Leadership in the Headlines

Chapter 5

Growing

Growth is not right for every enterprise. In 2014, a Vietnamese app developer withdrew his Flappy Bird smartphone game because its success had ‘ruined my simple life’. But generally success breeds size. Companies expand by acquisition, by inventing new products, or by entering new territories or markets. And with size comes stress for leaders who may have got used to the structure and style of the company that they founded.

Studies show we are getting better at mergers and acquisitions – practice, I suppose, does eventually make perfect – but deals are still risky, particularly if pursued for the wrong reasons. Expanding abroad brings culture clashes and new dilemmas about whether to export expat expertise, or import local ...