Ten rules of value-creating growth

1. Put competitive advantage first. Start with a winning, scalable formula.
2. Make the trend your friend. Prioritize profitable, fast-growing markets.
3. Don’t be a laggard. It’s not enough to go with the flow—you need to outgrow your peers.
4. Turbocharge your core. Focus on growth in your core industry—you can’t win without it.
5. Look beyond the core. Nurture growth in adjacent business areas.
6. Grow where you know. Focus on growing where you have an ownership advantage.
7. Be a local hero. Commit to winning on the home front.
8. Go global if you can beat local. Expand internationally if you have a transferable advantage.
9. Acquire programmatically. Combine healthy organic growth with serial acquisitions.
10. It’s OK to shrink to grow. Ruthlessly prune your portfolio if you need to.