The Agile Scaleup

Profiting from Employees; Only Way to Win; Committee of Sleep; Punctual Plumber

"...keeping you great" 

HEADLINES:

There are two things to aim at in life: First to get what you want, and after that to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind has achieved the second.
	Logan Pearsall Smith

Profiting From Employee Ideas -- this is the title of my March "Growth Guy" column, please take four minutes to read, more details below, but first...

The Only Way To Win -- one of my favorite peak performance gurus is Jim Loehr, co-author of the huge best-seller The Power of Full Engagement. His book was the first to suggest that managing energy, not time, was the real key to performance - and as a coach to some of the world's top athletes and CEOs, he brought a real science to understanding the need to cycle exertion and rest to maintain peak output - even tiny amounts. For instance, the top tennis players truly rested between each point vs. their lesser competitors.

Human Performance Institute -- Jim is the founder of the Human Performance Institute and author of a new book The Only Way to Win: How Building Character Drives Higher Achievement and Greater Fulfillment in Business and Life. The quote above by Logan Smith is from the book. Go right to chapter 10 and read the opening piece on Andre Agassi (Jim coached Andre early on), the legendary tennis player, and the mind shift Andre had to make to claw his way back from below 100 in the rankings to #1 again - unprecedented in sports history. Jim is keynoting the upcoming Leadership Summit in Orlando along with Dan Pink, Jack Stack, David Marquet, and Dave Kerpin. Book club members will receive Jim's new book next week.

New Work Routine -- speaking of energy management, this note from Ruud van Winden, founder of China-based P-SPACE, a leading provider of parking solutions, "At your workshop in Beijing you mentioned how you are using the 1.5 hours of brain activity to adjust your work schedule. After the workshop I divided my day routine into six to seven 1.5 hour work units (depending on early or normal start time). In between I take 15 minutes breaks and during lunch a bit longer."

Committee of Sleep -- Winden continues, "In my new daily routine I often do the 15 minute breaks on a couch I have in the office; either thinking about something totally non-work related or day-dreaming on work solutions. This is also referred to as the critical 'committee of sleep' in this Arianna Huffington article. Some interesting business ideas have come out of this already." FYI, take two minutes to read this excellent article by Arianna.

Brain Productivity -- concludes Winden, "If businesses want to be effective and productive, the topic of sleep/rest in the workplace deserves more attention. In the end, the brain is the main tool of most businesses these days, and the activities should be organized to make most efficient use of it. The 9-5 working day that currently dictates everyday life is a left-over of the industrial revolution. Instead of having work hours based on physical labor, our workday should be a routine organized in a way that best utilizes our mental capabilities (and limitations)." Nicely stated, Winden!

The Punctual Plumber -- Paul Dunn, co-founder of Buy1Give1, a micro-giving site where he's helped businesses donate over $22 million to charity (you should check out what he's doing with companies), responded to the Andreesen and Horowitz $10/min fine with another GREAT example - Benjamin Franklin Plumbing. Notes Dunn, "look at how they articulate not just their time promise (really superb) but how they articulate all their other brand promises -- it's awesome stuff." I couldn't agree more - and be sure to click on the "Our Guarantee" tab - was amazed that they warrant their repairs for two years!

25% Sales Increase -- Gabe Fasolino tapped into employee ideas and saw revenues increase 25% (on $10 million) in 9 months. Faced with a sensitive drug and alcohol policy, he turned over the situation to his employees. These and other examples are in my latest March Growth Guy column entitled "Profiting from Employee Ideas." I also share research that reports highly engaged employees help generate almost 3 times the operating margins of firms with low engagement. It's all about tapping into the most brains to out-think the competition.

Best Brand Promise Guarantee; Must STUDY Article; Hot Potato Chain Emails; Best VC

"...keeping you great" 

HEADLINES:

We want to make sure that everybody in this firm respects the entrepreneur and respects the fact that they're going to be the ones who are making us the money, not vice versa.
	Ben Horowitz Andreessen Horowitz

Venture Firm Pays If Late for Meeting -- to reinforce their respect for entrepreneurs, VC firm Andreessen Horowitz fines partners $10 for every minute they are late for a meeting with entrepreneurs!! This is EXACTLY the kind of simple brand promise guarantee and differentiating activity we've been emphasizing firms adopt as part of their overall strategy. And it's what has made their firm the hottest venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, having raised three funds worth $2.7 billion.

Must STUDY Article -- so the article for the week is Fortune's interview of Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. Venture capitalists are businesses too, and need a differentiating strategy. For them, their simple one-phrase strategy is "founders make the best CEOs" which translates to a brand promise that they will support, nurture, and educate an entrepreneur to become a successful CEO rather than be quick to bring in a hired gun. Then everything they do reinforces this belief, including their $10/minute fine -- and thus every entrepreneur is flocking to them. In an industry where quality deal flow is everything, Andreessen Horowitz gets the first look. Take 8 minutes to STUDY this interview for more great ideas about strategy (better than the P&G book!) plus a couple neat video interviews - and read how the late fine impacts culture (end of interview).

"Hot Potato" Long Email Chains -- speaking of wasting people's time being late to meetings (or conference calls as highlighted a few weeks ago), nothing wastes more time than long email chains with twenty people copied on the email when a quick conference call would resolve the issues. And because I'm on vacation this week, to save me some time, I'm reproducing BGT Partners VP of Operation, Tony Morello's, email to the 400 employees in their rapidly growing interactive media agency on how he wants these handled - what he calls "Hot Potato Them". Here it is, complete with his hot potato graphics. WARNING: some graphic language as well!

From: Tony Morello - BGT Partners
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2013 10:29 PM
To: BGTP:Group
Subject: Hot Potato!

Long Email Chains Wasting Time? Hot Potato Them.
We're seeing a disturbing trend internally at BGT - emails are being used as a substitute for actual conversation. When used incorrectly, emails can be a tremendous time suck. And given the amount of work we have, time is clearly not something we can afford to lose. If you've been the victim of time-wasting bullsh*t emails, we're now giving you ammo to fight back. The next time you receive an email that has been treated by the sender as a hot potato, don't continue the chain. Don't ignore it. And don't delete it. Instead, "reply all" with the following horrible, horrible graphic (we are not kidding):

When an email has been called out as a hot potato, the sender of the original email is responsible for calling a 15 minute huddle within one hour to resolve the problem. And that's the key - hot potato issues MUST be resolved in that time frame. In the huddle, someone must stand up and say, "I own the potato" and be accountable for the resolution. Then, other people must take responsibility for taking action and supporting the person that owns the issue.
A hot potato email meets one or more of the following requirements:

1. Has caused an email chain of at least 5 emails with no clear resolution and no clear ownership
2. Has been sent in place of doing due diligence and collecting background information on an issue (i.e., an email sent to several people and begins, "I'm not sure who to send this to, so I'm sending this to all of you...")
3. Has been sent to a group to collect information that could be collected much faster in a meeting
4. Has asked you to do something that clearly has been thrown over the fence with no real thought. (AKA a CYA email)

Once the problem is resolved, the sender of the original email can "reply all" with the following:

Don't get sucked into long email chains. Hot Potato them, talk, and resolve the problem. You can copy the Hot Potato graphics right out of this email.
A special thanks to Elly Vila Dominicis for her prodigious potato artwork.

Don't Read This Book; What Strategy Isn't; Scorecard Sample; Crowdfunding for Dummies

"...out-learning the competition" 

HEADLINES:  

Reading the books you recommend is changing the way I think and work for the better.
	Jamie Johns, Managing Director Sky Accounting Solutions

Sample Topgrading Scorecard -- superior to a job description, constructing a scorecard for a position is the first step in the Topgrading hiring process. Toby Jenkins, CEO of Australia-based Bluewire Media, has written an excellent blog on how to construct a Scorecard along with a sample. And he explains why his team enjoyed doing the process for each of their jobs. REMEMBER: Certification as a Topgrading Practioner is available (every company should have one) - the online classes start this week with private coaching (go at your own pace) - and 50% discount for additional executives/managers from the same firm wanting to take the classes together.

What NOT to Read -- the biz world has been a buzz about the former CEO of P&G's new book Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works (love the title). So I grabbed a copy and dug in this past weekend. Wow, I couldn't have been more disappointed. It's definitely not a book for mid-market companies - too vague, too complicated - and it doesn't seem like P&G really had to make the kinds of tough choices the rest of us mere mortals have to make. Plus P&G isn't doing so great right now, so whatever they learned hasn't stuck. The measure of a great CEO is if their predecessor is able to succeed.

Five Questions -- in turn, I love these five key questions upon which the book is based (my interpretation in brackets), but I didn't get any real help figuring these out - there are much better resources, like Bob Bloom's book Inside Advantage (best strategy book I've ever read):

1. What is your winning aspiration? (BHAG)
2. Where will you play? (Sandbox and Core Customer)
3. How will you win? (Michael Porter's differentiated "activities")
4. What capabilities must be in place? (Key Thrusts/Capabilities)
5. What management systems are required? (this is new)

What Strategy Isn't -- and I thought Lafley did a great job of outlining what strategy is NOT - taken from Fortune's summary of the book:

• Strategy isn't a vision. A vision tells you nothing about how to achieve your goals.
• Strategy isn't a plan. That's just a set of tactics. A recent blog post by Martin called "Don't Let Strategy Become Planning" has gone viral in managerial circles.
• Strategy isn't optimizing the status quo. Getting more efficient is always good, but it's a far cry from a strategy.
• Strategy isn't following best practices. Some managers think getting really good at what the best players are already doing is a strategy. No, say Lafley and Martin: "It is a recipe for mediocrity."

OK, those were the two good parts. Now go re-read Bob Bloom's book Inside Advantage.

Crowdfund Investing For Dummies -- and a shout out to Sherwood "Woodie" Neiss and his partners who single handedly pushed through crowdfunding legislation in the US and just released a book, Crowdfund Investing for Dummies, helping entrepreneurs prepare for this funding opportunity to publicly raise up to $1 million without filing expensive IPO documents. WARNING: the SEC missed the Dec 31, 2012 deadline for setting the new rules. UGH! Here's a quick update on the situation.

You Already Know How to be Great -- Alan Fine, a top tennis, golf, and executive coach, has written an excellent book on how to get out of your own way. He's found the biggest obstacle to improved performance isn't NOT knowing what to do; it's not doing what you already know. Considered one of the fathers of modern executive-coaching, Alan has created a one-hour online course that outlines his GROW model for peak performance (something he's taught several PGA and Ryder Cup champs as well as top execs at IBM) plus how to have real faith in your own abilities!! Those that have watched the course are already raving about it. However, like all our online courses, there's a full money back guarantee. Watch at your next monthly management meeting or play in the background as you do email.

India and Australia Growth Summits -- I'll be in India next week and Australia the following week for our Growth Summits. Dates and locations below.

BigML; Elite Athletes' Secret; Relax to Drive Productivity; Core Values Awards

"...keeping you great" 

HEADLINES:  (Happy Chinese New Year! Here's to more energy!)

Core Value Awards -- what better Valentine's Day gift than a Core Values Award. More below, including photo, but first...

Customer Experience -- 1.9 million views later, I'm a little late to the party, but Steve Jobs response to an apparent insult back in 1997 describes precisely what each of us must do to build a great company. It's five minutes long, but start at 2:22 to get the key idea - that you must ALWAYS start with "what incredible benefits can we give the customers" - not "how can we sell this cool technology (product/service)." And customers need to be able to see it or "get it" quickly - this is the difficult challenge. Then how do you support the team in achieving this - Job's offers his suggestions. It's worth showing to your senior team, if not the entire company.

Big Data, BigML -- here's a big data (free?) tool called BigML. It's a machine-learning service that discovers patterns within large datasets and then generates predictive models based on the data. The models are displayed as decision trees that place the factors most highly correlated with the target outcome up top and work their way down to less-predictive factors. There's also a feature that lets users predict the outcome of any given situation. It's a quick four step process with videos to guide you.

Will Kickstarter Campaign Succeed -- I learned about BigML from this article on predicting the success of Kickstarter campaigns - and lifted the description of BigML above right from the article! I've been following the StormFly (PC for your wrist) campaign that just received an excellent Mashable write-up and found the article a good example of how all of us can put our data to better use in our businesses. Take a couple minutes to read through the piece.

Sleep to Be More Productive -- Tony Schwartz, head of The Energy Project, wrote an excellent piece for the NY Times Sunday about the importance of energy management vs. time management. Notes Schwartz, "In a study of nearly 400 employees, published last year, researchers found that sleeping too little - defined as less than six hours each night - was one of the best predictors of on-the-job burn-out. A recent Harvard study estimated that sleep deprivation costs American companies $63.2 billion a year in lost productivity."

Vacation (and nap) to Perform -- Schwartz further notes, "In 2006, the accounting firm Ernst & Young did an internal study of its employees and found that for each additional 10 hours of vacation employees took, their year-end performance ratings from supervisors (on a scale of one to five) improved by 8 percent." And naps provided huge boosts in performance. One best practice I've adopted - a quick 20 minute nap before my 3 hours of intense Monday afternoon meetings with my team around the world - allows me to pay much better attention, I've noticed. Take 3 minutes to scan the article. BTW, Schwartz's famous co-author and elite athlete and executive coach Jim Loehr is keynoting the Leadership Summit.

Elite Athletes Secret -- in short, cut out wheat-based foods such as bread and pasta, dairy, and processed sugar. Made popular by #1 tennis player Novak Djokovic, other elite athletes are experiencing the same benefits. Notes coach Pete McCraw, "The energy level that you have is something I've never experienced before. You don't ever have that crash, the high and then the low. Those periods of the day when you crave carbs or sugar, feeling drowsy at work or in the car or wherever, you don't have that anymore, it's a completely different thing -- it's sustained, you don't have the foods cravings like I used to." The main problem with wheat is that it's nothing like the ancient food we used to consume. And milk was designed for babies. No other animal consumes milk later in life - plus milk has been shown to decrease levels of calcium in the bones, not increase it. Take 3 minutes to scan this CNN article then clear out your cupboards.

Core Values Awards (So Powerful!) -- notes David Michel, CEO of Catapult Health "I took our full time employees to Rough Creek Lodge for our holiday party and the highlight of our time together was the presentation of our new Core Value Awards (see picture below). In advance of our party, I asked each employee to nominate one of their peers for a Core Value Award. I also asked them to include a few sentences about why they felt a particular individual deserved the award. While sitting around a beautiful outdoor fire pit after dinner at our party, I presented one employee with a crystal desk award for each of our five Core Values. I also shared many of the comments that their peers had written about them. It was SO POWERFUL. I now hear our team integrating these values into their everyday tasks ... job descriptions, discussions with new candidates, at our events, in sales meetings, etc." It's a great way to share the love!!

5 Big Ideas; Closing Big Sales; Covey's Take; Execute Faster; David Marquet

"...keeping you great" 

HEADLINES:  

Research has consistently shown that a company's investment in learning -- for their executives, managers and front-line employees -- is the most powerful predictor of their ability to outperform their competitors.
	Laurie Bassi, Author Good Company

How To Execute Fast -- Feb 15, 1pm ET Webcast - more below, but first...

Closing Big Deals -- entitled "5 Ways to Close Big Deals" my latest Venture Column in Fortune is online. Take 1 minute to scan down the list and see if any of the 5 practical ideas can move you from talk to contract more quickly.

5 Big Ideas -- ...5 huge trends that will impact all our businesses is the topic of my latest February "Growth Guy" syndicated column: Return on Luck; Big Data; Reverse Innovation; Newsjacking (Trump is the master!); and Robots/Capita. Take 3 minutes to scan through the article. Useful list for your next marketing meeting.

Sizeup.com -- in my column I highlight www.sizeup.com as a way to experience the power of Big Data. Within seconds, this free site will tell you how many competitors exist in a specific locale, how your revenues stack up against theirs, and where to hunt for new business. Give it a try.

Create Leaders At Every Level -- the only way for the senior team to free up themselves to work on the big ideas/deals is to turn over the day-to-day running of the company to the middle managers. David Marquet's book Turn the Ship Around!: How to Create Leadership at Every Level is a key - a VERY how-to execution book on how he took the worst sub in the nuclear navy and made it #1. I named it in my Fortune column one of the top 5 biz books of 2012.

Stephen Covey's Take -- when you get David's book, go immediately to Stephen Covey's Foreword (probably the last one he ever wrote) and take 4 minutes and read his insights into what it takes to create leaders at every level and why he felt David's sub had the most empowered team he had ever met. Then come hear David keynote the Leadership Summit May 9 - 10 Orlando. Book club members will get a copy of David's book next week.

Execute FastWebcast -- to executive with speed, your team must be able to make critical adjustments weekly - if you want to move faster you MUST pulse faster. Join our complimentary webcast with Patrick Thean, "How to Get Your Team to Execute Faster Than Your Competition." You will learn how to: Create the right baseline metrics; Set up a simple rhythm to get every member to share WHY they are off track; and a structure for weekly meetings so your team can execute with speed and make critical adjustments. February 15th @ 1:00pm EST Register Now.

Topgrading Certification Starts February 14 -- we're enrolling right now executives to participate in 6 webinars (recorded if you miss the live session), 3 hours of online video training watched at your own pace, a 90 minute private coaching session scheduled when you're available, access to specific Topgrading tools, and a personal coach - spread over three months -- a quick and easy way for someone in your firm to learn and become certified, in-depth, the Topgrading methodology. No time for amateur hour. Enroll someone in your company now. Hiring is one of the two most important executive skills. 100% Money Back Guarantee. For more info.