This deck sets out what IRG does and what its research found. IRG states its purpose as helping CMOs and other growth leaders drive more humanized growth by connecting them to peers, experts and thought leadership, and delivers that through the IRG100 and IRG1000 programs and masterclasses.
The IRG100 leadership program runs 26 blended learning sessions online and in person, built on the seven building blocks and adding da Vinci growth leadership, the business model canvas, humanized commerce, visual thinking strategies and human-centric transformation.
Key findings
- The premise is that traditional business growth formulas are lacking. The 2020 Humanized Growth Study behind the deck combines more than 750 qualitative interviews, more than 5,000 quantitative responses, AI analysis of more than 3,500 growth publications and behavioral analysis of three million LinkedIn members, and was updated after COVID struck.
- On abundant markets, over-performers assess and understand market developments at 86 percent against 36 percent, and are described as spotting and choosing the right wave. Mars moving from pet food to pet care is the example.
- On multiple models, willingness to accept new business models runs 71 percent against 39 percent. On evolving experiences, delivering ever-evolving experiences runs 81 percent against 32 percent.
- On open culture, external connectivity through ecosystems with complementary partners runs 67 percent against 39 percent, and diversity in strategic decision-making 70 percent against 45 percent. The top culture description among over-performers is innovation, change and entrepreneurship, indexing 133.
- On the anticipative organization, competitive agility on organizational change runs 68 percent against 16 percent, effective removal of internal barriers 50 percent against 24 percent, and marketing and sales collaboration for e-commerce 68 percent against 37 percent.
Whole-brained, and what growth is for
The sixth block pairs technology with human creativity. Over-performers report a stronger ability to attract whole-brain talent at 65 percent against 25 percent, and put data and analytics at the core of strategic decision-making at 66 percent against 36 percent.
The seventh block is about ambition. Under-performers put bottom-line profit first, indexing 130 against 85, while impact on people indexes 120 against 76 the other way. Cisco’s move from a product focus to what it calls the People Deal is the example.
The deck writes humanized growth as an equation in which colleague, customer, community and capital market value multiply, with short termism named as the countervailing force.
Why the shift happened, and what changed since
The stakeholder set widened with the pandemic. Pre-COVID the focus was customers and capital markets, and at the outbreak colleagues and community joined them. The deck cites Laurence D. Fink of BlackRock and the 2019 US Business Roundtable statement as external markers, and notes that the future is uncertain and systems are being questioned.
Two 2021 updates are reported from the IRG 2020 CMO survey. A significant shift to humanized growth, at 78 percent against 4 percent, and greater CMO influence on growth, at 65 percent against 11 percent.
The leader and the capability map
The da Vinci growth leader is described through five attitudes: curious and agile learner, connected and collaborative, servant leader, speed and impact obsessed, and courageous and inspiring storyteller.
Around those attitudes sits a capability map covering growth strategy, decoding the world, brand development, product and service innovation, customer experience, media and performance, and integrated stakeholder engagement. Decoding the world breaks down into translating trends, total stakeholder understanding, deep human insights and market segmentation.
Growth strategy is broken down the same way, covering business growth visioning, balancing short and long term, market assessment, integrated business planning, financial and data literacy, commercial leadership, and aligning business and marketing KPIs.
Scope and limitations
The deck reports paired figures for over-performers and under-performers without stating the base on each slide, and notes that the 2020 study was updated after COVID, so the figures span more than one wave.
Source
This page summarises Humanizing Growth, by Institute for Real Growth, May 2021.