August 2025
Featured Video: Growth is THE leadership issue.
Leadership is about results. It’s true in almost any organization but especially true for any commercial enterprise. You want to create positive, intentional change for the organization you are leading. After all, leaders who maintain the status quo aren’t considered “great.”
For most companies, growth is the result that matters. There are a lot of ways to measure growth – from revenue to net income, market share, number of products per customer, number of subscribers, and even measures of customer loyalty. But whatever you choose to focus on, growth of some kind is always the objective.
If you are leading an organization that relies on a sales organization to connect with customers to drive any part of that growth, then growth and sales are inextricably linked. And one of the big challenges in growth is that executives are frequently disconnected from the sales function.
This video is part of my new series, Lessons from The Growth Leader. Every month for the next year, this newsletter will feature a short video highlighting one of the big ideas from the book. If you don’t want to wait or you’d like to binge watch ☺ the entire series, the videos are available on YouTube.
Organizational Leadership: When Sales Follows Strategy, Big Wins Follow
There are few things more prized by companies than winning a big new contract. But winning just any business isn’t necessarily something to celebrate. It’s winning the right kind of business that fuels profitable, strategic growth.
Last week, Samsung announced a $16.5B win to manufacture chips for Tesla. It beat out Intel, which is a much stronger brand in chip manufacturing. This moment is more than a sales victory for Samsung. It’s strategy in action. In The Growth Leader, I stress that executives who want to drive profitable revenue must focus on aligning leadership, strategy, and sales. That requires three things:
Leverage your power play. Samsung put its advanced fabrication capabilities on display, positioning itself as a credible alternative to TSMC (the dominant player in that industry) in leading-edge chipmaking.
Pursue the right customers. Tesla is a marquee brand whose needs match Samsung’s strengths, making the win both high-profile and strategically relevant. It was worth the heavy investment on Samsung’s part to go all in for this significant business.
Create value with insight and expertise. According to the Financial Times, the win was fueled by a collaborative approach that offered unanticipated operational insights, speed, and shared R&D in advanced 2 nm technology. Add to the mix a dedicated Texas facility for the project where the two teams (including Elon Musk) will work together to increase efficiency and yields, and this deal has as much to do with how it was sold, as what was sold.
This kind of strategy alignment with sales is how growth leaders build momentum and drive remarkable results.
The Growth Leader is now available in edible form!
That’s the Five Flag Start strategy framework from The Growth Leader… on a cookie!
I’ve been working with First Horizon to develop their strategy and align leaders across the company, using this framework to guide the process. It’s great to work with leaders so committed to driving high performance.
As a consultant, you know you’ve reached a high-water mark when your work ends up on a cookie. Mugs and mousepads are nice, but cookies are reserved for top-shelf ideas.
Tastes good, too.
LinkedIn Live
In too many organizations, innovation is reserved for a handful of individuals or functions responsible for the next breakthrough. A more productive approach to leading innovation is to establish an environment where innovation is encouraged and supported throughout the organization. This fuels a culture where creativity, out of the box thinking, and innovation are a part of the fabric of a team or organization.
Join me as we discuss how leaders create a culture where innovation thrives.
"Leading for Innovation"
📅 Tuesday, August 26th
🕙 10:00 AM ET
Watch this short video to see how I work and the impact it creates.