Business Growth in a Down Economy

With the current economic situation and the likelihood of a recovery being a "jobless recovery", how do we define growth? This question was posted on LinkedIn (click the title above to see the original question along with contributors answers). I provided the following answer:

Growth can still be defined in yesterdays focused terms (GDP for the broader US economy, Revenue/Market Share for individual business and a host of other financial metrics) but growth is usually defined more broadly by those seeking it.

We all want to see our children experience healthy growth but that growth isn't just in height and weight. We want them to grow in knowledge, understanding, wisdom, values and morals. If physical growth was all that was important we'd all just feed and exercise our kids like livestock.

Mental, spiritual and emotional growth is equally important for successful lives as food and activity is. With our children and ourselves we broaden our scope and definition of growth and work at it today so that we can develop, plan and be prepared for tomorrow's challenges and opportunities.

So in today's economy; business growth must take on the added dimensions of developing people, strategies, methodologies, capacity, capability and product/service offerings in order to be best prepared to take advantage of opportunities waiting just beyond our current situation and circumstance.

Organizations that can do this now, in a down and lingering economy, will be the market leaders tomorrow and those all important hard dollar growth metrics will follow. 

Jeff