A Masters Course in Growth.
The 2026 Masters performance by Rory McIlroy offers an outstanding business lesson. If you recall, it was an unusual up and down (pardon the pun) tournament for McIlroy.
On the upside, he entered Saturday's round with a tournament-record six-shot lead. On the downside, he shot a 73 on Saturday and not only lost the lead, but found himself two shots down after six holes on Sunday.
But we know how it ended. Back-to-back green jackets.
Over Saturday and Sunday, McIlroy survived a string of 18 bad holes, regrouped, and finished the final 12 holes at 3 under for the win.
The lesson in his win?
If you only look at the final results, you won't know the full story.
The foundation of his game held in the midst of adversity and enabled him to rally for the win. In business, the foundation behind that type of durability and performance is what I call a company's Quality of Growth (QofG).
On paper, two companies can show similar financials and growth. Effectively, they're tied on the leaderboard. However, if one's growth depends on a few clients, inconsistent demand, and fragile execution, it will be weak and breakable under pressure or scale.
But if the other grows through strong and aligned sales, marketing, brand, and culture, it will be well-positioned for stability and scale.
The financials alone may indicate investing in, scaling, or lending to these two companies carries similar risk. However, in reality, the QofG for the two companies suggests very different outcomes.
The problem is QofG is not evident in financials, so major decisions are often made without the full growth story.
What's your company's QofG? The Breakout Score™ answers this question for lower to middle market companies on a 100-point scale.
It's the perfect companion to financials because it puts a number on Growth Quality, identifying what's working, what's a constraint, and what needs to be prioritized to create durable growth.
The Breakout Score reveals what financials alone miss: the full growth story.
When adversity hits, and it always does at some point, you need to know if your growth structure will hold or collapse.
Rory's held. Would yours?
