Dear ScaleUps,
Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week. Here are some insights/opportunities to help you outlearn/outthink the competition.
New 2nd Wealthiest --
This week the world has a new #2 wealthiest person, moving ahead of Bill Gates. Representing the power of brand, Bernard Arnualt saw the stock of his LVMH firm (Louis Vuitton, Moët Hennessy, etc.), the largest luxury goods firm in the world, soar. The Frenchman’s net worth of $107 billion is 3% of France’s economy! Lesson? With all markets becoming increasingly more crowded, it’s important you establish a solid (luxury?) brand in your industry so you can maintain strong margins and lower marketing costs. Do you have a strong brand? Enough hyper-focus on a niche? A good actual name to create brand?
Youngest “Hero of Manufacturing” Available --
Gene Kirila, who transformed several industries and was named by Fortune magazine the youngest “Hero of Manufacturing” at the time he was recognized, is available. After suffering a health scare, he’s back in the game to assist anyone in the manufacturing world wanting to revolutionize their industry - he has this unique ability. And he’s one of my “students” who taught me more than I taught him. Feel free to email Gene directly genekirila@trepsystems.com. Welcome back Gene - the world needs your genius.
Molly’s Game - Come Meet Molly!
Did you see the movie Molly’s Game (link to movie trailer)? It’s based on the true story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons. Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans and finally, unbeknownst to her, the Russian mob. Her only ally was her criminal defense lawyer Charlie Jaffey, who learned that there was much more to Molly than the tabloids led us to believe. The real Molly Bloom is keynoting the ScaleUp Summit Oct 15 – 17, Anaheim - her story is not to be missed! And enjoy the movie this weekend if you’ve not seen it.
The Way of the SEAL --
Mark Divine was a CPA with an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business - then he became a Navy SEAL. Along the way he’s launched six multi-million-dollar businesses. Combining all this with 25 years of martial arts training and fifteen years of yoga training, he’s created a program to help anyone become an elite operator. He’s codified all this in his award-winning book The Way of the SEAL: Think Like an Elite Warrior to Lead and Succeed. Book club and SPro members will get a copy next week; then come hear Mark keynote our fall ScaleUp Summit Oct 15 – 17.
Think Offense, All the Time --
Maybe it’s because of some tough situations I’ve faced this year, but my favorite chapter in Mark’s book is Principle 8 “Think Offense, All the Time” -- and specifically read “Rules to Break Right Now” - there are 8 of them. As they say, you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet. In that same chapter is a section titled “Execute with Velocity and Agility.” Mark’s book provides an entertaining reminder of some core attributes of successful leaders of scaleups. It’s a quick read - enjoy! Then see you in Anaheim!
Marketing the Moon, Apollo 11 50th Anniversary --
Saturday marks the 50th anniversary of landing the first person on the moon. Here's a 6-minute mini-documentary by Retro Report and New York Times about the marketing aspects of Apollo that features marketing guru David Meerman Scott who co-authored the book Marketing the Moon (worth showing your children). It’s a preview of the PBS American Experience mini-series that David helped produce. The lesson? NASA, using video and images and wonderful writing, turned reluctant taxpayers into fans and these fans into supportive taxpayers.
Fanocracy --
David’s new book Fanocracy: Turning Fans into Customers and Customers into Fans (releases Jan 2020) details how us mere mortal biz leaders can do the same as NASA. It means getting savvy using content. David will be keynoting our ScaleUp Summit Oct 15 – 17, Anaheim and will open with a mid-market company example. So be one of the first to hear one of the two biggest marketing gurus share his lates ideas. And borrowing from David’s book title, the theme of the fall Summit is “Raging Fans.” The Tuesday evening event should not be missed!
Verne In London and Shannon, Ireland --
Join me in London 24th September for our ScaleUp Summit where I lead a half-day Scaling Up workshop followed by several well-known CEOs and biz thoughts leaders. Then I head to Shannon, Ireland 26th September for a one-day “Mastering the Rockefeller Habits 2.0” Scaling Up workshop.
![]() |
CEO-BOOTCAMP: spend 3.5 days with Verne, serial entrepreneur John Ratliff, and 6 other CEOs in a beautiful retreat setting, addressing the constraints holding back you, your business, and your industry. Aug 20 - 23, 2019 (Sold Out); Jan 14 - 17; Jan 21 - 24; Mar 10 - 13, 2020.
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 Verne Harnish at verne@scalingup.com
WRITE AND PUBLISH A BOOK to Grow Your Business and be THE Authority in your space. My publisher and friend Adam Witty at ForbesBooks has streamlined the process. forbesbooks.com/scalingup for more information and to take their Authority Assessment
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? The Scaling Up team is prepared to support you. We have helped 40,000 other organizations over the past 30+ years, in scaling up their organizations through coaching, workshops, online training and more.
We would like to offer you a complimentary, personal follow-up from our Scaling Up team to share how we can support you in scaling your organization.
YES! I WOULD LIKE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT COACHING & RECEIVE A COMPLIMENTARY FOLLOW-UP (CLICK HERE)
For questions or more information contact us at coaching@scalingup.com
TECHNOLOGY:
Create Accountability - Drive Execution with Align, cloud-based software designed to scale up your Rockefeller Habits implementation. www.alignwithscalingup.com - on your computer, tablet or phone. Click here to watch an introductory video.
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.