The Agile Scaleup

Inflation 9%; 5 Ways to Beat Costs; A Bigger Prize; Tony Hsieh 30th April; Amsterdam and Barcelona

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:  

Zappos CEO, 30th April 2pm (anywhere) -- tune-in to the free screening of Tony Hsieh's 55 minute presentation on Delivering Happiness. More details below, but first...

Inflation 9% -- not sure about other countries, but the economists I trust say real inflation was 9% in the US the past 12 months vs. the 1.6% reported (yes, governments hide the truth). And a recent check on prices I've been paying around the world confirms these numbers, including the recent increase in taxi charges to get from my home to the Barcelona airport - up 9%. Creeping inflation of this magnitude can erode margins quickly, so stay on top of the situation.

5 Ways to Stay Ahead of Rising Costs -- my latest Venture column in FORTUNE addresses this situation and offers 5 ways to stay ahead of these rising costs:

1. Share the Responsibility
2. Reveal the Price
3. Monitor the Use of Items (get this device!)
4. Spend Wisely to Win
5. Raise Your Prices

Please take 2 minutes to glean the details from the column - and pass around.

Ford's Ruthlessly Efficient Weekly Meetings -- Ford has a new CEO, Mark Field, and he plans to continue the meeting rhythm Alan Mulally implemented that is credited with turning around the company. Read about the six core elements of their essential weekly meeting (vs. the monthly Mulally inherited) which includes simple red/yellow/green indicators of progress and my favorite, point #6:

• Focus is important. Side conversations and looking at one's phone aren't permitted. "If someone has a side conversation, we just stop and we just look at them, and it's amazing how it doesn't happen again," Mulally told the Wall Street Journal (paywall)

This is what Pat Lencioni, author of Five Dysfunctions of a Team, is talking about when he emphasizes the importance of holding people accountable - even to things like paying attention in meetings. The article is worth 2 minutes.

A Bigger Prize -- this is the title of serial entrepreneur Margaret Heffernan's fourth book just released. Subtitled How We Can Do Better Than the Competition, Heffernan makes a case for collaboration vs. competition. Go right to Chapter 7 entitled "Clone Wars" and then Chapter 11 for her conclusions. Did you know about Auto-Tune? I didn't. And then come hear Heffernan rock the audience in Orlando at the Leadership Summit May 13 - 14. She's been the #1 or #2 rated speaker at our other global Summits. She's brilliant. GazellesPro and book club members will receive a copy of her book next week.

10 Best Founding Teams -- it's a quick 10 slide infographic FORTUNE posted. And it does underpin the importance of having co-founders vs. the lone ranger!! A fun walk through the past but not essential reading - enjoy this weekend.

Barcelona 29 April; Amsterdam 30 April -- join us next week for two Growth Summits featuring:

1. The "father of sales" Neil Rackham - includes his latest research on who should really get sales commissions!
2. Hostage negotiator Prof. George Kohlrieser and author of one of my three favorite leadership books Care to Dare. We all feel held hostage at times - by partners, customers, investors, suppliers, etc.
3. #1 execution book author David Marquis, Turn the Ship Around - one of the few spontaneous standing ovations in the history of the Summits.

For more info -- see you in Barcelona and Amsterdam.

Verne Harnish and Yanik Silver -- next Thursday (1st May, 2pm ET) join serial entrepreneur Yanik Silver and me as we discuss how he's implemented the Rockefeller Habits - part of an ongoing one-hour interview series where I share practical examples of the Rock Habits in action - and answer your questions.

REGISTER

Tony Hsieh, 30 April 2pm -- Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh shares the different lessons he has learned in business and life, from starting a worm farm to running a pizza business, through Link Exchange, Zappos, and more. Fast-paced and down-to-earth, Delivering Happiness shows how a very different kind of corporate culture is a powerful model for achieving success -- and how by concentrating on the happiness of those around you, you can dramatically increase your own happiness. Register here to save $99 by watching the free screening on Wednesday, 30th April at 2PM your local time. This is a one-time offer to take advantage of this free learning opportunity.

COACHING:

Need help implementing the Rockefeller Habits?

He Finally Did It; Hyper Sales Growth; Webgreeters; 25th April 2pm ET Frontline Hiring

"...outlearning (and selling) the competition"

HEADLINES:  

It's finally here! The book all the millions of fans (that's literal) of Jack Daly have been wanting -- a book that shares the same time-tested sales management techniques that work to drive the growth he's been teaching in his powerful and packed workshops. It's all about getting the sales management piece right - and this is the book that shows you the way.
	Verne Harnish

Hiring Frontline Team -- Friday, 25 April, 2pm ET - complimentary webinar on how to use Topgrading for hiring frontline staff, more info below, but first...

Jack's New Book Released Today -- above is my ringing endorsement of Jack Daly's new book entitled Hyper Sales Growth: Street Proven Systems & Processes. So many of us have benefited from Jack's sales and sales management wisdom, insights, and energy over the years - and now it's all in a book. I strongly suggest your sales leader (coach!) and sales team get it and read it!! The key? It's very practical, tactical, and full of specific "how to's."

You Don't Know Jack? -- borrowing one of his favorite lines, if you don't know Jack then you don't know sales. So a little background on Jack -- he's one of us -- CEO/Entrepreneur - having built 6 startups into national firms, two of which he subsequently sold to Wall Street. And in the process he's led sales forces numbering into the thousands. 65 marathons, 13 Ironmans, tons of speaking awards, Jack is both an achiever and teaches us how to achieve. And did I mention - it's practical.

Starts with Hiring -- Jack is a fan of Topgrading and their "virtual bench" idea. Like a sales team needs a pipeline of prospective customers; sales leaders need a continuous pipeline of sales people. Jack is very specific about how to build and continually evaluate your internal pipeline of sales talent, nurturing marketing potential recruits like you would clients.

Kill Sales -- and if you want to kill your sales efforts, have less than A-players working the frontlines of your company - the first impression of your firm. Worse, have no one "watching the store." Companies are spending more and more money to drive traffic to their website. The question is .. what to do with this traffic when they land on your site.

WebGreeter -- this company messages everybody coming into your website using live chat and helps generate about 300% more leads from the same traffic. Gazelles has been using them for close to 10 years and we have been very pleased with the results.

Topgrading for Frontline Hiring -- tune in 2pm ET Friday 25 April for free 45-minute Webinar focused solely on the secrets for adapting Topgrading to hire the best front-line people -- and save the ton of money it will cost you if you hire the wrong people. To register, go HERE...

Scaling Up -- my new book is off to the printers and advance review copies will be available at the Leadership Summit in Orlando May 13 - 14 where I'll be the kick-off speaker (instead of the wrap-up). Looking forward to sharing the new material with you. The book will go on sale Oct 21.

COACHING:

Need help implementing the Rockefeller Habits?

Two New Billionaires; Big Pet Peeve; Fortune Stories Needed; Summit Room Rate Ends Today

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES: 

I get several hundred emails per day. I wish people would just ask for what they want in the first sentence. I don't need to know their whole life history to make a decision. Getting people to be brief would save everyone a lot of time.
	Guy Kawasaki, author, publisher and entrepreneur

Stories Needed for FORTUNE Column -- any barriers to growth this past year? On a tight deadline - more details below, but first...

Atlassian Valued at US$3.5 Billion -- congratulations to co-founders Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brooks - now billionaires on paper after launching the firm in 2002!! For the full story on how they generate $200 million with no sales people here's a link to this WSJ announcement. One hint - they are guerilla marketers to perfection (Scott always sends me ideas for columns which has landed him in several articles and features). Thanks to Paul O'Dwyer, one of our coaching partners in Australia, for the heads-up on this transaction.

Subject Line Etiquette! -- one of my email pet peeves -- the "Subject:" line of emails should match the substance of the email, period!! For instance, if there is a request for an 15th April phone call, put "15th April call" in the Subject line. And if the reply email switches it to 17th April, don't keep using the old 15th April Subject line. Take 3 seconds and change the Subject line to 17th April. As back and forth emails morph into different topics, the Subject line needs to change so it aligns with the modified or new topic. Take Subject lines seriously and communication will flow better.

Email Etiquette #2 -- my second pet peeve is too many requests in one email, especially if they involve different people. I would rather receive three separate emails with one topic/request per email (with matching Subject lines!!) than one long email and a generic Subject line.

Email Etiquette #3 -- my third pet peeve are long emails. The above quote from Guy Kawasaki is his testimonial for Joseph McCormack's book Brief: Make a Bigger Impact Saying Less. When we invite big names to keynote our Summits, like Ben Horowitz for the Growth Summit, we take Kawasaki's advice and put the request both in the Subject line and as the first sentence of the email. It works rather than drone on about the details.

Next Online Topgrading Master Class -- hiring someone in 2014? Want a 90%+ success rate? Next Topgrading Master Class starts April 24 - all from the comfort of your office. More info here.

Hotel Room Rate Ending -- the $169/night rate at the Leadership Summit May 13 - 14, Orlando, ends today - here's a link.

FORTUNE Column Stories -- CEOs - what were your biggest barriers to business growth in the past year or two and how you overcame it. We're not looking for stories about beating the odds in raising capital. Instead, internal obstacles that -- once you discovered and removed them -- cleared the path to growth. Perhaps you had organized the business in a way that wasn't working for you, didn't have the right procedures in place, had people working on the wrong things, combined two departments that should have operated separately, did not invest enough in a particular area of the business, etc. Please include the name of your company, the city where it is located, the number of employees and annual revenue (FORTUNE requires this), as well as a few lines explaining what the obstacle was and the results you achieved by busting through it. Thanks.

COACHING:

Need help implementing the Rockefeller Habits?

Pixar's Secret; Dream Team CEO; Stein Mart Story; Jack Stack Online; Rock Habits Fall Schedule

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:

All assets become liabilities!

Pat McGovern, Dream Team CEO -- the world lost one of the great entrepreneurs and philanthropists last week, the founder of IDG, Patrick J. McGovern. Creator of Compuworld, Macworld, and PCWorld magazines and hundreds of other publications around the world including the famous "Dummie" series of books and tech guides, McGovern amassed over a $5 billion fortune yet continued to drive around in used vehicles and live in his $430,000 home purchased in 1989. I first met Pat when I invited him to be the kickoff speaker for the inaugural "Birthing of Giants" executive program at MIT. He had just been named to Inc. Magazine's famous start-up "Dream Team" as the ideal CEO along with Steve Jobs as head of R&D; Jack Stack, founder of SRC, as COO; Tom Golisano, founder of Paychex, as CFO; Donald Burr, founder of People Express Airlines, as head of HR; and Jim Koch, founder of Boston Beer, VP Sales & Marketing. Now that was a Dream Team.

Odd Meeting Time -- much of what I teach I learned from McGovern. He suggested the importance of setting meetings at an odd time so everyone would be on time - 11:11 for his team. McGovern also required all his business units around the world to spend 3% of payroll on education. "Use it or lose it" was his motto since he bonused people on profit but didn't want anyone making their numbers by cutting back on training and development. And it was McGovern that suggested the proper growth target was twice the rate of industry growth i.e. if the local market was growing at 15%, he expected 30% growth from that business unit. And his people skills are legendary. Take two minutes to read this Inc. piece on Pat and pick up some inspiration and leadership ideas. FYI, he gave one of the largest university gifts in history, $350 million to MIT to support brain research, an amount greater than the entire endowments of 640 American Universities.

Jack Stack, Dream Team COO -- FYI, we're hosting our next free Wednesday (9 April, 2pm local time) screening of Jack Stack's 73 minute online seminar The Great Game of Business. One of the classic business books of all time, Stack built SRC into a billion-dollar growth engine. Learn how he gets all employees to take responsibility and think like owners. Click here to register (and save $99) for the free screening on Wednesday, April 9th at 2PM your local time.

Pixar's Braintrust Candor -- 14 movies and 14 No. 1 Box-Office Hits. No movie studio can match Pixar's string of successes which include Toy Story and 13 other mash animation hits!! The key to their success is the Braintrust process outlined in this Fast Company excerpt from the President of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation, Ed Catmull's book Creativity, Inc. (released 8 April). Structured much like Jim Collins' "Council" meeting, it's designed to deliver highly candid feedback while not becoming a consensus - the final decision still rests with the director, a key ingredient to the success of the Braintrust. Take 6 minutes (it's long but fun) to read this article - and to save a little time skip down 12 paragraphs where they take you inside a Braintrust meeting for their upcoming 2015 Pixar movie.

Open to Candor -- yet, notes Catmull, "An important corollary to the assertion that the Braintrust must be candid is that filmmakers must be ready to hear the truth; candor is only valuable if the person on the receiving end is open to it and willing, if necessary, to let go of things that don't work. And why is all of this important? "Because early on, all of our movies suck. That's a blunt assessment, I know, but I choose that phrasing because saying it in a softer way fails to convey how bad the first versions really are. I'm not trying to be modest or self-effacing. Pixar films are not good at first, and our job is to make them so -- to go, as I say, 'from suck to not-suck.'" Seems like a sensible motto to me!! Again, take a few minutes to read the article and then form your own Braintrust. And thanks to Sanjeev Mohanty, CEO of Benetton India (who is hosting the YPO International Rockefeller Habits workshop I'm leading in Delhi this week) for pointing me to this article.

Stein Mart Story -- from $43 to $1.3 billion in three generations, take 4 minutes if you're looking for some inspiration to read this growth company story which demonstrates that overnight successes do take a long time! And if short of time, scan right to the bottom of the article for CEO Jay Stein's three pieces of advice.

Fall Dates for Rockefeller Habits Workshops -- they are now posted below and online.

COACHING:

Need help implementing the Rockefeller Habits?