Jul14
Senior managers, One-third of your strategic growth initiatives may be ticking time bombs.
Let that sink in.
You green-light initiatives. Assign budgets. Expect results.
But behind the slide decks and optimistic roadmaps... something’s off.
Recently, I sat down with 15+ CxOs. We ran a deep dive into their active growth portfolios. The exercise? Classify initiatives and test for hidden risk.
Using the “Growth At The Edge Of Core” lens, built on the proven Lean Scaleup framework.
Here’s what we found:
33% of their so-called “core” initiatives weren’t really “core.”
They looked executable.
But underneath? Major strategic uncertainty.
Uncertainty about customer behavior.
Uncertainty about capabilities.
Uncertainty about the changes to the business and operating model itself.
Let me put that differently:
You may be treating innovation bets as operational projects.
And that, respectfully, is where your growth initiatives will flame out.
Why it matters?
Your revenue targets depend on these bets.
Budget waste at this level compounds fast.
Your credibility is tied to execution success.
If the logic is wrong — execution logic for an innovation-type problem — then the race is already lost at the start.
So here’s your move:
Before you invest more resources...
Before your Board starts asking questions...
Check your growth initiative portfolio for hidden risk.
Get our free Growth Risk Checklist (Corporate practitioners only). Simply DM me.
It’s short. Sharp.
And built for you.
See what’s hiding in plain sight — before it costs you.
By Frank Mattes
Keywords: Innovation, Open Innovation, Project Management
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