Though some of us may be new, many of us have been at this for a long time — at Elevate, or at least in our businesses.
Personally, I’ve been in Elevate for over ten years. And I’ve been in my practice for over seventeen.
And I know that many of you have been on a similar journey.
So today I want to speak to that. After years of walking the path how do you evolve?
Netflix began in 1997 as a DVD-by-mail rental company.
The original model was simple: you went online, ordered a DVD, and it showed up at your house. No trip to the video store. No late fees.
But Netflix eventually recognized something important:
The business they had built wasn’t necessarily the business they were going to become.
They began moving toward streaming.
And that required letting go of a model that was still generating revenue.
That’s the fascinating part.
They weren’t changing because the old business had completely failed.
They were changing because the world was changing.
Netflix eventually moved from:
DVDs → streaming → original content → a global entertainment platform.
Each transition required them to abandon some version of what had previously made them successful.
That’s a powerful business lesson: Sometimes the greatest threat to your next level isn’t failure. It’s success.
Success can convince you that what you’re doing is working — and therefore convince you to keep doing it.
Your systems may have protected you.
Your work ethic may have built you.
Your ability to personally solve every problem may have made you successful.
But evolution asks a particular question:
“What’s working today that might prevent us from being ready for tomorrow?”
Because eventually, those same characteristics can become limitations — like a lobster outgrowing it’s valuable and protective shell.
And that’s where leadership enters the story.
Because here’s the uncomfortable truth: The business can only evolve as far as the people inside it are willing and able to evolve.
That means growth isn’t just a business problem. It’s a human problem.
Your habits matter. Your thinking matters.
Your emotional regulation, ability to make decisions, willingness to hear the truth, and willingness to change when the evidence reveals it, all matter.
And then of course there’s networking.
Because early growth often comes from what you can personally accomplish.
Later growth increasingly comes from who you know, who trusts you, who believes in you, who can open doors, and who can help you see what you can’t see yourself.
More to come on this in the near future but for today, consider that the evolution of business ultimately involves a few ideas:
A lobster: You can’t grow without periodically shedding the shell that once protected you.
Netflix: You can’t evolve if you’re unwilling to let go of the business model that made you successful.
Leadership: You can’t scale if you remain the person responsible for everything.
Networking: You can’t grow indefinitely through individual effort; eventually, relationships, trust and collaboration become part of the engine.
Remember, growth isn’t just about expansion. It’s about adaptation.
So the question isn’t necessarily whether your business needs to change. It’s whether *you’re* willing to change before you’re forced to.
And sometimes the biggest growth opportunity sitting in front of you isn’t a new strategy.
It’s a new version of you.