---
id: "claim-growth-over-returns-fails"
type: "claim"
source_timestamps: ["\\\"§ So Long", "Cheap Capital\\\""]
tags: ["business-strategy", "value-creation"]
related: ["concept-value-based-management", "action-rigorous-capital-allocation", "claim-wacc-historical-norms", "quote-prioritize-growth-struggle"]
confidence: "high"
testable: true
speakers: ["Michael Mankins", "Matthew Crupi"]
sources: ["reskilling"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-reskilling"
originDay: 10
articleStem: "hbr-sig-49-ai-squeezing-middle-managers"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/ai-is-squeezing-middle-managers"
sourceTitle: "AI Is Squeezing Middle Managers"
---
# Prioritizing Growth Over Return Quality Will Destroy Value

**Claim** — confidence: **high** · testable: **yes**

Because capital is becoming significantly more constrained and expensive, the strategic playbook of the last 20 years is obsolete. [[entity-michael-mankins|Mankins]] and [[entity-matthew-crupi|Crupi]] assert that companies continuing to prioritize **top-line growth over the underlying quality of their returns** will fundamentally struggle to create value. Outperformance will belong **exclusively to firms that allocate capital rigorously and link strategy directly to economics** (see [[concept-value-based-management]] and [[action-rigorous-capital-allocation]]). The verbatim warning is in [[quote-prioritize-growth-struggle]].

**Enrichment caveat.** Per the overlay this is a **strategy assertion, not a universal law**: it holds when WACC rises but is context-dependent across sectors and business models. Higher WACC does not *automatically* make growth strategies wrong — in businesses with durable network effects or option-like upside, growth can still create value if expected returns exceed the new hurdle rate.

Related: [[concept-value-based-management]] · [[claim-wacc-historical-norms]] · [[quote-prioritize-growth-struggle]] · [[action-rigorous-capital-allocation]] · [[framework-capital-allocation-constrained-world]]