"...keeping you great" Ten Minutes with the Growth Guy
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Co-creation, Latest Buzzword from C.K. Prahalad -- this is the article to read this week. It builds on the idea I've been pushing the last year "whoever taps into the most brains wins" and emphasizes the importance of tapping into the creativity of your broader customer base. The article will take less than five minutes to read and might spur an important idea or two for your own company. FYI, C.K. Prahalad is also the creator of the famous "core competency" terminology along with Gary Hamel. We've added a spot on the new Gazelles One-Page Strategic Plan to list your own firm's core competencies and we've highlighted their famous HBR article. Both the new One-Page form and link to the article are on My Gazelles. Quick registration required for these valuable resources.
Power of the Monthly Management Meeting -- any positive stories from those of you successfully running a 3 to 8 hour monthly management meeting with your broader middle and upper management team? This is part of the Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Annual meeting rhythm, yet it seems to be the one meeting many of you have yet to initiate. I want to write a more extensive column on the importance of this meeting as a way to 1) get senior management DNA passed down to the next level of management so changes you make "stick"; and 2) a way to guarantee buy-in from and increase the knowledge of your broader management team so they can more successfully lead the rest of your employees. Please email me at vharnish@gazelles.com or respond to this insight if you have a successful monthly meeting -- I'll call and interview you. Thanks!
Fingers in the Dam/Chasing Your Tail? -- maybe you're not focused on the root cause. John Ratliff, CEO of Appletree Answers, whose firm was the fastest growing Private Company Index (PCI) firm in the U.S. last year, emailed me re: the quarterly themes to say "I kind of feel like the kid with his finger in the dam. We get pretty good at plugging the big leak and then set out to focus on another leak next quarter, and the original comes back in some form, and then on to the next and now two big leaks and I have an impending sense of doom that I am chasing my tail." BTW, John's firm is doing extremely well, but I empathize with him. So I gave him a phone call -- here were my thoughts:
To Stop Chasing Your Tail -- 1) make sure the #1 priority/critical number you're going after is the root driver i.e. the first domino in the series of domino's you're trying to knock down -- often if dominos keep popping up you need to look for a more root (or earlier) domino to knock down first; 2) he has a core group of 35 managers that need to be more involved in the setting and driving of the quarterly theme -- and the monthly meeting is key! 3) it is critical, as part of the quarterly theme, to pick the one process that supports your #1 priority and make sure it is designed/re-designed so it supports and maintains the positive changes i.e. we're redesigning our nurture marketing process to support a focus on marketing in 2008.
Life Crisis? How to Survive -- Lauren Hefferon, founder and CEO of Ciclismo Classico, pointed me to a poignant interview Guy Kawasaki did with Jerry White, founder of Survivor Corps, who recently released his book I Will Not Be Broken: Five Steps to Overcoming a Life Crisis. The interview does a great job of capturing the essence of White's recommendations (having faced getting his own leg blown off in Israel). Step #5 "Give Back" is especially important. When I almost lost my own company (and home) in 2001 I pledged the largest three-year donation I had ever committed to in my life and not surprisingly, it all worked out. Please take a moment and read Guy's interview and pass along to anyone you know that is facing a life crisis.
Tour of a Lifetime -- and congratulations to Lauren and her firm. Ciclismo Classico was just named as having one of 2008's "Tours of a Lifetime" by National Geographic Traveler, one of the premier active travel publications, with nearly 8 million readers annually. The publication's editors selected their "Sardegna Multisport Adventure," a family trip combining cycling, hiking and watersports, out of hundreds of submissions in the family category. If you're still wondering what to do this summer or fall, get some exercise and join one of Lauren's many singles, couples, or family bike trips throughout Europe and New England. I was a beginning cyclist and had a blast when I took my family -- trips designed for all levels of biking experience.
Giving Back: Another FORTUNE Small Business Makeover Needs Your Help -- an ex-HR executive with GE has launched an HR consultancy firm and could use some advice on her website, marketing, and running the business now that she'll be moving it from Atlanta to Denver. Here's a link.
What Recession? PCI Index up 4.93% Over Last Month -- and the Private Company Index (PCI) is up almost 50% over the same time last year. And the Gazelles segment of the index (firms growing over 20%) is up 12.88% over last month. This supports what surveys are showing, the mid-market privately held firms are carrying the economy! And next week Entrex releases a 300-page book highlighting 25 of the Private Company Index companies. I say it each month -- consider joining the PCI -- no cost, just report your monthly revenues confidentially -- the numbers are amassed and only reported in the aggregate. Sign-up at www.privatecompanyindex.com and see the full PCI results.