No Time for Chicken Littles - Memphis Daily News

http://www.memphisdailynews.com/news/2012/aug/22/no-time-...

No Time for Chicken Littles

By Michael Graber & Jocelyn Atkinson

This is no time to get chicken As we meet with more and more of the mid-market companies in America, we are astounded at how many of them are hiding under their desk riding the recession out. The old Story of Chicken Little comes to mind: Chicken Little was in the woods one day when an acorn fell on her head. It scared her so much she trembled all over. She shook so hard, half her feathers fell out. Chicken Little is a story for teaching courage and it seems that courage is what the mid-market lacks. This is troubling given that the mid-market is the backbone of the American economy.

MICHAEL GRABER & JOCELYN ATKINSON

The National Center for the Middle Market at Ohio State Universitys Fischer College of Business conducts the largest survey of the mid-market. The survey of nearly 1,500 mid-market C-level executives concludes: the health of the middle market is vital to overall U.S. prosperity. The center estimates that the mid-market encompasses 195,000 businesses and contributes 34 percent of total employment in the U.S. The study categorized only 9 percent of the mid-market companies as growth champions that exhibited double-digit revenue growth in 2010 and 2011, and are projecting the same for the rest of 2012. According to Doug Farren, director of the National Center for the Middle Market, the characteristics that set growth champions apart from slower-growing companies include: having a sharper focus on customers, investing in innovation, having a broader geographic vision for their business, cultivating a strong management culture, and doing a superior job with talent management. Its not who you are, its what you do that makes you a growth champion, said Farren. Investment in innovation was the strongest common theme across growth champions, he said. They tend to invest 2.5 times more into R&D per sales dollar than slower-growing companies. Mid-market company executives that want to ascend the ladder from marginal growth into growth champions should ask themselves some key questions, including whether they allocate and protect funding for innovation, and how they can strengthen innovation and make it repeatable and measurable. The recession is a time of opportunity for smart companies to outmaneuver the competitive field and for strong companies to put capital to work. It is the perfect landscape to enact strategy and make strides in the market.

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8/22/12 9:35 AM

No Time for Chicken Littles - Memphis Daily News

http://www.memphisdailynews.com/news/2012/aug/22/no-time-...

Here at the Studio we frequently discuss the paralysis that occurs in the face of change and the desire to take calculated risk but the inability to pull the trigger: all part of the human condition. Our working theory at the moment is that growth and innovation isnt possible without growth in the team and in the individual. To us, growth means expansion of the mind to empower humankind to walk through and explore the unknown in the fabled door number two. The mid-market needs a shot in the arm. Dont be a chicken little. Dont be afraid. The sky is not falling. No, thats not the sky falling. In fact, it is opportunity knocking. Jocelyn Atkinson and Michael Graber run the Southern Growth Studio, a strategic growth firm based in Memphis. Visit www.southerngrowthstudio.com to learn more.

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8/22/12 9:35 AM