and efficiency of what is.

Companies must develop a task orientation in which humans are the primary focus. Managers should practice macro management, as opposed to micro management, coordinating larger tasks and delegating the authority for the smaller tasks to the employee. The task orientation should be structured in a way that is meaningful to humans, and empowers them, both at the lower and higher levels of the workplace hierarchy. The result of these activities will be the Task-Oriented Growth Plan.

Chapter 4: What is Your Business?

Chapter four addresses Dawson’s belief that in order to develop effective growth strategies, it is imperative that businesspeople understand what their business is. A helpful approach to uncovering the true nature of the business is to split it into parts. There are six steps that each business (and non-profit organization) must undertaken order to reveal the fundamental essence of the business:

1. Define the Intrinsic Nature of the Business
   In order to achieve growth, the business needs to posses clarity of vision and strategy.
2. State the Business’s Purpose
   Every business, as stated by Peter Drucker, has one main purpose – to create customers. Thus, establishing connections to the customer is the primary goal of any organization. Drucker also states that the two basic functions of a business are marketing and innovation. Marketing leaves consumers ready to buy, while innovation creates those products, provides greater satisfaction, and gives the business greater potential.
   
   Success Kernel of Dawson’s Science of Organizational Physics states that there are four key capabilities necessary when pursuing ongoing success:
   a) Constantly search to identify and understand the basic needs and desires of the customers. (Research).
   b) Innovate by designing products to satisfy the customers’ changing needs and desires.
   c) Consistently allocate sufficient resources to produce, market, sell and service those products.
   d) Diligently service all customer needs and wants, not only the maintenance needs of the product.
3. Understand the Changing Business Environment in which the company operates
   The business environment (often referred to as the “rugged landscape”) is the position of the business within all human endeavor. The understanding of this environment defines the marketplace. There are five elements of the natural marketplace order of any business environment:
   • The market consists of those consuming the product.
   • The industry is the totality of companies, organizations, and people actively producing, supplying, and servicing the products, including distribution from the manufacturers toward consumers.
   • Products are goods and services.
   • Forces are those internal and external pressures working for change.
   • Interactions of all elements constitute the marketplace. The marketplace order allows people to follow the activity of the business from its own activities all the way through to its ultimate consumers.
4. Develop and communicate your company’s or non-profit organization’s Business Success Formula
   It is critical that your business develops a fundamental formula that can be applied again and again. It is also important that everyone understand his or her role in that formula, and that the business is aware of, and responsive to, the customer view regarding their success formula.
5. State the Business’s Profile
   It is possible to define a business using the basic elements of a business profile: name, prime movers, environment, products, structures and processes, and work activities and people interaction.
6. Identify your Business Task?
   The business task is the work necessary “to develop and exchange goods and services in an attempt to make a profit, through the coordinated directing of human endeavor.” The Business Task is comprised of a business charter and a mission statement.
   
   The business charter outlines the conditions under which the business exists. It includes ongoing work, as opposed to one-time activities. The mission defines the strategy for the business to move forward at any point in time.
   
   In order to move toward the vision, use of the tactics is essential. These tasks should be arranged into a hierarchy of priority. When combined together, these tasks create the overall strategy for growth.

Chapter 5: How Can Your Business Grow?
In this chapter, Dawson chooses to focus on the three guidelines that can help focus business growth.

1. Following the leader is dangerous.
2. Isolate and move the business positionally.
3. Ensure continual competitive success for the business.

In today’s economy, many leading businesses are no longer growing significantly, and thus following an old paradigm can lead to disaster. It is necessary to isolate the business and move forward within the overall environment in order to achieve growth.

Since the purpose of the business is connectivity with customers, then customer growth is the vision. From this vision, the growth task is derived – achieving customer growth.

Today, a significant customer’s motivation is to have ease and comfort in purchasing a company’s product or services. Thus, it is important for businesses to maintain existing processes, while functionally upgrading operations. This is a different motivation than in days past, and businesses that are able to recognize this and to search for ways to profitably accommodate such customers will have an edge in the competitive market.

In order to develop a growth strategy, the business must define vision, methodology, and milestones. Three questions can be useful in defining the vision:

• What specific goals does the management wish to do or accomplish?
• What infrastructure and external environment are needed to accomplish these specific goals?
• What goals can be achieved within the given environment?

The following three questions help to develop milestones within the methodology:

• Based on the methodology selected, what are the anticipated milestones?
• What tasks are required to reach these milestones?
• In what sequence are the tasks best executed?

Significant growth is usually acquired through obtaining new customers for existing products, opening new markets, and developing new products. Once the growth strategy has been developed, it must be implemented through specific tasks. During this execution, the methodology, milestones and vision will all need constant adjustment in order to keep the growth plan current.
Implementation of the growth plan should be centered around three concepts:

• Customer Desire for Value
• Base Products
• Performance Enhancement Products

Customer Desire for Value today is not only producing and distributing quality products at a reasonable price, but also includes the interaction between customer and company representatives (managing and enhancing the customer experience with the product).

The Base Product is the foundation for the growth plan and will be the starting point for explosive growth. The Base Product must be an important, existing product which is obsolescence-proof, has a large, standardized base, and which customers will seek in its current form and in improved or enhanced versions.

Performance Enhancement Products expand and upgrade the Base Product and are fueled by innovation, and can result in significant revenues and profits. The strategy to implement performance enhancement products successfully must have two characteristics:

• broad appeal
• a thorough, intimate understanding of the consumption benefit (value proposition) to the consumer

Chapter 6: The Eight-Step Action Plan

Chapter six, presents Dawson’s Eight-Step Action Plan. The Eight-Step Action Plan provides an outline for how any business should be organized and managed. It can be divided into three parts:

• strategic thought
• tactical thought
• plan execution.

Strategic Thought (Steps 1-4)

Step 1: Establish a point of departure.

The point of departure serves as a link between business plans and individual tasks. In preparing these business plans, a businessperson must gather all relevant information, develop a Business Success Formula, and develop a body of information to serve as the context of the growth plan. Once this context has been established, the plan can be further clarified by separating it into its Coordinates of Operation, which are:

• Expectations of external actors, stakeholders and those within the confines of the growth task (Analysis of how the market will respond and how to attract customers).
• Work activities and interactions of those within the confines of the growth task (Role allocation, change management).
• Analysis of resources available and resources necessary to accomplish business goals.

Step 2: Business Approach

The business approach consists of two levels:

• the kinds of production processes to be used and employee skills to be employed
• the personal approach of the plan’s director

The shape of the growth plan will be largely determined by the type of personal (management) approach utilized.

There are four personal management approaches:

• Strategist – focuses on the desired result and actions needed to reach it. Emphasizes preparation.
• Tactician – focuses on the work activity. Emphasizes action.
• Artist – focuses on adjusting tactics and strategy to the environment to obtain progress. Skilled in adapting to circumstance.
• Organizational Engineer – focuses on the development and workings of the organization as a whole to accomplish the desired objectives.

Step 3: Desired Results

The person leading the execution of the growth task needs to develop his or her personal vision as to what the growth plan should accomplish. The desired results are the goals that are established consistent with the vision of the business.

Step 4: Course of Action

The course of action can be defined once the vision has been developed and the goals have been set in Step three. For each goal, a succession of milestones is developed, reflecting the path to be used to accomplish an objective. These objectives direct operations, and organize the work needed to accomplish the goal. This set of objectives forms the Objectives Matrix of the Activities Matrix, and should be as simple as possible. Guidelines for the Objectives Matrix include:

• Strategic thought should focus on one objective at a time. If there is more than one objective currently running, parallel organizations must be developed to focus on each.

For compatible sequences, a single sub-organization or person could be used.

• For highly differentiated objectives, establish temporary groups with the objectives as missions.

See Appendix A:
Sample Objectives Matrix for Herb Rubenstein Consulting

See Appendix B:
Sample Activities Matrix for Herb Rubenstein Consulting.

Tactical Thought/ Operations Management
(Steps 5-6)

Step 5: Task Arrangement

Tasks must be arranged into hierarchies, using identification, definition, relative positioning and priority. When developing the hierarchy, interrelationships between tasks, and the completion dates for all must be taken into account. Tactical planning creates concrete work assignments and moves the growth organization into the future.

The set of tasks defined for each objective make up another portion of the activities matrix – the Tasks Matrix. In this process, overlapping and unnecessary tasks are deleted, and the best possible path toward growth is determined. The resulting set of tasks is then arranged hierarchically and budgeted.

See Appendix C: Sample Tasks Matrix for Herb Rubenstein Consulting.

Step 6: Employee Assignments

Employee assignment involves two components: evaluation and positioning. Evaluation of employees includes such factors as strengths, limitations, needed improvement and organizational level. Tasks are identified and arranged, and then employees are positioned into that hierarchy. Employees must be aware of their organizational level, ongoing and transient assignments, immediate superiors and recourses. In assigning tasks, these factors should be taken into account:

• The characteristics of the task and its expected results
• The expertise and potential of the employee
• The location of required data and where tasks are to be used, adding specificity to the task.

When assigning tasks and employees, great effort should be made in establishing a true team concept. Through this team orientation, an employee can achieve individual excellence while helping the organization achieve its goals.

Plan Execution

Step 7: Task Execution

As the plan is implemented and employees execute the assigned tasks, operations must be continually adjusted and reconfigured in order to maximize quality achieved. Parallel to the 8-Step Action Plan is the 6-Step Task Execution Process for individual action of employees.

1. Describe the Action (Point of Departure)
2. Set the Perspective (Establish Context)
3. Develop strategy or Course of Action
4. Identify work Action
5. Execute work
6. Assess results and adjust as necessary

Step 8: Plan Revision

As tasks are completed, the results must be compared with expectations, and adjustments to the plan should be made regularly at important milestones.

Chapter 7: Presenting the Plan

Plans often require approval by key stakeholders. Plans must be presented with clarity and a well-defined strategy. One approach to presenting your plan could be as follows:

• First, present the 8-Step Action Plan to team members so that everyone has a clear understanding of the plan.
• Second, present the Operations Business Plan to those directly effected by your growth plan including superiors, employees and other relevant people.
• Third, secure financing by presenting loan applications, budget requests, etc. to financial interests (if necessary).
• Fourth, communicate intentions to the community at large.

Elements:

Operations Business Plan

The plan should reflect the actual operating situation, and should focus on the Task Oriented Growth Plan. Do not allow the format of the plan to effect operations. Whether it is decided to keep growth as a separate organization, or to intersperse it with existing operations, it is essential that the tasks remain at the human level.

Loan Applications

In order to obtain the resources necessary to finance the growth plan, it may be necessary to apply for a loan or budget allocation. The two processes are
quite similar. Either one can be considered an investment, with operating results as the return. A Five-Step Process can be useful in a loan application or budget request.

1. Provide an executive overview of current business activities and the intended use of the money.
2. Emphasize the business or market potential to be addressed. In doing so, show the ability of the business to take advantage of this potential using the money requested. Describe in detail the marketing and sales strategies that will be used to realize this potential. Finally, show how taking advantage of this opportunity will provide sufficient cash flow to repay the loan with interest (cash flow statement).
3. Identify all other sources of funding for project. Explain the thought processes that led to the loan application, and describe how the
   loan money will fit in with other funding.
4. Describe the financial operating history of the company (and the principals if they have experience with large amounts of capital) and prepare relevant financial documents, including funds application, expected impact on operations, anticipated financial improvements, and cash flow projections.
5. Present sufficient information on your experienced and balanced management team.

Presentation to others

The goal of a presentation is to gain audience support. In order to do this, the audience must become involved in the success of the plan, and thus gain, become a champion of the plan. A good manager relinquishes control of the details, and instead navigates the momentum, so there is plenty of room for input from others. Five presentation objectives help to achieve this objective:

1. Explain the uniqueness of the business and explain the nature of the growth task
2. Summarize the organization/ leader’s business expertise
3. Explain the commitment to quality of the business and the business’s special ability to connect with customers
4. Connect impersonal concepts like “job creation” to individual lives. Tell the story of the business.
5. Encourage ongoing audience support, suggestions, cooperation and ideas.

Summary:

12 Guidelines to Explosive Growth

Dawson summarizes his suggestions for the creation
of explosive growth in the following 12 guidelines:

1. Clarity and vision are the keys to successful businesses
2. Others need to see clarity and
   supporting analysis commensurate with the commitment they are requested to make to the enterprise in order to develop confidence in growth.
3. Gaining the confidence of others make business people superstars in the business’s ability to grow.
4. Limited perspective limits the growth potential of a business.
5. Growth requires action today and follow-up tomorrow
6. It is a duty, and in each person’s own self interest to grow the business.
7. The primary purpose of the business is to keep and acquire customers.
8. Customer support is becoming increasingly important.
9. The three parts of a growth strategy are vision, methodology and milestones
10. The 8-Step Task-Oriented Action Plan
    a. Point of Departure
    b. Business Approach
    c. Desired Results
    d. Course of Action
    e. Arrange Tasks in Hierarchies
    f. Assign Tasks to Employees
    g. Make Quality Happen
    h. Repeat the Process
11. The human-oriented business plan allows individuals to guide the business toward its growth destin
12. The Task-Oriented Growth Plan allows businesses to provide powerful, enrolling explanations to others regarding their context, their plans and their methods of achieving explosive growth.

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