Top 5 Business Challenges a Business Growth Expert Can Help You Solve

Running a mid-market business is a very different game from starting one.  At what point does working harder stop working, and clearer thinking become the real growth lever?

At this stage, growth is no longer about effort, speed, or pushing harder for top-line numbers. In fact, many of the CEOs I work with have already learned that chasing revenue without discipline often creates more complexity, more pressure, and less control. What matters now is building a business that delivers sustainable profitability, makes good decisions quickly, and scales without exhausting its leaders.

CEOs often ask me, “Do I need a business consultant, a coach, or a growth expert – and what will actually make a difference?”

This is where experienced business consulting, business growth strategy, and executive coaching become genuinely valuable – not as theory, but as practical leverage.

Across New Zealand, Australia, and globally, I see the same patterns play out in businesses sitting between $5–50m. The ones that break through are rarely the loudest or fastest growing. They are the ones who become clearer, more disciplined, and more intentional about how profit is created.

Here are the five challenges I most often help CEOs solve.

1. Strategy That Exists, but Does Not Change the Economics of the Business

Most mid-market businesses already have a strategy of some kind.

They have done planning sessions, invested time off-site, and articulated where they want to go. Yet when we look beneath the surface, profitability is not improving in line with effort, and execution feels harder than it should.

When I work with CEOs on business growth strategy, the focus quickly shifts from ideas to economics. We look at which choices genuinely improve margin, where capacity is being consumed without return, and which priorities are diluting focus rather than sharpening it.

A strong strategy makes the business easier to run, not harder. It clarifies what matters, what can wait, and what should stop altogether. That is why well-designed strategy workshops and strategic planning workshops are grounded in trade-offs, not wish lists.

2. Leadership Teams That Are Working Hard, but Not Creating Enough Leverage

This challenge shows up quietly.

Leadership teams are busy, committed, and capable, yet progress feels incremental rather than decisive. Decisions take longer than expected, senior leaders stay close to operational detail, and accountability becomes blurred as complexity increases.

Through executive leadership coaching, I work with leadership teams as a system, not just as individuals. The work is about redefining what “good leadership” looks like at this stage of growth.

That often means shifting leaders out of problem-solving mode and into leverage creation, clarifying decision rights, and removing work that does not require senior judgment. When leadership capacity is freed, profitability improves almost as a by-product.

3. Profitability That Looks Acceptable, but Is More Fragile Than It Appears

Many businesses look healthy on paper.

Revenue is strong, clients are flowing, and EBITDA seems reasonable. Yet when we unpack the details, profitability is often dependent on too many moving parts – key clients, specific people, or extraordinary behind-the-scenes effort.

In my work as a business growth expert, this is where we slow down and get precise. We examine contribution margin, pricing discipline, client mix, and delivery models. We bring clarity to the numbers, improve forecasting discipline, and strengthen decision-making so that leaders can move with confidence.

The goal is not to squeeze harder. It is to design a business where profit is resilient, visible, and repeatable – even when conditions change.

4. Operational Complexity That Is Draining Profit and Leadership Energy

By the time a business reaches this stage, complexity is inevitable — but inefficiency is not.

Too often, I see leadership teams compensating for broken processes, fragmented systems, or manual workarounds that should have been solved years earlier. The cost shows up in margin erosion, decision fatigue, and leadership time spent on issues that technology could handle.

Business consulting at this level focuses on simplification and leverage. We look at the handful of processes that most affect profitability, automate what should be automated, and improve the flow of information to decision-makers.

When operations are designed well, leaders stop firefighting and start leading again.

5. Successful CEOs Reaching the Limits of What Got Them Here

This is the most personal, and often the most powerful, shift.

Many CEOs I work with are successful by any external measure. Yet internally, they know something needs to change. The behaviours, instincts, and decision patterns that built the business are no longer enough to scale it.

This is the essence of “what got you here won’t get you there.”

Executive coaching exists for this moment. My role is to help CEOs recognise where they are unintentionally constraining growth – whether through control, decision bottlenecks, or holding onto roles they should have outgrown – and to build new leadership patterns that match the complexity of the business they are now leading.

Businesses rarely outgrow their leaders. They grow when leaders evolve.

The Hidden Advantage: Improving Decision Velocity Without Increasing Risk

One of the most consistent breakthroughs I see comes from improving decision velocity.

Not rushing and not cutting corners – but removing friction from how decisions are framed, owned, and made. Low decision velocity quietly undermines profitability through missed opportunities, slow execution, and leadership overload.

A business growth expert helps improve decision quality and speed by clarifying ownership, enhancing visibility, and creating execution rhythms that sustain momentum.

When decision velocity improves, profitability follows – not because people work harder, but because the business moves cleanly.

Why CEOs Engage a Business Growth Expert

CEOs do not engage in consulting or coaching because they lack the capability, they do it because the business has reached a level of complexity where independent thinking, structured challenge, and disciplined execution create disproportionate returns.

My work is about helping CEOs build profitable growth, strengthen leadership leverage, break through internal and external constraints, and lead businesses that work because of their design, not despite it.

That is how businesses move from successful to enduring.