#1 Richest; Is He Richer?; Think like a CEO?; 7 Traits Successful CMO

"...insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

Bill Gates #1 -- Gates is, again, the wealthiest person on the planet at $87.4 billion, according to Wealth-X. Spain's Amancio Ortega came in second, more than $20 billion behind; and Michael Bloomberg, a potential US Presidential Candidate, came in #9 at $42 billion while Donald Trump didn't make it into the top 50. Here's the Fortune piece announcing the list yesterday. BTW, it's rumored that the Russian president is worth $200 billion, crushing everyone!

Don't Slow Down -- fast growth is dangerous, but Bedros Keuilian, founder and CEO of the world's fastest growing indoor fitness boot camp franchise: Fit Body Boot Camp, makes the case in Chief Executive magazine that you not slow down. Notes Keuilian:

I think the idea of "growing too fast" is a myth. You can scale up in the wrong ways or in the right ways, but you should never consider high speed a problem. If your business starts growing faster than you anticipated -- great! Learn to keep up, don't ask it to slow down.

He suggests three strategies for keeping up:

1. Hire in anticipation of growth -- get people on sooner than later so you are ready for the growth when it hits - requires good forecasting.
2. Delegate to the right people -- to people with a growth mindset willing to work hard through the tough times yet remain optimistic.
3. Always be selling -- "if your main concern is whether your team will feel comfortable with your rate of growth, you're not thinking like a CEO. You're thinking like a middle manager, and not a good one."

It's a good quick 1-minute read with some contrarian views - always worth the push! Thanks to Steve Hall, DriversSelect, for sharing with me.

7 Traits of Successful CMOs -- I might modify Bedros Keuilian's last point - always be marketing! And a lot of direct sales, today, are happening through successful marketing. David Tomas, a dear friend and founder of Barcelona-based Cyberclick Group, wrote a concise piece for Forbes on the 7 traits of successful CMOs. It serves as an excellent checklist for your marketing function and will help guide you in amassing the internal or outsourced talent you need to drive marketing and growth. You can scan through the list in 30 seconds, then take another 2 minutes to read the details.

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 progressing on their priorities - alongside how they 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.