It is well-established that the human brain remembers things in sets of three, even better than sets of two or individually.  It’s as if we are hard-wired to appreciate the number three.  In baseball, you get three strikes, and three outs.  A traffic signal has three colors, red, yellow and green.  We measure many things by using high, medium and low.

According to James Fischer of the Growth Curve Institute, the power of three comes to bear in the business world, as well.  He describes this as the “power of three focusing formula” that helps business owners direct their attention on a regular basis.  The formula looks like this:

1. You need to know how you impact your company.
2. You need to deliver what the company needs from you as its leader.
3. Do what will advance you closer to achieving your company’s goals.

Fischer leverages this formula by combining it with what he calls the “five hidden agents” that tell a deeper story of what’s going on in a business.  Those five agents are revealed as such:

1. Builder-Protector ratio
2. Leadership style
3. 5 rules of growth
4. Top 5 challenges (from out of the 27 universal challenges)
5. Three gates of growth (revenue/profit, people and process)

When business owners merge these two information bases, they achieve what Fischer calls the “Super Formula for Business”.  It looks like this:

1. You can improve how you impact your company by focusing on 1) improving the builder-protector ratio and/or by 2) adapting your leadership style to the optimum style for your company’s stage of growth.
2. You can deliver what your company needs from you as its leader by focusing on 1) completing the 5 rules of growth, or by 2) addressing the “source” of your 5 challenges.
3. You can advance closer to your company’s goals by focusing on that which most supports your company’s three gates of growth top priority in your current stage of growth.

These concepts, and the many others that Fischer offers to the more than 750 corporate clients he has worked for are fleshed out in much greater detail in his book, “Navigating the Growth Curve”.  This book may be downloaded for free in digital form at www.SustainableBusinessGrowth.com, or picked up in 4 color paperback version at www.Amazon.com.

Eric Reamer and Angel Tuccy are the hosts of the nationally syndicated Experience Pros Radio Show.  James Fischer is the host of “Navigating the Growth Curve with James Fischer”, which airs as a regular segment of the show every Monday morning at 10:20 AM.  For more information about the show, please visit www.ExperiencePros.com.