The CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage and owner of the Phoenix Suns walks his company's floor daily to find and solve three operational problems on the spot. This relentless removal of 1,000 small bottlenecks annually is his core strategy for driving growth.
The fastest-growing founders achieve outlier results not by working more hours, but by operating differently. They identify the single biggest bottleneck (e.g., low sales close rate), generate high-volume opportunities to test it (e.g., five sales calls a day), and then iterate on their process with extreme speed (e.g., reviewing and shipping changes every two days).
Countering the "get out of the way" mantra, Turing's CEO argues leaders must stay close to the details. He emulates a strategy of identifying the single most critical problem each week and working hands-on with the relevant team to unblock it, rather than operating through layers.
To fix a failing process like cash collections, the CEO should hold a daily 8 a.m. meeting with the team. By repeatedly asking a direct question like, "Where's my money?", you force the rapid resolution of small, overlooked blockers and create an unscalable but effective communication channel.
Instead of viewing problems as setbacks, Jacobs sees them as the very raw material for creating value. Solving obstacles for customers, employees, or within operations is how money is made. This mindset transforms stressful challenges into opportunities for growth and profit, preventing burnout.
When a critical process like cash collection fails, use a tactic from Intel's Andy Grove: a daily 8 a.m. meeting where the CEO directly asks, "Where's my money?" This intense, unscalable focus rapidly uncovers and resolves the small, systemic blockers that are derailing the entire process.
Founders often seek a silver-bullet growth strategy. The most effective approach is tactical and relentless: identify every small point of friction in your product and funnel, fix them, and repeat the cycle. This operational excellence *is* the strategy.
Don't try to fix everything at once. Inspired by the Theory of Constraints, identify the single biggest bottleneck in your revenue engine and dedicate 80% of your energy to solving it each quarter. Once unblocked, the system will reveal a new constraint to tackle next, creating a sustainable rhythm.
Believing there's a way to multiply a company's value, like a hacker seeking a vulnerability, can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. This mindset forces you to relentlessly identify and solve the highest-leverage problems, leading to an outsized impact.
The most effective CEOs avoid medium-level tasks, focusing instead on high-level strategy and, counterintuitively, minor details. These small defects serve as a "spot check" to diagnose and fix the flawed underlying process—the "generating function"—that created them, providing powerful leverage.
When you identify your business's primary bottleneck, don't take incremental steps. The most effective approach is to overwhelm the problem by simultaneously reading books, watching videos, hiring coaches, and taking massive, relentless action until that constraint is completely resolved and a new one emerges.