If growth feels harder than it should, start here.

Before I walk into a strategy session, I ask the same three questions. Not to be clever. Just to understand how the business is actually running. These are the questions:

What problem is your customer really trying to solve?
Not what you sell. Not what you want to be known for. What they come to you for when it matters.

What does success look like to you?
Not the vague version. The specific one. How you would know, a year from now, that things actually worked.

If you could only grow one thing this year, what would it be?
This tells me whether there are real priorities or just a long list of wants.

If growth feels harder than it should, start here. Answer the questions without overthinking them. If you catch yourself qualifying or explaining, stop for a moment and imagine how your team would answer the same questions. Or your customers.

When the answers vary, things slow down. When they’re clear, momentum gets easier to build.