Break Out of Complacency: A Leadership Mindset for Business Growth

This spring, I attended a great event hosted by The Saint John Region Chamber of Commerce Saint John: around 20 businesses, great energy, lots of smart people hustling to grow their businesses and drive business growth. But as I talked to owners, one theme kept popping up: uncertainty. About the market. About the future. About how to lead in times like these.

Here’s the thing. Uncertainty doesn’t just slow you down: it can make you scared and make you settle. And that’s when complacency creeps in.

Complacency Is the Real Risk to Business Growth

When people think about risk in business, they often think of bold moves that didn’t pay off. But the real risk? Not moving at all. Getting too comfortable. Doing things the way you’ve always done them.

Too often, we default to small goals and safe bets. We aim low–and hit the target.

Why do so many businesses stay small? Most people don’t imagine, write down, and pursue big goals. It’s not because they lack ambition, but because they fear failure. “What if I don’t hit the target?” their fear asks them. 

But here’s a better question: What if you end up halfway there, still achieving significant business growth?

If your goal is to grow 10x and you hit 6x, or even 2x, is that a failure–or a massive leap?

Big goals stretch you. Even if you miss the mark, you’ve still moved further than you would have otherwise.

Thinking Big Starts with the Right Leadership Mindset

The leaders often ask, “What should we do?” That’s a convergent question: it implies there’s a single correct answer. But outstanding leadership begins by changing “should” to “could”: “What could we do?”

That question opens doors. It activates strategic thinking. And it pushes you beyond the comfortable. Ask: 

•  Could we enter a new market?

•  Could we double our team?

•  Could our business be 10x bigger in 5 years? Or, 2? To fuel true business growth?

It’s not about pipe dreams. It’s about giving yourself and your team permission to imagine, plan, and lead for growth, even when things are uncertain. 

Business Growth Goals Means Accountability

Setting a growth goal means you’re accountable for taking action: hiring the right people, making investments, and stepping into a new level of leadership. And let’s be honest–it’s easier not to. It’s much more comfortable staying in your zone of excellence, doing what’s familiar, and keeping the business just big enough to manage alone. 

I know this all too well, from our efforts in recent years to intentionally drive business growth at WhiteWater. I could have stayed a happy and successful consultant with a couple of collaborators and a relatively small client list.  But, hey, where’s the fun in that? 

Around five years ago, we made our first intentional moves towards scaling, including aggressive (and, honestly, scary!) growth goals, backed by a plan and a ton of hard work. And it worked. We doubled the business every two years since 2020…and we’re on pace to do again the next two years. We’ve expanded our service offerings to respond to emerging needs and new markets in leadership development and strategy-to-execution work, and built out the team to keep the growth going. And, spent countless hours building the systems, structures and processes to support the growth.

It’s thrilling–and exhausting. This growth has come at a cost. I travel more than I’d like (luckily, Heather, my wife, is also my business partner and our team’s biggest growth cheerleader). I’ve had to learn how to build and lead a team, which requires a whole other set of skills. I’ve had to keep learning and pushing.  I'm ready to collapse when I fly home late on a Friday night from a week on the road.

But “easy” won’t get you the business you want. And in times like these, playing small is not the safe choice.

How to Overcome Complacency in Business

Breaking out of complacency starts with some reflection that can help you build a plan. Here are a few questions to start with:

1. Be honest: Are you growing or coasting?

2. Write down your big goal (even if  it feels far-fetched): 10x growth? New market? Your next hire(s)?

3. Name the things that are in your way, both emotional and practical: Fear of failure? Discomfort? Lack of time?

4. Look at your strategy. Does it align with your vision, not just your to-do list? If not, adjust. 

5. List the systems, people, and leadership approaches you’ll need to get you there.

I’ll say it again: you can’t sell a job, but you can sell a business. If your business depends entirely on you, you’ve created work, not value. Strategic leadership is about building something that works with or without you (check out our previous post on the role of agile leadership in overcoming complacency). 

Whether you’re a one-person consultancy, a local trades business, or a fast-scaling tech firm, thinking big is how you create value for your customers, your team, and yourself.

You might not hit every milestone. But you’ll build momentum. You’ll attract better talent. you’ll create the kind of business that survives and thrives, even in uncertain times, through intentional business growth.

So go ahead. Set that big goal. Write it down. Tell someone. Then get to work.