"...keeping you great" Ten Minutes with the Growth Guy
HEADLINES: (new India Update below)
Google at Age 10 -- last Sunday, Sept 7, Google turned 10. The NY Times featured an excellent blog comparing Google with Microsoft when they were 10 and today. One factoid - Google's revenue at age 10 is $19.6 billion; Microsoft's was $140 million ($279 million in today's dollars). The other interesting comparison - Google's revenue per employee is $1 million; Microsoft's (today) is $672,000 - take 2 minutes to scan the various comparisons.
Emergence Theory -- Google, Facebook, Wikipedia, MySpace, Amazon, eBay - all companies that have exploded onto the scene and achieved multi-billion dollar market caps in a matter of years (OK, Wikipedia is a non-profit). And they are achieving this by taking advantage of "Emergence Theory" as outlined in Steven Johnson's must-read book entitled Emergence (we hosted Steven at last year's Summit). The essence of Emergence Theory is "whoever taps into the most brains, wins." It's no longer sufficient to have a smart CEO or even a smart executive team - you need to tap into the collective wisdom of all your employees, customers, and community. Consulting firm McKinsey is labeling this Co-Creation.
Quarterly Theme Database -- case in point, we're approaching the start of a new quarter for many of you (Oct 1) and time for a new quarterly theme. A few months ago we launched a Quarterly Themes wiki where you can get theme ideas from other firms. Not only is it an example of our customers helping other customers; all you have to do is Google "Quarterly Themes" and our wiki page is the number one listing ahead of Apple's resource center, UBS's resource center, etc. - much larger firms than Gazelles.
Who are THE 5 People You Should Meet -- and taking the idea of community even further, Cameron Herold, former COO of Vancouver-based 1-800-Got-Junk shared with me how he used our new community network to hook up with a key resource in Australia. If you've already entered your profile into our Gazelles' Community network, consider checking back in to see who the system has matched you with since hundreds of additional executives have been added since we first launched; and if you're new, take the time to create a profile and see who is in your "inner circle" - consider it a sophisticated matching service for executives of growth firms.
What are you doing to tap into your "community" and the collective wisdom of your employees and customers? Please share your stories with me for a future article.
INDIA UPDATE:
Ramoji Rao, Founder of Largest Film Studio in the World -- we arrived in India Sept 3 and since then I've spoken to the EO Chapters in Delhi and Hyderabad and led a one day Rockefeller Habits workshop in Delhi. An additional highlight was a family luncheon with Ramoji Rao, one of the most powerful businessmen in India (see photos of Mr. Rao with my children and our Indian marketing partner, Raghoo Potinii - he's standing to the right of Mr. Rao and arranged for this once in a lifetime meeting). Youngest child of three and only son of a farming family, today he heads up the largest media group in India including Ramoji Film City which has produced hundreds of movies, including 90 directed by Ramoji himself. He also founded ETV and today hosts nine television channels. And his newspaper has the largest circulation in all of India. The children enjoyed touring his theme park where we were afforded VIP treatment.
Flashback Tree -- after purchasing 2000 lush acres for his Film City in the late '90s, Ramoji spent many hours sitting under what is called the "Flashback Tree" on his property - an enormous tree under which he contemplated, dreamt, and visualized his studio. Finally launched in 2002, it's already involved with production deals involving leading studios around the world. With over 90 lush gardens and dozens of massive outdoor sets, it's an impressive tour that shows the realities of Ramoji's contemplations. How many U.S. business leaders would spend this much time in focused thought?
BHAD (Big Hairy Audacious Dream) -- I asked him if he had a big goal when he launched his first business, a local newspaper. He specifically said it wasn't as much a goal as a dream - and he did dream of one day having the largest circulation newspaper in all of India - dreams do come true! He also emphasized the importance of having a key set of values which he articulated in our meeting, the most important being a focus on customer satisfaction and getting as close to the truth as possible -- something that has rankled the government, to the point where they've launched a competing newspaper, at a loss, to try and force him out of business (I learned about this later from my hosts in India - it's not something he mentioned).
30,000 Employees and Dealing with Turnover -- Ramoji oversees nine companies including Priya Pickles! Combined, his vast empire employs over 30,000. A key to his success -- he launched various private journalism, film production, and hospitality schools (he has two hotels onsite, a three star and five star) and focuses on hiring from his own graduates vs. from the outside - that way they share the company's values and approach to writing, film production, and customer service. His biggest challenge is dealing with a recent increase in turnover of employees given the number of opportunities now afforded people in India and the rest of the world. However, he says many of them now want to come back, but he has a rule that if someone leaves they can't return. This will cause employees to think twice before leaving.