Why you don’t know where you’re bleeding: The hidden truths about growing your business

Every day, I talk to business owners who think they know what challenge is facing their business… But almost always, the real problem remains undiagnosed. 

They’re jumping to solve problems that aren’t going to impact their problem. They’re putting effort into firefighting symptoms. They’re not fixing the systems that are broken or inadequate for their next stage of growth.

You may be asking yourself: “Why can’t I see what’s really wrong?”

You’re not alone.

The blind spot every business owner runs into

Research shows that nearly 65% of new businesses fail to scale successfully, not because of bad products or markets, but because of internal complexity and leadership challenges they can’t see or don’t know how to fix it¹.

Why?

Because when you’re running a business, you’re deep inside the machine. Day-to-day firefighting, managing employees, serving customers, marketing, product development, and more. And it all consumes your attention. 

This “inside the machine” perspective creates what I call business blindness. It’s like trying to see the forest while standing in the middle of the trees.

Why business systems break… And why it’s normal

Your business has grown, but as it grows (more customers, more team members, more services) things naturally get more complicated.

Think of it like this:

• You go from handling everything yourself…
• To managing a few key people…
• To needing entire departments…
• To needing managers who manage managers.

What used to work — those systems, processes, and habits — start to break. Why? Because the business is bigger and it needs a different kind of structure to function smoothly.  More importantly, you need to keep investing in that infrastructure and capabilities to keep growing.

It’s normal and important for these systems to break, because it means your business is growing. But breaks need to be evaluated. And if they’re not, poor decisions get made, investments aren’t considered, and business challenges appear.

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Why it’s so hard to diagnose your business problem

Diagnosing a business challenge from the inside is like trying to fix a plane while you’re flying it. You’re in motion. You’re under pressure. And you’re deeply attached to the machine you’ve built.

Here’s why even the most capable business owners and leaders get stuck:

1. You’re too close to the problem.

When you’re embedded in the day-to-day, your field of vision narrows. Research in decision-making shows that proximity reduces objectivity². It's called the “empathy gap” or “operator’s bias”. 

You can’t see your blind spots because you’re part of the system you’re trying to fix.

2. Symptoms masquerade as root causes.

What feels like team underperformance might actually be a capacity issue. Your team is working beyond what your systems can support.

What looks like low sales might actually be the result of over-investing in infrastructure without market validation.

Most business owners mistake symptoms for problems. Research shows that teams often solve for surface issues without diagnosing the root cause, which leads to expensive rework and stalled growth³.

3. You lack the language to name what’s really happening.

There’s a reason why consultants use models and frameworks. It’s not just to sound smart (although it is a great feeling when you get to use a complex theory). We use models to give shape to fuzzy problems.

When you don’t have the right mental models, every issue feels vague and hard to act on. This is called semantic compression. When you don’t have the words for something, your brain skips over it.

The way forward: Naming and fixing the right problem

This is where strategic diagnosis comes in. Understanding your business challenge lets you:

• Stop spinning your wheels on quick fixes
• Align your leadership team around the real issues
• Make strategic decisions based on clarity, not guesswork
• Close revenue gaps and scale

That’s exactly why we built this diagnostic tool. It’s here to help you see the whole picture, not just the pieces in front of you.

I’m Jeremy Miller, Growth Strategist and founder of Sticky Branding. I work with companies like yours to rapidly grow their businesses to the next level with confidence. If you’d like to schedule a call with me, we can go into more detail about your business challenge, and where to go from here.

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¹ Gonzalez, M. & Yellin, J. (2024) ‘3 management myths that derail startups’, Harvard Business Review, 10 May. Available at: https://hbr.org/2024/05/3-management-myths-that-derail-startups (Accessed: 14 August 2025).

² Kahneman, D., Slovic, P. & Tversky, A. (eds.) (1982) Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases. New York: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511809477.

³ Tiyapunjanit, P. (2025) 'McKinsey’s problem-solving secret that every CEO needs', Medium, 14 June. Available at: https://medium.com/@patipond.tiy/mckinseys-problem-solving-secret-that-every-ceo-needs-4544f7d7a601 (Accessed: 14 August 2025).