The Agile Scaleup

5 Key Trends; Key Pricing Book; London Olympics Smart Pricing; Atlassian Goes Public; Last Insight for 2015

"...insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

5 Key Trends for 2016 -- my latest Venture column in Fortune has hit the newsstands and online. It outlines "5 Key Business Trends to Master for 2016":

1. Retire the term "manager" -- and replace with a new term/job
2. Embrace "scaleup eco-systems" -- time to upgrade the startup eco-systems
3. Open the books on healthcare costs -- companies in the US will get slammed
4. Benefit from the freelance economy -- 50% of workforce is heading in this direction
5. Be like a "B Corp" -- if you want to win the war for talent

Please take 2 minutes to scan the details - and then share with your networks as you prepare for 2016.

Confessions of The Pricing Man -- this is THE book on pricing. Pricing is one of the most important decisions you'll make in business and one that is at best an educated guess at most organizations. Written by Dr. Hermann Simon, his firm Simon-Kucher & Partners is widely considered the global market leader in the specialized area of price consultancy. Simon-Kucher will finish 2015 with $235 million in revenue with 850 employees working out of 30 offices in 24 countries - they are the "hidden champion" of pricing around the globe.

Pricing London Olympics -- go right to the middle of Chapter 2 and read the section titled "What Smart Pricing Can Achieve: The 2012 London Olympics." Using several very clever pricing strategies, the London Olympics generated more revenue than the last three Olympics combined - read that again - more revenue than the last 3 combined! This mini-case study should motivate you to significantly up your game in strategic pricing. The BahnCard case study immediately following will add to your sense that its amateur hour around most organizations when it comes to pricing. When you think of the amount of money you're leaving on the table because of dumb pricing...anyway, get this book and study it.

What America's Best BBQ Joint Can Teach You About Pricing -- this Nov HBR article continues with pricing lessons, this one focused on the importance of NOT price gouging when business is good. In the end, pricing creates an emotional connection with your product/service/company - and it can be good or bad! And customers have long memories if they feel taken advantage of when they have very little power (this is a scarce resource). It seems the London Olympics understood this by letting people "pay their age" - so a six-year-old paid just £6 for a ticket while a 16-year-old paid £16 - there was something that felt inherently fair about this pricing. Take another 2 minutes to read this short HBR piece and then spend time thinking through your own pricing.

Atlassian Goes Public $21 Price -- Congratulations to Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founders of Australian-based Atlassian, for taking the company public last week in the US. Founded 13 years ago using $10k put on credit cards by the pair of 22-year-olds; the stock jumped 32% on opening day giving the company a market cap of almost $5.8 billion with Scott and Mike still owners of 66% of the company. It was considered the best tech IPO in 2015. Here's a Bloomberg article providing a few more details. The key to their success was being customer-funded most of the way - which is why the co-founders still held 66% at the time of the IPO. And thanks to Scott for being one of the main endorsers of Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0)

The Customer Funded Business -- and speaking of customer funded, here's my 4-minute interview of John Mullins who keynoted our recent Growth Summit and wrote what I named one of the top 5 biz books for 2014 - The Customer Funded Business. Skip to 1:16 to hear the Ryzex case study, a company built by Rud Browne who used customer funding to scaleup the business to $75 million. After selling the firm, Rud ran for election as an official of his county in Washington state.

Scaling Up #1 Biz Book in Shanghai -- Noted the Shanghai Daily "This manual packs enormous punch by condensing the best business, leadership and talent management advice". Here's to scaling up in China! And we just signed a publishing contract to have the first Mandarin version of the book thanks to our partners Preston Kuo and Eric Schmidt in China.

Great Price for Books -- and we lowered the price on a box of 20 Scaling Up books - just $9.99/book plus shipping - a great give away to your customers/suppliers/colleagues. Give the gift of learning. Thank you.

Happy Holidays (and planning)! -- I'm taking the next couple weeks off from writing the insights - back in January. Thank you for taking the time to read in 2015 - leaders are readers!

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 Cupp 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.

Super Bowl Event – John Ratliff’s Retreat Center in Marathon Key, FL

"...out-learning (and out-living) the competition"

HEADLINES:

Super Bowl Weekend Event -- John Ratliff scaled his company through a series of 24 acquisitions; increased it's earnings from an industry average 4% to over 21%; and drove down employee turnover from 115% to 18%. And when he sold the business, he received 14 times EBITDA. A serial entrepreneur, investor, advisor and Managing Director with investment bank STS Capital Partners, John is hosting an exclusive Super Bowl Weekend event at The Retreat in Marathon Key, Florida February 4 - 8, 2016 - it's an executive paradise.

Relationship Building and Learning -- John, as CEO of GazellesPro, and his team at align5, his consulting firm, have designed a unique opportunity to combine business learning and relationship building with other entrepreneurs in a super luxurious setting. In addition to the fun in the sun, John will lead discussions (many in the Jacuzzi bar) on the following topics:

1. Employee engagement strategies
2. How to design and implement world class business systems and processes; and
3. Preparing to sell your company

Top 5 Trends for 2016 -- In addition to this formal content, I will "beam-in" via John's robotic attendant, for one of the sessions and share my thoughts on the Top 5 Trends for 2016. The participants in this Super Bowl weekend event will leave with both actionable ideas and new, deeper, connections that will serve them well as they continue to scaleup their businesses. John is one of the most connected and giving persons I know - and he'll be sure to hook you up with the right influencers.

For More Info -- The cost for the event is $5,000 per person and there are only 8 spots available. Rooms will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, please contact Denise Richmond at (610) 299-6466 - then look forward to your retreat to the sun.

Great Question; Distraction Addiction; Southwest’s Hiring Practices; Food Biz Stories Needed

"...insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

Food Biz Stories Needed -- are you scaling up in the food industry? My next Fortune column is examining this industry - more info below, but first...

How Southwest Airlines Hires Such Dedicated People -- Receiving a job application every two seconds, Southwest has the luxury of having to hire only 2% of all job applicants. And Southwest hires based on values, not skills. My favorite paragraph from the recent HBR article:

At Southwest, for example, we talk about hiring not for skills but three attributes: a warrior spirit (that is, a desire to excel, act with courage, persevere and innovate); a servant's heart (the ability to put others first, treat everyone with respect and proactively serve customers); and a fun-loving attitude (passion, joy and an aversion to taking oneself too seriously.)

The first attribute aligns with Jim Collins' notion that you must first hire for "will." So in order, we suggest you hire based on:

1. Will - Southwest's definition of warrior spirit is perfect
2. Values - the test for culture fit
3. Results - in the end can they deliver on your KPIs
4. Skills - the least important since most skill-sets need updated every 5 years

It's a very short HBR article, worth 2 minutes to peruse for a few more key ideas.

Great Question for Getting a Bunch of Customers -- I love great questions and this is one of the best, posed by Andrew Davis, author of Brandscaping - "Who has your next customer as their current customer?" (best if you re-read it out loud - I'm serious). In my 4 minute interview with Davis at the Growth Summit, he describes how to think about this question and what to do next once you've identified the companies/organizations/people that already have a strong relationship with a big chunk of your potential customers. One strategy is to partner with them - building your brand by leveraging theirs (like our relationship with Fortune). Take a few minutes to watch the interview then read Davis's book to leverage an important strategy in building your customer base.

Addicted To Distraction -- Tony Schwartz, renowned human performance guru and head of the Energy Project (like is about energy management more than time management), wrote a very personal Op Ed in the NY Times about internet addiction and how it destroys one's ability to concentrate and focus. Notes Schwartz:

Addiction is the relentless pull to a substance or an activity that becomes so compulsive it ultimately interferes with everyday life. By that definition, nearly everyone I know is addicted in some measure to the Internet. It has arguably replaced work itself as our most socially sanctioned addiction.

Take 3 minutes to read about Tony's own battle and how he's overcoming it and reclaiming his brain - if you can focus long enough to read the article!

Master Newsjacking -- David Meerman Scott has spoken at several of our Growth Summits around the world. In his presentations one of the most memorable marketing strategies is Newsjacking: the art and science of injecting your ideas into a breaking news story to generate tons of media coverage, get sales leads, and grow business. David just launched a new online course titled "Master Newsjacking!" The course will teach you how to:

• Generate sales leads and win new customers. For free!
• Get media attention, with little effort!
• Grow your business, faster than ever!

And besides all that, there's a bonus: Newsjacking is fun! I've done it several times, most recently in Australia, and it works brilliantly. Here's a link to learn more about this important and inexpensive marketing tool.

This Video Explains "Rocks" -- The Stephen Covey video that demos his famous "rock" analogy of doing the most important things first each day/week is grainy and often hard to find. This 5 minute video by The Art of Manliness does the best job I've seen - worth showing to all new employees at their orientation/training program. And I suggest everyone watch it as a great reminder of the importance of setting a few priorities and working on them first, not last!

Food Biz Stories -- The food business has a notoriously high failure rate. For my next Fortune column, I'm looking at how entrepreneurs are beating the odds in this industry and succeeding. What surprising and counter-intuitive strategies have you used to differentiate yourself and create staying power--besides offering a great product? I'm looking for entrepreneurs in businesses from restaurants to food manufacturing. Please include the name of your business, the city where it is located, your annual revenue, your number of employees and the strategies that have helped you build a profitable, fast-growing business. Email me directly at [email protected] - thank you.

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.

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 Cupp describes the four most important attributes of successful clients.

He's Coming; Traditional Planning is Failing; Denver Broncos; Washington's Team of Teams

"...keeping you great"

HEADLINES:

Do You Want Published on Fortune.com? -- "You are what you publish" as marketing guru David Meerman Scott exclaims. Fortune magazine is looking for entrepreneurs to publish pieces on the Fortune.com website - more info below, but first...

General McChrystal's Team of Teams -- I'm so appreciative (and thrilled) that General Stanley McChrystal has agreed to keynote the upcoming Fortune Scale-up Summit May 24 - 25, Atlanta! I named his book, Team of Teams, one of the top five biz books of the year. As noted in my Fortune column summarizing each book:

There's a revolution afoot in the military. The very organization that gave us the command-and-control structure is abandoning it in the face of new, quick-moving opponents. So should you if you want your business to survive 21st-century competition. Drawing on the model used by Navy SEALs, retired four-star general McChrystal will show you how to reorganize your company into teams of autonomous leaders capable of making the split-second decisions necessary to winning today.

The book is so well written and provides practical advice we can all use in our businesses to make better, faster, more impactful decisions - and to better engage our people. GazellesPro and book club members will receive a copy next week. This is a perfect read over the holiday season. Then come meet and hear the General next May at our Fortune Summit - and Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0) user conference the following day.

Why Traditional Planning is Failing Teams -- a similar "team of teams" approach called "scrum" is in parallel revolutionizing project management and planning. In this 3 minute interview I did with with Jeff Sutherland, co-creator of scrum and author of the award winning book by the same name (Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time), he details why traditional planning is failing us. Projects falling way behind schedule and running over budget has to end - and the scrum process replaces the failed and ancient Pert/Gantt chart approach. Please take 3 minutes to watch this interview - the read (or re-read) his book.

Favorite Team Denver Broncos -- ...and wow, what a football game Sunday night watching my hometown team, the Denver Broncos, topple the undefeated and reigning Super Bowl champs in overtime!! The winning play is a perfect example of what Jeff Sutherland and General McChrystal are driving home in their messages - teams don't have time to send information up the chain of command and wait for instructions to come down. Quarterback Brock Osweiler (age 25), in only his second NFL start, notices that the New England Patriots defense has lined up in a way that will not be favorable to the Broncos running back to head to the right, the play that had been called in the huddle. So in "real time" he signals to the team to shift plays on the go and send the running back left. Everyone adjusts immediately and they score the winning touchdown! This is how the real time world we're living in demands a different kind of organizational decision making approach than we've had the past 100 years. Here's a link to watch the winning play.

Equally Amazing Team of Teams -- Kirk Cousins, who is an avid reader and the new winning quarterback for the Washington Redskins (my other hometown team), has his team at the top of the "loser" division in the NFL! This article details how Washington's three quarterbacks, who should be fierce rivals, have formed a team of teams to support each other in support and prayer. And the article lists the books Kirk Cousins is reading in-season. Leaders are readers!

Fortune.com Opportunity -- all answers to the question below will be posted - so you'll be published. Here's the request:

This week's question is: What's something you wish you knew before starting your business? Michael Maven, founder of Carter & Kingsley, says "As entrepreneurs, ideas are a dime a dozen, and just because you (or a small group of people) think you have a good one doesn't mean your idea will be popular. It might be easy for your vision, passion, and belief in your idea to drive you forward until you're ready to unleash your finished product, but this visionary passion often unwittingly kills companies since many founders end up building products people don't want or need." Read more from Michael here. Join this week's conversation on Fortune.com by writing your own 500- to 700-word answer and emailing it to: [email protected]

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 Cupp 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.

How Fangio Avoided Death; Scalable Learning; Yuri van Geest Dec 4th Webinar

"...out-learning the competition"

HEADLINES:

We live in a world that increasingly requires searchlight intelligence. That is, the ability to connect the dots between people and ideas, where others see no possible connection.
	"The Best Leaders are Constant Learners" HBR

Dec 4 Webinar -- we're excited to introduce you to Yuri van Geest 10am ET this coming Friday, more info below, but first...

Grand Prix Racer's Miracle -- Juan Manuel Fangio's evasive move, which likely saved his life, in the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix is part of racing folklore. The fact he looked at a photo of a similar accident the day before let him connect the dots and avoid a major collision. The specific thing he noticed in the photo is detailed in this HBR article titled "The Best Leaders are Constant Learners" - worth 15 seconds to read the opening story. Then keep reading.

Scalable Learning -- further notes this HBR article:

John Hagel, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davidson have described the shift...from institutions designed for scalable efficiency to institutions designed for scalable learning. Sustainable competitive advantage depends on having people that know how to build relationships, seek information, make sense of observations and share ideas through an intelligent use of new technologies."

Let's unpack this:

1. Build Relationships - who has access to the most brains quickly
2. Seek Information - it's about remaining curious
3. Make Sense of Observations - connecting the dots through extensive training and experience
4. Share Ideas --through an intelligent use of new technologies - are you up to speed?

These are the important skills of the 21st Century - the same skills we're using to thwart terrorists and stay ahead of competition. Thanks to Chris Kenny, Gazelles International Certified Coach, for bringing this HBR article to my attention.

Denver Dec 2, Dallas Dec 2, San Diego, Dec 15, Boston Jan 12 -- Last Scaling Up one-day workshops for 2015. For more info https://gazelles.com/g/growth-workshops

Yuri van Geest Complimentary Webinar -- Yuri is a member of Singularity University and the co-author of Exponential Organizations. Join him for an exclusive webinar Friday December 4th at 10am EST where he will share specific examples of how mid-market growth firms have applied their groundbreaking ideas to scaleup quickly - including the challenges they've faced and how they were overcome. You will come out of the webinar with action items to immediately implement. Claim your spot here: http://growthinstitute.com/exowebinar/12-4/

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 Cupp 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.