The Agile Scaleup

StorySelling; New Jobs Story; 50 Greatest Leaders Story; March 31 Webinar

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:

Need Stories for Next FORTUNE Column -- do you have unique ways to make your company meetings effective? More below, but first...

Salim Ismail's Story -- join the author of Exponential Organizations (ExOs) Tuesday afternoon, March 31st at 2PM EST for a 60 minute webinar. Don't miss out on this great opportunity to hear from one of the most influential thinkers of the 21st century. As I mentioned last week, Scaling Up isn't complete without also reading Salim's book. Click here to reserve your spot!

HuffPost Story -- my first Huffington Post blog debuted last week titled "The Number One Thing Every (Young) Entrepreneur Should Do First" - it's probably not what you would think. Here's a link. Please share with all the potential young entrepreneurs you know. Thanks.

Story Selling -- stories are more powerful than facts, logic, education, or even personal observation. And 3-time Emmy award winner Nick Nanton and J.W. Dick have authored a book that walks you through in detail how to craft and promote your company's story (or any story you might tell at a wedding, dinner party, etc.). Titled Story Selling: Hollywood Secrets Revealed - How to Sell without Selling, Nanton and Dick walk you through the four major plots that power all effective biz stories:

1. Overcoming the Monster
2. Rags to Riches
3. The Quest
4. Rebirth

...and then provide plenty of examples how companies (and CEOs) have used these to create their stories, including crafting the "logline" and the six steps for structuring the final story. They then detail how to use the story to drive the branding of you and your firm and keep you top-of-mind. Their local used car dealer example shows how these ideas are accessible to all businesses. Start with the Foreword and Chapter 6. Then come hear Nick walk us through this story-crafting process at our Leadership Summit May 12 - 13, Orlando. Book club and GPro members will receive the book next week.

Steve Jobs' (Latest) Story -- and the master of story selling was Steve Jobs, whose story embraced all four major plots. And this wasn't by accident, as Steve loved to guide the media to craft these stories about him as we learn in the latest book on Steve titled Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader was released this week. I grabbed a copy and started plowing through it.

Skip First Four Chapters -- The first four chapters bored me to tears - simply rehashing what every other book and movie has described already. However, Chapters 5 - 8 provides sufficient new information into the "art of the deal" during Steve's wilderness years with Pixar and NeXT to give you real insights into some negotiation and management lessons you can use in your own ventures. That's as far as I've gotten since Tuesday. I still think Adam Lashinsky's book Inside Apple provides the most usable insights into how to scale-up a significant business, including details into how Steve structured his work week.

The Real Story -- I mention Steve's calendar because the real one-page strategic plan is your calendar - how you spend your day - which reflects the true strategies, tactics, and priorities of you and the company. For Steve, having lunch almost every day with Apple's top designer Jony Ives; chairing the Wed. afternoon three hour marketing meeting; spending 3 hours/day on whatever was the main new product; and interacting with customers most afternoons reflected perfectly the vision and priorities of Apple.

Stories of Other Great Leaders -- The World's 50 Greatest Leaders list, selected by FORTUNE and a special group of advisors, was released this week. Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, is #1. Also counted among the top 10 include China's and India's presidents, the pope, and Taylor Swift (for taking on Spotify, etc.). This link will show a quick snapshot of all 50 - then choose a few to read about.

Cinderella Stories --  but is it OK that employees watch sports at work? Several lesser ranked teams are still in the hunt for glory as the NCAA Basketball tournament is down to the final 16 (Go Shockers!) and congrats to Australia and New Zealand for making it into the finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup. With all the excitement (and madness!), what should company policy be in viewing sports at work. According to Ron Friedman, author of The Best Place to Work, game-viewing parties accomplish many of the things necessary to create an engaged workforce. Notes Friedman:

Unlike team-building experiences that compel employees to engage with one another, game-viewing parties position people to connect voluntarily. And that feature can make all the difference.

He goes on to share several ways to use the office tournament pool more effectively to build teamwork and provide some incentives aligned with company priorities. Take 2 minutes to scan through the CNN article - it's a well written and clever take on a perennial issue.

Stories Needed -- For my next FORTUNE column I will be writing about how to make company meetings better. Has your company come up with a way to get better results from your meetings that readers haven't heard everywhere else? Have you added--or subtracted--a process that made them better? Changed the setting? Changed what you work on when your team gathers? I'd like to hear about it. Please include the name of your business, the city where it is based, the number of employees and your annual revenue (Fortune requires this). Please reply by March 27 to [email protected].

TECHNOLOGY:

Better Book Club -- What's your team reading? Increase your books read per team member. Easy, Proven, and in the Cloud at http://www.BetterBookClub.com.

Align Dashboard -- Want to keep track of your plans and progress in the cloud? The complete Growth Tools and Rockefeller Habits disciplines in a SaaS offering.

COACHING:

Need help implementing the Rockefeller Habits?

2 Second Lean; Success in Boardroom and Bedroom; Leadership Defines in 25 Seconds; Congrats Biz-Ability

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:

Can You Grow Exponentially -- take this quick diagnostic? -- Companies like Uber, Waze, Amazon, Airbnb, TED, GitHub, and ING Direct, are leveraging openness, transparency and abundance in a new way. Their impact is disproportionately large, at least 10x larger compared to their peers because of these new organizational techniques that leverage accelerating technologies. Fill out this diagnostic and find out how your company ranks amongst these Exponential giants. Once completed, you will receive a breakdown of your score compared to the top 10 Exponential Organizations. I remain a huge fan of Salim Ismail's groundbreaking book Exponential Organizations. My book Scaling Up failed to outline a few of the key points in Salim's book, so I consider it a must read if you want to scale-up your organization.

2 Second Lean -- this is the title of Paul Akers' easy-to-read book full of simple ideas for making things run smoother at work and home. Take a look at this 6 minute YouTube video on organizing your desk drawers and walls - and start at 2:55 for a work desk example and 4:03 for organizing your overnight backpack with all your electronics, etc. This is a perfect activity for a high school intern. Paul is keynoting our upcoming Leadership Summit hosted with FORTUNE May 12 - 13, Orlandoand will be covering the topic of Lean more extensively - and everyone attending will get a copy of his book. It's all the little improvements that add up!

Cisco CEO -- Role of CEO/Leader in 25 Seconds -- the first 25 seconds of this FORTUNE interview of John Chambers, CEO Cisco, provides the most concise explanation of the role of a CEO as I've ever heard. Then listen to the rest of this 4 minute interview to learn the three reasons companies get in trouble. One of those three is failing to change as a leader - to grow. And the key - "if you're going to lead, you have to listen." Anyway, the entire interview is direct and summarizes much of the entire body of leadership literature in 4 minutes.

How Men Can Succeed...in the Boardroom and the Bedroom -- Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg teamed up with Adam Grant (author of Give and Take) and wrote a four part series on women in the workplace. This is the fourth article in the NY Times. One key is involving more women on the executive team. Notes Sandberg and Grant, "Two chief executives, John T. Chambers of Cisco, and Carlos Ghosn of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, have said that they can't be competitive in the global economy without increasing their percentage of female executives." And the research supports this. It's worth 3 minutes to read through - and pick up some tips to help at home!

Congrats to Dubai-based Biz-Ability -- for the second year in a row, our coaching partner in the Middle East has been named the Most Distinguished SME to Work for in the UAE. Congrats to Hazel Jackson and her team - great when you practice what you preach (one of our core values at Gazelles).

TECHNOLOGY:

Better Book Club -- What's your team reading? Increase your books read per team member. Easy, Proven, and in the Cloud at http://www.BetterBookClub.com.

Align Dashboard -- Want to keep track of your plans and progress in the cloud? The complete Growth Tools and Rockefeller Habits disciplines in a SaaS offering.

COACHING:

Need help implementing the Rockefeller Habits?

Dubai YPO; Great Question; Best Places to Work; Most Interesting Person; March 18 Viewing

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:

Complimentary Viewing -- save $99 to watch a complimentary viewing of Christine Comaford's 81 minute online presentation next Wednesday, 18th March - more below, but first...

Best Companies to Work For -- FORTUNE's 18th annual list is out and #1, for a sixth time, is Google. BCG, Acuity, SAS Institute, Robert W. Baird, Edward Jones, Wegmans, salesforce, Genetech, and Camden Property Trust round out the Top 10. Here's a link to an excellent summary article of what makes these companies great places to work. One interesting piece of data:

Take education and development, for example. In 1998 the average amount of training for managers and professionals was 41 hours, while hourly and administrative staffers received 33 hours. This year the numbers were 78 and 94 hours, respectively, which is nearly 80% higher.

I've been encouraging (admonishing!) CFOs, whose main job is to make sure assets are used fully, to start tracking the number of hours of development managers and employees are receiving. This is a critical KPI. If you want to 10x the company, you have to 10x the people. And does it pay off to do these things? Notes FORTUNE:

Since 1998 the 100 Best Companies have outperformed the S&P 500 index by a ratio of nearly 2 to 1

Culture, the #1 searched word in 2014 according to Webster's, is at the heart of these successful firms. Take 2 minutes to read the article for the three common trends behind all the Best Companies to Work For.

The Most Interesting Man in the World? -- perhaps its Norwegian billionaire Fred Olsen, according to a most interesting article in FORTUNE this week. Owner of Timex, oil pioneer, world class sailor, leading the revolution in offshore wind power, and the (possible) inspiration behind a Simpson character, it's worth 5 minutes to read through (or 20 seconds to read the first two paragraphs) one of the only extensive interviews he's ever granted. Note's Olsen, on his inventive abilities, "My lack of a formal education is a terrific advantage," he says in his lightly accented English. "I'm not held back by academic constraints. I think more broadly, and worry about the engineering details later." Read and become inspired - it's important to be informed about the history of our business leadership profession.

Grit and Leadership Camp for High School Students -- Fred Olsen credits his early experience working on cargo ships for developing the grit necessary to build a global empire. Here's a link to the Grit and Leadership Camp for high school students based on the famous Leadership Challenge curriculum designed to be experienced in the jungles of Panama (super safe). Pull your teenager out of their comfort zone.

Great Question -- "Will it make the boat go faster?" This is the question Ben Hunt-Davis's British Men's Rowing Eight team asked every day (and about every activity/action) for two years that led them to an improbable gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. What is your focus this quarter/year and then have everyone, every day, ask if what they are doing will help achieve the goal. FYI, Hunt-Davis has written a very insightful and readable book about the specific steps they took to win - and he makes it applicable to business. Notes Gazelles Australian coach Rob Nankervis, "(the book) provides a good lesson in prioritizing/cutting through clutter to focus on the key things that will really make a difference." The book provides an easy readable way to get this point across, especially to your frontline (counts toward their hours of training!).

Likely Cause of Addiction -- this breakthrough Huffington Post article has radically changed the conversation about the cause of addiction. Johann Hari took a 30,000 mile journey to study the largest failed war in history - the war on drugs - and discovered something powerful. Addiction is not chemically based - it's due to something else entirely. Hari's book Chasing the Scream, is equally insightful and provides more details, though the article is an excellent summary of his discovery. Addictions impact all of our businesses and many of our families, so it's worth being informed. Thanks to my wife Julie for pointing me to this important piece of research.

Dubai -- YPOers Only -- The next 2.5 day "Scaling Up: Making the Rockefeller Habits Rock 2.0" workshop for YPO teams is 21 - 23 April in Dubai. Consistently rated 9.7 and higher, it's one of the most popular executive education programs for YPOers and their leadership teams. Limited to 15 companies, YPOers can get information off their YPO International portal or email me at [email protected] and I'll put you in touch with Day Chair Thomas Lundgren. This is 20 hours of training for leaders!

Complimentary Viewing -- speaking of culture, Christine Comaford, serial entrepreneur and author of SmartTribes: How Teams Become Brilliant Together (Bill Gates calls her "super high bandwidth" and she has advised two US Presidents), shares specific ideas for high-engagement cultures where employees deliver terrific performance, have balanced lifestyles, and avoid burnout. Want higher employee satisfaction scores, better results, and happier teams? Be sure to watch this course. Register for a FREE Course Viewing of Create the Culture of Your Dreams by Christine Comaford on March 18th. Register now to SAVE $99. Length: 81 Minutes. Language: English.

TECHNOLOGY:

Better Book Club -- What's your team reading? Increase your books read per team member. Easy, Proven, and in the Cloud at http://www.BetterBookClub.com.

Align Dashboard -- Want to keep track of your plans and progress in the cloud? The complete Growth Tools and Rockefeller Habits disciplines in a SaaS offering.

COACHING:

Need help implementing the Rockefeller Habits?

Q&A with Zuckerberg; Buffett's Golden Letter; Buffett's First Priority; Jim Collins' 12 Questions

"...scaling up u!"

HEADLINES:

Warren Buffett's 50th Annual Letter -- it's the golden anniversary letter to the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. For the best summary, read Carol Loomis's article in Fortune - it's always best because she has been Buffett's shareholder letter editor the past couple decades! Then jump to the actual letter and take some time this weekend to go through it - lots of gems and funny quips and business insights.

1,826,163% -- that's Berkshire Hathaway's per share market gain over the 50 years vs. 11,196% for the S&P 500 - an average of 21.6% per year for a half-century! What's d ifferent about the latest letter is that Buffett and his partner Charlie Munger each separately review the good, the bad, and the ugly from the past 50 years. Equally insightful is what each expects during the next 50 years at Berkshire Hathaway (not forecasts of the economy or anything like that).

Charlie Munger -- his thoughts are much more concise (bullet-pointed, in fact) than Warren's and offer specific insights into why they've been so successful. Thus, if you only have time to read 3+ pages of the 43 page report, read pages 39 - 43. And for obvious reasons, I loved this specific bullet point about "the Berkshire system":

• His (Warren's) first priority would be reservation of much time for quiet reading and thinking, particularly that which might advance his determined learning, no matter how old he became.

Jim Collins 12 Questions -- Jim Collins is keynoting the Growth Summits in Australia this week. His latest brilliantly delivered presentation revolves around 12 questions. Here's a link to download a PDF that includes the twelve questions, a note from Jim providing some background for the questions, and a one-page treaty on what defines "great." Take 3 minutes to scan through the two-pages of material and the 12 questions (see how many you can answer already) -- then start working through them during your weekly council meeting or next quarterly/annual planning session.

"Mars Mission" Values -- After experiencing his first "Max Exodus" of employees, as he called it, Guy Levine, founder of UK-based Return On.Digital, knew he needed to get serious about culture (the most searched term in 2014 according to Webster's). Working with Gazelles coach Hayley Erner, his team worked through Jim Collins' "Mars Mission" exercise, discovered a framework for their core values, let them bake properly, and ended up with a beautifully stated list of four core values - unique phrases couched in their own language. Here's a link to Guy's blog last week describing his crisis, discovery (actual photos of the process), and then detailing his core values and results. Worth a 2 minute read (or 10 second scan to see his four values) if you've struggled with culture and values. FYI, he's also using TinyPulse to give him weekly feedback on the culture - detailed in the blog post as well.

Q&A with Mark Zuckerberg -- "We have a tradition at Facebook, where every Friday we have a Q&A and all employees can come and ask me questions about anything they want," notes Zuckerberg in this Facebook post. He goes on to detail the importance of these weekly gatherings and how last October they decided to host similar events with customers. Yesterday he was in Barcelona to host his most recent live "Q&A with Mark" public session. Mark understands the importance of building time into his schedule to hear directly from both customers and employees. What routines do you have in place to guarantee frequent contact and input?

TECHNOLOGY:

Better Book Club -- What's your team reading? Increase your books read per team member. Easy, Proven, and in the Cloud at http://www.BetterBookClub.com.

Align Dashboard -- Want to keep track of your plans and progress in the cloud? The complete Growth Tools and Rockefeller Habits disciplines in a SaaS offering.

COACHING:

Need help implementing the Rockefeller Habits?

Buffett's Diet Rule; 2 New Books; 300% ROI; WorldReader Rocks

"...out-learning the competition"

HEADLINES:

I checked the actuarial tables, and the lowest death rate is among six-year-olds. So I decided to eat like a six-year-old.
	Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett's Diet -- more on Buffett's eating philosophy below, but first...

Darren Hardy Fans -- for all the people you know who have been thinking of starting a business, the perfect gift book is being released today (and great for veteran entrepreneurs). NY Times bestseller and publisher of SUCCESS magazine, Darren Hardy, has written another outstanding book titled The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster: Why Now Is the Time to #JoinTheRide. Go to this link to watch his entertaining 1:22 minute video - and view the endorsements from Donald Trump, Seth Godin, Tony Robbins, etc. Congrats on another important contribution to the entrepreneurial ecosystem, Darren.

David Marquet Fans -- and from the author of one of my top 3 execution books of all time (Turn the Ship Around), David Marquet now has a companion workbook titled Turn Your Ship Around!: A Workbook for Implementing Intent-Based Leadership in Your Organization. It contains the practical activities he does in corporate off-sites and training sessions. Anyone who wants to build a better environment for their people will appreciate the exercises in this training guide. And as I noted in my Fortune column, David's book is "the best how-to manual anywhere for managers on delegating, training, and driving flawless execution."

3%, Use it or Lose It -- the late Patrick McGovern, the famed Chairman and Founder of International Data Group (IDG), was the first celebrity CEO to keynote the executive program I launched and held at MIT called "The Birthing of Giants." Becoming one of the Forbes 400 wealthiest entrepreneurs in the world, he impressed on us his three simple rules for growing each division of his company. Scattered all over the planet launching tech publications in a fast charging industry, each leader had to hit three targets, three of every five quarters:

1. Grow twice the rate of the local market -- his way to set revenue targets in each country.
2. Take 10% net to the bottom line. Spending on growth wasn't an excuse for low profit.
3. Spend 3% of payroll on training -- use it or lose it.

McGovern explained that the only investment critical to growth was employee and management development, yet he knew that under the time pressure of having to grow the business and cost pressure of having to net 10%, the first thing leaders do in the short run is cut out the time and cost of training. As CEO, McGovern knew this was the one issue he had to stand firm about and mandate. The job of the CEO is to make the best decisions today that have a long term positive impact on the business tomorrow.

300% ROI -- several who responded to my rant about learning wanted some hard numbers to back up the value of education. Through some of the most exhaustive research ever supported (Laurie Bassi), training and development was found to out-return any other investment a business owner could make - more than any R&D, hard, or capital investment. In fact, companies that invested in training and development had:

24% higher profit margin 218% higher income per employee 86% higher company value 21% increase in productivity 300% reduction in employee turnover, and a return per dollar invested of $6.72

When Jack Welch calculated the return on GE's investment in executive education, he simply put it at infinite - GE is still getting a return from the first leaders they trained back in the 80s!

WorldReader TEDx -- and if you're a fan of books like me, take 10 minutes to watch this TEDx talk about the work WorldReader is doing to bring the gift of reading/learning via mobile devices to remote villages lacking access to regular books. Founded by one of the early Amazon executives, WorldReader has worked effortlessly to get e-books donated, local literature converted to e-books, and solar power chargers distributed, allowing over 2.5 million people to have access to reading the past 24 months alone. Go right to 8:22 in the talk to hear a moving example of the positive impact mobile technology continues to have in reversing illiteracy.

Warren Buffett's Diet -- in response to my healthcare rant, J.J. Abbott sent me this link to last week's Fortune article on 84 year-old Warren Buffett's diet of at least five Coke's (he owns $16 billion in Coke stock) per day plus Utz's Potato Stix (a company he's wanting to buy). This is a guy truly "eating his own dog food!" It's a fun 30 second read - enjoy. My take -- have a passion for what you do; laugh and play cards a lot (simple things with friends); and have access to a private jet! (I'll be reporting on his shareholder letter Thursday).

Executive Health (Reverse Rusting) -- I was asked some serious questions about our work at the Riordan Clinic. Here's a link to an article I wrote that explains what almost all diseases have in common and how to combat this "rusting" that comes with aging.

TECHNOLOGY:

Better Book Club -- What's your team reading? Increase your books read per team member. Easy, Proven, and in the Cloud at http://www.BetterBookClub.com.

Align Dashboard -- Want to keep track of your plans and progress in the cloud? The complete Growth Tools and Rockefeller Habits disciplines in a SaaS offering.

COACHING:

Need help implementing the Rockefeller Habits?