This is an incredibly myopic take and unsophisticated take. Comparing to an artisan is in some ways apt, but undercuts the argument. For an artisan the growth target may be the growth of your skills or of your vision. That's growth, and it requires you to keep producing artifacts and to do so you must have some means of funding that production.

For any firm larger than perhaps a single person, you have to have some monetary growth in order to continue to exist. Eventually employees leave and new hires demand more money, equipment wares out and new equipment is expensive, your customers may demand more so you must invest in R&D. Unexpected expenses arise. A growing company can cope with change or rising costs.