The Agile Scaleup

Top 10 Business Book

"...keeping you great" Ten Minutes with the Growth Guy

HEADLINES:

Top 10 business book -- I'm placing a bet that Todd Hopkins (and Ray Hilbert's) just released book this week will be the first growth company CEO's book to reach the Top 10 in business books! Todd is Founder & CEO of Office Pride Commercial Cleaning Services

The Janitor: How an Unexpected Friendship Transformed a CEO and   His Company -- a quick read in the style of Pat Lencioni's famous fable books (Five Dysfunctions of a Team, etc); with the emotional impact of a Ken Blanchard/Spencer Johnson bestseller; and the insights that only the leader of a growth company can share. Todd and Ray have written a classic book for this decade and beyond -- a book that will continue to move up the bestseller list as it virals its way around the business and personal development circles.

Let's help a fellow growth company leader -- you're going to purchase this book sometime anyway, so let's all pile on and give Todd and   Ray a boost this summer. Please order this afternoon. And if you can wait a couple hours (don't, if you think you'll forget -- just do it NOW), place your order with Amazon or Barnes & Noble online between 4pm and 5pm EST today (Thursday). And most importantly, order the book this week or next since the book buyers use sales during a book's first two weeks to determine future positioning.

China's economy expected to grow north of 12% this year -- best economic growth since 1995, the entire world economy is on fire. If you read just one article this week, read Rik Kirkland's July 12 FORTUNE article entitled "The Greatest Economic Boom Ever." -- it supports the premise in my book   that ALL the real money is made in the decade after the boom/bust of a new technology. You should be making hay, as they say!
 
  Best strategy of the week -- this from Kirkland's article "Last fall he (Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE) took a list created by Boston Consulting Group   of the 100 most important companies in developing economies and arrayed it into four camps: customers, suppliers, competitors, and nonaligned. "I tell my leadership team, 'Our goal for this group is to have lots of customers, lots of suppliers - and no competitors,'" he says. Again, take 10 minutes and read   this article!
 

Andy Bailey's Q3 Theme -- Here   are some great photos and PowerPoint (and Sumo Wrestling Video!) you can   download from the Q3 theme launch for Tennessee-based NationLink Wireless. Notes Bailey, President "we just rolled out the Q3 theme   based on a word I got from BOG (the MIT program in which I teach) -- Kakushin. I have attached a PPT that goes through the who, what's and why's. We had Koosh   balls and wild glasses to get everyone thinking about LOOKING at things differently to discover Radical Productivity Improvements... and as a reward we are hosting a Japanese dinner and renting Sumo Wresting suits for an all out assault on each other (there is a link in the PPT to a Sumo video that we played as well).   Everyone was pumped up and ready to go."
 
Still time to roll out a theme for the balance of the year and have your team take 20 minutes and go through the Rockefeller Habits checklist -- pick a couple habits and focus on them for the next 90 days. "Routine sets you free!"
 
And still time to order (and then read) Todd's book! This is enough for the week -- hope my northern hemisphere friends are enjoying the summer and my southern hemisphere friends are getting some work done (while still enjoying life like its summer, as they always do!)

Big Oops!

"...keeping you great" Ten Minutes with the Growth Guy

HEADLINES:

BIG OOPS -- the CEO of Catapult Systems, the company named the best place to work in Austin, is Sam Goodner (a close friend whose name I butchered in my last insight -- I was even in Sam and Caroline's wedding!). At the very least I could have had some fun and referred to him as Sam Caskey, referring to his equally famous wife Caroline Caskey, who just sold her firm Identigene, the leader in "whose your daddy" paternity testing. Or if I really wanted to have fun, I could have referred to him as Sam Goodnerd -- as everyone knows he is! My apologies Sam.

The Container Store sold July 6 -- speaking of best places to work, Kip and Garrett's 39 store retail chain has perennially been in the top 10 best places to work in the U.S. this entire century (OK, it's been just   seven years!). Leonard Green & Partners, a private equity firm, made the acquisition for an undisclosed sum -- here's   a link to an article with more details (you may have to register)-- thanks   to Rich Manders, AutomationSolutions, for the heads-up.

National Private Company Survey -- mirroring the Public Company Quarterly survey, the Private Company Index (PCI) is conducting its quarterly Private Company Survey. This three-minute survey captures company perceptions in some key financial areas. PCI index numbers and data are regularly reported by Forbes.com and other financial media; add your voice for the "traditional" financial & investment community to hear.

Get Products to Market Faster -- Ron Hollis, Ph.D., President and CEO of Atlanta-based Quickparts   took me up on my CEO challenge to write a book. Entitled "Better Be Running!: Tools To Drive Design Success" the book is focused on helping companies get products to market faster and under budget. You can read about it at www.betterberunning.com. Under DETAILS below Ron outlines the process he went through to write and publish   his book.

Summer is a great time to start writing YOUR book -- there is no better P.R. tool.
 
 
DETAILS:

Following is Ron's note detailing his book writing process:

As you know, writing (and completing) a book is an interesting and uniquely challenging project.

I used a "writing consultant." Since this was a blend of technical and business topics, I would write the copy and have the professional writer review and significantly edit and/or challenge the content. We would write and re-write until we had the wording to the point where it was very understandable to her AND professionally written. She was very valuable to the process as she helped me stay on a schedule AND provided active criticism throughout the book. Her fees were only $10,000 and the total book investment was approximately $15,000 to get to print.

How long did it take...it was faster to have my son! Seriously, it took about 10 months. I started writing about the same time as we conceived, so it was race and Mother Nature won.

I did self-publish. I had one opportunity to publish with a technical publisher but felt the book would be better served if I could control the process.....with self-promotion and Amazon, the world of publishing seems very accessible today.

My life plan had me writing my first book after I sold my first company and was sitting at the beach looking for my next gig. However, after our last MIT class, I realized that I needed to have 2 books in me (one now and one later)!!

Thanks,
Ron

Blue Clover Theme Video

"...keeping you great" Ten Minutes with the Growth Guy

HEADLINES: (Themes and Checklist)

Blue Clover's theme video and photos -- next week starts the second half of the year -- a great time to launch a year-end theme or your next quarterly theme. With the help of their Gazelles' coach Erik Darmstetter, Blue Clover, San Antonio-based leader in digital and traditional branding, launched a 15 month "Las Vegas" theme. Here's a link to their theme video and check out their website -- very well done as you would expect. BTW, all the founders are under age 30.

HARD ROCK Café lends a hand -- Notes Darmstetter, CEO of Sales by 5, "I picked up a giant box of keys, brochures, napkins, matches, coasters, and gift shop items from   the HARD ROCK café in Vegas...they loved the idea and were awesome to work with to give us tons of free items. The artists at the Blue Clover "got it" and did a great job. There are posters on the restroom doors, in hallways and all tied in with what they must do each quarter for the theme." Here's a link to photos of the theme collateral.

High touch chart -- Darmstetter also helped them create "high touch" charts/dashboards that measure how many customers have remarked about their service. Their purpose is: "Creating remarkable experiences." Notes Darmstetter "they filled their chart with industrial magnets designed to apply to graphics laminated to metal. No dead deer on the walls, just charts, charts, charts."

Catapult Systems takes 1st Place in "Best Place to Work" -- congrats to Sam Gardner, CEO of Austin-based Catapult   Systems, a Microsoft technology consulting firm. Noted Gardner "I thought you get a kick out of the core values, vision, and TopGrading references in our Austin Business Journal article about our company taking first place in the local "best places to work" competition." This is their second year to receive this local prestigious honor. Here's a link to the article.

It's time again to review the Rockefeller Habits Checklist -- like pilots pre-flighting their plane, I beg you to take fifteen minutes with your team and see how many of the habits you now have in place from the list of 10 Rockefeller Habits -- do this at your next weekly, monthly, or quarterly meeting. The key is just picking one or two to focus on in the next 90 days.   Here's a link   to the checklist.

Dell signs on as sponsor of the Las Vegas "Growth Summit" -- we're excited to announce that Dell will be one of the lead sponsors. We're obviously inviting Michael to speak.

Beat a million CEOs to the punch

"...keeping you great" Ten Minutes with the Growth Guy

HEADLINES (June 30 deadline to beat a million CEOs to the punch -- see below)

12 MUST READ books listed below -- OK, I've lost many of you already. Your "tower of guilt" is already six feet high in your office -- filled with books, magazines, trade journals, and articles just waiting to   be read. There is an easy solution to reading the 12 books I list below -- a way for your executive team to learn together.

Defeating the Peter Principle -- this famous principle, where people have been promoted beyond their ability, plays itself out more rapidly in growth firms. In my 25 years of educating executive teams of growth firms THE reason a particular exec doesn't make it is they've simply failed to learn faster than the organization or industry is moving. And no tougher decision is made by a CEO than having to replace a trusted exec who hasn't kept up. Us members of YPO, EO, Vistage, Inner Circle, Renaissance and other CEO groups get regular educational opportunities -- it's important we provide the same for the rest of our executive team.

Bill Gates "Think Weeks" -- twice a year Gates secludes himself with his own tower of reading material. He's repeatedly claimed that these sessions have been critical to helping him navigate the turbulent waters   of his industry. And those that have read Malcolm Gladwell's book "Blink" know that having a great "gut feel" for making a decision actually requires reams of information that's been piled into your brain over time.

Read these 12 books or come spend two days in Las Vegas at the Gazelles Growth Summit and hear them speak October 24 -- 25 -- consider it a "mini-Think Week" for your executive team.

Best seats to those that place down a $250 deposit first* -- since its Vegas we're expecting a crowd to rival the 20th anniversary EO   conference that immediately follows. We have space for just 600 executives. The balance of the fees aren't due until 30 days before (in turn your credit   card balances won't come due until after the conference -- we know you have to protect your cash!).

1 million CEOs will receive their FORTUNE Small Business magazine the end of this week -- and the first full page ad runs for the event in the July/August issue. FORTUNE's conference division is back as the main host -- this event is just one of five major events they host worldwide. I want to give my readers a chance to grab preferred seating before these ads run (they'll run the next four months) -- here's   a link to the ad.

Here are the authors and their books:

Geoffrey Moore -- Crossing The Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers; Inside the Tornado: Strategies for Developing, Leveraging, and Surviving Hypergrowth Markets; Dealing with Darwin: How Great Companies Innovate at Every Phase of Their Evolution; Living on the Fault Line: Managing for Shareholder Value in Any Economy

Dr. Robert Cialdini -- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

Fred Reichheld -- The Loyalty Effect: The Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits, and Lasting Value; The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth

Paul Orfalea, founder of Kinkos -- Copy This!: Lessons from a Hyperactive Dyslexic who Turned a Bright Idea Into One of America's Best Companies

Steven Berlin Johnson -- Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software; Everything Bad is Good for You

Kaihan Krippendorff -- The Art of the Advantage: 36 Strategies to Seize the Competitive Edge

Verne Harnish -- Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Growing Firm

Here's a link to detailed information on each of these speakers -- all top in their respective fields.

Come spend two days in Las Vegas October 23 -- 24 and fill your brain with the latest in business thinking -- a way to read 12 important books to fuel your business.

SPECIAL NOTE TO EO Members -- bring your team to Las Vegas for two days, then send them back and stay on for EO's 20th anniversary celebration which starts the same afternoon we finish the Growth Summit. And if this is too long to be out of the office (hey, the measure of a leader is the performance   of their company in their absence!) -- send your team to the two day without you -- they'll get a couple outstanding days of education and you can follow with the EO University.

*Larger teams get the best seats. Seats for teams of equal size are assigned based on earliest date of registration.