Seven Accelerants of Growth To Help You Succeed

Pandemic has been a great disruptor for many businesses and individuals. Personally, I have seen friends in industries like travel and hospitality whose businesses and hence careers were suddenly disrupted with no where else to go.

Another phenomenon that pandemic brought forth was “self awakening” – people questioning the most fundamental beliefs they held about what it means to work and contribute. This has led to people jumping off the corporate ships to dive into their passion, start businesses and move up higher in the ladder of opportunities. Experts call this phenomenon, “the great resignation”.

On Disrupting Yourself

Whether the driving factors for personal disruption are internal or external, one thing is sure – disruption will force us to adapt at some point. We have a choice of either being pushed by the disruption or be ready with our surfing boards in advance so that we could ride the wave.

Whitney Johnson wrote a book titled “Disrupt Yourself” in 2015 that effectively underlines the need to take right risks proactively and offers very useful stories and insights on how to disrupt yourself. I read the book a few years ago and it helped me immensely in thinking about intersections that I want to play in and the waves I want to surf.

In her recent newsletter, Whitney revisited “The Seven Accelerants of Growth” that were outlined originally in her book. It served as a timely reminder as we were beginning the new year with new hopes and aspirations.

The seven accelerants are (quoting from the newsletter):

1. Take the right risks. There are two types of risk – competitive risk, which involves head-to-head competition, and market risk, which creates a new field of play. With competitive risk, there is an opportunity, but there is also competition. With market risk, you are playing where no one else is playing.

2. Play to your Distinctive Strengths. A distinctive strength is an area where you perform well, better than others around you. Your distinctive strengths are clues for where you can innovate and make the rules instead of playing someone else’s game.

3. Embrace your constraints. If you wait until you have enough resources, you’ll be waiting quite a while. Resourcefulness and creativity result more from constraints than from abundance.

4. Examine expectations.How can you spot a moment when there is a gap between expectations and reality? If you find yourself saying, “things should be different” or “I should have gotten that opportunity,” it may be time to examine your expectations.

5. Step back to grow. Growth often involves taking a step back. In our careers, sometimes the best way to move forward is to step back or sideways from our current path. When you step back, you can slingshot forward.

6. Give failure its due. Failure is practically inevitable when you take the right risks. Failure itself isn’t a hindrance; shame is. Growth ends when shame takes control and convinces us not to try again.

7. Be discovery driven. Learning is a disruptive and explorative process. Individuals and companies who grow significantly put more energy into learning and less into what they’re already good at doing. Adapt, change course as necessary, and sail into discovery.

If you have not read “Disrupt Yourself – Putting the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work”, I recommend you to read and embrace the idea of personal disruption and “The S-Curve of Learning” that I have also illustrated here.

Seven Accelerants of Growth – A Sketchnote Summary

Smart Growth

Whitney’s newest book is titled “Smart Growth – How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Company” that builds on the conversation she started in “Disrupt Yourself” and offers a visual deep dive into the S-Curve of Learning and Growth in personal and organizational context.

While I am still reading the book (review soon), I found the following quote in the introduction profound:

“[We] each live thousands of lives, for each day we become someone slightly different. [We] don’t change in one giant leap, but across a million little steps. The most important step a person can take is always the next one.” – Brandon Sanderson

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