Boardroom Reflections: When Growth Becomes the Enemy
Boardroom Reflections: When Growth Becomes the Enemy Fighting fires with Erica Hansen The Illusion of Progress “ Things just seem a lot harder than they should. ” That single sentence may be the most dangerous signal in business, and the most ignored. In a recent conversation with turnaround specialist Erica Hansen , a veteran of over three decades in business transformation, one truth became uncomfortably clear: companies rarely collapse from sudden failure, they decay through tolerated friction. What executives often celebrate as growth is, in many cases, the silent accumulation of misalignment . Insight #1: Friction Is the First Financial Metric Before revenue drops, before margins compress, before cash disappears, friction rises . Communication becomes strained Data loses integrity Processes become manual, inconsistent, or ignored Teams become busy, but not productive In Hansen’s words, companies begin to feel “harder than they should.” This is not a...