Smart Growth

How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Company

By: Whitney Johnson

Narrated by: Whitney Johnson

Growth is the goal.

To help people develop their potential, to articulate and become the self that they want to be, are capable of being, and that best serves them and others in the short and long term is what we as individuals and leaders strive toward.

But how do we grow? It turns out it happens in a predictable way, which means we can understand where we are in our growth and chart a way forward. In this compact, complete guide, Whitney Johnson helps you envision how growth happens and proactively direct yourself, or others in your organization, to help make the leaps needed to achieve goals.

The growth and learning journey comes in three phases, the Launch Point, the Sweet Spot, and the High End, and within each phase, we play roles that keep us moving toward our goals. Compelling examples of successful people will show you when growth is slow and why, and how to keep going, and what to do when growth and learning are almost too fast to keep up with, and how to leap from one growth journey to another.

As individuals grow so do organizations and societies. Growth is learning put into action, ideally action that betters the world as we better ourselves and our small niches within it, both personal and professional. Growth occurs when learning is internalized, when we try something new and invest the effort to move it from being something we do, to something we are.

©2022 Whitney Johnson (P)2022 Ascent Audio

Aspirational + Accessible

I loved the book and the reading of it. Whitney excels at story telling and shares both aspirational and accessible smart-growth examples.

Worth it!

Excellent book providing a great framework for how to think about (and regularly revisit) your own personal growth and the growth of your people.

Great stories as well to bring it all to life!

If you're feeling "stuck" in your career, get this

I've been a fan of Whitney's podcast for about a year, and her interviews are always fantastic. But this book takes all of it to the next level. So many people are figuring out their next career move right now, and this framework about learning, growing, getting bored, and taking risks is going to resonate with a LOT of people. It's also really valuable to think about this stuff if you manage a team or run a company. I love this audiobook (and the hardcover, I have both!) and it's really helped me during a time of transition.

Many Mountains to Climb? Smart Growth Begins Here.

Author, Whitney Johnson, states this book is "for any individual who wants to demystify the process of personal growth. If you wonder how to start, gain momentum, or why you outgrow things, even things you do very well, this book is for you." She delivers on that statement.

Whitney takes you on a tour of the growth process using examples of how people in several facets of life scaled their own personal S Curve of Learning, through their Stages of Growth and encourages you to recognize where you are at and what you can do to continue your own growth. In addition to your own growth, she provides solid takeaways for managing people and helping them on their own professional smart growth journeys.

If growth is your mountain to climb then you would be smart to let this book be your first step.

Brilliant and super useful

This book and the S curve framework are brilliant resources for all levels of managers. Also a great method for self reflection for individuals to understand where they are on their own professional journeys .