I keep coming back to one thought:
Growth might be the most fundamentally stuck story we’re still telling ourselves.
It sits at the centre of how we define progress, shape economies, and make decisions in business. It influences what gets measured, what gets funded, and what gets prioritised.
And because it’s so deeply embedded, it is sometimes considered unassailable.
An article I wrote on this was published today in Green Business Journal (Issue 19 and online). It explores how the story of growth has become so dominant that it can crowd out other ways of thinking about value, wellbeing, and long-term resilience.
What I’m noticing more and more in my work is the tension this creates.
Leaders are being asked to move faster, deliver more, and scale continuously, while at the same time responding to complex, systemic challenges that don’t operate on those timelines.
It requires a different kind of response.
One that involves slowing down in order to see more clearly.
Creating space to think, rather than reacting to inherited assumptions.
Questioning what sits underneath the metrics we congregate around.
Because the pace we are operating at is often shaped by the very story we are trying to evolve.
Shifting that story, rather than abandoning growth, is about becoming more conscious of what we mean by it, what it is costing, and what it is crowding out. And nurturing the shoots of new story of growth which values regeneration and flourishing. This is where storytelling becomes more than communication. It becomes a lever for change.
I’d be interested to hear what you’re noticing in your own work. Where does the pressure to “keep growing” feel helpful, and where does it feel limiting?