A CEO is Like a Goldfish Bowl: Why Business Growth (or Stagnation) Starts and Ends with Leadership

In my years working with businesses, one of the most common refrains I hear from established leaders is: “We need to grow. We’ve hit a plateau, and we’re not sure what to do next.”

Often, these businesses have achieved a relatively substantial success—a $10 million company, maybe $20 million. They’ve built something strong and steady but have stalled. While their competitors are surging ahead, they remain stagnant, and the CEO or business owner begins to feel the pressure.

“If we don’t grow now, we’re going to fall behind. We need to act fast.”

It’s a natural reaction. They’ve had success before, and they’re proud of their accomplishments—and rightly so. But here’s where things start to unravel.

Success Doesn’t Guarantee Growth

Many of these leaders are comfortable. They’re confident in the formula that brought them their initial success. That formula worked in a specific time, place, and market.

But the world doesn’t stop evolving just because your business hit its stride.

Technological advancements, changing consumer behavior, and the digital-first landscape are moving faster than ever. And yet, many of these CEOs find themselves stuck, clinging to the old ways:

• Outdated internal systems frustrate employees, clients and customers and slow productivity.
• Weak digital presence alienates younger consumers who expect seamless online interactions.
• Aging workflows demotivate staff, who see more modern opportunities elsewhere.

Instead of adapting, they focus on squeezing more out of the same people and processes that got them this far. But that’s not how growth works anymore.

Blame Game: When Leadership Avoids Accountability

Here’s the critical moment: the CEO hires consultants, IT specialists, or digital transformation experts. They want help modernizing but half-heartedly believe it’s necessary.

In their hearts, they’re convinced the problem lies elsewhere.

• “If only the sales team worked harder...”
• “If only my staff weren’t so lazy...”
• “If we had the right hires or better consultants, we’d be fine.”

But the truth is often simpler—and harder to swallow: the business can never grow bigger than its leader.

When a CEO blames external factors or their team for stagnation, they miss the obvious. A business reflects its leadership, just as a koi fish’s growth is determined by the size of its tank. A small, limiting vessel stunts growth, no matter how much potential the fish—or business—might have.

The Impact of Leadership on Team Morale

In these stagnant companies, staff morale often follows the same trajectory:

• Demotivation: Employees see no rewards for extra effort. Salaries stagnate, workflows remain inefficient, and the future feels bleak.
• High turnover: The most talented employees leave for opportunities where their skills are valued and their contributions recognized.
• Blame culture: Those who remain feel unsupported and unmotivated, as leadership focuses on assigning blame rather than providing vision or growth.

Loyalty erodes, productivity plummets, and the cycle continues. And yet, the CEO sees the symptoms—poor performance, turnover, and missed targets—but not the cause.

Why the Business is Stuck

When I evaluate a business’s health, one of the first things I look for is simple:

• Is there trash outside or in the lobby? The state of the physical space reflects the care and pride in the organization; if nobody cares, you’re on the way out. (more about this in a later article)
• When I ask the CEO why growth has stalled, what’s their answer? If their response is anything other than, “Me. I’m responsible,” it’s clear that the problem lies in their unwillingness to take accountability.

Leaders who avoid responsibility perpetuate a vicious cycle of stagnation. If the CEO won’t grow, the business can’t grow.

The Harsh Reality

If your business is failing, if your team feels stuck, and if your best people thrive only after leaving your company, the common denominator is clear: it’s you.

You’re the small goldfish bowl that’s keeping everything else too small. Your reluctance to adapt, expand, or delegate is stifling the potential of your business and before you pay tens to hundreds of thousands to millions in consulting and development and marketing fees only to ignore expert advice and do things exactly as you always have, learn this about yourself and save yourself the expense.

Growth demands change. Sometimes that means modernizing your processes, hiring better people or teams, and stepping back and letting them thrive without micromanagement.?

And actually learning new processes.?

Sometimes it means embracing the uncomfortable truth: the formula that worked once isn’t going to work forever.

What Great CEOs Understand

The best leaders recognize that growth starts with them. They know that to take their business to the next level, they need to:

1. Be flexible and open to change. Success isn’t a static achievement—it’s an ongoing process that requires adaptation. If you aren’t invested in change, shut the business down; growing bitter, blaming employees living in the past isn’t a good look.
2. Empower their teams. Motivated, well-trained employees who feel valued are the backbone of any thriving company, same goes for any business relationship, customers and clients as well.
3. Take accountability. Growth begins when you stop blaming external factors and start looking inward.

If your business is stagnant, take a moment to reflect: are you creating the space for growth, or are you the bowl that’s holding everyone back? If you’re going through the motions of hiring us, consultants, and then ignoring everything because you think you know better, your business wouldn’t be stuck where it is losing market share, you absolute walnut.

The choice is yours—and the future of your business depends on it.