For many years, business expert David G.Thomson has been on a mission.He has traveled the globe in search of high-growth companies in an effort to develop an actionable blueprint other companies can use to grow during both good and bad business cycles.After conducting a massive research project to determine how the highestgrowth companies reach that distinction, he turned his study into his previous book Blueprint to a Billion.

After the publication of Blueprint to a Billion,Thomson continued to distill the lessons he learned from those and other businesses into a guide that organizations can use to grow and prosper.The result of that process is his latest book,Mastering the Seven Essentials of High-Growth Companies.

High-Growth Lessons
To create this list of seven essential high-growth lessons for organizational leaders,Thomson interviewed dozens of CEOs and senior executives at the world's top high-growth companies and compiled what he learned. By showing how their business principles can be applied by any company at any time,Thomson presents a powerful guide for achieving rapid growth.

The first lessonThomson describes is "Create and sustain a breakthrough value proposition."He explains that an organization's value proposition must go beyond showing how customers will benefit when they use the company's products or services.A company with a "breakthrough" value proposition creates transformational products and services.Two more ways to create a breakthrough include redefining a specific market segment with a new type of product or service and creating a "category killer," which changes an entire market by offering a faster, better, cheaper alternative.
The next essential inThomson's blueprint for creating a high-growth company is finding a way to exploit a high-growth market segment.He explains that there are three ways to do this.The first way is to create a new market with an innovative product or service that changes an entire market.Another way is to redefine a market segment in a larger market.The third way is to optimize an entire market segment as a category killer.

Lessons From Middleby Corp.

One of the most interesting elements ofThomson's book is its presentation of real-life experiences from many CEOs at companies that are not household names. For example,Thomson introduces readers to Selim A.Bassoul, the chairman and CEO ofThe Middleby Corp., a manufacturer of hot commercial food service and processing equipment.

After creating aWomen's Chef Advisory Council, Middleby learned that women chefs needed shorter ovens so they could use top shelves, and ovens that were self-cleaning so they could be energy efficient. By moving from a male-centric design to a design that applied more directly to the majority of the people using its products, the company created a breakthrough opportunity that helped it get more of its products into companies such as Dunkin'Donuts and Subway.These types of strategies helped to grow Middleby from $100 million in revenue in 2001 to $657 million in revenue in 2009.
Thomson's skilled ability to find and define compelling stories like this helps to make Mastering the Seven Essentials of High-Growth Companies a powerful guidebook that can help any leader discover the steppingstones to growth and prosperity.