Common Wall Street wisdom holds that if a business is successful, it grows, but growth can be a bane to business, overextending a company's modest resources and forcing it to compete beyond its means. Few companies achieve continuous, long-term expansion, and the "grow or die" mentality can result in bad strategies, poor earnings, and too much emphasis on short-term gains. So why do we allow Wall Street to define the rules of the growth game, especially when they produce such poor returns?A former lawyer, investment banker, and strategy consultant, and a current professor at the Darden Graduate School of Business, Edward D. Hess proposes a new model of growth rooted in solid research and proven risk management strategies. With case studies of SYSCO, Best Buy, UPS, Coca-Cola, Home Depot, McDonalds, P& G, American Eagle Outfitters, Room and Board, Starbucks, and Tiffany & Co., Hess describes the mechanics of real growth, and he consults fifty-four high growth private companies to show how they have generated substantial value over the long term. Hess ultimately introduces three key management tools: a growth decision template, a growth risks audit, and a seven-step growth model, teaching business leaders, directors, managers, and students the best way to assess a company's assets, manage its risks, and discover a good way to grow.