The Agile Scaleup

Inside Apple; Freaky Friday; Goals for Glory; Best Biz Book 2011

"...keeping you great" HEADLINES: (Happy Chinese New Year!) The 2011 Business Book of the Year goes to...see below, but first: Inside Apple -- with a record $46 billion quarter; $13 billion profit; and $100 billion in cash, it's worth taking a detailed look inside the workings of Apple. That's exactly what Adam Lashinsky, Sr. Editor at Large of FORTUNE magazine, has accomplished with his book Inside Apple: How America's Most Admired - and Secretive - Company Really Works, just released yesterday. So far Chapter 3 entitled "Focus Obsessively" is my favorite (I'm on Chapter 4 as I write this). Lashinsky has managed to provide details about specific compensation, management, and communication systems that will be insightful for many of you and it's a quick read. One overall key - Jobs kept major teams under 100 employees and isolate people so they kept that start-up feeling as a giant company - he hated giant companies. Again, read the details. Freaky Friday Management Technique -- faced with two functions at war, Customer Support and Sales Engineering, Ben Horowitz borrowed an idea from the movie Freaky Friday. In the film, mother and daughter grow completely frustrated with each other's lack of understanding and wish that they could switch places and they do. Ben had the heads of each function do the same - and problem solved!! Read Ben's excellent blog post, including fun film clips, for more details. "Goals for Glory" -- FH Canada used a hockey-related theme to re-engage lapsed donors last quarter. A not-for-profit dedicated to "graduating a community from poverty in 10 years" (to date they've helped 34 communities become self-sufficient in areas like nutrition, education, and agriculture), the goal was to lure back 150 lapsed donors. By the end of the "match" they re-engaged 198 donors totaling $70k in initial donations, and more importantly, created a new stream of ongoing donors. Simple Scoreboard -- the board in the picture below shows the hockey pool they created with goals (directly engaged a donor); assists (helped someone else engage one); and penalties (mostly for fun). They're having a skating party as a celebration. Noted Gazelles coaching partner Trevor Throness, owner of Strategy for Business. "The whole thing was simple, cheap and very motivating. One of their core values is 'pinching pennies' so that the money can go to people who really need it!" Do you have your next theme in place? Keep it simple - nothing fancy. The 2011 Business Book of the Year...Jim's Collins Great by Choice (Jim is keynoting our FORTUNE Leadership Summit May 15 - 16). Chosen by the highly respected 800-CEO-READ organization, they note "It is a book perfectly suited to our times, containing the extensive research and free-thinking Collins is known for, while also being able to impart confidence in the knowledge that, despite the chaos and uncertainty, it is still your choices and not chance that control your fate." The Leadership Summit is a rare opportunity to spend 4 hours with Jim Collins. Jim Collins Australia -- our National Business Growth Summit '12 will also host Jim Collins 14 - 15, March in Sydney. Other keynotes include Fred Reichheld, author of Ultimate Question 2.0; Jack Daly, consummate sales trainer; and several thought leaders from Australia. I'll also be there to present and lead a one-day workshop.

Last Insight; Undercover Boss Dina Dwyer; SOPA

"...protecting our freedoms" HEADLINES:   Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.   Benjamin Franklin Dina Dwyer "Undercover Boss" -- Long time Rockefeller Habits practitioner, The Dwyer Group, will be featured on CBS's hit reality series "Undercover Boss," this Sunday, January 22, at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (7p.m. Central Time). Notes CEO and Chairwoman Dina Dwyer, a.k.a. Faith Brown, "I accepted the chance of a lifetime to see how The Dwyer Group Code of Values is taking hold across our franchise family as we celebrate more than three decades of business success and a focus on putting customers first." Tune-in to see "Faith" work in 118-degree heat in a uniform that includes a wig, long fingernails, colored contact lenses and steel-toed boots! No More Insights -- some random government employee hired to police the internet, pressured by a top government official taking payoffs from Big Pharma, claims my insights "endanger public health" because of the piece I wrote on Vitamin C IVs and Stem Cell 100. So they are pressuring Rackspace, the company hosting our website, to shut us down without notice and hinting to Google they should no longer point to my blog or website. Since I'm a small fish in a big pond, they're doing it "voluntarily" and I have no reasonable recourse. Believe it can't happen? Section 105 of SOPA -- entitled Immunity for Taking Voluntary Action Against Sites that Endanger Public Health, this is just one of many sections in SOPA which have nothing to do with protecting music, movies, and other IP that seem legitimate on the surface but open the door for all kinds of abuse down the road - the same way the "general welfare" clause in the U.S. Constitution has been used to encroach on a myriad of freedoms. Who is to say what is and isn't endangering public health when it comes to mere public speech? Do you trust a handful of people to make this decision? I've always felt the number one right we must defend, to the end, is free speech. Those who trade freedom for safety end up with neither to paraphrase Franklin. What About Piracy -- iTunes proves that most people, when given a reasonable option, prefer to honor intellectual property. In turn, when an industry is taking ill-deserved gains and trying to preserve its monopoly, the market is going to react. I'm in the Intellectual Property business myself, doing business in Russia, China, etc. and recognize that it's better to go with the flow, making our tools open source. Like it did for the Grateful Dead which became one of the most successful bands by letting audiences record and distribute their music freely, 21st Century companies are figuring out powerful new business models based on the ubiquity of the internet. It's the old guard trying to hold onto the past and governments in yet another power grab that support SOPA. Insights Return Next Week -- I'll get off my soapbox and return with a regular insight next week (no, I've not been shut down -- yet) - but keep the heat on your elected officials.

Exactly 100%; 50% First Day; 1 Priority For Year; Fortune Leadership Summit Agenda

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:

Fortune Leadership Summit Agenda Published -- with just one more celebrity CEO slot to fill (invitations out), the agenda for the May 15 - 16, Atlanta, FORTUNE Leadership Summit is complete - Jim Collins, Jim Stengel, Brad Hams, Brian Souza, and Kevin Daum - authors of a dozen important books combined. Just $250 deposit per seat required -- earliest and biggest teams to put down a deposit get the best seats for the event as always. This mini Think Week helps you "out-learn" the competition!

Exactly 100% -- a large Canadian law firm (the lawyers' lawyers didn't want us to mention their name!) set a 4th quarter goal to open 600 new client files. With a theme "600 to Summit", their Gazelles coach Trevor Throness, Strategy for Business, noted "I was there last week as we reviewed the last quarter, and I asked about the theme results (Trevor had brought the law firm CEO to the Growth Summit where he got excited about launching a theme). They opened 600 files on the nose, exactly, for the quarter. Not 598, not 604. I thought it was fascinating that obviously folks did what they had to do to win the game." Here's a link to some photos that show their scoreboard and some of the theme related items they used throughout the quarter to remind their staff of the #1 priority. What is your theme/priority for this quarter/year?

50% Improvement First Day -- Jim Tobin's company, Research Triangle, NC-based Ignite Social Media, achieved a 50% improvement of its critical number, unassigned tasks, in one day! That's the power of focusing on just one priority. Jim brought his team to the mid-November Rockefeller Habits workshop. Rather than wait until 2012, they announced a priority Thursday, Dec 1 (why wait to start!) comprised of two metrics: one improved 20% the first day; the other over 50%. Here's a Picture.

Nothing Fancy - Just Do It -- notes Jim "Basically, we grew from 35 people to 75 people in 2 months. So when we asked ourselves your question of 'What one thing should we work on in the next 90 days to be a better company,' it was 'Getting everyone on the same page in terms of what needs to be done and how we do it.' We then asked ourselves your second question, 'How will we know if we've done that? What can we measure that shows us we're on the same page?' And we knew we had this project management system that we're supposed to live in (and we do) and we knew we had gotten sloppy with making sure it could be 100% trusted. So we decided to track late tasks because those are evil in our business and I know they're rare, but our system made them look common. And then we added unassigned tasks, because how can a task assigned to nobody ever get done?" How did Jim execute? A simple email announcing the daily results and updating a white board - nothing fancy, but it works!!! Here's his email:

From: Tobin, Jim
Sent: Friday, December 02, 2011 9:58 AM
To: Ignite NC 365; Ignite MI 365
Subject: RE: New corporate goal
Importance: High

Nice job folks, we've significantly cut both the late tasks and the unassigned tasks in just the first day.

Late tasks: Were 241. Now 193 (down about 20%)
Unassigned tasks: Were 728. Now 353 (less than ½!).

Keep up the good work. Another update coming tomorrow.

Author of the book, "Social Media is a Cocktail Party: Why You Already Know the Rules of Social Media Marketing"

One Personal Priority for 2012? -- after hearing one of our pastor's, Jim Chandler, this past Sunday talk about the importance of a single priority for the year (the family tunes in online from Barcelona), we sat down and updated our individual vision boards. Only this time, rather than create a collage of images, each of the family members chose a single theme for the year and found one image to represent that theme i.e. our oldest son Cameron chose "Learning Mandarin" and picked a hilarious image which he's posted above his study desk. Looking back over our past vision boards, we realized we had each achieved only one of our "visions" anyway, so why over commit.

Experiences vs. Stuff -- and this heartwarming note from Jamie Birch, CFO of Nurse Next Door, "Janice and I took an insight you shared at our annual conference and used it this Christmas with the kids. You said you and your wife were changing the focus to 'experiences, not things' with your kids. We tried it with our gifts this year and it went over smashingly!"

Even Works with 6 Year Olds! -- Jamie continues "The kids each got a hand written card from Janice and I with some money to start a bank account and a recreation pass for the local pool. They got to take their certificate to the pool and get their first rec ID card (they all decided to do funny faces for the picture - they had a ball) and then we went to the bank and opened up their first account and got them each a debit card and PIN # so they can use it (even for the 6 year old twins - they cannot stop saying the PIN numbers so they won't forget it - hilarious). Although it wasn't a trip skiing or a charitable deed (both of which are on the horizon), the "experience" part of these gifts were the highlight of Christmas and was fun for both us and the kids! And we didn't even have to wrap a single gift - Santa doesn't wrap - so the environment also won in a very small way..."

Speaking of Experiences -- Barcelona won again the top spot for "Quality of Life" in the 22nd edition of the European Cities Monitor published by Cushman & Wakefield. And it received 2nd place in the "Familiarity with Cities as a Business Location." Think about spending a year in Barcelona learning Spanish - the ex-pat community is fabulous. Or a few weeks this summer. Or at least visit - we would love to host you for dinner with our family.

1st Book 2012; Jack Daniel's Magic; 4 Key Questions; Healthcare Cost ideas

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:  

I'm a professor, so I only know how to ask questions, not answer them. To students: I get paid to ask the questions and you pay to answer them.

Prof. Noam Wasserman sharing two famous lines among the Harvard B-School Faculty

Healthcare Costs -- my latest Fortune column will tackle this critical topic. Any creative ideas to stabilize or reduce your healthcare costs I can include in my Venture column? More details below...but first:

Strategic Thinking vs. Execution Planning -- my January "Growth Guy" syndicated column splits apart the term "strategic planning" into two distinct activities, each requiring a different team and focus. Take four minutes to read the piece and see how it will improve your strategic planning process.

First Critical Book of 2012 -- Jim Stengel, former Global Marketing Officer (GMO) of Proctor & Gamble, was recently chosen by Fortune as the ideal marketing head for its first Executive Dream Team. Stengel also released last week his book entitled Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World's Greatest Companies. Given the critical importance of marketing this decade, Stengel's insights into how his list of the world's 50 best businesses have dominated their markets will be highly useful to you (Gazelles 200 members will receive a copy next week).

Jack Daniel's Marketing Magic-- my personal favorite whiskey, it was Fortune's excerpt of Stengel's book highlighting the power of the Jack Daniel's brand (one of the top 50 companies) that turned me on to his book. In what is one of the most competitive niches, Jack Daniel's has been able to break out of the pack and establish itself as a powerful global brand. Take 3 minutes to read how the founder of Jack Daniel's set the company up for long term success (yes, his name is Jack Daniel). And how a one-page marketing plan in 1955 propelled the brand for the next 50 years.

Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook -- Sandberg's endorsement of the book, along with other luminaries (plus a quick read of an advance copy), convinced me to also invite Stengel to keynote, along with Jim Collins, the Fortune Leadership Summit in Atlanta May 15-16. Sandberg about Stengel's book "... A new, powerful model for business. ... A must-read ... for all business leaders." Again, marketing is critical this decade as more competitors emerge while the middle class expands globally - read Stengel's book then learn from him directly in Atlanta. Collins and Stengel will provide a nice one-two punch to your growth plans.

Palmisano's Four Questions -- Warren Buffett has amassed $10 billion of IBM stock; IBM's market cap is four times that of HP; and IBM was the second best performing stock this past decade. What's going on? It started when Sam Palmisano chose greatness for IBM. Palmisano stepped down as CEO of IBM this past Sunday. Take 2 minutes to scan the NY Time's latest interview with Palmisano where he outlines the four questions he posed to the top 300 managers at IBM in 2003. "The hardest thing is answering those four questions," Mr. Palmisano says. "You've got to answer all four and work at answering all four to really execute with excellence." The four questions:

·         "Why would someone spend their money with you - so what is unique about you?"

·         "Why would somebody work for you?"

·         "Why would society allow you to operate in their defined geography - their country?"

·         "And why would somebody invest their money with you?"

Interestingly, it was question 3 that led IBM to sell their PC business to Lenovo vs. Dell or HP. It secured their relationship with the Chinese!

Ideas for Containing Healthcare Costs? -- please email me at [email protected] if you have found a creative way to stabilize or reduce your healthcare costs in a way that does not hurt your relationships with employees who are depending on health benefits? If so, I'd love to know what you're doing, for potential inclusion in my next Fortune column. Fortune is very detail oriented, so please tell us in 1-2 paragraphs: What your company does, where it's located, how many employees you have, approximate revenues (if you're able to disclose that), and what you're doing to keep your health care costs in line. Fortune is very finance-driven, as you might imagine, so we would love to have details (in dollars) on how much you're spending, saving, etc.

Updated One-Page Tools (English, Spanish, Hungarian, Dutch, German, and French) -- thanks to Maureen Chan-Hefflin on our GI team for organizing all the various language versions of our one-page tools, including the updated One-Page Strategic Plan. Here's a link - just expand the various sections. It also includes our complete "vook" (video book) that walks you box-by-box through the various tools.

Rockefeller Habits Workshops in January -- Seattle Jan 10th; San Diego Jan 19th. Mark Lee, President of Baker Roofing (one of the nation's largest roofing contractors), "I have been working on implementing your tools this past year. We made a huge jump after the Rockefeller Habits workshop. Your management team needs to see, hear and understand the process first hand to truly get it implemented, which is why the workshop is so important."