The Agile Scaleup

Japan's Rakuten; Crucial Conversations; Unique Employee Handbook; Recruiting Talent

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:  

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.
	George Bernard Shaw

Recruiting Talent -- my latest "Growth Guy" column highlights some unusual (rent a bus, hang out at docks), yet effective approaches to recruiting top talent. More below, but first...

Japan's Rakuten Going Global -- proving that our fiercest competitor is likely lurking 12 time zones away, ex-pat colleague Greg Oliveau pointed me to this important Wired article about Japan's largest internet retailer Rakuten. Structured radically different than Amazon, Rakuten is prepared to go global. If you sell anything on Amazon, you might want to at least know about them and their founder. Notes Wired

"You may not yet have heard of Rakuten, Japan's biggest internet retailer, whose interests range from a food-to-fashions online marketplace and travel agency to a credit-card business and ebooks. But Hiroshi Mikitani, the charismatic and outspoken 47-year-old billionaire who founded the business 15 years ago, is planning to change that, and fast. Mickey, as he's known to his 7,615 Japanese staff, is on a mission to take the business global -- and in stage one, intended to capture 27 countries, he has lately acquired America's Buy.com for $250 million (£160 million), France's PriceMinister for ?200 million (£161 million), Britain's Play.com (£25 million), Canada's Kobo ($315 million), Germany's Tradoria and Brazil's Ikeda, not to mention leading a $100 million investment in Pinterest this May, a $10 million funding round in AhaLife in April, and a minority investment last September in Russia's leading etailer, OZON."

"Crucial Conversations" -- this is the title of the #1 bestselling book in the field of personal communications. Go right to chapter 2 and read Kevin's story - then ponder the Fool's Choice: to be kind or candid. Co-author Ron McMillan is keynoting the Fortune Growth Summit Oct 23 - 24 in Phoenix where he'll share the tools for communicating when the stakes are high. Book club readers will receive the book next week. Make sure you get the latest 2nd Edition of the book. What's more important or basic than knowing how to be effective in conversations, especially when the stakes are high?

KEY Skill of Effective Leaders -- as noted in Crucial Conversations "Twenty years of research involving more than 100,000 people reveals that THE key skill of effective leaders, teammates, parents, and loved ones is the capacity to skillfully address emotionally and politically risky issues. Period." And research shows that companies with employees who are skilled at crucial conversations:

• Respond five times faster to financial downturns - and make budget adjustments far more intelligently
• Save over $1500 and an eight-hour workday for every crucial conversation employees hold rather than avoid
• Substantially increase trust and reduce transaction costs in virtual work teams

Key to Accountability -- systems and processes are only useful if you can hold one another accountable. And that requires Crucial Conversations skills. Notes the book "The path to high productivity passes not through a static system, but through face-to-face conversations." In the end, driving growth is about making great decisions derived from lots of constructive conversations among talented people.

The Power of Dialogue -- and notes the book "when it comes to risky, controversial, and emotional conversations, skilled people find a way to get all the relevant information (from themselves and others) out into the open. That's it. At the core of every successful conversation lies the free flow of relevant information." And the key to achieving this talent is to master the skill of dialogue. It sounds easy, but my wife and I still wrestle with how to have an effective dialogue - in fact, we went for a tune-up session just last week. The rest of the book goes in depth into how to master this important skill.

"Recruiting Talent" -- Atlassian's "15 developers in 15 days" bus tour was a huge hit in Europe. With over 1000 applicants, their guerilla marketing approach paid off (your marketing function must we as active in helping to find recruiting prospects as sales prospects!). In turn, Dietmar Petutschnig with ISD Limited in Whangarei, New Zealand, heads to the docks when he needs to recruit talent. Take 3 minutes to get the details in my latest September "Growth Guy" column.

Valve's Unique Employee Handbook -- it opens with this quote on the cover "A fearless adventure in knowing what to do when no one's there telling you what to do." And it emphasizes that " "hiring is the single most important thing you will ever do at Valve." Take 2 minutes to scan through this blog highlighting the key points in Valve's handbook. Thanks to Sebastian Ross, HR guru and another close ex-pat colleague in Barcelona, for pointing me to this story.

September Workshops -- dramatically speed up implementation of the Rockefeller Habits and walk through our various one-page tools. Sydney 4 Sept; Melbourne 5 Sept; Brisbane 6 Sept; Las Vegas 12 Sept; Columbia, MD 25 Sept; Colorado Springs 26 Sept.

Zach Dell; Charlie Munger; Sir Martin Sorrell; Australian Tour

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:  

Before you are a leader, success is all about yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.
	Jack Welch, former CEO, GE

CEO Largest Ad Agency -- tune-in to a LIVE presentation by Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of the world's largest ad agency. 7 Sept 8am Sydney; 6 Sept 6pm ET, 3pm PT. More below, but first...

Zach Dell's Venture -- Michael Dell's 15 year old son has a sport camp franchise and is looking for young people to run it in their city. More below, but second...

Cheapest Way to Fuel Growth -- Liz Wiseman, author of the hugely successful book Multipliers, has a blog out on Harvard Business Review this week. Focused on the importance of talent development, here's her concluding paragraph:

"Too many companies are looking for talent in the wrong place. They spend their time and money "grocery shopping" for talent when they can simply look inside their already well-stocked refrigerator. In growth times, the smartest executives will look beyond hiring and focus on utilizing their company's existing talent. And, for companies who build a reputation for aggressively developing their talent, hiring becomes a no-brainer."

Take two minutes to read the specifics in her blog, including research that shows we're underutilizing our talent by 34% -- and how this leads to employee frustration.

Head of Talent Development -- do you have someone on your team taking the lead on talent development? Someone needs to spend at least one-day per week thinking about, tracking, scheduling, sourcing, and driving talent development in your firm. A lack of talent development is like failing to keep your software programs up-to-date. Here are some simple development ideas from an earlier "Growth Guy" column. A more comprehensive column is in the works on this important topic.

Charlie Munger's Book --WPOer Bud Arquilla, the new CEO of our Gazelles 200 initiative, shared with me the Jack Welch quote I used above. He found it on page 178 of Poor Charlie's Almanac, The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger. Third Edition 2011. Bud gave a copy of Charlie's (Warren Buffett's partner) book to each of his children. I just ordered a copy myself - it's massive!! More, later, as I dig into it. And the Gazelles 200 initiative is for firms that want an affordable monthly talent development program taught by the top business thoughts leaders of our time. No time for amateur hour when it comes to development.

Zach Dell's Sports Camps -- these camps are focused on developing sportsmanship and aimed at children age 5 to 13 - and are operated by young people for young people. Started three years ago by Zach's cousins in Dallas, Camp SPARK has grown rapidly and now has camps in Dallas, Austin, Houston, and San Francisco. They are looking to franchise throughout the US and other countries and have opened an application for anyone who wants to run a camp in their city. I visited with Zach last Thursday after his dad suggested he talk to me about getting some help growing the business. As you can imagine, he's sharp, articulate, and driven. Check out his interview at the bottom of the Camp SPARK website and have your teenager apply if interested in franchising a camp - and earn a few bucks in the process.

My Own Son's Development -- this past weekend I hosted a Rite-of-Passage initiation for my 13 year old son Cole. Four of Cole's mentors joined me in marking his transition from boy to young man. Serial entrepreneur Marc Cohen, whose family spent six months in Barcelona, was one of the men who led the process (his son Jacob is a close friend of Cole's) and produced an eight minute video highlighting the process. "If you don't initiate the youth, they will burn down the village." African proverb.

Sir Martin Sorrell Webcast -- considered a revolutionary and change maker in his industry, Sir Martin is the CEO of WPP which he's grown from a shopping basket manufacturer to the world's largest communications services group. WPP is currently valued on the UK stock market at some £9.7 billion and is the world's largest advertising group by turnover.
WPP's operating companies employ 141,000 people throughout 2,400 offices in 107 countries around the world. His topic is "The Importance of Digital and Emerging Markets." Given the vital importance of marketing this decade, don't miss Sorrell's insights and new ways of thinking about two critical markets. Insight readers get a discount - Standard Rate: $75 AUD; Gazelles Rate: $55 AUD (use promo code Gazelles). 6pm ET Sept 6; 8am Sydney Sept 7. This is a LIVE presentation and will be available for 30 days for those signed up before the event.

Australian Tour-- I'll be back down under Sept 4, Sydney; Sept 5 Melbourne; Sept 6 Brisbane leading one-day Rockefeller Habits-based workshops.

Chet Holmes Death; German Mittelstand Strategy; 10 Industries Hiring Youth

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:

Chet Holmes Untimely Death -- a friend and faculty member of our Fortune Summit, Chet Holmes, author of one of my favorite sales books of all time, The Ultimate Sales Machine, lost his battle to leukemia last week. Former top sales leader for Charlie Munger (Warren Buffett's partner), he went on to partner with Tony Robbins in building Business Breakthroughs International (BBI). Here's a link to Tony's tribute to Chetincluding.

German Mittelstands -- the key to Germany's growing economy vs. most of the rest of Europe are their Mittelstands - mid-size growth firms. They were in the news again last week. Notes the NY Times "the Germany economy sometimes resembles one big Mittelstand company: it is built for stability more than growth. Debt is bad, prudence a higher virtue than profit." Take three minutes to read this insightful article and see why one of the Mittelstand's turned away business; and is a key supplier to China!! Big is bad; small is beautiful.

Great By Choice -- reading the NY Times article about their Mittelstands, I was reminded of Jim Collins' research that those firms which thrived in turbulent times held magnitudes more cash than their competitors. Further notes the NY Times article, "That characteristic often frustrates Germany's neighbors, as well as some economists, who wish Germans would spend more to stimulate growth in the rest of the euro zone. But Germans argue that their approach has helped the country avoid downturns like those that have hit Spain and Italy and are threatening France. While Greece was racking up debt during the last decade, Mittelstand companies were resolutely cutting theirs."

Top 10 Industries Attracting Young Talent -- with the focus on employment and youth, insight reader Shanna Houston with Collegestats.org sent me a link to her recent article outlining the top 10 industries aggressively recruiting young talent - worth sending to college students contemplating the job market. Thanks Shanna.

Insights on Amazon Kindle -- for those that might prefer to have my weekly insights delivered to your Kindle so you can read them even when you're not wirelessly connected, here's a link. 99 cents per month.

Dare to Disagree; Railroaded; Breaking the Bank; More Rooms Available

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:

Additional Rooms at Growth Summit -- 40 rooms per night just came available at the Fortune Growth Summit in Phoenix Oct 23 - 24, more info below but first...

Dare to Disagree -- serial entrepreneur Margaret Heffernan, author of Willful Blindness, keynoted the TEDGlobal event last month. This week her outstanding 13 minute talk went live online. Entitled "Dare to Disagree" she makes a case for why openness is not sufficient to build an enduring company; your team must deeply disagree and support an environment where conflict flourishes - if not, you'll suffer from willful blindness.

Turn Up the Heat -- many, like Pat Lencioni, have emphasized this need for constructive conflict, but Margaret's riveting stories and examples left me feeling like our weekly meetings need to take conflict up a notch or two. I was so impressed I invited her to keynote our European Growth Summits (Barcelona 21 May; Amsterdam 22 May; Munich 23 May; and London 24 May). She has a new book on competitiveness coming out in 2013 as well.

Cheesecake Factory Healthcare -- I'm also a big fan of Dr. Atul Gawande and his writing, especially his book Checklist Manifesto. This week's New Yorker Magazine features an extensive article by Atul on how the healthcare industry should take a lesson or two (or 100) from The Cheesecake Factory. A medical doctor himself, he hints at a great deal of "willful blindness" in his own profession. Thanks to Nathan Gray, founder of EarthTrain, for pointing me to Atul's article this week.

Breaking the Bank -- in the United States, the military budget has accounted for a steady 5% of GDP since WWII, including the past 10 years fighting two wars; in turn, medical costs, including the war on cancer, have risen to over 15% of GDP. This is the economic chokepoint that must be solved. Please send Atul's article to every medical leader and congressional delegate you know.

Railroaded -- and nothing broke the banks like our transcontinental railroads, making a handful of men, like Leland Stanford of Stanford University fame, exceedingly rich at the expense of the American taxpayer (and the Native Americans). I just finished reading Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America by Richard White. 150 years later we still have a handful of business leaders in bed with politicians collectively getting rich at the expense of taxpayers around the world while giving us overpriced and inferior services (healthcare, banking, and education being three of the biggest boondoggles). Big remains the enemy of great - to entrepreneurs and our way of life.

Brigadier General Rickett -- and this note from retired British General Johnny Rickett in response to my insight last week on The Leadership Challenge, "I follow all your weekly insights with interest. To be cynical about leadership I cannot resist quoting Field Marshal Montgomery as saying 'You either have it or you haven't!' I agree to a certain extent leadership can always be developed but in the end it is either there or it isn't." I couldn't agree more...

Level of Leadership -- ...so, if you take Elliot Jaques' idea I discussed a few weeks ago that your leadership time horizon is pretty much baked in (you either have it or haven't), the level of leadership you obtain might be somewhat pre-determined; however, at any one level you can further develop your leadership skills - and that's the power of The Leadership Challenge.

Outstanding Tour -- BTW, we met Brigadier General Rickett a few years ago when touring Normandy Beach. He came highly recommended as a military historian and guided our family on an amazing private tour - and has remained connected to our family ever since (I credit him for my oldest son's love of history). You can learn more about his services at www.battlefieldsdirect.com.

Additional Rooms at Growth Summit -- 40 rooms per night just came available at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort, site of our upcoming Fortune Growth Summit in Phoenix Oct 23 - 24 (another group in the hotel moved their event). And those forced to book next door at the sister property have been moved over as well. I know some of you were upset that we were already sold out at the main hotel, so grab rooms if you're thinking of coming.