Why do successful companies become harder to run as they grow?
I have spent my career inside businesses as they grew, became more complex, and came under pressure. That experience led me to name Heavy Growth and create Business Fitness.
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EXPERIENCE
35+ years · 50+ companies · 12 industries · 30 countries
Global CHRO, Aramex · Vice President of Human Resources, Carrefour · Executive roles in businesses under pressure · Founder, Zeder Group
THE QUESTION UNDERNEATH GROWTH
Is the business becoming stronger as it grows, or simply heavier?
Across very different businesses, I kept seeing the same pattern. Companies were growing and, by most measures, succeeding, yet becoming harder to run underneath the results. Decisions took longer. Leadership teams worked hard but did not always move together. Important work stayed almost done. Revenue grew without margin or cash improving with it. Too much still depended on the founder or a few key people.
That pattern became Heavy Growth. The need to see what was happening underneath the results became Business Fitness.
THE BOOK
Heavy Growth
Your company is growing. So why is it getting harder to run?
I wrote Heavy Growth for founders and CEOs whose businesses are succeeding but are becoming harder to carry underneath. The book explains why growth can add complexity and dependence faster than the business builds the strength to carry them, why good results can hide structural weakness, and what leaders can do to build a business that gets stronger as it grows.
THE WORK
Business Fitness Standard
I created Business Fitness to measure what traditional performance metrics do not: whether the business is structurally ready to carry its growth.
Business Fitness measures whether the structure of a growing business is becoming strong enough to carry its growth, and where pressure is building first.
The F.I.T. Check gives a founder a first reading from their own chair.
ABOUT
Built inside businesses, not from observation at a distance.
My work has taken me across more than 50 companies, 12 industries, and 30 countries, through growth, complexity, and major change.
I served as Global CHRO of Aramex and Vice President of Human Resources at Carrefour, and I have also stepped into executive roles in businesses under pressure, with operating responsibility for improving profitability.
In 2010, I founded Zeder Group. When the business reached a breaking point, I rebuilt it with my own money, clarifying decision ownership, narrowing priorities, and walking away from work that weakened profitability. Today, the team runs Zeder day to day with limited intervention from me.
Across those experiences, the same structural pattern kept appearing. I named it Heavy Growth and created Business Fitness to make that condition easier to see and measure. Business Fitness is now my full-time professional focus.