TL;DR:
- Aiming for “10% better” keeps you playing the same game as everyone else, just slightly faster.
- Asking “What would it take to be #1?” forces you to invent a new game entirely—one where you set the rules.
- This mindset shift isn’t about needing more resources; it’s about radically reallocating the ones you already have with immense focus.
- True market leadership comes from reverse-engineering your desired future, not by taking small, tentative steps from your present reality.
It’s that time of year. You’re in a planning meeting, the whiteboard is clean, and the air is thick with cautious optimism. Someone proposes the goal for the next year: “Let’s aim for 10% growth.”
Everyone nods. It sounds reasonable. It’s measurable. It’s responsible.
It’s also a trap.
The desire for safe, incremental growth is perhaps the single biggest killer of ambition in business. It feels like progress, but it’s actually a cage. It keeps you focused on your direct competitors, your current limitations, and the well-trodden path. It encourages you to ask, “How can we do what we’re already doing, just a little bit better?”
This is the wrong question. It leads to slightly better products, marginally faster services, and a business that is, at its core, indistinguishable from the crowd.
The right question is the one that breaks the cage wide open.
The Question That Changes the Game
Instead of asking how to get 10% bigger, stop and ask your team this:
“What would it take for us to be the undisputed #1 in our market?”
Silence usually follows. The question feels too big, too audacious. But forcing yourself to answer it is the most powerful strategic exercise you can do. It fundamentally shifts your perspective from improving to inventing.
Building a business that grows 10% and building one that becomes a market leader both require your full attention, your nights and weekends, your heart and soul. The energy output is often the same. The difference is the starting point. The difference is the quality of the question you’re willing to ask.
How to Reverse-Engineer Greatness
Asking the #1 question isn’t about wishful thinking. It’s a practical tool for reverse-engineering your path to the top. Here’s how it works.
1. Define Your “Number One”
First, get brutally specific. What does “#1” actually mean for you? Is it the highest market share? The most recognized brand? The most profitable? The company with the most fanatical customers? The undisputed leader in quality and craftsmanship? Write it down in a single, clear sentence.
2. Map the Necessary Conditions
Once you have your destination, work backward. If you were already that #1 company, what would have to be true?
- What would your product or service suite look like?
- What kind of team would you have?
- What would your customers say about you, unprompted?
- What systems and processes would be running effortlessly in the background?
Don’t think about how to get there yet. Just map out the reality of that future state.
3. Find the Choke Point
Now, compare that future reality to your current one. Where is the single biggest gap? Is it your offer? Your brand’s visibility? Your ability to deliver at scale?
There will be dozens of small gaps, but there is always one primary choke point holding you back more than anything else. Find it. This isn’t about making a list of 50 things to fix. It’s about finding the one domino that, if tipped, would make everything else easier.
It’s About Resourcefulness, Not Resources
The most common objection to this kind of thinking is, “We don’t have the resources to be number one.”
That’s a myth.
The truth is, you likely already have the resources you need, but they are spread too thin across a dozen “10% better” initiatives. A budget scattered across five mediocre marketing campaigns is a wasted budget. That same budget, consolidated and focused like a laser on one bold, game-changing move—the kind of move a #1 player would make—can change everything.
This approach forces you to stop doing the “good” things to make room for the one “great” thing. It’s about making one concentrated, high-stakes bet instead of hedging with a dozen low-stakes efforts.
This is the essence of strategy: choosing what not to do.
Your Next Question
Stop chasing the 10% carrot. It will only ever lead you one small step ahead of where you are now.
Lift your gaze. Ask the bigger, harder, more clarifying question. The energy you spend will be the same, but the destination is worlds apart.
Thinking this way is a muscle. You have to train it. So, what’s one assumption you could challenge this week to get closer to your ‘#1’ position?
Share your thoughts in the comments below or reach out if you’d like a strategic sparring partner to help you find the answer.