By Stefania Aulicino

If you go to the airport but are not clear on where you want to go, any airplane will get you there. If you grow your company but are not clear on where you want to end up, any client prospect will take you there.

2009 was a wakeup call. A very challenging economy made it painfully clear that all growth is not the same.

Mic saw the revenue of his custom machinery company drop from $10million to $5million in 1 year in 2009 because he took the lazy path and accepted growth that came to him: I call that Reactive growth.

In contrast, Tina saw the revenue of her water management company increase from $9million to $10.5million with escalating profits to 10% because her passion guided her decisions. I call this Proactive growth.

What is the difference?
Proactive growth is passion-driven, translated into a set of financials out in the future.
Reactive growth is opportunistic.

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