Mark Cuban’s Weekly Report; Screaming Emails; Cracking Jokes; Julie’s Olive Oil Won

"...insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

Perhaps the secret of living well is not in having all the answers but in pursuing unanswerable questions in good company.
	Rachel Naomi Remen

First full day as Twitter COO tomorrow. Task #1: undermine CEO, consolidate power.
	Dick Costolo, the night before he joined Twitter as chief operations officer

Julie's Olive Oil Won -- Veritat olive oil, my wife's antioxidant superfood (I take two tablespoons per day) which she is bringing to the US from Spain, did well in her first NY Olive Oil Competition. More below, but first...

Mark Cuban's Weekly Report -- Bob Hubbard, co-founder of Hubbard Family Swim School (four clubs and 7000 children per week), reached out to Mark Cuban this week to inquire about the weekly report he referenced when he keynoted our Fortune Summit. As expected, Mark's response (neat that he replied) was short and to the point:

The format is easy I want all bad news first Challenges and issues you need my help with second That's it

Notes Hubbard, "I love his line that says: 'issues you need my help with' -- love the specificity --- and the invitation to ask for help."

Power of Pride at Facebook -- working with Wharton prof Adam Grant, Facebook's HR team wanted to understand what was at the heart of employee engagement. What they found is pride. Note's the team in this FastCompany article:

Having seen how important pride in the company is, we sat down to figure out where it comes from. When we analyzed our survey questions, three main factors predicted pride:      Optimism: How much do people believe in the company's future?   Mission: How much do people care about the company's vision and goals?   Social good: How confident are people that the company is making the world a better place?

Take 3 minutes to read the details, which just reinforces the power of a BHAG, Purpose, and alignment. Thanks to Pelle Tornell, ScaleUp Partners in Stockholm, for sharing this article.

Scream Your Emails -- Got a tricky email to send? Writing to someone that you know to be overly emotional at times? Simon, Chief Adventurist for Australia-based tour company Inspiration Outdoors, shared with me a communication strategy a former boss/mentor taught him. Notes Simon:

Here is a trick that I teach my staff. Scream your emails. Once you have finished writing your email, read it back to yourself in your head, but scream/yell it to yourself. If it sounds confrontational in this "voice", rewrite it. You never know what emotional state someone will be in when they receive your email. They might have just lost a big client, maybe a troubled call from home. By screaming the email to yourself, you can see the most extreme interpretation your reader could take of your tone.

If the email sounds non-confrontational and maybe even a little bit silly in this screaming voice, you have an email that can't be misinterpreted as confrontational. And extra tip: bookend your email with a genuine thank you. It's almost impossible to scream thank you without sounding ridiculous. FYI, Simon was kind to note in his email to me "we are scaling up thanks to your community of thinkers." Simon, thanks.

Successful CEOs Do Four Things -- a 10-year study using the ghSmart's Topgrading interview data for 17,000 leaders found that successful CEOs do four things:

1. Decide with speed and conviction
2. Engage for impact
3. Adapt proactively
4. Deliver reliably

Please take 4 minutes to read through the important details for each of these four attributes - or one minute to at least look at the first one. Deciding quickly, even if wrong, was better than waiting. Indecision is a killer.

Community of Thinkers -- Barrett Ersek, founder/CEO of Holganix, sent me the opening quote above. Noted Barrett in his email to me:

I saw this quote this morning and thought of you. It's all about asking the right question in good company...and that's the power of your ScaleUp Summits. Exposing us to great content so it spurs the right question and being surrounded by our teams and other like-minded companies is the "good company" she references.

Barrett, thank you - and see you in San Antonio May 23 - 24.

Cracking Jokes Makes You Seem More Competent -- and the second quote above came from this HBR article on the impact of humor. Research shows that those who crack appropriate jokes are seen as more competent - and the jokes don't even have to be good!

Julie's Olive Oil -- 910 olive oils from around the world entered the New York International Olive Oil Competition (NYIOOC), including165 from Spain in four categories. As the newcomer in her highly competitive category of arbequina olive oils, her olive oil Veritat (it's now shipping - order here) brought home Silver. Congrats honey.

EXITING: Thinking about selling the business for $40 million or more? Want to get 25% to 200% more than you thought? Request the whitepaper from the Exit Strategies Summit at Harvard from Denise Richmond at (610) 299-6466 or email at [email protected]

COACHING:

Have you ever wondered if working with a coach might accelerate your company's growth, exponentially? Do you have what it takes to move the dial from good to great? Click here to watch Gazelles International President Keith Cupp describes the four most important attributes of successful clients. Contact us at [email protected] for more information.

And if you're interested in becoming a world-class certified Gazelles International coach, please go to gicoaches.com/becomeacoach for more information. If you determine that we're a fit and wish to join our premier organization, we invite you to contact our Dir. of Coach Engagement at [email protected] or 877.217.2253 ext.700.

TECHNOLOGY:

Need some ACCOUNTABILITY in your business?
Click Here to Watch a video example.

Align Software is Automatic Accountability for all your business priorities. Know where your business stands in real time and create urgency for the important. Scale Up your Rockefeller Habits implementation with www.alignwithgazelles.com - on your computer, tablet or phone. $5.00 per month gets you started.

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.