The premise of this summary is that the meaning of business growth has changed. Companies are no longer defined only by the profits they generate for shareholders, but are seen as parts of a larger societal ecosystem responsible for creating value for colleagues, customers, communities and investors.
The Impact Study was led by IRG with the Future of Marketing Institute at Oxford’s Saïd Business School, to identify the drivers of humanized growth, the roles of the board and each C-suite function, and a deeper look at the CMO and marketing.
Key findings
- The first driver is ground: connecting to human stakeholder reality. Overperforming organizations show an aligned understanding of stakeholders, engage them, and include stakeholder perspectives in strategic decision-making.
- The second is reimagine: a future-focused vision that includes both utopian and dystopian elements, long-term thinking, and a clear corporate purpose.
- The third is focus: a holistic strategy that concentrates on adaptive change areas. Prioritizing one stakeholder is acceptable as long as the company also spells out how it adds value for the others.
- The fourth is organize: breaking down functional silos, driving systemic change, empowering employees closer to stakeholders, and collaborating across industry and with NGOs and governments.
- The fifth is unleash: Da Vinci leadership combining right-brain and left-brain thinking with empathy, and creating an environment where people feel safe to share ideas.
Managing two kinds of change differently
Overperformers separate adaptive change, meaning transformative initiatives, from performative change, meaning day-to-day operations, and manage the two differently.
That also means stopping things. The summary states the need to end initiatives not aligned with the strategy, and to align strategic priorities with senior leader incentives.
Short-term decisions are taken inside the long-term strategy rather than against it, which is what the holistic strategy is for.
The five implications
The first is that intangibles are the new tangibles. Brand value, customer data, employee loyalty and reputation matter more, and leaders need strategies to measure and manage them.
The second is incentive alignment, so that leaders consider factors beyond financial metrics when judging success. The third is collaborative ecosystems, where working with NGOs, governments and regulators is treated as essential rather than optional.
The fourth is transparency and authenticity in good times and bad, with a deep-rooted connection to purpose as the basis of trust. The fifth is leadership itself, where empathy, vulnerability and open-mindedness create a culture that empowers teams.
How the summary was meant to be used
The document was written for a specific purpose: as a discussion starter for TCS Marathon events on driving more sustained business growth. TCS is described as an IRG partner.
Its conclusion redefines the measure. Sustained growth is not only financial, but is judged by the positive impact an organization has on all its stakeholders.
Who produced it
IRG operates as an independent not-for-profit and builds its programs on the 2018 IRG Growth Study, following two earlier studies published in Harvard Business Review in 2014 and 2017.
The Oxford Future of Marketing Initiative brings academics and senior executives together to work on marketing, advertising, communications, media and technology problems, with the stated aim of infusing practice with evidence-based solutions.
Scope and limitations
This is an executive summary written for one partner. It describes the drivers and implications in prose and carries none of the underlying quantitative results, which it points readers to separately.
Source
This page summarises Marathon Learning: Driving Sustained Business Growth, by Institute for Real Growth (IRG), Future of Marketing Institute at the Saïd Business School of Oxford University, October 2023.