5 Crucial KPIs; 1 Crucial Book; 5 Crucial Hours; Australia/NZ Tour

"...insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

Confessions of a Pricing Man -- This is the best book I know to open your mind to the practical problems in setting your prices
	Dr. Philip Kotler, "father of marketing"

7 Crucial Minutes to Mastery -- Dr. Ned Hallowell, author of Crazy Busy, shares 6 tips for taking care of yourself - leaders often fail to do this. More below, but first...

5 Crucial KPIs -- this is the most important Fortune column I've ever written. It details the five most crucial performance indicators for executive success:

1. Yes/No Ratio - 20:1
2. Meals with Influencers - per week
3. Hours in the Flow - 7 to 15/week
4. Total Brains Applied - crowdsource solutions
5. Time Spent Thinking - one hour/day average

Most metrics don't measure what matters (think Moneyball). These do! Maximize these five and your effectiveness will skyrocket. Please take 1 minute to read the details for each.

One Crucial Book -- Confessions of The Pricing Man is THE book on pricing. Subtitled "How Price Affects Everything" 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. GPro and book club members will receive a copy next week, then come hear Hermann keynote our fall Growth Summit Oct 25 - 26, Dallas.

Crucial Pricing Strategy -- 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.

5 Crucial Hours -- Dropping out of school at age 10, Ben Franklin went on to become America's most respected statesman, its most famous inventor, a prolific author, and a successful entrepreneur. The key - dedicating one hour per day to learning. Further notes this Inc. article:

Warren Buffett spends five to six hours per day reading five newspapers and 500 pages of corporate reports. Bill Gates reads 50 books per year. Mark Zuckerberg reads at least one book every two weeks. Elon Musk grew up reading two books a day, according to his brother. Oprah Winfrey credits books with much of her success: "Books were my pass to personal freedom." Arthur Blank, co-founder of Home Depot, reads two hours day. Dan Gilbert, self-made billionaire and owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, reads one to two hours a day.

Please take 2 crucial minutes to scan this article for more details and Ben Franklin's habits. Thanks to Georg von Laffert for pointing me to this article.

Crucial Employee Perk -- from Goldman to Google, companies are finding it highly profitable to offer mindfulness training (meditation). It helps crazed workers reduce stress and increase productivity. This Pacific Standard article provides some key findings, resources, and contrary opinions. I know my daily meditation practices (20 minutes of deep breathing learned at The Art of Living) have been very helpful - some of my best ideas seem to come to me during these sessions.

Australia/NZ Tour -- I'm presenting my full day Scaling Up workshops in Sydney and Brisbane and Auckland from 12 - 14 September. Make sure to bring your team!

7 Crucial Minutes to Mastery -- as busy leaders, we spend so much time taking care of our companies that we forget to spend time taking care of ourselves. We end up Crazy Busy running from one meeting to the next that sometimes we forget to take a break. Take a look at this 7-minute clip from Dr Ned Hallowell for 6 tips on how to take care of a leader's most important asset... the mind! To access the clip, go 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 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 email us at [email protected].

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.