Passion, Plan, People, Profit and Perseverance. Easy to remember, essential to live by. Rather than the 4 Ps of marketing, we were introduced to these 5 Ps of entrepreneurial growth by Robert Dutton, at the recent EMBA McGill-HEC Montréal Entrepreneurs Panel on “How to manage growth”. Mr. Dutton is an Adjunct Professor and Chair of the Advisory Committee of HEC Montréal’s École des dirigeants, led Rona for over 20 years.
Passion
According to Dutton, passion is a key engine of growth. Many companies are small and will remain small because they do not want to become bigger. “There is no shame in that. Someone may simply want to earn a living with his own small business.” Others, however, aim to change the world with theirs; they will grow, become multinationals and reinvent their industry. Leading these types of organizations, one often finds entrepreneurs who not only have a passion for success, but also a passion for changing the world.
Plan
“As the famous quote attributed Laurence Peter, the father of the Peter Principle goes: “If you do not know where you’re going, you will probably end up somewhere else!” Growth, real growth, adapts poorly to disorder”, according to Mr. Dutton. “It needs direction.” It’s not the size or the number of pages of the plan that is important. The focus should be to ensure that the entrepreneur has a clear idea of what he or she is trying to accomplish. In times of growth, companies face a lot of uncertainty, which makes planning tough, but even more necessary.
People
Above all else, a company is defined by its people, which means that they are inseparable from its growth. “The choice of your employees, how to motivate them, to pay them, to keep them (or let them go, because you will make mistakes when choosing them), these are the most important decisions you will make – day after day after day. It’s people, not products or strategies, that will make your success or your failure”, Robert Dutton clarified. When it comes to choosing the right people, Mr. Dutton recommends choosing them based on their knowledge and skills, but also on their values, their morals, and their rectitude, because “your employees’ values become your company’s values. They will become your business.”
Profit
Profit is an absolute condition of a company’s survival, development and sustainable growth. Growth without profit is dangerous. Sustainable success is based on a healthy balance between profit and growth.
Perseverance
“If you do not make mistakes, if you do not know failure, it probably means that you haven’t been bold enough, entrepreneurial enough”, argued Dutton. “Launching a business is an ongoing process of trials, successes, and also errors. But ultimately there is only real failure: giving up.” Perseverance is what characterizes entrepreneurs who succeed, despite the challenges and difficulties they face along the way.
Mr. Dutton concluded his speech with this key insight “How can we persevere with such difficult challenges before us, such significant obstacles? The secret lies in one word … Passion! We are back to our starting point. The five “Ps” of entrepreneurship, the five “Ps” of growth, do not form a a straight line, but rather, a virtuous circle.”
Réal Jacob, professor at HEC Montréal, Danny Macdonald, Guy Gervais, Philippe-Aubert Messier, Stéphane Rouleau, Robert Dutton and Michel Filion, director of recruitment at the EMBA McGill-HEC Montréal
