When my son was in middle school, he launched what felt like a weeks-long campaign for computer games. I resisted, convinced the violence in those early sci-fi battle titles would overwhelm his quick wit and kind heart. Then he reframed it for me: "These games build my strategic thinking."
That stopped me cold. I'd been measuring the wrong thing. I was focused on the content, while he was focused on the skills. And that's the same mistake many leadership teams make in strategic planning: they look at the surface signals of success, while missing the deeper problem that really needs attention. If you don't measure the right problem, you miss the real opportunity to grow.
The question isn't whether you have growth models to sketch out on a whiteboard, you do. The real test is whether you're asking the right "why" behind those models. If you don't measure the right problem, you risk fueling decline instead of growth.
Most leadership teams can sketch out the basics of McKinsey's Three Horizons of Growth on a whiteboard. Horizon 1 is the core, products that generate revenue today. Horizon 2 is the set of adjacencies and extensions that feel "new but related." Horizon 3 is the transformative plays, the moonshots and breakthroughs that could define the future.
It's a simple model. The challenge is in deciding where to place bets and most importantly, why.
Too often, leaders treat Horizons 2 and 3 as exciting add-ons: new labs, acquisitions, or digital pilots. But first it's crucial to confront the harder question, what's the customer and company problem in Horizon 1 that makes moving beyond it essential? That problem, often referred to as the burning platform, is where real strategy begins.
For an established life science tools company, the brand is usually respected, sometimes even beloved. Instruments like PCR systems, gel imagers, or immunoassay platforms, have been staples in labs for years. Customers know them, trust them, and recommend them.
The goal for companies like these is straightforward: continue being the trusted partner today while ensuring they're still relevant and profitable tomorrow. But sustaining growth isn't about riding the same product curve indefinitely. Instruments age. Competitors catch up. Technologies shift. Customer's needs change.
Real growth planning requires balance across horizons, protecting today's revenue stream while deliberately funding tomorrow's bets. Ensuring loyalty of today's customers while capturing that of future customers. But legacy alone won't guarantee growth, the very core that built your reputation is often the first to show cracks.
The problem is that Horizon 1 often erodes faster than leadership realizes.
To move forward, the erosion in Horizon 1 has to be quantified. It's not enough to know that "sales are steady." What matters is the quality of those sales and whether they set the business up for resilience.
The most telling indicators are:
These numbers don't just tell a story; they can point to a scarier one than top-line revenue suggests.
For example, PCR looked strong until you noticed a 5% increase in unit volume paired with a 7% drop in price. Immunoassay systems seemed secure until consumable attach rates slipped. In both cases, the surface looked fine, but the foundation was weakening.
Once those cracks are visible in the data, the next step is to respond decisively. Horizons 2 and 3 shift from "experiments" to "responses."
Horizon 2 isn't just a place to dabble with adjacencies; it's a targeted move to counteract what's weakening the core. If margin erosion in PCR is the issue, investing in automation add-ons or bundled workflow kits can reset value and protect profitability.
Horizon 3 isn't simply a visionary exercise; it's a hedge against long-term obsolescence. If younger scientists are bypassing gels altogether, then digital imaging platforms, AI-driven assay design, or cloud-native analysis aren't optional, they're survival plays.
Seen this way, Horizons 2 and 3 stop being future-facing luxuries and become urgent responses to present-day pressure.
The discipline comes in how you act. A practical rhythm might look like this:
The Three Horizons model is elegant, but its power comes from how honestly you face the present. Without defining and measuring the burning platform in Horizon 1, you risk turning Horizons 2 and 3 into wish lists. With that clarity, the framework becomes a disciplined engine for growth.
The next 25 years of growth for any established life science tools company won't come from legacy alone. It will come from acknowledging where the core is slipping, quantifying it, and investing across horizons with purpose.
Because when the platform is burning, the question isn't whether to leap, it's where to land.
If you're ready to diagnose your own burning platform and map growth across horizons, let's talk. We offer a free 30 minute consultation to explore how we help leadership teams build their data-based strategic plan and initiatives. If you're interested, just drop me an email at jasmine@strivenn.com