The Weltchek Weekly

Driving double-digit growth, driving innovation, driving good health outcomes—these are commonplace ways the business community uses the verb drive.

If you look up drive in the dictionary, you’ll find eight definitions with usage examples as diverse as driving cattle across a prairie (to prod), driving a hard bargain (to carry on energetically), and driving the baseline (basketball talk for moving quickly and forcefully).

As for driving growth, innovation and outcomes, the closest thing I can find is the final definition, which is to give shape to something. But companies don’t want to give shape to growth, innovation and outcomes; they want to achieve them. So the next time you find yourself starting to drive something important, consider achieving it instead.