"...keeping you great"
HEADLINES:
FSB Magazine Shuts Down -- if you haven't already heard, Fortune Small Business magazine published their last issue this month. The great news is that we're now partnered directly with Fortune magazine, losing the "small business" label which I've never really liked. So our Summits will now be called the Fortune Sales & Marketing Summit and Fortune Growth Summit -- we're excited to be associated with this wonderful online and print brand that represents the best in in-depth management reporting.
China Surpasses Germany as #1 Exporter -- measured by dollar value of exports, it was bound to happen and the Germans aren't upset about it since a stronger China means a stronger market for Germany. However, Germany's Hermann Simon, the Hidden Champions author we hosted at the 2009 Growth Summit, is going to have to change his slides now! Take one minute to scan this Bloomberg announcement to get the specifics.
Dinner With Warren Buffett -- Ben Stein, American actor, writer, and political/economic commentator, won the latest bid to have dinner with Warren Buffett. Take three minutes and read his account of the evening, including Buffett's thoughts on the economy, the market, trains (Buffett recently purchased Burlington Northern), and who Buffett felt saved the U.S. economy from a true Depression.
RailEx -- The FedEx of Rail Shipping -- speaking of trains (and maybe why Buffett made his investment), the company that most intrigues me is RailEx. Launched in 2006 and founded by Andy Pollack, whose family has been in the produce distribution business for decades, RailEx is doing for refrigerated produce what FedEx did for overnight packages, right now linking the east and west coasts of the U.S. Requiring a $58 million start-up investment in partnership with two major railroads, Union Pacific and CSX Transportation, RailEx, dubbed the "Fresh Express", promises to transform the way we ship most products, using a hub and spoke system of warehouses, trains, and local trucks, eliminating the need for long haul trucks and the damage they cause highways. I can't wait for them to go public!
Sourcing Talent -- it does you no good to be a Topgrading-style interviewer if you don't have enough candidates to interview. Good news: Geoff Smart, the "Who Guy," is going to tackle this challenge in his online seminar next week and explain a specific process for sourcing the candidates you need. He shared with me his12-page "how to" handout all participants will download for the seminar. Besides worksheets for sourcing candidates, the handout includes:
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1. A sample Scorecard, the document you prepare that helps you source and interview 2. A blank Scorecard to create your own 3. Four specific questions you ask during the Screening Interview 4. The specific outline and questions for the Topgrading Interview 5. The outline for a Reference Check Interview 6. The "5Fs" for selling the right candidate on your company |
As Geoff and I discussed last night, in preparation for the online seminar Jan 21, noon -- 1:30pm ET, the focus is on practical tools you can use to scorecard, source, select, and sell the right hires.
The Most Important Aspect of Business -- as the Wall Street Journal noted in their book review of Who, "Hiring is the most important aspect of business, and yet remains woefully misunderstood." Until Who was written! Here's the link to the WSJ article
Vision Boards into Placemats -- and this idea from Thomas Rietz, founder/CEO of Scottsdale, Arizona-based Canterra Homes, who is taking his children's vision boards and laminating them into placemats! What a great way to keep the vision in front of your children and yourself.