Why Growing Businesses Require a Different Way of Thinking

Annette Blankenship, CSPF, PMP, CSM

Published on: 03/03/2026

If your business is growing but what used to work no longer does, you might not have a motivation problem. You might have a stage problem. This article uses the “checkers to chess” metaphor to explain why growth changes the rules, why each decision now has second-order effects, and what it looks like to shift from hustle to strategy so the business can stabilize and scale.