Everyone Wants Growth, No One Wants Simplicity

Everyone talks about growth. Bigger teams, bigger revenue, bigger ambitions. But most people don’t actually want growth. What they want is complexity that makes them feel like they’re growing.

Businesses get more complex as they scale, and there’s one key priority every business owner should obsess over: simplification.

But so many get it wrong.

We build layers of tools, frameworks, dashboards, and jargon to make it look like progress. It’s theatre. It keeps everyone busy and distracted.

Your ‘unique’ approach to client challenges isn’t unique. It’s been designed a thousand times before and is the same as everyone else’s. Just copy and paste a proven process from a book, rename a few steps to fit your style, and move on.

Your operations aren’t unique either. Most of what you’re doing has already been tested and refined across thousands of businesses in your industry. If you think you’re being innovative, you’re probably just on a learning curve. No matter how much you tweak it, it’s probably still worse than the standard way of doing things.

Real progress is boring. It’s repetition, discipline, and simplicity. The boring stuff gives you space for the important stuff — the things that actually add value — creativity, reflection, experimentation.

The point is: don’t reinvent the wheel. Learn from those who’ve done it best, imitate, get it solid, then innovate on top to differentiate.

The businesses that scale aren’t the ones with overly clever frameworks or buzzwords. They’re the ones that keep things brutally clear:

• They know what they do and who they do it for.

• They measure a handful of things that actually matter.

• They get rid of anything that doesn’t directly drive outcomes.

That’s it. Nothing mystical. No “operating system.” Just focus.

The problem is that simplicity feels unsafe. It leaves nowhere to hide. When things are simple and they fail, there’s no excuse. You can’t blame the process, or the tool, or the meeting that “ran over.” You just didn’t execute.

Complexity gives people cover. It creates the illusion of sophistication while avoiding accountability. It’s the same energy as rearranging the furniture in a burning building.

I’ve built and advised enough companies to know this: the ones that win aren’t the ones with the most ideas. They’re the ones that delete the most. Every system, every process, every new idea, every new hire should make things faster, clearer, and quieter. If it doesn’t, it’s a distraction. And if it’s been done before, stop overthinking it — learn from it, copy it, and move on.

Next time someone wants to add another tool, workflow, or meeting, ask one question:

Does this make us faster or slower?

If the answer is slower, kill it.

If your process takes longer to explain than to do, it’s broken. Keep it simple, stupid.