Aim Way Higher Than You Are Now

I get that it’s a big deal to generate 10% more — whether it’s 10% more clients, 10% more revenue, or 10% more impact. But there’s a problem with 10%, namely that you can probably do it by just tweaking what you’re doing already. That 10% isn’t ambitious enough to force you to rethink your strategy or take a fresh look at your industry. In short, 10% isn’t enough of a stretch to get you to a breakthrough.

Think about doing 100% more. Goals like that require that you zoom out and see the whole field. And the big ideas that result, whether or not you ultimately adopt them, have an almost magical quality, unlocking optimism and excitement.

I’ll give you an example. When I had a post there, the University of Southern California had the largest school of social work in the world. And it wasn’t particularly close. They had students from nearly every state and produced way more than their share of the country’s social workers. For them, 10% more would have been negligible.

So we asked ourselves how we could leverage our size and influence to fundamentally change the field of social work. We stopped thinking like everybody else — about how to recruit more students — and started thinking about how we might make social workers the sexy new hires for government, foundations, and even businesses. That led us to develop the first-ever doctorate in social innovation, which has produced hundreds of graduates over the last few years.

Look, I get the logic of thinking small. After all, small changes are much easier to make and aren’t nearly as risky. But everybody else in your field is making the same calculation. Chances are that you’re reading the same things, hiring the same consultants, and reaching for the same low-hanging fruit. So your 10% is probably the same as their 10%. And if you’re moving in lockstep with everybody else, you haven’t really accomplished anything at all.

In your next meeting, talk to your team about doubling the number of clients, doubling revenue, or doubling impact. Yes, they’ll freak out. But then you’ll get more expansive thinking and much better ideas.