Zach Dell; Charlie Munger; Sir Martin Sorrell; Australian Tour

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:  

Before you are a leader, success is all about yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.
	Jack Welch, former CEO, GE

CEO Largest Ad Agency -- tune-in to a LIVE presentation by Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of the world's largest ad agency. 7 Sept 8am Sydney; 6 Sept 6pm ET, 3pm PT. More below, but first...

Zach Dell's Venture -- Michael Dell's 15 year old son has a sport camp franchise and is looking for young people to run it in their city. More below, but second...

Cheapest Way to Fuel Growth -- Liz Wiseman, author of the hugely successful book Multipliers, has a blog out on Harvard Business Review this week. Focused on the importance of talent development, here's her concluding paragraph:

"Too many companies are looking for talent in the wrong place. They spend their time and money "grocery shopping" for talent when they can simply look inside their already well-stocked refrigerator. In growth times, the smartest executives will look beyond hiring and focus on utilizing their company's existing talent. And, for companies who build a reputation for aggressively developing their talent, hiring becomes a no-brainer."

Take two minutes to read the specifics in her blog, including research that shows we're underutilizing our talent by 34% -- and how this leads to employee frustration.

Head of Talent Development -- do you have someone on your team taking the lead on talent development? Someone needs to spend at least one-day per week thinking about, tracking, scheduling, sourcing, and driving talent development in your firm. A lack of talent development is like failing to keep your software programs up-to-date. Here are some simple development ideas from an earlier "Growth Guy" column. A more comprehensive column is in the works on this important topic.

Charlie Munger's Book --WPOer Bud Arquilla, the new CEO of our Gazelles 200 initiative, shared with me the Jack Welch quote I used above. He found it on page 178 of Poor Charlie's Almanac, The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger. Third Edition 2011. Bud gave a copy of Charlie's (Warren Buffett's partner) book to each of his children. I just ordered a copy myself - it's massive!! More, later, as I dig into it. And the Gazelles 200 initiative is for firms that want an affordable monthly talent development program taught by the top business thoughts leaders of our time. No time for amateur hour when it comes to development.

Zach Dell's Sports Camps -- these camps are focused on developing sportsmanship and aimed at children age 5 to 13 - and are operated by young people for young people. Started three years ago by Zach's cousins in Dallas, Camp SPARK has grown rapidly and now has camps in Dallas, Austin, Houston, and San Francisco. They are looking to franchise throughout the US and other countries and have opened an application for anyone who wants to run a camp in their city. I visited with Zach last Thursday after his dad suggested he talk to me about getting some help growing the business. As you can imagine, he's sharp, articulate, and driven. Check out his interview at the bottom of the Camp SPARK website and have your teenager apply if interested in franchising a camp - and earn a few bucks in the process.

My Own Son's Development -- this past weekend I hosted a Rite-of-Passage initiation for my 13 year old son Cole. Four of Cole's mentors joined me in marking his transition from boy to young man. Serial entrepreneur Marc Cohen, whose family spent six months in Barcelona, was one of the men who led the process (his son Jacob is a close friend of Cole's) and produced an eight minute video highlighting the process. "If you don't initiate the youth, they will burn down the village." African proverb.

Sir Martin Sorrell Webcast -- considered a revolutionary and change maker in his industry, Sir Martin is the CEO of WPP which he's grown from a shopping basket manufacturer to the world's largest communications services group. WPP is currently valued on the UK stock market at some £9.7 billion and is the world's largest advertising group by turnover.
WPP's operating companies employ 141,000 people throughout 2,400 offices in 107 countries around the world. His topic is "The Importance of Digital and Emerging Markets." Given the vital importance of marketing this decade, don't miss Sorrell's insights and new ways of thinking about two critical markets. Insight readers get a discount - Standard Rate: $75 AUD; Gazelles Rate: $55 AUD (use promo code Gazelles). 6pm ET Sept 6; 8am Sydney Sept 7. This is a LIVE presentation and will be available for 30 days for those signed up before the event.

Australian Tour-- I'll be back down under Sept 4, Sydney; Sept 5 Melbourne; Sept 6 Brisbane leading one-day Rockefeller Habits-based workshops.