I think one of the issues with short form writing where you don't take the time (or have the room) to qualify things is that you are going to open up what you w

I think one of the issues with short form writing where you don't take the time (or have the room) to qualify things is that you are going to open up what you write to multiple interpretations of (what you call) "misunderstanding". Take this statement at the opening: "All companies that grow really big do so in only one way: people recommend the product or service to other people." The statement "all companies" and "only one way" is pretty complete and absolute by my reading. When obviously there are plenty of large companies that have not relied on word of mouth. For example Boeing. Or Asplundh a large privately help tree contractor. Or haliburton. Etc. Even "in the beginning". Or Fedex is another. Of course there is a subset of "all companies" for which this statement is true. So a footnote would have helped or a few words as qualifiers to the original thought.