How to grow nowhere

The article argues that companies stalled by short-term, exit-oriented thinking make a series of predictable IT choices that erode resilience, clarity, and long-term value. For CIOs and technology leaders, the strategic lesson is that underinvestment, scope creep, and reliance on aging infrastructure are not just operational issues—they are signals of weak governance that can undermine growth, increase risk, and leave IT functioning as a reactive support shop instead of a business enabler. Leaders should explicitly define IT’s mandate, maintain a funded lifecycle plan for core systems, and resist the temptation to optimize only for near-term financial optics.