“Sounding weird? You have plenty of reasons to make profits — but even stronger reasons why you’re making losses.”

Ask any entrepreneur why business exists, and the answer is almost automatic: profits. That’s the obvious part. What’s not so obvious are the losses—quiet, hidden, and often more powerful than the profits you celebrate. The truth is, profits don’t tell the whole story. Losses do. If any business wants to maintain sustained growth, then studying these blind spots is more important than counting profits—of course, only if you wish to endure.

From a mango vendor on the street to a giant like Google, every business technically exists for the same reason: it exists to make profits—aside from the philanthropy that most of the organizations take up later in their growth journey. The difference isn’t in the ‘why’—it’s in the ‘what’ and the ‘how’. When these are driven forward with a bold vision, that’s when good businesses evolve into great organizations—and that’s where the game truly changes.

Every organization goes through a life cycle—from creation to collaboration. Each stage comes with its own lessons, which the organization must adopt, adapt, and embrace to grow sustainably. Moving through these stages step by step helps build an enduring business, one capable of both organic and inorganic growth depending on the vision set. Of course, this concept doesn’t resonate with entrepreneurs who are focused only on short-term profits and plan to exit once they reach that point.

Why do some organizations systematically grow into enduring giants while others fade away? The difference lies in the approach. Many entrepreneurs start with a product idea or a solution to a problem, gather resources, and push hard for early profits. That mindset isn’t wrong—it’s natural to chase break-even and enjoy the first wave of earnings. But here’s the catch: focusing only on quick profits often means neglecting the bigger system that sustains growth. Over time, cracks begin to show. The business weakens, profits shrink, and in desperation the entrepreneur starts cutting corners. Instead of saving the business, those cuts do more harm than good. Working capital gets squeezed, creating more and more business stress. Often, they overlook opportunity costs, inefficiencies, and hidden drains on profitability.

Now let’s look at the other approach. The organizations that transform into great ones begin with a clear premise: it’s the what and how of business that make the real difference. Instead of chasing short-term profits, they focus on building an enabling structure, shaping the right culture, attracting great talent, investing in people, driving product and process innovation, and staying highly responsive to market shifts. Their trajectory looks like building a robust system that can endure, create profits, create value for stakeholders and society, then entering finally into philanthropic initiatives. In this approach, super profits are a by-product of the system — not a targeted dream. Their consistent focus on gaps (structural, cultural, knowledge, skills), eliminating inefficiencies, and seizing opportunities is what drives them to greatness.

Take IBM as a classic example. In 1993, the company was on the brink of bankruptcy, reporting a staggering loss of $8.1 billion. Then came CEO Louis Gerstner, who turned things around dramatically. By the end of his tenure, IBM had not only wiped off its losses but also added 65,000 employees and returned to strong profitability. His approach started with a clear understanding of customer value, followed by repositioning IBM’s product–price mix. The company underwent a sweeping transformation—re-engineering operations, reshaping culture, and driving people and process interventions. For the financial year ending December 2024, IBM reported revenue of $62.8 billion, operating profit of $9.7 billion, and a cash flow of $13.4 billion (IBM Annual Report 2024). The takeaway is simple: under strong leadership, IBM identified what was eroding profits, confronted the root causes, and took decisive action to bounce back stronger.

Shrinking profits often reveal much about how an organization is really functioning. The key is to dig deeper, what’s creating the problem? Is it structural, cultural, or economic? Are we keeping pace with shifts in customer demand and market dynamics? Are we delivering genuine value to customers? And, more broadly, are we responsive to these factors? The organizations that pause, reflect, and address the blind spots draining their profits are the ones that endure and grow stronger.

As the title suggests, don’t count the profits you make, count the profits you lose, as you have plenty of reasons to make profits-but even stronger reasons why you are making losses. “Profits mark your progress. Losses test your survival. The real choice is simple: will you build to last, or settle to exit?”

BusinessBrews, By Binu Nambiar