March 2025 Peripheral Thinkers™ Newsletter
March 14, 2025
You did it!
Your Peripheral Thinkers™ “BREAK ALL THE RULES” newsletter a day early.
Surprise!
Why is this surprise significant?
There are TWO reasons!
1) I’m making it up to you for the delay in the last two newsletters. You deserve your newsletter on or before time. You also have the whole weekend to review, reflect, and respond (and repost to spread the word 😁). You also have a well-deserved reason for taking the rest of the day off.
2) I love giving surprises. Unexpected gifts, visits, messages—and, of course, surprise birthday parties. Surprise! Today is my 42nd birthday. I know; I look a little older than 42. Blame it on all those days in my youth at the beach without sunscreen. 😎
This month’s newsletter addresses a common but rarely discussed mistake by successful companies. You’ll recognize the mistake when you read it. You may also realize why it is rarely discussed—the solution is not intuitive, at least for non-Peripheral Thinkers™.
Ready to celebrate the surprise?
Shhhh!!!!
Here he comes.
Okay, everyone, hide!
Turn the lights off.
Shhhh!!!!
1, 2, 3…
Lights!
SURPRISE!
Hello, my dear Peripheral Thinkers!
You did it!
Whatever ‘IT’ is for you, you did it.
Reached a personal goal.
Created a new ______.
Received a promotion.
Started a company.
Sold a company.
Regardless of whether your ‘IT’ was last month or last decade…
Congratulations!
Now what?
If your accomplishment was recent, then what’s next?
If it was in the past, then what has happened since?
In this month’s Break All The Rules newsletter, we’re discussing the Post-Success Trap.
More specifically, we’re discussing how to avoid the Post-Growth Trap for your business.
And… Of course, we will be viewing this from…
THE PERIPHERY!
Peripheral Perspectives – Post Growth Trap
What Comes After Success?
For far too many companies, it’s the Post-Growth Trap.
You did it.
Your company hit its revenue targets, expanded into new markets, or secured a lucrative valuation. The adrenaline rush of big wins is addictive. But here’s the real question:
What happens next?
Most business strategies obsess over how to achieve success.
Like staring at the finish line of a 100-meter sprint.
The gun goes off.
Bursting out of the blocks
Long, powerful strides.
Arms pumping
50 meters left
You’re gaining
20 meters left
You’re leading
10 meters
5 meters
Extend
Lean
You Did IT!
Now what?
What comes after, my friend, is where the real danger lurks.
Because post-success stagnation is real, and it’s responsible for the decline of once-great companies. We’ll call it the post-growth trap.
The real challenge isn’t getting to the top—it’s staying ahead once you’re there.
Let’s talk about why most businesses struggle with an unclear “after success” strategy—and how you can use Peripheral Thinking™ to keep the momentum going.
The Hidden Risks of Success
Success creates a false sense of security. I know, I know… You are different. You are always hungry and don’t let success go to your head. So, check this out to see if you see anything familiar here ↓
After hitting significant milestones, companies often make one of these fatal mistakes:
❌ They cling to what worked in the past – instead of planning for what’s next.
❌ They scale too aggressively – without a clear, sustainable foundation.
❌ They stop innovating – assuming their current advantage will last forever.
Innovative companies that last are unlike sensationalized start-ups that raise hundreds of millions of dollars and exit as gazillionaires or are still not profitable after 10 years.
Innovative companies grow, innovate, and lead year after year, decade after decade.
A Harvard Business Review analysis found that only 10% of companies sustain profitable growth for over a decade.
(Note: 0.01% increase in profitable growth = “sustained profitable growth”)
Businesses that fail to reinvent themselves post-success risk losing relevance, market share, or even their entire company.
So, what’s the solution? Adopting an “After Success” Strategy before you need it.
Thriving Beyond the Finish Line with Peripheral Thinking™
Peripheral Thinking™ equips us to innovate before and beyond obstacles.
It encourages you to use ALL your resources, perspectives, lessons, and insights to plan, predict, and create the disruption rather than be the disrupted.
So, it only seems natural that the best time to innovate is before success starts to fade.
Here are three Peripheral Thinking™ strategies to avoid common mistakes with examples, Peripheral Thinkers’™ moves, and action steps:
1. Look Beyond Your Industry for Future-Proofing Ideas
COMMON MISTAKE: Industry Myopia
Companies that focus solely on their own industry often miss out on innovative ideas and trends emerging elsewhere.
Industry expertise is valuable, but not at the risk of stagnation and vulnerability to disruption.
Firestone’s Myopic Failure
Firestone enjoyed decades of success in the tire industry but failed to adapt to the advent of radial tire technology introduced by Michelin in the 1940s. Firestone’s rigid adherence to traditional practices and reluctance to explore innovations from other industries led to significant market share loss and financial decline. [The Innovation Show]
It is worth noting that vulcanized rubber and steel (a la radial technology) was first introduced in 1892 by inventor Thomas Robins, who designed a heavy-duty conveyor belt.
Peripheral Thinkers’™ Move:
💡 Cross-Industry Exploration: Regularly investigate how different sectors address challenges and opportunities. This approach can unveil unconventional strategies applicable to your business.
Fast Food & Luxury Hotels: One of my favorite examples highlights how Chick-fil-A adopted the phrase “My pleasure” after a store operator experienced it at a Ritz Carlton. The phrase was simple yet impactful, transforming a customer service culture within the company. Chick-fil-A opened its first free-standing restaurant in 1986. By 2001, it had 1,000 locations. The “My Pleasure” phrase was adopted in 2003, and today, Chick-fil-A has over 3,000 locations.
Action Steps:
✅ Diverse Networking to Investigate & Innovate: Engage with professionals from various industries through conferences, webinars, and forums to gain fresh perspectives. Take a service, technology, or customer experience from another industry and make it your own.
✅ Cross-Training Programs: Implement employee development initiatives that expose your team to different industry practices and methodologies. Look at a company outside your industry that is growing. What principles can you apply to your business?
✅ Build a Peripheral Resource Library™: Collect insights from various industries and revisit them when planning your next big move.
2. Challenge Your Winning Formula
COMMON MISTAKE: Complacency
Success can breed complacency. A business's biggest strength can become its weakness if it doesn’t continue to innovate. Post-success failure often occurs because you are too invested in past strategies, believing that what worked before will keep working.
Laura Ashley: From Loved to Lemmon to Liquidation.
Laura Ashley built its brand on traditional British fashion but failed to adapt to changing consumer preferences for modern styles. Their steadfast commitment to past successes without reevaluating their strategy led to a significant downturn and ultimate liquidation. Mixed reviews from their recent ‘relaunch’ indicate the market has lost that lovin’ feeling. [The Telegraph] [BFI]
Peripheral Thinkers’™ Move:
💡 Proactive Disruption: Continuously reassess and, if necessary, overhaul successful strategies to leverage or overcome changing market dynamics.
The $150M Challenge: My team was given a nearly impossible goal: growing revenue from $15M to $150M in just one year. Conventional industry strategies provided no roadmap for such rapid growth. We had to abandon successful pursuit models and reinvent our approach by looking beyond our industry.
(We ended the year with over $200M!)
Action Steps:
✅ Regular Strategy Audits: Schedule periodic reviews of your business model to identify areas susceptible to obsolescence.
✅ Innovation Labs: Establish dedicated teams to experiment with new ideas, technologies, and processes, ensuring continuous innovation. This is a nice first step. Innovative companies make this part of their culture, not just an experimental team.
✅ Run a “Break It Before It Breaks” Workshop: Identify areas where your business is over-reliant on past success. Ask, “What could make this obsolete?”
3. Think Five Years Past Your Success Horizon
COMMON MISTAKE: Short-Term Focus
Concentrating solely on immediate goals can blind you and your people to long-term threats and opportunities, making your business ill-prepared for future challenges.
Blockbuster: More than a Platitude or Platypus.
I know. I know. Everyone references Blockbuster's missed steps. They are the poster child for failing to plan for the future, which led to Netflix's success. It’s a platitude.
However…
Do you believe that Netflix anticipated competing with Amazon? (You know, that big online bookstore that became an online retailer of ANYTHING you can imagine. And a global cloud computing provider. And a private space travel company. And a… You get the idea.)
Amazon’s evolution is beyond anything Darwin could explain, like the platypus.
When Charles Darwin encountered live platypuses and other Australian mammals, he claimed that – compared to the rest of the world's animals – they were so strange that one might think “two distinct Creators must have been at work”.
Peripheral Thinkers’™ Move:
💡 Break Your Comfort Zones: I’ve repeatedly shared that leaders must stop reacting and start predicting. You must infuse more diverse perspectives and experiences into your organization. Consider hiring leaders from outside your industry and moving executives to different roles. This prevents "winning formulas" from turning into future roadblocks.
Action Steps:
✅ Scenario Mapping: Ask, “If we 10X our success tomorrow, what happens next?”
✅ Reverse Engineer from the Future: Imagine your company five years ahead. What problems will you need to solve? Start addressing them now.
✅ Benchmark Companies with Longevity: Study companies that have thrived for decades, not just start-ups with quick wins.
Let’s bring it home
An appliance manufacturing client had been at the top of their game for decades. Then, they hit a growth slump. The market became fiercely competitive with multiple brands—the same features and pricing. My client led the retail, residential, and commercial properties markets, but with thin margins. They needed to think differently about their long-term future to ensure their overall industry leadership.
One market segment my client had not focused on was new multi-family properties. It required a higher level of coordination for high-volume delivery and installation. Vertically integrated processes have been in place in other industries for some time. (Cross-Industry Exploration)
After reviewing my client’s processes and material suppliers, it was apparent that their lack of tight supply chain relationships made winning in this new market segment highly unlikely.
What wasn’t apparent to the client was that they had everything they needed. To coordinate delivery with retail, residential, and commercial clients, the client’s systems could expand backward to coordinate material orders with suppliers. (Break Your Comfort Zones)
It was a welcome approach for material suppliers who felt in the dark. Now, everyone saw the same schedule from raw materials to installation. (Proactive Disruption) My client became a preferred supplier customer because of the ease of taking and fulfilling orders.
My client entered the new market segment with a solid value proposition.
In just over six months, this new venture was profitable.
In 15 months, they were #3 in North America.
In the 25th month … #1.
They went from flatlining to exponential growth.
Final Thought: Success is Just the Beginning
The Peripheral Thinking™ skills model isn’t just a cool concept—it’s a framework for sustainable innovation.
Embracing Peripheral Thinking™ equips your business to achieve new levels of success and sustain it in an ever-evolving landscape.
By looking beyond your industry, challenging existing paradigms, and planning for the long term, you can position your company to thrive in the face of uncertainty.
You can access everything needed to achieve anything imaginable—like Post-Growth Success!
Engage with Us:
Share Your Insights: Have you observed companies that failed to adapt post-success? What lessons can be learned?
Your Strategies: How is your organization implementing Peripheral Thinking™ to ensure sustained success?
Let's continue the conversation and explore how we can collectively navigate the path beyond success.
Until next time—I’ll be looking for you in the periphery.
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