With growth come the pressures of growth.

More people to manage, more suppliers to wrangle, more customers to please, more problems and processes and prospects to prod into shape. With the pressures comes the email. With the email comes the complexity. With the complexity comes the orchestration. With the orchestration, lots of new ways to use up your time.

You’ll pull back at the end of the day without ever talking to anyone other than a direct report. No water cooler interactions with that interesting developer, no passing time with the new recruit, no lunches with your oldest and most collaborative customers.

With growth come pressure to stop doing the things that made you grow, even when they’re the things that will keep you growing. Don’t succumb. Don’t lose contact. Don’t get seduced by efficiency and busy-ness.

Skippy strategy: Prioritise the kind of relationships and the people-processes that put you on the path.