The Agile Scaleup

Gates' Stanford Speech; Partnering with Sumos; 5 Ways to Extend Paychecks; Fortune Stories Needed

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:  

Stories Needed Next FORTUNE Column -- are you a US business executive that has "escaped" overseas and found it helpful to you and the business? More below, but first...

5 Ways to Stretch Paychecks -- pay raises only go so far. My latest FORTUNE column is entitled "5 Ways to Help Your Employees' Salaries Go Further." Take 1 minute to read the details behind these five tips:

1. Operate efficiently (read why in column)
2. Invest in financial education
3. Help them raise their credit scores
4. Provide low-cost grocery perks
5. Let them augment their income

BTW, I didn't have space to expound on this last point, but Tom Peters always pushed the idea of turning your cost centers into profit centers, letting your internal teams do some outside work (design, accounting, LEAN training, etc.) to give them some variety in their work and to augment your costs and their wages.

Keys to Partnering with Heavyweights (Biz Dev book) -- Bernie Brenner, founder of Truecar.com, a recent NASDAQ listed company (TRUE) he built through strategic partnering with giants, has written a book on how to do the same in your business. The book is entitled The Sumo Advantage: Leveraging Business Development to Team with Heavyweights and Grow in Any Economy. The key distinction in the book is between 800-lb Gorillas and Sumos. To quote from the inside jacket cover (which I found insightful):

"A gorilla provides power but has no 'X factor' to accelerate market dominance. Instead, consider pursuing a "sumo," who is always focused on beating the competition and who leverages his enormous weight and muscle to force competitors out of the ring. The gorilla is raw muscle and can exert enormous strength but is not at all strategic. It is instinctive and lacks self-awareness, imagination, and independent will. The sumo, on the other hand, is interested in out positioning, outsmarting and even out psyching the competition, using all means available. The Sumo Advantage provides the strategies and tactics to help you find and partner with sumos. If you are unaware of the distinctions between sales and BD, then your sales-only focus may be what is holding you back. Once you understand and really believe that sales and business development are very different functions, the sky's the limit on growth."

Bill and Melinda Gates' Stanford 24 min Speech -- in the first joint commencement address in Stanford history, Bill and Melinda Gates delivered what FORTUNE considered a speech to join the ranks of Steve Jobs classic address in 2006. Take 2 minutes to read FORTUNE's highlights of the address, particularly giving praise to Melinda's thoughts (role of luck, the importance of getting your heart broken, and why to be optimistic). And at the bottom of the article is a link to the full 24 minute speech starting at 1:08:26 in the ceremony (though you can start at 1:12:00 and not miss much but some introductory remarks). My favorite line by Bill Gates, when visiting a hospital of patients dying of drug resistant TB - it's "hell with a waiting list."

$100 Bet -- after listening to Bill and Melinda's speech, and knowing that Bill is back involved with Microsoft, I'm more confident in a recent entertaining bet I made with a dear friend - a $100 bet that Microsoft's market cap will exceed Apple's in 36 months (June 10, 2017). Right now that gap is $200 billion.

Next FORTUNE Column Stories Needed -- For my next column, I am looking to hear from US entrepreneurs who have "escaped" to locations outside the country to get distance they need to focus on the big picture at their companies and recharge. I am particularly interested in hearing from those who run their businesses this way on an ongoing basis. What are the pros and cons? Please share your business name, the city in the US where it is headquartered, the city from which you run it, the number of employees and company revenues (FORTUNE requires this). Please email [email protected]

COACHING:

Need help implementing the Rockefeller Habits?

Next Steve Jobs?; Now to Say Your Name; Internal Shark Tank; Verne Interview

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:  

Verne Harnish Interview -- if you need something to listen to while plowing through email, here's my latest interview hosted by WPOer Seth Werner on his Entrepreneur Radio program. I would start the show at the 2:18 mark. And at the 14:17 mark I share the key trait I found predicted which entrepreneurs built the bigger businesses.

How to Say Your Name Right -- go to the 7:19 point in this 4th June TEDx talk by Dr. Laura Sicola and watch the next minute - I found her suggestions in how to properly share your name with someone, so they hear it clearly and you make a good first impression, very useful. This is something worth teaching everyone in your company to do properly.

Internal "Shark Tank" -- Vancouver-based Coastal Contacts ran an innovation lab where everyone in the company was asked to come up with a "shark tank" idea for the business. Noted Roger Hardy, Founder and CEO, "We expected to get 5 to 8 groups to present and then to offer one prize. We ended up with 34 teams and gave them a full day to present their ideas to management." Instead of one prize, they had to create 8 categories, each with winners and then one grand prize. Winners "won" 8 Fridays to implement their ideas. "The results of the employees' ideas generated a 15 percent lift in revenues...things like branding lenses to designer inspired frames with artwork built in - pretty cool," exclaimed Hardy. How might you tap into the wisdom of your employees to generate a similar increase in revenues!

Tony Fadell The Next Steve Jobs? -- Mastermind of the iPod, he left Apple and founded Nest (I love the Nest thermostat - what his funder Randy Komisar called the "Trojan horse into the home.") which he recently sold to Google for $3.2 billion. Take six minutes over the weekend and read this great entrepreneurial story on the Fortune website - and gain some insights into Apple, Google, and rapidly building a $300 million firm and successfully selling it. No favorite paragraph because there are a bunch! It's also one worth sharing with any teenagers you have that are entrepreneurial.

COACHING:

Need help implementing the Rockefeller Habits?

5 Minute Rule; Power Tools for Dads; Worst Question; Never Eat Alone

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:  

I've come to believe that connecting is one of the most important business - and life - skill sets you'll ever learn. Why? Because, flat out, people do business with people they know and like. Careers - in every imaginable field - work the same.
	Keith Ferrazzi

Don't Ask Your Children How Their Day Was -- my latest podcast, which you can listen to while doing email, is led by Toby Jenkins with Bluewire Media in Australia. The meat of the 28 minute interview starts at 4:55 where I discuss the power of "owning the ink" in your industry to drive marketing; and at the 24:00 mark I discuss some ideas for applying the Rockefeller Habits to your family, including the 15 minute daily with my wife and why you shouldn't ask your children "how was your day" - it just annoys them -- and what to do instead.

Never Eat Alone - Updated -- Keith Ferrazzi, the master of networking and author of two hugely successful books Never Eat Alone and Who's Got Your Back, has a greatly expanded and updated version of his first book which was released last week. Considered the modern day version of How to Win Friends and Influence People (my teenagers love this book), Never Eat Alone is full of very practical advice on how to build and maintain a network of "who's." Some hints:

Don't keep score: It's never simply about getting what you want. It's about getting what you want and making sure that the people who are important to you get what they want, too. "Ping" constantly: The ins and outs of reaching out to those in your circle of contacts all the time -- not just when you need something. Never Eat Alone: The dynamics of status are the same whether you're working at a corporation or attending a social event -- "invisibility" is a fate worse than failure. Become the "King of Content": How to use social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to make meaningful connections, spark engagement, and curate a network of people who can help you with your interests and goals.

The book has three new chapters that clarify and strengthen the book for the digital era. Book club and GazellesPro members will receive a copy next week. Then come hear Keith keynote our Growth Summit Oct 28 - 29, Las Vegas.

Future of Work -- to build on Keith's message, take 2 minutes to peruse this insightful FORTUNE article about the future of work. My favorite paragraph:

Jones' approach acknowledges that no single organization will ever be able to directly employ all of the relevant, talented people who could make valuable contributions. And, just as important, that colleagues aren't necessarily the people who sit next to you at work, but rather the people who are working on the same problems with the same passion that you have. The organizations and leaders who figure out the most clever and compelling ways to connect those people and organizations will be the real winners in the creative economy.

5 Minute Rule -- and to further build on the idea of everyone using their network, here's a great idea from Dutch entrepreneur Victor Allis, CEO of Quintiq:

We tell people, "Don't try to figure it out all by yourself." We have a five-minute rule. If you're sitting at your desk for five minutes and you can't figure out whatever you're working on, go ask someone. There's always someone who's more senior who may know about that. Even if they can't help you, they're probably a good sounding board, and may be able to point you to someone who says, "We already solved that, and you can find it here."

Take 2 minutes to scan the rest of his NY Times interview for some other keys to their successful venture and culture.

"Power Tools" for Dads and Husbands -- my wife and I are huge fans of the Celebrate Calm lessons taught by Kirk Martin. His latest series is entitled "I Want to Be a Good Dad and Husband" (love the straight forward title) where he shares 25 practical and concrete strategies men can use each day to deal with the challenges of parenting and marriage. I can't think of a better Father's Day gift - and it's available in CD or download. Happy Father's Day (US).

COACHING:

Need help implementing the Rockefeller Habits?

Best Email Tips; Best EO Chapter; Best Leadership Skill; Best Biz Magazine

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:  

Which is the Best EO Chapter? -- see below, but first...

5 Tips For Handling Email Overload -- my latest FORTUNE Venture column is on the newsstand and online - take 2 minutes to garner the details behind five specific ideas for reducing email throughout the company:

1. Quit trying to solve problems by email
2. Use hyper-specific subject lines
3. Insist on extreme brevity
4. Ban emails with multiple parts
5. Close the conversation quickly

Thanks to Joseph McCormack, author of Brief: Make a Bigger Impact by Saying Less, for his contributions to this column.

EOM (End of Message) -- from my column I specifically like the use of EOM in the Subject line when you want to simply acknowledge, thank, or have a few word response to an email i.e. "Confirming June 16, 10am ET call EOM." This way people know they don't need to open the email since the answer/response is solely in the Subject line. Hint: Spell out EOM the first time. It'll save you from getting a bunch of responses asking what "EOM" means.

Any Work Left for Humans? -- now that driver-less cars are safer than human-driven ones; and computers can predict Supreme Court decisions better than legal scholars - maybe there isn't much left for people to do. Geoff Colvin, one of FORTUNE's top writers, tackles this question in the latest issue of FORTUNE. What does this mean for your company? Technology-assisted everyone!! Technology-assisted surgery; technology-assisted legal; technology-assisted accounting (we're not talking about more spreadsheets). You WILL have less people assisted by more sophisticated technology - or you will be run over by a competitor who does this before you (yes, we're working on a technology solution to assist our coaching partners). Take 5 minutes to read through this article.

What Human Skills Are Needed? -- To quote research highlighted in the FORTUNE article, "Consider the skills in highest demand over the next five to 10 years as specified by employers in a recent survey by Towers Watson and Oxford Economics. Those skills didn't include business acumen, analysis, or P&L management. Instead, relationship building, teaming, co-creativity, cultural sensitivity, and managing diverse employees were all near the top.' This is precisely why Professor George Kohlrieser, who keynoted our European Growth Summits and is author of one of my two favorite leadership books Care to Dare, exclaimed that THE most important skill of a leader is the ability to bond with others (something all first time supervisors must learn to do). As a former hostage negotiator, bonding with the hostage-taker is the primary job - and it must be done quickly. FYI, hostage negotiators are 95% successful in getting the hostage taker to put down their weapon and be arrested. So have all your leaders/managers read George's book along with Mark Goulston's (hostage negotiation trainer) book Just Listen.

The New FORTUNE -- I've always felt that FORTUNE is the best business magazine in the world since its editors and writers dig deep to uncover practical insights you can use to power your business and career - and why I often point you to many of their articles. This week an all new FORTUNE.com was launched - providing unrivaled access to premium business news, insight, analysis, and more. Spend an hour each week on the site scanning through articles of interest - an important routine in out-learning your competition.

Attention YPOers -- Dec 3 - 5 is the next "Making the Rockefeller Habits Rock" workshop exclusively for YPO teams. It's being held in New Orleans this year - and limited to the first 15 teams to sign-up. And my new book, Scaling Up, will be published by then - the first significant update to the Rockefeller Habits in a dozen years. Here's a link for more info - requires your YPO login info.

Best EO Chapter in the World -- I've visited a large number of EO chapters throughout the world and I think I've found the most business savvy of them all - Western NY (Buffalo and Rochester). The EO members in that chapter get it - they are building "hidden champions" - growing companies focused on hyper-specialized niches and then chasing a select group of customers around the globe. Examples:

Amy Castronova -- CEO of Novatek Communications focused on creating technical and process documentation and training for ONLY medical device companies David Mammano -- founder of Next Step Education Group which helps high school students, parents, and counselors figure out options after graduation (college, career, military, etc.) David Rivers -- founder of KegWorks, they are the #1 website in the world providing equipment and supplies for home bars Brian Brault -- CEO of PURE, they focus on providing processes and technologies to create the cleanest hotel rooms in the world Michael Linehan -- founder of Premier Laser Spa, which is expanding across the entire east coast of the US

Many, many more of their members are equally laser focused and expanding rapidly outside their immediate geography. They credit the lack of a local market and growing up around firms like Kodak. How hyper-specialized are you? And how geographically-broad are you expanding? These are two key ways to drive increased gross and net profits.

COACHING:

Need help implementing the Rockefeller Habits?