The Agile Scaleup

MBA Worthless; Great Question; Top 50 Trip; "Thought" Meetings

"...insights for scale-ups"

HEADLINES:

Want Some Strategy Time? -- bid on an one-hour (OK, 90 minutes if needed) strategy session with me and benefit a great cause, NFTE, which has been teaching entrepreneurship to inner city youth for decades. The last company that did this made big bucks! Here's a link - deadline May 5 at 3pm ET.

Want a Better Strategy? -- Notes Tien Tzou, CEO of Zuora, in this FORTUNE article titled "Why this CEO believes an MBA is worthless":

...the world is shifting from selling products to selling subscriptions, and in the "subscription economy," companies are focused on generating recurring revenue. So it's not about the price of the product and the margin. It's about delivering value to customers, so they don't want to switch services.

In order to manage this effectively, he suggests there are five things a company must do, outlined in the article, and one very important question to answer (I love great questions):

...the key question isn't "What product can I sell?" but rather "What do my customers really want, and how can I deliver that as an intuitive service, rather than a stand-alone product?" Answer that question and you're on your way.

Not surprising, Zuora is an enterprise software company that designs and sells SaaS applications for companies with a subscription business model! Nevertheless, Tzou's advice is worth contemplating at your next council/strategy meeting.

Spring/Fall Strategy Cleaning -- in a bid to turnaround sagging sales, McDonald's plans to offer less - dropping 7 sandwiches from its menu. Trimming your own produce/service offerings is something many of us should contemplate doing. Less is more. Notes this FORTUNE article, the restaurant chain's number of menu items have ballooned 75% in 2004, offering 121 items. "The company hopes its "menu simplification" can both speed up its service and simplify the ordering process." It has also closed 700 locations. What products/services/locations do you need to eliminate this spring/fall?

Summer (or anytime) Strategy Breaktime -- congrats to Lauren Hefferon and her team at Ciclismo Classico - their Argentina Vision & Vine trip won National Geographic's "Top 50 Trips of the Year" award. And they've launched additional photo adventures in Brazil and Chile in addition to their award-winning bike tours in Italy (and elsewhere). Here's a link to more info on the winning tour.

Strategy Think Time -- monthly "Thought" meetings have helped propel Denver-based Thought Ensemble, a technology strategy consultancy, to more than double its size last year, and to double again this year with $6 million in revenue and 24 employees ($250k/employee -- impressive). Notes Jim Smelley, co-founder and CEO:

One of our key differentiators is our Thoughts: new and innovative ideas to solve our clients' complex technical problems. We have found that this is heavily dependent on giving ourselves and our teams the time to think through and explore client issues. To encourage this we conduct monthly Thought meetings.

'Thought' was initially an agenda item for a broader company meeting. "We encouraged team members to bring tough client challenges to our ensemble for discussion, however, we found that while the intent was good (and we had sporadically good results), we ended up rushing through the thought topic - and we were not very thoughtful," explains Jim.

Two-Hour Monthly (Single) Strategy Discussion -- Jim continues, "We have since re-structured the Thought meeting to be a dedicated time that takes place monthly. We focus on a single topic each month and send pre-read materials and questions before each meeting. The questions and responses are used to drive a two hour discussion on a single topic. During the meeting team members sign up to write related blog posts which are then posted as thought leadership on our company blog.

Strategy "Cerebrations" -- Each month, we also award "Cerebrations" for the best blogs or whitepapers from the month. (We know it's a cheesy title, but hey, we're consultants. Isn't that requited?)" Concludes Jim, "our last Thought Meeting focused on technology innovation. We conducted a lively conversation and debate and then set out to produce Thought pieces. It's working. Our small company wrote dozens of articles read by thousands (perhaps tens of thousands) of people."

COACHING:

What is the value of working with a Certified Gazelles International Coach? There are four key roles a coach plays in helping your company Scale Up...listen here to learn.

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.

Huddle Video; Management Lightbulb; Visual Desk; Seattle, Toronto, Dubai

"...ideas for scale-ups"

HEADLINES:

Lean Profits? -- FREE Course Viewing of Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits by Greg Crabtree on April 29th - Greg is a master at helping companies drive greater profits through the right performance metrics (like how to calculate profit correctly and what is true revenue - quite revealing when you get the numbers right). Register now to SAVE $99. Length: 103 Minutes

Lean Staff? (Major Publication Needs Examples) -- Starting in Jan 2016, those with 50+ employees have to deal with the Affordable Care Act's employer mandate, which is a potentially big expense for employers that don't already offer ACA-compliant health care options. And there are other regulations that kick in at 50+ employees. As you approach having 45 employees, has this made you think twice about going above 50? Has it stalled your growth? Or have you outsourced to stay below 50? If you're willing to discuss with your views with a major publication let me know and I'll put you in touch with them - [email protected]

Lean Huddle -- California-based Walters & Wolf designs, fabricates, and installs amazing glass interior and exterior walls for all types of construction. With 900 union employees, two years ago their president Nick Kocelj made no excuses why they couldn't fundamentally transform their company and since then has driven unbelievable performance in their industry using Lean. Go to 24:40 to see a couple minutes of their daily huddle; then go to 29:00 to check out this simple solution. Notes Paul Aker, the Lean guru Leadership Summit speaker highlighted in the video, "It's always nice when you can experience a level five leader (Nick Kocelj) in real life." The entire video is amazing, especially if you're in manufacturing/construction/installation - I started watching and couldn't stop as one simple innovation after another is detailed.

Lean Lightbulbs -- the other Gazelle, a $100 million firm that buys and sells used electronics, is augmenting management dashboards with a simple Philips Hue lightbulb that changes colors (think red, yellow, green) to provide a visual indicator of productivity and problems - a key tool of the Lean methodology. Other firms are using them to signal when meetings should be ending. Take 2 minutes to read this FORTUNE article about the power of simple visual systems ($200 starter kit) to provide feedback to your team.

Lean Desk -- notes Rochelle Carrington, "we have been using your one-page plan in my Sandler Training business for years. I subscribe to your weekly newsletter and invested in the Kaizen foam for our office that you recently detailed. Love it!" Below is the picture she sent - another example of a simple visual organizing system.

Seattle, Toronto, Dubai -- these are the three upcoming Scaling Up workshops in May (7th Seattle, 26th Toronto, 27th Dubai).

COACHING:

What is the value of working with a Certified Gazelles International Coach? There are four key roles a coach plays in helping your company Scale Up...listen here to learn.

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.

Uber's BHAG Women Outperform; Values Inc.; Dubai, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar

"...ideas for scale-ups"

HEADLINES:

Hotel Cutoff -- attending our meet-up for scale-ups (FORTUNE Summit)? We have a record crowd already signed-up. Discounted room deadline is tomorrow. More below, but first...

Scaling Up Webinar Part 3 -- join me next Wed (22 Apr) 1pm ET for an hour of practical approaches to creating an industry dominating Strategy. More below, but second...

Women CEOs Outperform -- a recent study reported that over a 12 year period the 80 women CEOs of the FORTUNE 1000 outperformed the S&P 500 (predominantly run by men) by 226%. Notes FORTUNE:

The two best performers were Mindy Grossman at HSNi, parent of the Home Shopping Network, and Debra Cafaro at Ventas, a healthcare and senior living real estate investment trust. Both women, still CEOs of their respective companies, increased the initial investment by more than 500%.

Scroll to the end of the short article and read the last paragraph which highlights another study showing that companies with 10% or more women in senior positions are also outperformers! Thanks to Gazelles Certified coaching partner Cheryl Beth Kuchler for bringing this study to my attention.

Values, Inc. -- while on the topic of women CEOs, Dina Dwyer-Owens, the famous "Undercover Boss" of the $1 billion Dwyer Group, has a new book out titled Values, Inc. - providing a deep dive on numerous and specific ways to live a company's values. It's full of examples and employee stories that will help you keep your own core values alive inside the company - it's worth reading. I endorsed the book and many of you heard Dina's inspirational keynote at our Summit. You can get the book for half-price ($10) and free shipping at https://values-inc.com/

Uber's BHAG -- and for a great example of a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) to go along with your Values, the ride sharing service Uber has set its new BHAG - UberPool. With a new Purpose (mission) "Transportation as reliable as running water, everywhere for everyone" which is an update to their original tagline "everyone's private driver" Bill Gurley notes:

The common component of both the original tagline and the new mission statement is the word "everyone." In order for Uber to serve everyone it is critical that Uber not only achieve price leadership, but that the company continually search for new ways to deliver transportation at lower and lower price points. This goal - to deliver the highest possible value to the customer - is a key catalyst for UberPool.

Unleashing it's famed "math department" Uber continues to maximize routing to lower prices and increase what drivers make. UberPool takes this a step further and offers carpooling. Please take 4 minutes to read this hugely insightful article including the last paragraph where Jeff Bezos notes two things he can guarantee will happen over the next 10 years!! Very insightful - and true.

Heathrow Scientific's Quarterly Theme -- to round out a simplified Vision (Values, Purpose, BHAG, Quarterly Theme), Managing Director Jamie Devin of this Illinois-based firm has been updating me on their 1st Quarterly Theme which finished March 31. Called "Mission Possible," I like the specificity of the Critical Number (Goal) - "Get 25% of our customers in each sales region to add three NEW 2014-2015 HTW product SKUs by the end of Q1." So much better than just "get more sales!" Here's their promotional poster:

 And "Mission Accomplished." Here's Devin's brief email to his team congratulating them on a job well-done including the specific results for each region.

From: Jamie Devin
Sent: Monday, April 6, 2015 9:30 AM
Subject: Congratulations on your Q1 Priority - Mission Accomplished

To all:

Great job in completing your Q1 Priority; mission accomplished. Your reward, should you choose to accept it?, will be handed out at Heathrow's all company meeting later this month.

Jamie

PS: Instructions on your Q2 priority will be sent out later this week

Dubai, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar -- Leading a 2.5 day workshop for YPO in Dubai next week; keynote and workshop at Malaysia's Taipan event April 24 - 25; workshop Singapore April 27; and one-day workshop first time in Myanmar April 30.

Scaling Up Your Business Part 3 -- Live Webinar with Verne Harnish -- Join me on April 22nd at 1PM EDT for the third Scaling Up webinar. This is a 60 minutes webinar to review key insights from the new book Scaling Up, which has been Amazon's #1 Book in Strategy and Competition (though Jack Welch's new book this week pushed me out!). This time I'm going to focus on the Strategy section. Register now to learn what it takes to scale up your business with an industry-dominating strategy. Click the following to access part 1 and part 2 of the webinar.

Discount Summit Rooms -- tomorrow, April 17th, is the last day to book reservations at the World Center Marriott at our group rate for the Leadership Summit. After Friday rooms may still be available, but will likely be at a higher rate. Please note that the hotel is currently sold out for the night of Wednesday night, 5/13. If you require a room for that night, please contact Laura Areizaga, our housing coordinator at the hotel, directly at (407) 238-8842 or [email protected].

For online reservations:

Reservations by phone:
1-407-238-8618 / 1-888-789-3090

COACHING:

What is the value of working with a Certified Gazelles International Coach? There are four key roles a coach plays in helping your company Scale Up...listen here to learn.

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.

Gates' Letter; Cook's Style; Hilarious 1 Minute; SmartTribes; ExO Webinar April 14

"...ideas for scale-ups"

HEADLINES:

Grow Exponentially -- our second in a series of complimentary webinars on Exponential Organizations (ExOs) is next Tuesday, 14th April - more below, but first...

The 4 Horsemen -- but who will ultimately win and drive the direction of commerce/internet among the four ExOs - Amazon/Apple/Facebook/Google? NYU professor Scott Galloway blew me away in this DLD15 presentation where he explains with lots of data and detail who will win and lose. His reasoning provides important insights for moves you might make in your own industry. Thanks to John Ruhlin, The Ruhlin Group, for pointing me to this video, who noted "I have talked to some digital experts and they were blown away by the presentation as well."

Further Down the Torso, Higher the Margins -- you must go to 13:15 in the video and watch one minute of Galloway's presentation (I know, you skipped watching above). There are only three ways you appeal to anyone to purchase your products/services - and Apple has captured all three!! Galloway presents a hilarious and accurate description of all three - and why you want to be in the luxury business. Again, this one minute is instructive for all of us (my team is meeting about some of his lessons on Monday). Then watch all 15 minutes - you need the mental stimulation and break!!

#1 Biz Leader -- speaking of Apple, its CEO Tim Cook received this latest distinction from FORTUNE - and is the cover story of the April 1 issue. In this lengthy article (7 minutes) on Tim Cook's style - and how it's different from Jobs - Adam Lashinsky notes "he behaves much more like a coach who trusts his players than the manipulative mastermind Jobs was." He goes on to explain:

The result has been a level of stability in the senior management ranks few expected. "He never tried to be Steve," says Eddy Cue, senior vice president for Internet software and services, who joined Apple in 1989. "He tried to always be himself. He has been very good at letting us do our thing. He's aware and involved at the high end, and he gets involved as needed. Steve got involved at the pixel level."

 Take 30 seconds to scroll down about a quarter of the way in the online article and check out the handy chart that details the differences in Cook's vs. Job's styles. The key lesson - "to thine own self be true" - in approaches to leadership, compensation, core values, etc.

Bill Gates' Letter - Microsoft turned 40 last Saturday (April 4) and to mark the occasion Gates sent out a short letter to all the employees which recalls the original BHAG and reflects on what he feels is an even brighter future. It's worth 45 seconds to see how Gates communicates a milestone like this to his team and how Microsoft is more purpose driven than ever. My inside sources tell me that Gates is back hands-on 3 days per week and is driving the technology side of the business. And Microsoft is essentially tied with Google, Berkshire Hathaway, and ExxonMobile as the second largest market cap company in the world - not bad for a four decade-old tech firm.

Gates calls her "super high bandwidth" -- Christine Comaford -- serial entrepreneur, investor, and advisor - is author of the New York Times bestseller SmartTribes: How Teams Become Brilliant Together and is keynoting our Leadership Summit May 12 - 13, Orlando -- come hang with 600 other leading scale-ups.

Go right to chapter 7 -- for some heavy-duty psychological influence go right to chapter 7 titled Meta Programs: Make Loaded Dice Even Heavier. Christine specializes in applying neuroscience to optimize executive performance, powerfully enroll and align teams, and rapidly increase sales and company value. She has built and sold 5 businesses with an average 700% ROI, served on over 24 boards and has invested in over 200 startups, including Google. She has consulted to the White House (Clinton and Bush), 700 of the FORTUNE 1000, and 300 mid-sized businesses. She was a software engineer in the early days of Microsoft, Apple and Adobe. Book club and GPro members will get a copy of her book next week.

Additional Free Books for Children -- tomorrow is Freebie Friday where Alive Studios is giving away their popular online children's digital interactive books for FREE. Cynthia and her team will also be at our Leadership Summit in Orlando (note, I'm a proud investor in the company). They are building amazing technologies for our elementary schools for teaching math and reading - check out their classroom demos and then help your child's school get this technology for less than $2k per classroom

Join us next Tuesday April 14 at 2PM ET -- Salim Ismail, founding executive director of Singularity University, will host a second Exponential Organizations webinar where he will focus on how mid-market companies can implement the ExO methodology. During this 1-hour session Salim will interview the CEO of a fast growing financial services company to reveal the flexibility and versatility of the ExO model. Register now and understand how to evaluate your company and how any company can become an Exponential Organization. Register here:

COACHING:

What is the value of working with a Certified Gazelles International Coach? There are four key roles a coach plays in helping your company Scale Up...listen here to learn.

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.

Two Approaches for Scaling Up - Pick Your Favorite!

"...out-learning the competition"

HEADLINES:

Method to our Madness -- following are two key sequences for scaling up a business:

1. Create products/services people can't live without -- are habit forming
2. Crank up the new tools of sales and marketing to let the right 7% know
3. Design lean processes to execute on all the revenue you're generating
4. Learn from other highly successful people (billionaires) how to do all the above

And/or

1. Create a business model driven by recurring revenues (highest valued firms)
2. Bring together a brilliant team (that keeps getting smarter)
3. Craft a viral story that attracts the right 7% of the market
4. Execute, execute, execute

Worth Two Days to Learn? -- Both sequences are represented by the best-selling authors keynoting our Leadership Summit in Orlando May 12 - 13 - here's a link to the agenda that mirrors both approaches - also detailed below:

Day One:

Nir Eyal -- he'll lead a 3-hour workshop on how to create habit-forming products. His book Hooked has been a runaway bestseller, with almost 500 stellar reviews on Amazon and considered the best book ever written on product design (apps, services, etc.) David Meerman Scott -- author of the New Rules of Selling, David will follow Nir in detailing how mid-market firms are using agile selling, big data, storytelling, content marketing, and social media to get people to test drive these habit-forming products/services. Paul Akers -- successful entrepreneur himself, Paul will describe some simple Lean approaches to streamline your business based on his book 2 Second Lean. John Sviokla -- co-author of The Self-Made Billionaire Effect, he'll tie it all together with lessons from those that have made it big just before the evening reception where you'll join 600 leaders of smarter scale-ups!

Day Two:

John Warrillow -- I've already gone out on a limb and declared John's book likely the best book of 2015. Serial entrepreneur and serial author, John will share from his latest book The Automatic Customer nine specific ways you can add recurring revenue to your business model and sleep better at night! Christine Comaford -- with endorsements from Bill Gates and Bill Clinton, Christine knows how to build successful teams and companies. She has built and sold 5 businesses with an average 700% ROI, served on over 24 boards and has invested in over 200 startups, including Google. Serial author as well, her latest book is Smart Tribes: How Teams Become Brilliant Together. Nick Nanton -- it ultimately comes down to the story! 3-time Emmy award winner, Nick will demonstrate how to craft a story that sells you and your business - and is good enough to become viral based on the practical process outlined in his book StorySelling. Verne Harnish -- then it's my job to pull together the ideas from the two days and share ways to execute, execute, execute based on my new book Scaling Up which remains the #1 Strategy and Competition book on Amazon.

 No fluff, no breakout sessions, no panels-- just a handful of the best business authors/teachers to provide you and your team two days of outstanding executive education - "more practical ideas per minute" than any other biz event. See you in Orlando, May 12 - 13.

5 Keys to Build the Core; 5 Regrets of the Dying; Free-Range Parenting; Mastering Anything

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:

Get Featured in Your Trade Publication -- consider partnering with our team to co-create an article which features you and your company in your trade publication, more below, but first...

Five Ways to Strengthen Middle Management -- middle management is THE core to scaling up a business. With a role more of that of a coach (I wish we would eliminate the term "manager" and replace with "coach" e.g. sales coach), my latest FORTUNE Venture column outlines five ways to maintain a strong middle:

1. Draft your senior team -- to educate the middle
2. Cross-Train -- have them handle employee and customer suggestions
3. Increase flexibility -- master the techniques of Situational Leadership
4. Keep them in the ring -- have them make critical decisions
5. Invest early -- identify the high potentials

Please take 2 minutes to scan the column for specific examples. Special thanks to Ray Downes, CEO of $30 million Kemp Technologies, who supplied a rich set of initiatives, highlighted in the column, for supporting a strong middle management team.

Keys to Coaching -- "Repetition, timing, sequence and mechanics. Nothing magic." This is how Tom Brady's passing guru is getting Tim Tebow back in the game (possibly) - and how a coach (manager) prepares a world-class team. You don't have to appreciate anything about American football to absorb the coaching lessons in this article. The key is identifying one or two behaviors/activities impacting performance and then through repetition "fix it." Note's Tom House, Tebow's passing coach, "The difference now is that he has put in the reps. There have been 10,000-plus reps. If he gets a chance to play again and gets back to competition, it's hard-wired now. He doesn't have to think about it." It helps that House uses eight cameras to film Tebow so he can self-correct his own behaviors, something we need to bring to the workplace!!

Jack's Sales Coaching -- Jack Daly, author of Hyper Sales Growth, uses a similar approach in showing sales managers how to coach sales people (their #1 job). Before a sales person goes out on a call, he puts them in a triad and has them practice their interaction with another sales person, with a third observing and acting as a coach. The key is to look for just one or two adjustments and provide feedback to the sales person. We all need some practice and coaching - whether pitching an idea, investor, or client. Do the work!!

Mastery -- Further notes Tom House, when asked how often he's coaching Tebow, "We've been seeing him about three days every week, year-round. Now, he works besides his time with us, but the time he spends working with us on skills, routes and all of those things works out to about two or two-and-a-half hours per day." This seems to be the magic amount of time you must spend if you want to master anything of significance (develop a new product, write a book, become world class at anything) - the same amount of time John Grisham spends each day writing his legal thrillers. The key is "doing the work." Set aside 90 minutes three times per week (5am - 7am like Grisham; or 9:30pm - 11pm if necessary) to work on something significant -- just 4.5 hours per week - then you have the rest of the 168 hours to do emails and play Candy Crush. Do the work!

Top 5 Regrets of Those Dying -- looking for a list of behaviors/attitudes your peer coach (friend) might help you adjust, read through these top 5 regrets palliative care nurse Bronnie Ware lists in this Mirror article:

1. I wish I had let myself be happier
2. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings
4. I wish I hadn't worked so hard (busy work vs. what matters)
5. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me

Take 2 minutes to read the paragraph describing each in Ware's article.

Free Range Parenting -- EO Boston was in Barcelona this past week and the conversations were mainly around why Julie and I live overseas. One reason is explained in this NY Times article titled "Free Range Parenting." It discusses how parents in the US have become so fearful in letting their children roam freely, especially when the data doesn't support the fear. In Barcelona our children do roam freely around the city, including our 7 and 11 year olds - and it's why they love it here.

April Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0) Workshops -- Tulsa Apr 2; San Diego Apr 21; Edmonton Apr 23; Singapore Apr 27; San Antonio Apr 28; Vancouver Apr 28; Dallas Apr 29; Charlotte Apr 29. For more info, locations, and dates here's a link.

Trade publications -- get featured -- are you a member of a trade association? Does it have a trade publication? Might you like to get featured? Here's the idea. If you've grown your business using the Rockefeller Habits let's team up to write an article about your success and submit it to your trade publication - giving you exposure in your industry and providing us a way to promote Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0). Send us a paragraph or two sharing your Rockefeller Habits story and the name of the trade publication and we'll take it from there - email me at [email protected]. Thank you.

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:

What is the value of working with a Certified Gazelles International Coach? There are four key roles a coach plays in helping your company Scale Up...listen here to learn.