The Agile Scaleup

Anarchist Meets General; Preakness Preparation; Thriving Kids; Smart Thinking

"...insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

Scaling Up Club's Weekly "7 Minutes to Greatness" -- Boost your team's potential and knowledge with this week's selected clip from Art Markman's seminar based on his book Smart Thinking but first...

Kid's Thrive When Parents Coached -- want your children to be smarter, seems this is more important than childhood nutrition, more below but second...

The New Org Structure -- the overarching theme of the ScaleUp Summit this week - from General McChrystal's "Team of Teams" keynote to Ari Weinzweig's change management approach at Zingerman's Deli- is that no one wants managed (technology does this better - think smart phones). Instead, we need coaches. And if the frontline employees have access to the same information (or more - think corporate wikis and dashboard) as senior leaders; and a process for making decisions without the need for getting approval from the 'higher ups' - then better decisions faster! This requires the right training and coaching of the frontline and a change in leadership thinking (the need to make all the decisions)- so it's not something you can move to overnight - but it's where everyone is going. Three news items this past week reinforced all this.

#1 -- Preakness Preparation Powers Upset -- It's preparation that won the Preakness horserace this past weekend - with Exaggerator beating favorite Nyquist, the undefeated Kentucky Derby winner, in the 141st running of this annual horseracing event. There was a specific plan, but then a rain storm turned the track into a muddy mess. When the race started, jockey Kent Desormeaux steered Exaggerator almost directly left to the rail.

"I wanted to strangle him when I saw him go to the rail," said Keith Desormeaux, the trainer. "This is the only race he rode today and I was, like, all these other jockeys realize it's a quagmire down there. And I'm like, 'What's he doing?"

12 Minutes -- In fact, jockey Kent Desormeaux (46), the trainer's brother, said he had used the 12 minutes of warm-up time between the post parade and post time to measure the track in various places and decided that the rail was fastest. In the end, the jockey ignored the "plan"; assessed the immediate situation given the change in track conditions; and made a decision that won the race. But he was also experienced, having won three Kentucky Derbies, (now) three Preaknesses and three Breeders Cup races. He also brings a certain amount of baggage with him, having had at least three incidents involving alcohol use at the racetrack and is subject to regular breathalyzer testing - a true idiot savant.

#2 -- Jeff Immelt's Take -- last Friday, GE's CEO delivered NYU Stern School's commencement address. This FORTUNE piece highlights his insights, including:

Change requires new business models... leaner, faster, more decentralized. The days of cycling global ideas through a central headquarters is over. Globalization requires pushing capability to local teams who are empowered to take risks without second guessing.

The most traditional of businesses is changing - realizing that cycling ideas through HQ is over (something we need to learn in our governments).

#3 - Help Kids Thrive, Coach Parents -- last Sunday the NY Times reported on a study that has tracked 129 families for 30 years. Divided into three groups in 1986, the first received one-hour of coaching per week encouraging the parents to play with their children; the second received a kilogram of milk-based nutritional supplement each week; and the third nothing. It lasted two years, but the children have been tracked ever since. Notes the article:

The children whose parents were counseled to play more with them did better, throughout childhood, on tests of I.Q., aggressive behavior and self-control. Today, as adults, they earn an average of 25 percent more per year than the subjects whose parents didn't receive home visits.

We all need coached, even as parents. My wife and I have been blessed to have several parenting coaches who have helped tremendously.

Military Might Meets Anarchist -- one of the special moments at the ScaleUp Summit was when anarchist Ari Weinzweig came face-to-face with military General McChrystal - and both realized that though they started from wildly different backgrounds and worlds, they have ended up at the same point - that leadership is akin to gardening. The gardener doesn't grow the food, nature does. But the gardener (leader) is responsible for preparing the environment so the growth can happen. This takes preparation, coaching (nurturing), and experience. Then trust the process.

Music City Tents Quarterly Theme (Gazelles case study) -- Music City Tents, based in Nashville, rolls out a theme each quarter to align and engage the team. This quarter it's about community impact - from the team in the warehouse volunteering to bundle diapers to participating in breakfast at a local halfway house. Take 1 minute to scan the short blog post and photos. Thanks to their Gazelles Coaching Partner Andy Bailey for sharing the theme.

Scaling Up Club -- To outthink your competition and achieve your most important goals, watch slide 4 of Smart Thinking, minute 14:23 to 21:18. This section focuses on the key element of causal knowledge that helps us solve the most complex issues and develop the smartest devices and ideas.

Only have one minute? See minute 5:45-6:45 to see a very specific example of smart thinking and understand the logic of it.

To access the clip: Scaling Up Club Members go here. Non-members wanting to improve their skills 7-minutes per week can join here to enjoy!

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.

And if you're interested in becoming a world-class certified Gazelles International coach, please contact Jean Carpenter at [email protected] / (360) 798.9471.

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.

Steve Jobs' Retreat; Quadruple Ditto; Good Vibrations; Share the Love

"...insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

Why VERBAL Communication Is Critical -- the more we're learning about the brain, the more we are finding that verbal communication (sending out vibrations) and storytelling are critical to keeping teams in sync - thus the power of the daily huddle. I often remind audiences that for 100,000 years we've had the spoken word, but only the written word for 5000 and Excel spreadsheets for 50 - so which do you think is more critical to our surviving and thriving! And the daily huddle (and weekly meeting) is at the heart of agile and scrum methodologies which are just Rockefeller Habits for software development.

TED Talk Highlights Brain Research -- Neuroscientist Uri Hasson at Princeton shares, in this TED talk specific research he's conducted that supports the power of verbal storytelling in keeping teams in sync - along with the importance of creating a common lexicon (same biz terms) and belief systems to enhance team alignment. Hasson explains his premise in the first 1:17 of this 14-minute talk. Thanks to Boston-based Gazelles Coaching partner Bill Flynn for pointing me to this TED talk.

Steve Jobs' Meetings -- speaking of storytelling and creating vibrations, it's a year old, but this Inc. article outlines eight lessons for running an effective executive retreat - and it include 20 minutes of Steve Jobs' footage "demonstrating" the key points. You can scan the article in 2 minutes, but take time this weekend to watch the full 20 minutes.

Daily Huddle Quadruple Ditto -- sports fans are familiar with hockey's Hat Trick or basketball's Triple Double. Sales assessment guru Dave Kurlan has introduced something similar for the daily/weekly sales huddle - the Quadruple Ditto. It's all about upping the vibrations! Take 1 minute to read through Dave's blog to learn about this fun new component.

Book Creates Key Connection (Gazelles case study) -- want to build a closer relationship with your most important customers? As mentioned above, having a shared language and set of beliefs connects us as people - and we're all in the people to people business. To this point, I received this note from Richard Metcalfe, founder and MD of Ireland-based Arkk Solutions:

Hi Verne, hope you're well. I just wanted to share a great experience I recently had centred around your Scaling Up book. I was recently at dinner with a big client of mine who is one of Ireland's leading two banks and I was telling him about how we implemented things like the daily huddle, quarterly themes et cetera and he was fascinated as to how he might do that in such a big business such as his. On returning home I sent him a copy of your book and finding a common ground on how he can use the techniques I've used in my business in his has really cemented our relationship.

This is what it's all about - building relationships through the sharing of ideas and stories. Get a box of books, mine or someone else's, and start sharing the love (of learning)!

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.

And if you're interested in becoming a world-class certified Gazelles International coach, please contact Jean Carpenter at [email protected] / (360) 798.9471.

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.

Disrupting Uber; Blockchains Critical; Pillow Fights; CEO Stretched Thin

"...insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

How Blockchains are Disrupting Everything -- Blockchains, which power things like Bitcoin, create what has been labeled the first Trust Protocol for the internet. Notes this Fortune article:

This has never happened before-trusted transactions directly between two or more parties, authenticated by mass collaboration and powered by collective self-interests, rather than by large corporations motivated by profit.

It's precisely this kind of new internet protocol that could disrupt a disrupter like Uber. Fortune has a short video interview with the authors of the article - go right to 2:08 in the video to hear how Don Tapscott sees blockchains putting Uber out of business. This is a very important article - worth 4 minutes this weekend - then discussing at one of your upcoming weekly strategy "council" meetings.

The Internet of Everything needs a Ledger of Everything -- what double entry bookkeeping did to propel capitalism, blockchains will do for the internet of everything. Notes Tapscott "Business, commerce, and the economy need a Digital Reckoning." More specifically:

Maybe you're a consumer who wants to know where that hamburger meat really came from. Perhaps you're an immigrant who's sick of paying big fees to send money home to loved ones. Maybe you're an aid worker who needs to identify land titles of landowners so you can rebuild their homes after an earthquake. Or a citizen fed up with the lack of transparency and accountability of political leaders.

See, the problem with the standard internet is that I can send you an article, but we both still have it - it multiplies and can get corrupted as a result. With blockchains, there is an "automatic" level of accountability - the kind you need for transactions - that up to this point have required governments and large companies. Again, take 4 minutes to read the article.

Pillow Fights -- "a place where everyone knows your name" was a theme of the famous television sitcom Cheers. Henry McGovern, Amrest (on the cover and throughout Scaling Up), initiated a similar theme throughout his restaurants, encouraging each to connect with 100 "regulars" (frequent customers) at a deeper level through games, activities, etc. The actual theme was "Bring Fun to Life." One restaurant took it over the top and purchased 100 feather pillows emblazoned with the company logo and hosted an old fashion pillow fight! I saw the video and it was feathers everywhere - how much fun is that!

Stretched Thin CEO Let's Go (Coconut Purveyor - Gazelles Case) -- my latest Huffington Post piece details how Temple Lifestyle co-founder and CEO Chris Magnone (34) found himself wearing too many hats. This both constrained the business and strained his life. Working with the Scaling Up FACe tool (Function Accountability Chart), along with Gazelles Certified Coach Les Rubenovitch, Magnone distributed the accountabilities and saw revenues soar. For details take 2 minutes to read through how Magnone unleashed the power of his team.

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.

And if you're interested in becoming a world-class certified Gazelles International coach, please contact Jean Carpenter at [email protected] / (360) 798.9471.

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.

Email Determines Happiness; Best Deli in World; Passion Video; 30x Valuation;

"...insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

7 Minute Negotiation Tip -- Improve your negotiation skills (#1 skill) with this week's selected video clip from Dr. Victoria Medvec's time tested Negotiating in Turbulent Times, but first...

Your Email Habits Determine Happiness! -- Adam Grant (author of Originals), points to this study which analyzed emails and found two KEY findings. Notes Grant:

... unhappiness isn't predicted by how many emails you send, but the fraction you send outside work hours. And here's a sign that your team will be unhappy: your manager takes a long time to respond to emails.

It's always the simplest findings that offer up the obvious. Here's a link to the study for more details - and answer your team's emails quickly and limit when you answer all emails. Just do it!

Best Deli in the World? -- Zingerman's in Ann Arbor - at least that is what Google listed first (from Barcelona) when I typed in this phrase. And no surprise. Zingerman's is now a mini-conglomerate of food businesses founded by Paul Saginaw and Ari Weinzweig, who had a BHAG in the early 90s to build what is today one of the best run companies in the world with almost 695 employees and $59 million in revenue. This NY Times article celebrating their 25th anniversary (how many of us get this kind of coverage for our biz!) is a wonderful review of this amazing mid-market firm - take 2 minutes to be inspired to do something greater with your organization while being a great place to work.

A Lapsed Anarchist's Approach to Building a Great Business -- this is the title of one of many books co-founder Weinzweig has written sharing their practical secrets. And they are so respected for their people management practices that they have a training company called ZingTrain. Weinzweig is keynoting the upcoming ScaleUp Summit May 24 - 25 in Atlanta and GPro and book club members will receive a copy of his book next week along with a personal note from Ari. He's going to teach us a very specific process they use to get their 695 employees to engage in driving continuous improvement in their various companies - a simple, yet powerful, process which I've witnessed firsthand. You're in for a dynamic treat at the Fortune Summit - don't miss it.

Excited About Potatoes -- like Zingerman's people are excited about meats and cheeses, Canada-based The Little Potato Company has a passion for it's unusual product - the "creamer" potato. Angele Santiago and her father have ignited an excitement for a vegetable that has been ruined by modern farming, building a truly purpose-driven company that is growing crazy fast (new plant in the US) which is selling tens of millions of pounds of these little gems.

Passion Video -- All our companies should have a 3-minute video that does as good a job of explaining what you're all about as the one The Little Potato Company has produced. Their Gazelles coach, Kevin Lawrence, gives an excellent overview (1 minute to read) and then points to the video - worth the 3 additional minutes. Then hire a videographer to produce the same for you - it's all about the story - to suppliers, employees, customers, and the world!!

Silver Chef - 30x Valuation and 1.5 million People Out of Poverty (Gazelles case study) -- Allan English, founder of Australia-based Silver Chef (ASX:SIV) has driven the valuation of his firm 30x using the Rockefeller Habits - while doing good. His employees contributed to setting the next BHAG to help 1.5 million people out of poverty - and they are just shy of 700,000 to date. Take 2 minutes to read this story of how English, after driving his firm for 20 years, began to look for more meaning. An avid reader, he has dedicated one night per week to read the great philosophers (Aristotle, Plato, Socrates) and is driving his firm with a whole new purpose.

Scaling Up Club (7 Minutes Negotiation) -- If you want to maximize outcomes from every negotiation you have while building and maintaining quality relationships watch slides 1-4 (0:00 - 6:54). This 7-minute clip focuses on how to leverage the economic crisis to make changes in your organizations, build out your customer base, and deepen your relationships with them.

Only have one minute? See slide 5 to learn how to avoid negotiation traps. To access both clips: Scaling Up Club Members go here, Non members can join here to enjoy!

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.

And if you're interested in becoming a world-class certified Gazelles International coach, please contact Jean Carpenter at [email protected] / (360) 798.9471.

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.

Master Class on Sales; Jack’s 21 Sales Practices; May Scaling Up Workshops

"...out-learn the competition"

HEADLINES:

Scaling Up Workshops in May -- Seattle, Vancouver, Charleston, Dallas, Silicon Valley, and Toronto - dates and details below.

First Master Class on Sales (Drive Revenues Faster than Ever Expected) -- having hired and coached over 10,000 sales people, building six companies in the process, two of which he sold to the Wall Street firms of Solomon Brothers and First Boston, Jack Daly, author of Hyper Sales Growth knows something about driving sales and coaching sales people. His first Master Class, which he's agreed to teach himself, will include video lessons and live discussions with Jack - and is geared for Sales Managers (Coaches), Sales People, and anyone driving sales (CEO?) in the organization.

21 Sales Tips -- one can always get better at sales - and part of the key is continually flooding your brain with best practices and reminders of the fundamentals - over and over and over. If you want a sneak peek at some of his brilliance, Jack has agreed to share a list of 21 easy sales practices. Please request a free copy of the document by emailing [email protected] -- and yes, Juan is going to follow-up in a non-pushy manner to educate you about the impact Jack's course will have on your revenue growth.

Details -- putting all this learning online means you don't have to travel anyplace - and you can handle at your own pace. All the live sessions with Jack are recorded, in addition to the 10+ hours of video broken up into 7-minute bite-sized pieces - imagine, just 7 minutes per day and you've picked up a half-hour of sales education each week. For a list of the detailed topics covered go to this link. Keep the sales train running.

May Scaling Up One-Day Workshops -- led by one of our Gazelles Certified Coaching partners, for details go to this link. Here are the dates:

May 12, Seattle, WA May 17, Vancouver, BC May 17, Charleston, SC May 18, Dallas, TX May 20, Silicon Valley, CA May 31, Toronto, ON

Dates and locations for the rest of the year at this link as well.