Growing vs. Rebuilding a Business: Two Roads, Two Mindsets
The Danger of Confusing Two Very Different Journeys
We often hear "grow the business" and "rebuild the business" in the same breath. They roll off the tongue as if they were interchangeable, just different flavours of the same leadership challenge.
They are not.
They are fundamentally different roads that require different vehicles, different maps, and different driving skills. Growth is like a motorway: the lanes are clear, the direction is set, and the goal is visible on the signposts. Rebuilding is like restoring a classic car: before you can even think about speed, you need to strip the engine, replace broken parts, understand the wiring, and make sure the brakes work.
Over my career, leading transformations and expansions in insurance, I have done both. I have driven down the motorway of growth at high speed. I have also rolled up my sleeves in the dusty garage of rebuilding. What I have learned is that success in one does not guarantee success in the other, and mistaking one for the other is a recipe for wasted time, money, and morale.
This article separates the two so leaders can approach each with the right mindset, tools, and expectations.
1. Defining the Two Roads
Growth: The Motorway
When you are tasked with growth, you are being asked to take something that already works, such as a product, a service, or a business unit, and make it bigger, faster, and stronger. Your shareholders, board, or mission have set an expectation: increase revenue, market share, or customer base.
You start with something functional. The question is: Where are we going, and how fast can we get there?
Characteristics of a growth mandate:
A functioning core business model
A product or service with proven market fit
Organisational stability in processes and culture
A clear opportunity to expand into new markets, segments, or channels
Growth requires focus, speed, and alignment. It is about scaling what works without breaking it.
Rebuilding: The Restoration
Rebuilding is different. The business might still be alive, but something is broken, sometimes visibly and sometimes under the surface. Revenue is stagnant or falling. Processes are outdated. Market relevance is slipping. Morale is low.
Here, the mandate is to diagnose and repair. You cannot set an ambitious growth target on day one. You first need to understand:
What is working and worth keeping?
What is broken and needs fixing?
What is obsolete and should be removed entirely?
Only after this diagnostic phase can you chart a growth path.
Why This Distinction Matters
If you treat a rebuild like a growth project, you risk scaling broken systems. If you treat growth like a rebuild, you slow momentum with unnecessary overhauls. In both cases, you lose precious time, and in competitive industries, time is often your scarcest resource.
2. The North Star: Your Ultimate Goal
Whether growing or rebuilding, you must have a North Star: a clear, measurable goal that guides every decision.
More Than a Motivational Slogan
Your North Star is not a vague mission statement. It is a concrete, quantifiable target. In one of my previous roles, my mandate was to grow a small department into a €100 million business in five years. That number became our rallying cry. It was easy to remember, impossible to misinterpret, and powerful enough to align an entire organisation.
Good North Stars:
Specific (for example, "€100 million premium income in 5 years")
Measurable (everyone can track progress)
Time-bound (creates urgency)
Communicable (can be repeated by anyone in the company without confusion)
The Columbus Principle
In history, navigators like Columbus did not have GPS. They aimed for a destination using the stars, knowing full well they might end up somewhere else. In business, your North Star keeps you moving in the right direction even when conditions change.
When growing a business, your North Star is set early. When rebuilding, you might not be able to define it until after a period of diagnosis and repair, but once you do, it becomes just as crucial.
3. Understanding Your Ecosystem
No business operates in a vacuum. Your growth or rebuild will take place within an ecosystem, a web of relationships, competitors, regulators, suppliers, and partners.
I divide the ecosystem into three groups:
Pillars – Allies you can lean on for support, expertise, and resources.
Forces – Competitors or obstacles that will push against your progress.
Neutrals – Players who are not directly aligned or opposed but whose influence can shift depending on circumstances.
Why mapping your ecosystem matters:
You can prioritise building alliances with pillars.
You can anticipate the moves of opposing forces.
You can keep neutrals informed to avoid them tipping into opposition.
In one growth project, we had to rally not just our internal teams but also distributors, external partners, and even other companies in our corporate group. The €100 million target was not just for us; it was a shared goal that our ecosystem could buy into.
4. Communication: Tailoring the Message
One of the most prominent mistakes leaders make is communicating the same message to every audience. The core goal remains the same, but how you present it should change depending on your audience.
Shareholders and Boards
Focus on strategic vision, financial projections, and risk mitigation.
Be transparent about resource needs and timelines.
Show how the North Star aligns with their return expectations.
Team Members
Keep it simple. Avoid corporate jargon.
Show how their daily work contributes to the North Star.
Celebrate progress regularly to maintain momentum.
Partners and Distributors
Share the long-term vision and how it benefits them.
Be transparent about challenges as well as opportunities.
Build trust through consistency. Do not hide key targets from them.
5. The Growth Execution Framework
When you are in growth mode, here is the high-level sequence I have seen work repeatedly:
Set the North Star – Make it measurable, memorable, and time-bound.
Assess the Ecosystem – Identify pillars, forces, and neutrals.
Align the Team – Make sure everyone knows the target and their role in achieving it.
Secure Resources – Budget, talent, and technology.
Monitor Relentlessly – Use data to adjust tactics without losing sight of the goal.
6. The Rebuild Execution Framework
Rebuilding has its sequence:
Diagnose – Conduct a deep audit of products, processes, culture, and market position.
Identify Keepers and Discards – Preserve strengths and remove weaknesses.
Repair or Replace – Invest in systems, processes, or people as needed.
Rebuild Trust – With employees, customers, and partners.
Set the North Star – Only after the foundation is solid.
Transition to Growth Mode – Once stability is restored.
7. Pitfalls to Avoid
In Growth:
Overcomplicating the target. If it cannot be repeated in one sentence, it is too complex.
Scaling without strengthening. Do not ignore bottlenecks that will snap under growth pressure.
Neglecting culture. Growth stress can fracture even healthy teams if values are not reinforced.
In Rebuild:
Moving too fast. Fix before you scale.
Ignoring morale. People in a rebuild need reassurance and involvement.
Failing to declare victory. Celebrate milestones to show progress and rebuild confidence.
8. Case Insight: The €100 Million Journey
When I was tasked with turning a small department into a €100 million business over five years, we did not start with a complex 80-page plan. We started with the number. Everyone knew it. Everyone could explain it to a friend or partner.
We embedded it in internal presentations, board updates, and even conversations with distributors. We did not hide it because transparency built trust. Distributors, knowing our long-term commitment, were willing to invest their resources into joint initiatives.
That clarity became a competitive advantage. When you know exactly where you are going, every decision is easier: Does this get us closer to the €100 million or not?
9. Why Transparency Works
Some leaders fear that sharing internal targets externally is risky. Yes, there are contexts where you need discretion. But in my experience, openness creates alignment, builds credibility, and attracts partners who want to be part of a long-term success story.
10. Actionable Takeaways for Industry Leaders
For Growth:
Pick one number and make it famous.
Communicate it relentlessly and consistently.
Empower your allies in the ecosystem to carry the message.
For Rebuild:
Slow down to diagnose before you accelerate.
Be ruthless about removing what does not work.
Use early wins to rebuild trust and morale.
Two Different Journeys, One Common Discipline
Growing and rebuilding a business are not the same challenge dressed in different clothes. They are distinct journeys with different starting points, different speeds, and different risks.
But they share a common requirement: clarity of purpose. Whether you are accelerating on the motorway of growth or carefully restoring in the garage of rebuilding, you need to know exactly where you are going, and you need everyone around you to know too.
The road is never perfectly straight. Markets shift. Competitors surprise you. Technologies disrupt. But with a clear North Star, an honest map of your ecosystem, and tailored communication, you can navigate either journey with confidence.
Francois Jacquemin