Growing Better is a Long-Term Commitment
This week at HubSpot, we are hosting our annual customer conference, INBOUND, here in Boston, MA. One of the questions the company put to its employees in preparation for the week, was “What does it mean to #GrowBetter?”
It’s a thinker.
What is growth?
Is it a totally natural process over which we have little control? A thing that will happen or not — touchless, automated? Is growth a matter of luck, destiny, or faith?
Is it wholly manufactured and influenced by every choice we make, every day, from the beginning to the end of our lives? Is it time-intensive? Hard work? Driven by limiting liability, taking risks, and compromising? Is it self-determined?
Can it be all of the above? And don’t get me started on how we qualify and quantify the term “better.”
I mulled our “grow better” philosophy quite a bit. I turned it around in my brain and realized: “grow better” will never have an objective definition on which we all agree. We have to define it for ourselves and pursue that definition — aspire to it — for the rest of our lives.
We may need to change the definition as we grow better. Broaden it. Deepen it. But one thing is for sure: when we stop pursuing it, we sink like stones.
To create my definition of “grow better” I turned to others’ definitions to help me formulate my own. Below, you can read mine. I’m inviting you to use the comments to share your own. I can’t wait to read it.
When I think about growing better, I think about a steadfast commitment to the long-term. Today, we are constantly bombarded with messages about how we can get the most in the shortest period of time. Think about it, lifestyle magazines do this to us all the time. Plastered on those glossy covers in the checkout lines are text splashes with “Lose 10 pounds in three days!” Or “get six pack abs with this 10-minute workout.” What we know is that these splashy quick fixes aren’t sustainable and in most cases, they’re not very healthy, either.
I can speak to this with authority. I’ve tried plenty of quick fixes in my life. I tried fixes that were supposed to make my body “healthier” and to grow my appeal among prospective love interests. I went all-in. I became obsessed with growing the picture of health staring back at me from those glossy magazines.
I didn’t think about what it was that my body actually needed, let alone my brain. I didn’t think about whether growing toward that standard of “beauty,” toward values that were as deep as the piece of paper they were printed on, was helping me actually grow better. And in the end, it did the opposite.
I grew smaller. I grew anemic. I grew weaker. I grew into a rigidity that ruled every decision I made. My body grew toward those photographic ideals in so many ways.
It was also growing rapidly closer to death.
To recover from my eating disorder, I had to learn how to grow better. Treatment for anorexia isn’t fixed with a pill, a little therapy, and that “sandwich” so many men and women say underweight people they see on their screens should eat. If only it were that simple.
Growing out of my eating disorder, growing better, took years. And I haven’t been able to stop growing better since the day I entered a treatment center over 13 years ago. In the moments I have, I’ve grown weaker, anemic, indifferent.
If you’re not seeing how this applies to business, let me help you out.
We love to chronicle fringe cases that describe a meteoric rise. A rocket of a company, built out of lightweight materials that can withstand a dramatic ascent. As a society, we reward organizations that grow quickly and exponentially and businesses that put up the “big numbers” in their first year or two.
But in most cases, that type of growth just isn’t sustainable because they haven’t committed to building a foundation for long-term growth. Those lightweight materials, perfect for ascension, were prioritized while crucial resources for sustainable orbit were jettisoned.
These organizations grow smaller. They grow anemic. They grow into a rigidity that rules every single decision they make.
They grow toward death.
Growing better is about making a commitment to do whatever it is you do right over the long term. Develop a diet and exercise plan that keep your heart healthy and energy high. Develop a business plan that projects steady, measured growth and serves the needs of employees, investors, and most importantly, the customer. This is how you get to be a Warby Parker, or a Lyft, a Patagonia.
Here at HubSpot, we’re serving organizations seeking to take this long-term approach. We’re helping them grow better by meeting them where they are at their smallest, say with our free CRM, and then consulting with them every step of the way to provide them with the software solutions that will best nurture the next phase of their growth. We’re supplementing that software solution with outstanding customer service and support as well as a treasure trove of learning resources from HubSpot Academy.
At HubSpot, we’re not asking businesses, educational institutions, or nonprofits to dip so deeply into their limited budgets to get the tools they need to find success in today’s economy. We’re collaborating with them, helping them acquire the resources they need to grow — no more, no less — so that they can invest in their greatest assets: their people and their communities.
At HubSpot, we’re mindful that helping our customers grow better means modeling that same philosophy. That’s why we invest so heavily in our culture. We know that a successful business is run by successful people whose growth is encouraged and prioritized. We model that to our customers, our shareholders, and each other. And as a result, we’ve become a company people believe in, and we’re helping to grow brands that consumers believe in across the globe.
Here at HubSpot, we’ve made a long-term commitment to helping ourselves, our communities, and most importantly, our customers grow better.
How will you #growbetter?