The Agile Scaleup

Overseas Partners; Splitting HR; Millennial Myths; Ventura Air Services

"...insights for scaleup"

HEADLINES:

It's in the Can -- after a week in the studio, the completely updated Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0) online hybrid course is ready, more info below but first...

Overseas Partners -- my latest Fortune column delineates 5 ways to find the right overseas partner. This topic is of personal interest since Gazelles and several of our investments are continually seeking partners to help expand globally. The five:

1. Weed out rookies
2. Use investigators/databases
3. Host a bake-off
4. Be prepared to lose control
5. US Dept of Commerce Gold Key Program

Considering the last point, yesterday I met with the Netherland's Business Support officer who helps Dutch firms do business in Spain. There are many excellent resources to help you transact business overseas. Please take 2 minutes to scan the column for the details. Thanks to Gordon Orr, McKinsey China; Greg Cullison, Big Sky Associates; Alex Schroder, Prisma Group; and Fred Crosetto, Ammex for contributing to the column.

Time to Split HR into Two -- Ram Charan's latest very short (30 seconds) article in Harvard Business Reviewsupports what we've delineated on our FACE (Function Accountability Chart) tool in Scaling Up - that HR should be split into two functions. One is focused on the administrative aspects and reports to the CFO. The other, according to Charan "would focus on improving the people capabilities of the business and would report to the CEO." This is why we're so adamant about having someone accountable for Talent Development. If you want to 10x the company, you must 10x the capabilities of the talent. And it seems everything is in oversupply, including oil and gas, except talent. I encourage CEOs and heads of HR (People) to consider this change. Thank you to Chuck Kocher, Gazelles International Certified coach, for pointing me to this article.

Myths about Millennials -- ...and there is a lot of talk about millennials among HR leaders. Those born between 1980 and 2000 now make up 37% of the American workforce vs. 34% for the Baby Boomers. This August Economist article article looks at several large studies that debunk many of the "pop" conclusions about millennials (natural collaborators, into social causes, etc.). Notes the Economist:

Jennifer Deal of the Centre for Creative Leadership, an executive-training outfit, and Alec Levenson of the University of Southern California studied 25,000 people in 22 countries and concluded that most generalisations about millennials as employees are "inconsistent at best and destructive at worst." Consider the idea that they do not want to be told what to do. In a poll of 5,000 workers Ms Deal and Mr Levenson found that 41% of millennials agreed that "employees should do what their manager tells them, even when they can't see the reason for it," compared with 30% of baby-boomers and 30% of members of generation X (born between the mid-1960s and 1980). Or the idea that firms should communicate with digital natives through digital media. More than 90% of millennials said they wanted to receive their performance evaluations and to discuss their career plans face-to-face.

As for corporate social responsibility (CSR) "only 35% of millennials put a high emphasis on CSR, compared with 41% of baby-boomers." (this is still significant for both generations!). Take 2 minutes to scan down through the article to see some of the other research results debunking millennial myths. Seems we're more alike than different if these studies are to be believed.

Strengthening the Core; Stronger Profits (Gazelles case study) -- top line increased 28% and margins increased 33% from 2014 to 2015 for Nick Tarascio's family-owned business Ventura Air Services. This Farmingdale, NY-based firm -- which offers charter flights, flight training and aircraft maintenance - had grown to 30 employees. Then the financial crisis hit just as Tarascio was taking over as CEO at age 27. With the help of Gazelles International Certified coach Mark Green, Tarascio orchestrated the turnaround by strengthening the core. Like athletes, there are some key "muscles" that need strengthened to support the entire venture. My latest Huffington Post blog details the turnaround. Please take 3 minutes to scan through for ideas to help strengthen your core.

A Blue Print for Scaling Up -- The new online Scaling Up Class delivers the practical lessons that most Business Schools don't. It's a blue print for building a growth company. Q3 is the best time of the year to tune-up your strategy and planning skills to have a great 2016! For more information on how to register for the class contact Juan Gonzalez at [email protected] or to get a copy of the class syllabus click here.

COACHING:

Have you ever wondered if your company would be a good candidate to work with an executive growth coach? Click here to watch Gazelles International President Keith Coach describes the four most important attributes of successful clients.

TECHNOLOGY:

Align Software puts everyone on the Same Page - Literally! See, in real time every person in your organization and how they are progress on their priorities - alongside how these Align to the Company Priorities! Scale Up your Rockefeller Habits implementation with www.alignwithgazelles.com- on your computer and on your phone.

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.

Amazon's Mess - my response in Huffington Post - and some additional thoughts

"...insights for scaleup"

HEADLINES: (weekend bonus?)

Amazon's Situation -- last weekend's New York Time's expose on the apparent brutal work environment at Amazon has encouraged a wave of responses, so I thought I would weigh in as well. Here's a link to my reaction in the Huffington Post.

Three Key Points:

1. Founder Jeff Bezos must build his dream on the backs of silicon beings vs. human beings.
2. Their system for allowing employees to provide anonymous feedback on other employees (rat them out) violently violates everything we know about leadership (and parenting) 101, destroying the very trust they claim as one of their 14 rules.
3. Rank and yank has proven to be ineffective. If you need competition to fuel creative juices, seek it from the outside. Reread Jack Stack's Great Game of Business.

Core Values -- Jim Collins helped us understand that there are no "right or wrong" core values - they just "are." The key is for there to be congruity between actions and values. Amazon's anonymous feedback system fails this test, which is why serious cracks are forming in their culture. Bezos should have announced the end of this system the day after the NY Times article.

Principles -- and supporting Values, which can vary between company and country cultures, is a foundational layer of Principles which, in turn, is the same across all organizations - something we don't talk enough about. In business, transparency and trust are two such principles. They are as sacrosanct as freedom of speech. No systems or values can trump these principles or there is long term danger.

Systems of Survival-- this is the title of one of my favorite books. Written by the late Jane Jacobs, she delineated a set of "moral precepts" she felt must underpin successful commerce. I think it's an excellent list - and have found in all my commercial dealings that when one of these precepts is violated, things turn out badly:

• Shun force
• Compete
• Be efficient
• Be open to inventiveness and novelty
• Use initiative and enterprise
• Come to voluntary agreements
• Respect contracts
• Dissent for the sake of the task
• Be industrious
• Be thrifty
• Invest for productive purposes
• Collaborate easily with strangers and aliens
• Promote comfort and convenience
• Be optimistic
• Be honest

It's this list that provides a foundational bedrock upon which you can build your own unique culture (core values) and company. Have a great weekend.

100 Fastest Growing Firms; Buyer Personas; Biggest Mistake; AUS/NZ Tour

"...insights for scaleup"

HEADLINES:

100 Fastest Growing Firms -- Fortune's 19th Annual list is out - and dominated by healthcare. Most are not well-known names (except Netflix #46, Under Armour #62, and Winnebago #67); however, what's impressive is that Facebook (unlike Apple, Google, etc.) made #10 on the list on the back of $12.47 billion in revenue last year - they are still a "gazelle." Here's a link to the full list.

Video Overview of Trends -- And for a 2:28 minute summary of trends from the list, watch this video. I agree with the Fortune editors that this list shows a snapshot of the economy and what is hot (entertainment) and not (oil and gas firms). And it's a way to spot up and coming companies - who are the future giants. Anyway, it's worth 1 minute to scan down through the list.

7 Keys to Dominating Your Market -- mentor Hermann Simon wrote THE book on privately held growth firms called Hidden Champions of the 21st Century. Here's the best summary I've read of the 7 lessons from studying thousands of mid-market firms that dominate their niches globally. FYI, "Closeness to Customers" is one of their key advantages. Please take 1 minute to scan down through the 7 lessons, and then 7 minutes to read it more in depth. This is a key formula for crushing your competition. Thanks to Gazelles Certified Coach Chuck Kocher for sharing this article with me.

Selling to the Wrong Customers?  -- Do you want to juice up your growth? Does marketing, sales teams, distributors, etc. call on anyone they want? This is the single biggest non-decision leaders make - letting people go after any "low-hanging fruit customers" they can find. And this is the quickest way to destroy margins and commoditize the business. Therefore, it's critical that you precisely define in detail who is your best customer. This is called a Buyer Persona and is one of the most important strategic things you need to figure out. Once determined, you then direct your team/efforts to primarily pursue these people armed with the info they need to land the deal, especially given the fact that 60% of the buying decision is already made before there is contact! Gazelles lost a significant deal because I believe we weren't aware of this.

She Wrote the Book -- Adele Revella literally wrote the 2015 book on the topic titled Buyer Personas: How to Gain Insight into your Customer's Expectations, Align your Marketing Strategies, and Win More Business. Go right to page XX in the Introduction where Adele notes:

One marketing professional confessed to me after conducting her first buyer interview, "This is almost like cheating, like getting the exam paper weeks before the final. Instead of trying to guess what matters, I now know not only what the customer wants - I realize how she goes about it."

Adele will take us through her process for determining a Buyer Persona at the upcoming Growth Summit presented by Fortune, Oct 20-21, Dallas. GPro and bookclub members will receive the book next week.

It's Not Simply Demographic Data -- the big mistake, one which Bob Bloom also notes in his book The Inside Advantage, is that the Buyer Persona is not just a collection of demographic and psychographic info on potential buyers. Notes Adele starting on page 10 in Part 1 of her practical book:

Too often, Buyer Personas are nothing more than an attractive way to display obvious or demographic data...(and) some marketers will focus on psychographics...but this information has little bearing on how (the customer) will evaluate and choose a supplier/product.

Her focus is on gathering Buyer Insights along with a Buyer Profile - then you have the clear guidance for the decisions you need to make to win the business.

AUS/NZ Aug 31 -- Sept 3 - look forward to meeting many of you on my upcoming tour down under. For details.

TECHNOLOGY: Align Software knows before you do when someone needs to re-focus effort on the important. With Green, Yellow, Red pacing capabilities your team will know where they stand even before you do! Scale Up your Rockefeller Habits implementation with www.alignwithgazelles.com- on your computer and on your phone.

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.

COACHING:

Interested in selecting a coach to help your company Scale Up? Check out this video explaining the "4+1 Rule of Thumb" for choosing the right coach.

5 “Hacks” for Scaling Up; Free Viewing Tomorrow; Dec 9 – 11 Raleigh Master Class

"...out-learning the competition"

HEADLINES: (NOTE: Oct 22 "Scaling Up User Conference" Postponed Until May 16)

Free Viewing: Geoff Smart's Who Course -- save $99 - Aug 18 and 19 (several showings). Registration and details below, but first...

5 "Hacks" to Scale Up -- Want the tools to make better decisions and to get things done? I've created 5 hacks to scale up your company through the end of the year!

Click here to get access to the following 5 short videos over the next 5 days.

1. The Function of Marketing in Your Business.
2. The Most Important Asset is Not in the Balance Sheet
3. What You Hate Most Will Help You Win.
4. Turn Your Sales People into Winners, Not Whiners.
5. The Result... Laser Focus to "The Next Level"

Again, click here to get started with these 5 hacks - a way to stimulate your thinking as we approach Sept 1 and work kicks back into gear (for those in the Northern Hemisphere).

Scaling Up Master Class Dec 9 - 11, Raleigh -- this 2.5 day course is limited to 15 teams that want to dig deep into the Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0) tools. It's primarily led by me (Verne Harnish, author of Scaling Up) along with Randy Nelson, author of The Second Decision and host for the workshop. Here's a link for more information.

Tomorrow Free Viewing -- Who: The A Method of Hiring - How to Solve Your #1 Problem. Geoff Smart is Chairman & CEO of a management assessment firm for CEOs and investors and author of several Wall Street Journal and NY Times bestsellers. In this course, Geoff solves every manager's #1 problem: making hiring mistakes. Register Here for a FREE Course Viewing of Who: The A Method for Hiring on August 19th (multiple times). Register now to SAVE $99. Length: 97 Minutes. Language: English.

EDUCATION:

Scaling Up Business Growth Workshops 2015

Have Big Plans to Execute in 2015? Learn how to use the proven Rockefeller Habits 2.0 tools and strategies to scale up smarter.

Auckland - Aug 31, 2015
Brisbane - Sept 1, 2015
Melbourne - Sept 2, 2015
Sydney - Sept 3, 2015
San Francisco, CA - September 24, 2015 
Los Angeles, CA - September 29, 2015
Toronto, ON - September 29, 2015
Calgary, AB - September 29, 2015
Paramaribo, Suriname - September 29, 2015
Oklahoma City, OK - October 1, 2015
Nashville, TN - October 6, 2015
Seattle, WA - October 8, 2015
Richmond, VA - October 29, 2015
Las Vegas, NV - November 3, 2015
Waukesha, WI - November 3, 2015
Dublin, Ireland - November 4, 2015
Surrey, BC - November 20, 2015
Portland, OR - November 5, 2015
Washington, DC - November 4, 2015
Montreal, QB - November 5, 2015
Philadelphia, PA - November 10, 2015
Cedar Rapids, IA - November 11, 2015
Norton, MA - November 11, 2015
Austin, TX - November 12, 2015
Memphis, TN - November 12, 2015
Fort Myers, FL - November 17, 2015 
Colorado Springs, CO - November 18, 2015 
Indianapolis, IN - November 19, 2015
Dallas, TX - December 2, 2015
Denver, CO - December 2, 2015
San Diego, CA - December 15, 2015

Growth Summit Presented by FORTUNE
Dallas, TX - Oct 20-21, 2015

COACHING:

Interested in selecting a coach to help your company Scale Up? Check out this video explaining the "4+1 Rule of Thumb" for choosing the right coach.

TECHNOLOGY: Align Software knows before you do when someone needs to re-focus effort on the important. With Green, Yellow, Red pacing capabilities your team will know where they stand even before you do! Scale Up your Rockefeller Habits implementation with www.alignwithgazelles.com- on your computer and on your phone.

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.

Donald Trump; Google's CEO; Leaders Lie; Free Viewing Aug 19

"...insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

NOTE: Oct 22 Scaling Up User Conference Postponed Until May 16

I am...defined by my curiosity and thirst for learning...I buy more books than I can finish. I sign up for more online courses than I can complete. I fundamentally believe that if you are not learning new things, you stop doing great and useful things.
	Satya Nadella, CEO Microsoft

Fortune Stories Needed -- Want featured in my next column? Figured out ways to avoid becoming a commodity? More details below, but first...

Free Viewing: Geoff Smart's Who Course -- save $99 - Aug 18 and 19 (several showings). Registration and details below, but second...

Google's New CEO -- yet another Indian-born CEO took the helm of a major international firm on Monday. Sundar Pichai (Google) joins an elite group that includes Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Ajay Banga (Mastercard), Indira Nooyi (PepsiCo), Ivan Menezes (Diageo), and Shantanu Narayen (Adobe Systems). Notes this BBC News story:

One study, by the University of Southern New Hampshire, says that Indian managers are more successful because of "a paradoxical blend of genuine personal humility and intense professional will."

This precisely mirrors what Jim Collins concluded in studying what he labeled Level 5 leaders. Please take 2 minutes to read this BBC piece describing the philosophies of these Indian-born CEOs. It includes the quote from Nadella shared at the top of the insights. Then re-read Jim Collins' HBR article on Level 5 leaders. Thank you to Christo Popov, our Eastern European Marketing Partner, for sharing this insightful and highly quotable article with me.

...But Wait a Second -- how do you explain Donald Trump and Carly Fiorina? Jeff Pfeffer, Stanford prof and author of the upcoming book Leadership BS, takes on Jim Collins and notes in this Fortune article:

We may say we disapprove of Trump's self-promotion, disdain for facts, and unapologetic persona. But these are the very qualities that allow leaders to succeed.

He goes on to back up his statement with research, including studies that suggest leaders lie with more frequency and that narcissistic leaders in Silicon Valley earn more money and remain longer in their CEO roles. He's careful to emphasize that the attributes he's describing are for those seeking individual success (emphasis mine) vs. organizational success. After all, Fiorina was a disastrous leader at HP, but received a massive severance package and is now zooming up the polls in the US presidential campaign. Take 2 minutes to read this in-your-face article, as a contrast to the BBC piece, and then ponder Pfeffer's two recommendations at the end.

...Adding Fuel to the Fire -- piling on the debate, Fortune printed a Q&A with Bill George on his updated classic Discover Your True North. Former CEO of Medtronic, who grew the firm's market value from $1 billion to $60 billion, and now senior fellow at the Harvard Business School, George notes:

I think we have seen a tremendous change in leadership. You now see a very different kind of leader. Far less hierarchical. More collaborative. More empowering of workers. More global in outlook. And more in tune with public issues.

He also notes, especially among the millennials, that "The hierarchical leader is out. The empowering leader is in." Take 3 minutes to scan through his interview.

Being Authentic? -- Bill George's earlier book titled Authentic Leadership might resolve the conflict. Maybe the lesson in all of this is to just be yourself -- as rough or polished as that is - while committing to learn and grow and improve yourself.

Speaking of Authentic Leadership (Gazelles Case Study) -- this week Nelson Jacobson and his firm JSJ Corp. are featured in an article I wrote for Global Trade magazine. CEO of his 100 year-old global family business with over 2800 employees, JSJ first entered China in 1985 and today has 40% of its workforce based outside the US. The article details how JSJ uses the One-Page Strategic Plan (OPSP) and the daily huddles to keep all their divisions aligned, which helped them survive the downturn in the economy. Take 1 minute to read this mini-case study - then come meet Nelson and his team in Dallas at the Growth Summit.

Stories Needed -- For my next Fortune column, I am focusing on how to avoid becoming a commodity. How have you kept your product or service from being treated like a commodity by your customers--even if commoditization is the trend in your industry? In what ways do you distinguish what you sell, so you can avoid a race to the bottom on pricing with competitors? Please include your company name, the city where it is located, what the company sells, the number of employees you have and your annual revenue (Fortune requires the revenue figure). Email [email protected]

Who: The A Method of Hiring - How to Solve Your #1 Problem. Geoff Smart is Chairman & CEO of a management assessment firm for CEOs and investors, which he founded in 1995. Here, Geoff Smart solves every manager's #1 problem: making hiring mistakes. Register Here for a FREE Course Viewing of Who: The A Method for Hiring on August 19th. Register now to SAVE $99. Length: 97 Minutes. Language: English.

COACHING:

Interested in selecting a coach to help your company Scale Up? Check out this video explaining the "4+1 Rule of Thumb" for choosing the right coach.

TECHNOLOGY: Align Software knows before you do when someone needs to re-focus effort on the important. With Green, Yellow, Red pacing capabilities your team will know where they stand even before you do! Scale Up your Rockefeller Habits implementation with www.alignwithgazelles.com- on your computer and on your phone.

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.

4x Productivity; Nature’s Roll in Business; Sir Martin Sorrell’s Insights; Aust/NZ Tour

"...insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

The Nature of Business -- my latest Fortune column taps into a fast moving trend, sharing lessons from Mother Nature that can help us build better businesses. The five ways:

1. Lower healthcare costs
2. Clear air; clear mind
3. Adapt to survive
4. New organizational structures
5. Biomimicry in office design

Please take 1 minute to scan through the details. We'll be writing a more extensive article given the huge response from many of you with ideas. Thank you to Kelly Terrien, CEO of Summit Technology Solutions; Anne-Marie Faiola, CEO of Bramble Berry; and Rachel Ross, VP of Mandala Homes, for sharing their specific examples for this column.

Twice the Work in Half the Time -- this is the subtitle of Jeff Sutherland's award-winning book titled Scrum. Co-creator of the well-known scrum methodology most tech firms use to efficiently create robust software, Sutherland shows how these same practical principles can adapt to the entire company to help you power a 4x gain in productivity. Many of the ideas mirror the Rockefeller Habits 2.0, like the importance of daily huddles - yet it's worthwhile to get a different spin and additional company examples and approaches. First read the short (1 minute) Preface to the book, then decide if you should read the rest (you will!). Sutherland is keynoting our upcoming Growth Summit Oct 20 - 21, Dallas; and GPro and book club members will be receiving a copy of his book.

Sir Martin Sorrell's Insights -- as CEO of WPP, the world's largest advertising and communications firm, Sorrell sits in a unique place to see trends and access insights through data that is likely more accurate and useful than any government data you're going to read. And Sorrell's firm knows how to package that information. In what Norman Pearlstine (an icon in the media world) considers the best annual report he's ever read, WPP's 250 page publication is both a work of art and well written. This short (1 minute) Fortune article provides a quick overview.

Four Strategic Objectives -- Sorrell's 6 minute video overview of WPP's Annual 2014 Report provides a superb example of how to clearly communicate a set of strategic objectives (3-5 Year Key Thrusts/Capabilities on the One-Page Strategic Plan) and differentiators. How clear are you in stating your strategic objectives? WPP's four:

1. New Media
2. New Markets
3. Data Investment Management
4. Horizontality

Sorrell goes on to provide specific data and examples that show WPP is making real progress in all four areas. I'm surprised he's blinking so much in the video (usually a sign of nerves), but his clarity and specificity is worth studying. Go right to :39 of the six minute video for details - and notice how the video has "dots" to help you navigate right to each key segment of this short message. As leaders, we all need to be producing more video like this - present company included.

Content is King -- Sorrell's Letter to Shareholders -- of the 250 pages, Sorrell's CEO Report is worth scanning through. It proves that the best way to sell is to educate. It's a highly informative letter full of graphs/charts (my favorite is the "Media Time Spent vs. Ad Spend" chart) and lists (the 10 Ten Trends at the end is worth the read) which all point to the importance of marketing if you want to scale your own business (I agree) - and thus the need for WPP's services! But it's NOT a sales pitch letter - its solid content. And, again, the navigation is easy, with a sub-list of the key points which remain to the left and highlight as you move down through the letter. If you only have 15 minutes to read/study something this week, this should be it.

Australia/New Zealand Tour -- I'll be back on the road in a few weeks, leading one-day workshops in Auckland (Aug 31), Brisbane (Sept 1), Melbourne (Sept 2), and Sydney (Sept 3).

San Fran, LA, Toronto, Calgary and Paramaribo (Suriname) -- and our Gazelles Coaching Partners are leading similar one-day workshops in these cities in September. There is always a list of all our workshops, with dates and links, at the bottom of the insights. These public workshops are a great way to jump start implementation of Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0).

COACHING:

Interested in selecting a coach to help your company Scale Up? Check out this video explaining the "4+1 Rule of Thumb" for choosing the right coach.

TECHNOLOGY:

Align Software runs your Rockefeller Habits in the cloud, anywhere, anytime! Have real time access to Huddles, Priorities, KPI's, Critical Numbers and more. Scale Up your Rockefeller Habits implementation with www.alignwithgazelles.com- on your computer and on your phone.

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.