Story 33: Growth
The story: The chart looked great. Monthly active users from 2,000 to nearly 5,000 in four months. Let us keep this going, they agreed. A month later he was pleased: we have tripled new users. She was not celebrating. Have you seen the churn rate? He had been watching the front door. She had been watching the back. Both of them were watching growth.
What it means for organisations: Acquisition and retention are both growth, and a team can optimise hard for one while the other quietly cancels it. What makes this one difficult to catch is that the number went up. Nobody has to defend a bad quarter or explain a miss, so the conversation that would surface the disagreement never gets called. The gap holds as long as the chart does.
Where next?
Read the comic as text
The Alignment Gap, Story 33
by Stavros Stavru, Ph.D. (weallagreed.com)
Scene 1: The dashboard
A close-up of a laptop on a desk between two cups of coffee, with plants, a pen holder, and a bookshelf nearby. The screen shows a "Monthly Active Users" chart climbing steadily from January to April, from about 2,000 to 5,000. Two voices speak from off-panel.
Axel (off-panel): Let's keep this growth going.
Ally (off-panel): Couldn't agree more!
Banner between scenes: “What could go wrong?”
Scene 2: One month later
An office with a hanging lamp, plants, and a bookshelf. Axel and Ally sit at a shared desk with their laptops and cups. Axel gestures enthusiastically, beaming. Ally looks at him, worried.
Axel: Our growth is amazing – we've tripled our new users!
Ally: Totally disagree. Have you seen our churn rate?
Share this story: LinkedIn ↗
