The CEO’s Guide to Growth in 2026

 

A Letter from the Editor

What’s At Stake

After months of being pushed into defensive strategies by trade dynamics and market turbulence, CEOs are renewing their focus on growth. We’ve found that mentions of top-line growth on earnings calls in the fourth quarter of 2025 rose nearly 12% globally from the same period in 2024—and up 24% among companies based in Europe.

Those ambitions may face headwinds from geopolitical tensions, slowing global growth, cost pressures, and uncertain (if not persistent) capital constraints. But the CEOs poised to excel this year aren’t waiting for clear skies. They’re moving to seize opportunity in the storm.

Growing in 2026 will require equal parts ambition and pragmatism. CEOs can get started by setting a bold target supported by a sound growth equation and preparing to pursue their ambitions programmatically. They can use AI to reduce costs, accelerate innovation, and build an always-on M&A capability. They’ll also need to instill a culture of cost discipline across the organization—dispelling notions that growth and resilience are at odds.

In a volatile world, resilience doesn’t just protect organizations against shocks. It positions them to carve a competitive advantage from disruption.

Unlocking Growth

A successful growth transformation is built on the same core elements as one focused on any other strategic objective. It requires data-driven planning, stress testing, smart sequencing, and persistence.

Here's how CEOs can get growing in 2026.

Set a bold target and optimize your growth equation. Growth doesn’t happen by accident, nor through an abundance of caution. It happens when CEOs mobilize their organizations around a bold, unambiguous target. Aiming for 10%, say, might sound ambitious, but the only way to guarantee not hitting this figure is aiming for less. That ambition must be grounded in a clear growth equation clarifying the path forward. Your equation should define how much growth will be driven by inorganic or organic expansion, stress test assumptions under different scenarios, and position the company to find advantage when conditions suddenly shift.

Finding the right equation is essential for driving deep, disciplined execution across the portfolio. AI is invaluable to this effort. In M&A, AI can uncover untapped or emerging opportunities to enter new markets, like the Global South, or acquire critical capabilities. On the organic side, it can help companies innovate new, differentiated products faster, more efficiently, and with a higher success rate. AI can also sharpen geographic strategy, identifying where the company can play to win and how best to deaverage investment decisions to back the right bets. Finally, it can unlock precision go-to-market moves, improving channel performance and making it easier to target customer segments with accuracy.

AI-powered scenario planning is a formidable tool for weighing strategic options, detecting early signals of change, and pivoting proactively as conditions shift. By stress-testing growth assumptions against a range of market and financial scenarios, leaders can zero in on the initiatives most likely to win in all weathers. Scenario planning also sharpens risk and cost management. When companies have clearer visibility into potential outcomes, they can proactively build buffers across supply chains, P&L, and inventory to guard against downside. They will move faster when opportunity strikes.

• Potential First Step: CEOs need to bring investors along on the growth journey, articulating a clear vision from day one to rapidly secure investor confidence. This early alignment eases pressure, giving management the support and space to make critical shifts in the business model. BCG analysis confirms it: companies that convincingly showcase their transformation’s value-creation potential within the first year dramatically boost their odds of success.

Pursue growth programmatically. Too often, companies view growth as a matter of inspiration rather than disciplined management. While ambition is essential, the most effective CEOs approach growth with the same rigor they apply to managing costs or capital deployment.

CEOs can establish clear parameters around growth initiatives—ensuring effective governance, transparency, and accountability. At the same time, they can structure a formal program designed to boost the top line, breaking it into discrete projects. Each project is rigorously managed, with realistic timelines, clear milestones, and defined plans for managing interdependencies. Successful leaders monitor progress in real time, adjusting strategies by leveraging a ready suite of back-up initiatives.

While this programmatic approach is essential, a mindset shift is equally important. Strong leaders challenge the belief that growth simply happens to them. Winning organizations deliberately structure programs to achieve growth.

• Potential First Step: Assign a chief transformation officer to drive the growth agenda. This may be a net new role or someone who can work closely with and support the existing chief growth officer. Create a visible, interactive digital dashboard that tracks and displays key growth metrics in real time to enable the CEO and transformation teams to quickly spot progress and address challenges immediately.

Harness AI to reduce the cost of growth. Growth through innovation has traditionally involved big tradeoffs: high costs, high failure rates, and long timelines. AI can help companies conquer these tradeoffs.

At a fundamental level, AI tools can reduce the cost of failure, driving faster and higher impact innovation. BCG research underscores the opportunity. AI leaders not only outpace companies that have not yet scaled the technology when it comes to revenue growth, but they also produce 3.5 times more patents. This suggests that AI accelerates innovation and expands its frontier, allowing companies to outpace peers in both the volume and quality of new ideas.

The key is to leverage AI to enable faster decision making, better market responsiveness,
and greater personalization. Companies can use AI, for example, to produce a relatively inexpensive product prototype and marketing campaign, improving speed to market and limiting the financial hit from setbacks.

• Potential First Step: With the right growth opportunities identified, CEOs can create cross-functional teams—composed of marketers, innovators, and other specialists—to execute their ambitions. These teams will be laser-focused on specific AI-driven growth initiatives, gaining share in a customer segment or a certain market, for example. Team members will have the tacit knowledge of what makes the company’s offerings distinctive and compelling and can ensure the right guardrails related to standards and quality are embedded into AI tools. Creating a common set of KPIs can further enhance alignment and speed.

Build an always-on M&A capability. CEOs are sharpening their focus on M&A as inflation, interest rates, and valuation expectations stabilize. After nearly two years of stagnation, deal activity is rising across sectors, and 2025 saw more megadeals—transactions over $10 billion—than the year before. The renewed momentum, however, will usher in an era of increased competition. After several quarters of holding the advantage in a buyers’ market, companies will face increased activity from private equity and corporate buyers that have built a war chest for deals. As of October of 2025, private equity firms alone were sitting on $2 trillion in undeployed capital.

In this environment, the most successful dealmakers will be those companies that have developed a standing M&A capability. BCG research consistently shows that serial acquirers outperform less-frequent dealmakers because they operate with an “always-on” mindset: persistently screening a broad funnel of potential targets, maintaining relationships, and being ready to move when opportunity strikes. Successful companies also ensure they have effective post-merger integration (PMI) capabilities to deliver a strong, agile and disciplined integration program. This readiness is what separates those who shape their industries from those who react to them.

Companies are using M&A to enter sectors related to the energy transition, defense, and data infrastructure, where incremental moves aren’t enough to stay relevant. Cost synergies remain critical to value creation, but the purpose of M&A is shifting toward capability building and competitive positioning. Effective CEOs understand that growth through acquisition must go hand in hand with disciplined integration, clear logic, and the willingness to walk away when deals don’t align with strategy.

• Potential First Step: CEOs, in partnership with corporate development leaders and business unit heads, should have their M&A target short list ready. And they should adopt an “always-on radar” approach that prepares them to go after not just their first, but also their second- and third-choice targets if the opportunity arises. Some of the best deals will be those within your core, close adjacencies, or regional strongholds where integration discipline can be maintained. (Large deals can also make sense, of course, but they must be based on a rock-solid value creation business case.) Monitor those companies closely—including trends in their business and potential leadership changes—to identify the right time to engage.

A Parting Thought

Too often, leaders focused on a growth agenda take their eye off efficiency and cost only to find that the new revenue they generate is dilutive in the face of ballooning expenses. Generating significant cost savings frees up critical funds for investments in topline growth. When those savings are invested in the right capabilities (AI, in particular) it can yield a virtuous cycle, driving additional efficiency gains that can power revenue growth.

To achieve this balance, leaders must build a culture of cost excellence. This means equipping teams with the right tools to identify and implement cost-saving initiatives, fostering accountability around efficiency and spending, aligning the organization around clear cost objectives, and establishing effective governance and tracking systems. With that foundation, CEOs can unlock cost savings to fuel their expanding growth ambitions.

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TribeRank: A 5-step technique for product prioritization

 

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Catherine (Kit) Ulrich

What product skill could you teach somebody in 3 minutes or less?

For me, one of my favorite product techniques is what I call TribeRank. It is a way to prioritize better, faster, and with more fun! We’ve all sat through tedious roadmap/planning meetings at some point where after several hours of discussion you leave unsure about what you decided upon as a team and without a realistic (i.e., small) number of priorities. TribeRank is the antidote.

The thesis is that a cross-functional, diverse tribe (who has been immersed in the market, product, customer needs) can quickly prioritize top opportunities if the right framework is applied. Note that I use the word tribe, because this technique is best used when it includes individuals who are outside of a core scrum team— including marketing, sales, and customer service.

When to use this technique:

This technique works for prioritizing pretty much anything. When forming a product strategy, I have often repeated it multiple times: first with prioritizing KPIs, then customer segments, then initiatives, then features/epics, all the way down to user stories if needed (or sometimes even my own personal to do list).

Let’s get to it — the 5 steps to TribeRank:

Write the question you want to solve at the top of the board. For example: “What features do we want to launch in [time], to drive [KPI] for [customer segment]?”

• Have each person brainstorm as many solutions/ideas to this question within 5 minutes
• Rules: Use one post-it per feature/idea, use Sharpie pens so your writing is visible, draw examples if you can

• Have everyone stand-up and stand in a line
• One by one, walk past the whiteboard and put ONE of your ideas on the board
• Say out loud what is written on the post-it so that everyone can hear
• Rules: If you have a duplicate post-it, throw it out. No talking, except when you are putting up your post-it. This is the most important rule for TribeRank: it saves time, ensures you hear the person who is placing a post-it, and preserves discussion for when you are ready for a valuable debate about priorities
• Optional step: You can cluster the post-its either by (1) staying in your line and moving the post-its one-by-one or (2) allowing everyone to move post-its as they find a match/related item. Clusters help you develop a taxonomy and they are also a great visual tool for seeing whether your brainstorm has been comprehensive (e.g., are some clusters more populated than others). For example, if you are using TribeRank to prioritize customer segments, I have always found that you can cluster segments at least two different ways (e.g., by industry and also by task/job to be done). This is likely a post of its own, but knowing the lens you look at your segments through is highly impactful
• Remember to take a picture of your clusters to document the groupings

• Leaving the post-its on the board, draw an x-axis
• Label the right side as most valuable (or the appropriate definition of value, such as likelihood to drive the original KPI you stated)
• Label the left side as least valuable
• Everyone stands back up in a line
• One-by-one, each person can move one post-it left or right as they pass the board. It does not need to be one of your original post-its, you can select any of the notes on the board
• In the beginning, there is no need to explain why you are moving an item left or right. At some point, you will come down to a couple of post-its that different team members keep moving back and forth. This is the time to allow discussion and debate until you can commit to an order
• Rule: Do not overlap the post-its. No talking, except when it’s your turn to move a post-it

• Draw a y-axis
• Label the top easy
• Label the bottom hard
• Rules: The post-its cannot be moved left or right any more, only up/down
• Repeat the same process as above, walking in a circle, one at a time, moving post-its up and down
• Note: You can define easy/hard in more detail or you can also assume that the collective knowledge of the group is good for a first start. For example, easy/hard assumptions could be based on storypoints, ability to sell to a customer segment, volume of dependencies, availability of team skill sets, etc.

• Select one person to draw a diagonal line (with a downward slope like the example above)
• Everything above the line is a priority
• Everything below the line will be cut / put off for later
• Debate the line as a team until you can all commit to it together

A secret technique (not so secret now):

I love starting meetings or brainstorms with an opener and closer question. For this type of session, where communication and common understanding is critical, my favorite opener is this:

• You: “Think of a ball. In 10 seconds or less tell me what ball you pictured.”
• Everyone goes one-by-one and will usually say things like baseball, basketball, dodgeball, and some smarty will say “a dance.”
• You: “All I said was the word ball, and we came up with 20 different answers, this is why communication will be critical today. When we describe a feature (or customer segment or KPI), we need to make sure we are all thinking about it the same way.”

A couple of other tricks:

• You won’t have commitment across the team unless you have healthy debate. As the facilitator, be sure to allow people who are quieter the chance to speak and share their reactions.
• This technique works best with a cross-functional team, who has already been exposed to research on customer segments, user needs, the relative size of sample opportunities, etc. I recommend sharing research and materials to pre-read before the TribeRank session to facilitate this.
• You can also take the output on this session and put it through the ringer by market sizing each customer segment, breaking features into user stories and pointing them (to quantify the ease/difficulty), mapping cross-team dependencies for each initiative in detail, etc. At earlier-stage companies this is likely not needed, but as you scale or lead a team with 50+ people, you may need to add more rigor after this initial brainstorm in order to validate your hypotheses.
• Some people do best when they have had the chance to sleep on a topic/react to it. Check-back in on whether the tribe stands by the prioritization a day later.

An important side note: I am lucky to have had amazing mentors in my career such Marty Cagan, Jeff Patton, BJ Fogg and many more. I am also aware that there is a cognitive bias called cryptomnesia, where you think you invented an idea, but really it is a forgotten memory. I am sure I learned this technique from one of the brilliant people I have had the chance to work with and hope that you now make it your own!

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Positioning Your Company for Growth: How to Succeed in 2025

 

 Scotty Smith

Positioning your company for scalable success is no longer optional. In today's competitive environment, especially for Fort Worth businesses and B2B organizations, building a growth-ready strategy is critical. Businesses that proactively plan for scalable expansion in 2025 will outpace those that "wing it." Let's walk through how to ensure you're one of them.

What Does "Positioning for Growth" Really Mean?

Positioning for success means aligning your marketing, sales, customer service, and operations toward clear, measurable outcomes. Without clarity and alignment, companies hit barriers that stunt momentum.

Strong business positioning also means understanding your market, your competitors, and your industry's evolving landscape. Companies investing in ongoing research can identify opportunities early and position their services uniquely.

A thoughtful positioning strategy highlights how your product stands apart, how your company serves customers better, and why your brand deserves their loyalty.

Why Strategy, Market Understanding, and Audience Clarity Matter

An effective growth strategy depends on market knowledge, clear messaging, and real audience understanding. Without a defined direction, businesses drift. Without market research, products miss the mark. Without understanding your audience, messaging falls flat.

Successful companies keep people at the center of their strategy — crafting messaging that reflects customers' real needs, expectations, and aspirations. Professionals today expect quality services backed by reliable data.

Business leaders who invest time to study competitors and customer behavior are better positioned for sustainable business growth.

5 Key Strategies to Position Your Company for Business Growth

Implementing the right strategies creates momentum and helps businesses thrive, even in crowded markets.

1. Clarify Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Nailing your ideal customer profile is non-negotiable. Who are your people? What industries, company sizes, and buying behaviors best fit your services? Knowing your target sharpens every marketing and sales program you launch.

2. Build Scalable Marketing and Sales Systems

Manual efforts don’t scale. Smart companies invest in marketing automation software like HubSpot to capture leads, nurture relationships, and drive customers toward purchase decisions. Investing early helps you avoid costly fixes later.

3. Align Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success Teams

Departments that work in silos create friction. Align your teams with shared goals, unified messaging, and data-driven KPIs. Businesses that integrate these functions deliver a better customer experience and drive faster sales cycles.

4. Strengthen Brand Authority with Strategic Positioning

In 2025, brand authority isn't optional. Successful companies carve out a unique position in the market. Through quality content, SEO, research-backed thought leadership, and differentiated messaging, you establish credibility that builds lasting customer loyalty.

5. Invest in Smart Technology and Scalable Processes

Scaling companies invest early in CRM platforms, customer service software, and analytics dashboards. This data empowers better decision-making, identifies new opportunities, and ensures quality services. Strategic investment in technology prepares businesses to expand sustainably.

The Importance of Strategic Positioning and Long-Term Business Growth

Strategic positioning is the foundation of long-term expansion. Businesses that understand their market, position their offerings uniquely, and consistently refine their messaging outperform competitors.

Even giants like Forbes regularly publish research underscoring how audience-first thinking, competitor analysis, and customer-driven strategy fuel lasting success.

Companies that avoid strategic mistakes — like failing to define their positioning strategy — are the ones that build true momentum.

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Need to Accelerate Growth - Start by Overcoming Insanity - and Fixing Your Sales Pipeline

 

Stagewise sales process to analyze sales

BUT WAIT...I've tried a lot of this stuff before - and it didn't work...

I hear this all the time. It is especially true for organizations who have some holes in their Marketing and Business Development strategy and approach.

They have tried a whole bunch of other growth consultants and suppliers previously. They put forth a lot of effort, but got insufficient results.

It's common for companies to try something new - and then expect sales to start flowing in.

But, while sometimes gold can be struck right off the bat, typically it takes more than a tweak to your website, a series of webinars and some new product literature, and attending a few more trade shows.

Overcoming Insanity

The definition of insanity is: "Doing the same thing - and expecting different results."

Most Marketing and Client Acquisition is disconnected - or done piecemeal. The Marketing and Sales Pipeline should:

• Drive consistent leads at the top of your funnel
• Nurture them through the middle of the funnel and then
• Move and connect them to the bottom of the funnel where the sale can happen.

Leads - and thus opportunities - get lost all along the pipeline without the various levels being connected properly with the right hand-off.

Its also important to remember that only a small percentage of leads are ready to buy now - or soon. And as much as 90% of leads can be wasted by not treating them properly.

Unless your sales pipeline has a top to bottom system that covers - and connects - everything from lead generation to sale, pipeline management and growth strategies - you are leaving money on the table. And perhaps a lot more than you imagine...

None of this is rocket science

Good Marketing and New Business Development strategies should not only create bottom line results, but also streamline your efforts to focusing on the things that are the most profitable and most effective - which make them more manageable for you and your Team.

Its definitely worth the effort to identify any holes in your funnel where leads are dropping off - or where money is being spent without a measurable return.

A properly designed and run lead generation machine can make your Marketing and New Business Development efforts:

• More Efficient
• More Measurable
• More Reliable
• More Profitable and
• Result in More Growth

Sounds like something worth doing new.

What do you think?

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