Google Founders Leave; Shocking Rules; Culture DOESN’T Eat Strategy; Dec 9 OPSP Webinar

Dear ScaleUps,

Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week. Here are some insights/opportunities to help you outlearn/outthink the competition.

…your culture is how your company makes decisions when you’re not there…
	Ben Horowitz, author What You Do Is Who You Are

Latest ScaleUp News --
A small tech company tried it all to stop employee turnover. Only one thing worked (you’ll be surprised by the answer); Lazard focuses on European Scaleups; Three Point Guide for India to Survive Slow Growth – this news and more at ScaleUps.com, your one-stop weekly update.

Time for Strategic Planning and the OPSP – Dec 9 Online Workshop
Check out the upcoming One-Page Strategic Plan Online Workshop. The One-Page Strategic Plan (OPSP) is a proven tool to help you get your team on the same page and enables quick, daily decision making at all levels of your organization.  My clients often find the OPSP the most rapidly transformative tool, but it’s not easy to fill out. That’s why next Monday, Dec 9th, the Growth Institute and four of our Scaling Up Coaches are hosting an online workshop to guide you through the process of filling out your OPSP, step-by-step. Register today.

Google Founders Step Aside --
This NY Times article does the best job of any I read this week on detailing the departures of Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Notes NY Times:

In a letter announcing the change, Mr. Page and Mr. Brin compared their 21 years at Google to raising a child, saying now was the “time to assume the role of proud parents.”

And this note in the article is a nice summary of the reach and scope achieved by Page and Brin:

Google has grown to be dominant in several markets. Its search engine handles nine out of 10 internet searches, and the company’s Android software powers roughly three-quarters of the world’s smartphones. And for a generation of young people, YouTube, which Google acquired in 2006, has all but supplanted television.

Please take 3 minutes to read this informative NY Times article – it’s an historic week in biz.

Does Culture Fit Hurt Diversity – and Other Myths --
The most important article I’ve read in a while is this HBR article that addresses four myths around hiring people for culture fit. It was a huge topic at the Bloomberg Breakaway CEO summit in London – and a key topic in Ben Horowitz’s new book (see below). My take, after reading and hearing a bunch of experts on the topic – you want to narrow the “culture fit” down to just a handful of very specific values (and you need to make sure they are the right ones that truly represent your unique organization). The rest of what makes for a culture needs to remain fluid and change as strategy, markets, and times change. Please take 2 minutes to read the article.

What You Do Is Who You Are --
The must-read book of 2019, Ben Horowitz has written another classic What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture. I took away three key ideas among many:

1. It is what people do, not what they say, that determines culture
2. Culture doesn’t eat strategy – in fact, strategy shapes the culture – and when strategy changes the culture changes
3. Interesting idea – strong cultures include a “shocking rule”

Ben also prefers the term virtues over values.  And because the book is rooted in history, it revealed some interesting historical facts I was unaware of which made the book fun to read.  It’s a book worth reading over the holidays (FYI, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases if you get the book).

Create Shocking Rules --
One of the really new ideas around culture is Ben’s discovery that successful cultures tend to include a “shocking rule” (Section in Chapter 2) that fits four rules:

1. It must be memorable
2. It must raise the question “Why?”
3. Its cultural impact must be straightforward
4. People must encounter the rule almost daily

It has me and my council thinking about that rule for Scaling Up.  Examples Ben shares:

Coach Tom Coughlin’s “if you are on time, you are late” Jeff Bezos’s “no PowerPoint presentations in meetings” Mark Zuckerberg’s “move fast and break things”

And after Facebook scaled considerably, Zuckerberg changed to “move fast with stable infrastructure.” It’s an example of how strategy, though it doesn’t change values, does often require a change in culture i.e. “how we do things.”

Join Me Feb 10 Sydney ScaleUp Summit --
More info next week and at this link

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. Jan 14 - 17; Mar 10 - 13; Jul 21 - 24; Aug 18 - 21, 2020.

ORDER a BOX of 20 SCALING UP BOOKS --
Want to save 50% over the price on Amazon? Go to this link. 

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Write Your Own Book --
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Request your free copy of this ground-breaking book at advantagefamily.com/scalingup.

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 [email protected]

TECHNOLOGY:

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