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Our relentless pursuit of growth, deeply ingrained in modern capitalism, is severely damaging our planet. And while companies outwardly embrace sustainability, their simultaneous push for expansion creates a hypocritical paradox.
Growth, the insatiable desire to hit the G-spot, has become the collective capitalist drug, fueled by the belief that it improves our standard of living. Growth results in more tax revenue which builds more schools and hospitals. This belief is valid in developing countries, however, in developed nations, this relentless pursuit of growth no longer serves a valid purpose and instead undermines our sustainability efforts.
It is time to question this growth objective and consider a “flat” strategy where companies, once profitable, cease to expand. This shift in thinking is crucial as climate change becomes an actual threat to our survival. While certain industries like sustainable energy may warrant growth, the majority of companies should perhaps prioritize the planet over profits. Do Hanoi and Mumbai really need more Burger King restaurants? Do we need more fast fashion brands, more stores, more trucks on the road?
The problem lies in our unquestioning acceptance of growth as the ultimate goal. Since graduating university, we’ve been conditioned to pursue growth in our careers, and shareholders demand it for higher dividends. However, this mindset needs to change.
Societal norms evolve over time. It was not that long ago where it was the norm for segregation in buses based on skin colour, unthinkable today. Our unquestioned expectation regarding growth should be challenged too. If we’ve witnessed shifts in what is considered morally and socially acceptable, the same should apply to our economic models. By challenging the status quo and advocating for a “flat” approach, we can make a real difference in preserving our planet for future generations. Flat is the new black.
But this requires a brave stance from board members and shareholders. We must question the need for our endless expansion and consider the long-term consequences of our actions. It is time to embrace a new corporate trend where “flat” is not seen as dull or disappointing but as a responsible and sustainable approach.
Let’s be pioneers in this movement and prioritize the health of our planet over the pursuit of endless growth. Perhaps next year’s targets should be the same or lower than this year? Question growth.
The Unsustainable Pursuit of Growth
‘Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell’ said ecological philosopher Edward Abbey. The tumour that is modern capitalism and its growth KPI needs to be treated. I am tired of the hypocrisy. On one hand, the sustainability agenda is everywhere. Most company annual reports have strong green-washing imagery and content. Nearly every event at which I perform will have a sustainability speaker or time allocated to debate the issue. Every corporate website demonstrates how seriously the organisation takes its sustainability responsibilities. However, at the same time these companies push for growth, strive for expansion -more stores, more people, more markets. You cannot have both. You see, growth is the problem, the insatiable desire to hit the G-spot. Growth at any cost, but growth is killing our planet.
Don’t get me wrong, I get the excitement of growth. I have measured my children’s height against the same wall for 18 years. Watching the distance between pencil notches every year was always a great source of excitement, but recently there are no more squeals of delight. Now as young adults, those growth days are over, which is just as well. As humans, if we kept growing several centimetres every year, for our entire lives, our bodies would become ungainly and unbalanced. There comes a point where growth simply becomes unsustainable. No more pencil notches is a good thing.
There is a significant challenge ahead of C-level executives and boards, and it is the growth paradox. You cannot be serious about sustainability and seek significant organisational growth at the same time.
Many of the industry association events I speak at begin with a ‘state of the nation’ type speech, usually delivered by an economist or professor in a tweed jacket. I have concluded, having watched hundreds of such speakers, that when you graduate with an economics degree, the university must bestow tweed jackets instead of gowns. It is the only explanation that makes sense regarding their collective agreed dress code.
But aside from their jackets, the speeches are also all identical. A ‘state of the economy’ story that focuses on key aspects, namely inflation, interest rates and economic growth. Every attendee wants to know the growth forecast of course, because it has become our everything. Forget crystal meth and fentanyl, growth is our collective capitalist drug.
The Illusion of ‘Green Growth’
‘We aim to double our turnover in the next 5 years’. ‘We will double our market share by 2026’. ‘We will substantially increase our footprint in new markets’. All of these statements were made by organisations I have worked with in the past year, made from the stage, alongside an earlier or later sustainability discussion. The two statements fit together as well as oil and water.
Everyone reading this article will have revenue, sales, or market share targets that are growth orientated. If your department or company revenues were $5m last year, let’s aim for $7m next year. If you built/opened 40 new stores this year, let’s aim for 80 next year. Our domestic market is nearing saturation, let’s push into new emerging markets. Growth is always the key priority; any slowdown and the chairperson or CEO is often replaced.
The problem lies partly in our lack of questioning this growth as an underlying strategy, as a fundamental concept. Perhaps it is time to aim for ‘flat’. Flat is the new black.
Redefining Success in a Finite World
Growth is an inherent part of every economic model, true of governments and nations as much as it is of organisations. Talk to any economist, and after they tell you why you should never wear tweed jackets while naked (something we all probably inherently understand already) they will tell you that growth is essential to improve a population’s standard of living.
The explanation goes something like this. Growth means higher GDP, which means more tax revenues. With this additional tax revenue, governments build more schools, universities, hospitals and infrastructure, which in turn help us grow further. Growth fuels growth, investment catalyses more investment, and so we continuously improve our standard of living. That is the economic argument for why growth is essential, and I think it is a valid argument in developing countries. Growth improves our standard of living.
Few of us could argue against the building of schools, hospitals and road networks where there are none. The families in a rural Cameroon village, without adequate water, a road network or access to a healthcare centre don’t care about my ‘Flat is the New Black’ concept. They want growth, in fact they need it.
But that same need does not translate into our developed world. It is harder to understand how the opening of another 50 retail stores or launching yet another fast fashion brand really helps society at large. But it certainly undermines what we are trying to achieve regarding sustainability. Growth is killing the planet, devouring our limited resources.
The Growth Delusion in the Developed World
So why does every organisation have a fundamental need to grow? Where does it come from? Ask yourself, have you ever been in a meeting where the discussion was around how to sell less, or witnessed the board saying ‘OK, that’s enough’. What is wrong with ‘steady as she goes’ as a strategy? When did ‘more is more’ become the everyday capitalist mantra? No one ever questions growth, but perhaps we should.
Since you graduated university or your MBA, growth has been expected of you, in whatever direct or support role you have. In fact, your annual review, bonus and performance is probably based on it. Shareholders certainly expect it. They want higher dividends or a better commercial performance to drive up the share price. And growth is our proxy of success. But what if the shareholders are wrong too?
Things change over time, and I think our commercial growth expectations might need to be one of them.
Morally and socially, what was once acceptable, later becomes shameful. In the 1950s it was socially acceptable to ask a black person to sit in a designated seat on a bus, partitioned from those of Caucasian ethnicity. Try that today and they’d rightly tell you where to go. Today it is baffling to even think how such a norm existed, but it was an everyday occurrence back then.
In the 1970s &1980s children were often name-called as ‘gay’ in the playground as a slur. Again, that would not happen today. In the 1990s, there were many sit-coms and comedy sketch shows poking fun at the Transgender community. Those shows would not air today. Things that were once socially acceptable become less so over time. Social morality is an ever evolving reality.
The Uncomfortable Truth of Endless Growth
You walk down a side street in Hanoi or Chiang Mai today and you wonder what the Burger King is doing there. Was there an overwhelming consumer need in the Thai or Vietnamese populations for a Whopper, or did the company seek expansion, pushing into new markets to feed the growth monster, bringing the delights of obesity and processed foods to ever new populations.
You enjoy your holiday espresso on the balcony of your hotel, watching as another two luxury hotels are being built opposite you. Do we need more hotels, more linen to wash, more tiny shampoo bottles to dispose of everyday? Everywhere you look there is more. New variants, new flavours, new stores.
As climate change starts to have a significant effect on our everyday lives, moving from a conceptual to an actual threat, the sustainability debate moves from a CSR one to a survival one. Most companies purpose is still profit, with a capital ‘P’. Maximise revenue, maximise sales, maximise profits. It would take a brave board member to suggest ‘flat’ as the new KPI. 
But there may come a day where flat is the only option.
We do not generally see flat as good. Discovering your car has a flat tyre is a frustrating way to start your day. Being given a flat Coca-Cola or beer is disappointing. A flat ski-slope is not very exhilarating. We generally see ‘flat’ as static, dull, disappointing (exceptions being our abs and bellies… then flat would be amazing).
When ‘Flat’ is the New KPI
So here is the very simple question: If a company is profitable at its current size and scale, why then is their focus to grow? To do more damage to the planet. To build more factories and stores, to send more parcels, to put more trucks on the road? Why are we intent on growing knowing that it is damaging the planet? When will a CEO stand-up and say ‘enough’? When will the sustainability agenda outweigh the growth one? Who will take the first stand?
Of course, a certain amount of growth and scale is required to reach a profitable point. But assuming that has been reached, that we have covered costs and made some profit, we need to stop. Growth has become an unquestioned objective, and we are drifting into morally questionable territory.
I envisage a future boardroom conversation falling silent as someone utters the dirty G-word, the other executives embarrassed that someone would suggest the company would want to actively contribute to killing the planet. A future where the next generation of shareholders are not motivated by financial reward but more by investments that help us maintain life on this planet. Maybe then, growth will become as uncomfortable as calling someone ‘gay’ in the playground or asking a black person to take a certain seat on a bus. Something morally wrong and socially unacceptable.
Challenging the Growth Mindset
Of course it is not that easy. Certain companies must be allowed to grow. The lab that is using AI protein sequencing to find a cure for cancer should surely be allowed to expand its activities. Same with any company in the sustainable energy space. So how do we decide? Who decides who gets an ‘allowed growth credit’ in our future dystopian world and who doesn’t? But we don’t need all the answers to know that growth is not sustainable and that we can make a difference today.
So don’t be part of the problem, be part of the solution. Try this at your next annual review or strategy session. Stand up and question your own company’s morals and sustainability credentials when growth is mentioned. Challenge senior leadership to aim for ‘flat’, to stop expanding. Less is more. Unless the company is losing money, growth causes more damage than it contributes to society. Sure, the shareholders are happy, as are the company fat cats bonused on sales and profits, but we, the planet, suffer.
And don’t give me any of that corporate ‘growing sustainably’ nonsense. If you punch someone in the face, helping them with their arising bloody nose doesn’t forgive your original violence. It would be best not to punch them in the first place.
Flat is the new Black, the new corporate trend. Be a pioneer.
Turns out the flat earthers were right. We’d be a happier place if our world was flat. 
