The Agile Scaleup

#1 Trait; Michael Jordan; Family Biz; Dream Managers

Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week for you. Here are some insights to help you outlearn/outthink our reaction to the virus.

My best skill was that I was coachable. I was a sponge and aggressive to learn.

Michael Jordan 

The focus is working with our team to help them dream—and achieve their dreams.

Vicki & Simer Mayo,
Valor Group

Disruptive Successor $.99 – Scaling a Family Business
Jonathan Goldhill’s excellent book Disruptive Successor: A Guide for Driving Growth in Your Family Business* is available this week for just $.99 on Amazon. The Introduction is excellent (start there) and highlights that a majority of America’s wealth (and I imagine most country’s) lies with family-owned businesses – and are in the family’s hands for over sixty years. This book is how Jonathan took over his family business and scaled it 10x. It’s often more about what you have to “unlearn” and let go than anything.

Zero to 3000 and Growing Despite Pandemic (Scaling Up Case Study)
Serial entrepreneurs Simer and Vicki Mayo have scaled four profitable companies to more than 3,000 employees collectively, and several to more than $100 million in revenue. And they’ve kept revenue at all of them growing at 30% a year despite the pandemic. Their success strategy: Using the Scaling Up system for growing a company to scale forward. This article details their use of Core Values, Daily Huddles, the One-Page Strategic Plan, and Lean to power their business toward a BHAG of 10,000 employees by 2025. Please take two-minutes to read to pick up some excellent best practices.

Dream Managers – The Valor Way
With 74% of managers at Valor women or minorities, the firm is helping everyone achieve their dreams. To make this happen:

We pair employees (“dreamers”) with Dream Managers to build and execute a plan of action to help the dreamers achieve their dreams. Through coaching, encouragement, and regular meetings, the pair works together to ensure progress is being made and keep the dreamer accountable.

If employees are going to help you make your dreams come true, return the favor! Again, please take a couple minutes to read their story and pick up some hints/motivation.

The Trait of All High-Achievers
We also posted on our ScaleUps.com media site Robert Glazer’s latest LinkedIn article highlighting the key trait of all high-performers – the ability to be coached (see Michael Jordan’s quote above). What makes his article valuable are the five indicators someone is coachable: Humility, Commitment, Self-Awareness, Willing to Learn, and Vulnerability. How do you score? Please take two-minutes to read through the details. 

100 Fastest-Growing Companies (Fun Facts)
Fortune’s 100 Fastest-Growing Companies list released this week. Note’s Fortune:

On average, companies on the list delivered a 19% return to shareholders over the past few years, while the S&P 500 produced just 11%.This year’s #1, AppFolio, delivered three-year annual revenue growth of 34% and earnings growth of 161%.Tech watchers will be excited to see Netflix(at #5 this year) making its tenth appearance on the list. Amazon makes its fourth consecutive appearance, and seventh overall, coming in at #10 this year. Facebook, meanwhile is making its sixth consecutive appearance, but coming in only at #52.

Prepare to Prosper 2021 – Scaling Up Master Class Dec 8 – 10, Dallas
Limited to 80 teams, join me for 2.5 days as I take you through the 4 Decisions of Scaling Up: People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash. One thing I’ve heard over and over this year – the companies using the Scaling Up tools/techniques have both survived and thrived. So much that we won a contract from the country of Canada to help their scaleups; a top franchise organization found that the one thing their top performers in 2020 have in common is they are using Scaling Up; and companies like InfoTrack and others email me almost daily to share how they are using the tools to prosper. Go here for more information – and I look forward to working with your team (safely) to jump start (or refine) the use of Scaling Up as you prepare for 2021.

* As an Amazon Associate, I may earn revenue from qualified purchases made through this link.

Order a box of 20 Scaling Up books
Want to save 50% over the price on Amazon? Go to this link.

How I Built and "Scaled Up" Scaling Up Webinar - Nov 10 - 3pm EST
I’m joining Adam Witty of ForbesBooks on Nov 10 to share my journey as an entrepreneur and business owner. I’ll be pulling back the curtain on my 25+ year journey in building the Scaling Up organization into one of the most recognized and respected business growth and CEO coaching companies in the world (hint – it certainly didn’t happen overnight!!) From books, to speaking, to interviews on radio and television, I’ll share my journey (and business plan) in building an umbrella of companies that do business around the globe. I hope you’ll join Adam Witty and me for a (free) hour of education, inspiration, and "lessons learned". Register here. 

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: 

ScalingUp Scoreboard
Integrated with Salesforce, Slack, and Zapier (allowing it to connect with 1000s of systems), use Scoreboard to provide your team (working remotely even more important!) a real time visual dashboard of cascading priorities and metrics. Get a personalized tour of Scaling Up Scoreboard to see how you can use it to better implement Scaling Up in your business.

EDUCATION: 

We’re Still in Business Coaching and Training Firms:
Salisbury, England - Nov 3, 2020
Franklin, TN - Nov 5, 2020
Chicago, IL - Nov 10, 2020 (Virtual)
Costa Mesa, CA - Nov 10, 2020 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia - Nov 10, 2020
Sydney, Australia - Nov 10 & 11, 2020 (2 Day Masterclass)
Mexico City - Nov 10 & 11, 2020
Grand Rapids, MI - Nov 11, 2020  (Virtual)
Phoenix, AZ - Nov 12, 2020 (Virtual)
Guadalajara, Mexico - Nov 12 & 13, 2020
Tampa Bay Area, FL - Nov 18, 2020 (Virtual)
Sydney, AUS - Nov 19, 2020
Guatemala City, Guatemala - Nov 25 & 26, 2020 (Virtual)
Colorado Springs, CO - Dec 2, 2020 (Virtual)
Los Angeles, CA - Dec 3, 2020 (Virtual)
Phoenix, AZ - Dec 3, 2020 (In-person)
Franklin, TN - Dec 3, 2020 (Virtual)
Dallas, TX - Dec 3, 2020 (Virtual)
Atlanta, GA - Dec 9, 2020 (Virtual)
Vancouver, BC, Canada - Dec 9, 2020 (Virtual)
Sydney, Australia - Dec 10, 2020
San Francisco, CA - Dec 17, 2020 (Virtual)
Waltham, MA – Jan 14, 2021
Salisbury, England - Jan 14, 2021
Salisbury, England - Feb 18, 2021
Brisbane, Australia - Mar 24 & 25, 2021 (2 Day Master Class) 
Lancaster, PA - Oct 26, 2021

Growth Institute Online Executive Education:
Master of Business Dynamics
Scaling Up Master Business Course
Exponential Organizations Master Business Course
Topgrading Master Business Course

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.

Did you miss previous insights? - read here 
  
Read Verne's Insights on Kindle http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003SX13YI 

Sign up for Verne's Weekly Insights  

#1 Phrase 2020; $.99 Today; Key Difference; Most Powerful Women

Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week for you. Here are some insights to help you outlearn/outthink our reaction to the virus.

Martin's book is a great resource for leaders who are looking to jump in and start transforming their local communities. 

Brad Feld (from the Foreword of More Good Jobs)

You're on mute.

#1 phrase for 2020?

Sub-brand Your “Difference”
“Fanatical Support” was the sub-brand representing the brand promises of hosting service Rackspace; “Transfarency” is how Southwest Airlines brands its pricing difference; State Farm Insurance and others are playing up the idea of “Accident Forgiveness.” And basement repair firm Frontier in Nashville has coined the term “All Things Basementy!” to brand their niche (riches are in niches). How are you different/focused? How might you sub-brand your differential advantage?

More Good Jobs – Martin Babinec’s New Book -- $.99
“Secure your base” is always a great strategy – meaning its good, for a myriad of reasons, to get involved with your local community. And a great way for biz leaders to do this is modeled by Martin Babinec, founder of PEO firm Trinet. In short, he’s worked diligently to create a startup/scaleup eco-system in his upstate NY community. Notes Babinec:

When I moved from the Bay Area back to Upstate NY over a decade ago, I saw a stark difference between the two communities. Understanding and addressing this gap has been my greatest focus over these past years — founding non-profit Upstate Venture Connect, investing in Upstate startups, running for Congress, and now, writing this book.

Just $.99 Amazon Kindle – Deadline Today
Martin’s book is a blueprint for supporting growing firms in any community. And the Kindle version is just $.99 this week.* Please grab a copy TODAY – it’s a great read by a fellow biz leader who scaled and took public his own firm – and how he’s giving back to his community along the way. BTW, Martin was an early student of mine in the “Birthing of Giants” program – and looked so much like Bill Gates that we all did a double take when he walked into class. He’s such a giving person, including a guest appearance at our last CEO Boot Camp in Marathon, FL (he has a beautiful place in Key West). Martin, thank you for all you’ve given back to our community.

Make Better Group Decisions (excerpt from HBR)
When you have a tough business problem to solve, you probably bring it to a group. But there are risks to asking a team to collectively make decisions — namely, groupthink. Fortunately, there are behavioral science-based tactics that can help overcome the downsides. First, keep the group as small as possible. Having more voices in the room increases the likelihood that you’ll default to decisions that enforce the status quo. Next, make sure your group is diverse — in every sense of the word — in order to reduce bias. Try appointing a “devil’s advocate,” a person whose job is to test consensus. Watch out for blind trust in experts: While they can help you become more informed, making them part of your decision-making can sway your team’s judgments. So you might invite them to provide their opinion on a clearly defined topic, but position them as informed outsiders. And finally, make sure that the group shares collective responsibility. Everyone should feel accountable for the decision and its outcomes. This is an excellent article!! 

7 Strategies for Better Group Decision-Making,” by Torben Emmerling and Duncan Rooders

Fortune’s Most Powerful Women 2020 – US and International
2020 list of the Most Powerful Women in Business released this week. And the Most Powerful Women International as well. Notes Fortune: “The women (on the international list) hail from 21 countries, and there are a whopping 17 newcomers on the list, many of whom were tapped to lead companies in the midst of turnaround efforts.” Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture, tops the US list; Emma Walmsley, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline tops the international list. 

Prepare to Prosper 2021 – Scaling Up Master Class Dec 8 – 10, Dallas
Limited to 80 teams, join me for 2.5 days as I take you through the 4 Decisions of Scaling Up: People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash. One thing I’ve heard over and over this year – the companies using the Scaling Up tools/techniques have both survived and thrived. So much that we won a contract from the country of Canada to help their scaleups; a top franchise organization found that the one thing their top performers in 2020 have in common is they are using Scaling Up; and companies like InfoTrack and others email me almost daily to share how they are using the tools to prosper. Go here for more information – and I look forward to working with your team (safely) to jump start (or refine) the use of Scaling Up as you prepare for 2021. 

* As an Amazon Associate, I may earn revenue from qualified purchases made through this link.

Order a box of 20 Scaling Up books
Want to save 50% over the price on Amazon? Go to this link.

TECHNOLOGY: 

ScalingUp Scoreboard
Integrated with Salesforce, Slack, and Zapier (allowing it to connect with 1000s of systems), use Scoreboard to provide your team (working remotely even more important!) a real time visual dashboard of cascading priorities and metrics. Get a personalized tour of Scaling Up Scoreboard to see how you can use it to better implement Scaling Up in your business.

EDUCATION: 

We’re Still in Business Coaching and Training Firms:
Lancaster, PA - Oct 27, 2020 (Virtual)
San Antonio, TX - Oct 27 (Virtual & In-Person)
Colombia - Oct 27 & 28, 2020
Franklin, TN - Oct 29, 2020 (Virtual)
Salisbury, England - Nov 3, 2020
Chicago, IL - Nov 10, 2020 (Virtual)
Costa Mesa, CA - Nov 10, 2020 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia - Nov 10, 2020
Sydney, Australia - Nov 10 & 11, 2020 (2 Day Masterclass)
Mexico City - Nov 10 & 11, 2020
Grand Rapids, MI - Nov 11, 2020  (Virtual)
Phoenix, AZ - Nov 12, 2020 (Virtual)
Guadalajara, Mexico - Nov 12 & 13, 2020
Tampa Bay Area, FL - Nov 18, 2020 (Virtual)
Sydney, AUS - Nov 19, 2020
Guatemala City, Guatemala - Nov 25 & 26, 2020 (Virtual)
Franklin, TN - Dec 3, 2020 (Virtual)
Dallas, TX - Dec 3, 2020 (Virtual)
Atlanta, GA - Dec 9, 2020 (Virtual)
Sydney, Australia - Dec 10, 2020
San Diego, CA - Dec 16, 2020 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA - Dec 17, 2020 (Virtual)
Waltham, MA – Jan 14, 2021
Salisbury, England - Jan 14, 2021
Salisbury, England - Feb 18, 2021

Growth Institute Online Executive Education:
Master of Business Dynamics
Scaling Up Master Business Course
Exponential Organizations Master Business Course
Topgrading Master Business Course

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]

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.

Write Your Own Book
Whether you want to make it to the bestseller lists or just sell a lot more of your goods or services, with a profound competitive edge over the competition, Book The Business: How to Make BIG Money With Your Book Without Selling a Single Copy is for you!
Request your free copy of this ground-breaking book at advantagefamily.com/scalingup.

Did you miss previous insights? - read here 
  
Read Verne's Insights on Kindle http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003SX13YI 

Sign up for Verne's Weekly Insights  

Sales Hack; Keep Mum; Lovely Song; Harvard Course Free; CEO Survey

Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week for you. Here are some insights to help you outlearn/outthink our reaction to the virus.

I don't think of work as work and play as play. It's all living. 

Sir Richard Branson

Argue like you're right and listen like you're wrong.

Adam Grant

Happy Birthday Abby Brown – Scaling Up CMO and Musician
We were lucky to hire Abby, earlier this year, after a successful marketing stint at Zillow. We could have never ramped up and promoted five virtual summits in as many months without her expertise. She is also a talentedsinger/songwriter – enjoy one of her tunes as you read these insights. 

Drive Sales Process Through Synchronous Communication –
The most important “hack” I’ve been sharing is to ALWAYS use synchronous communication during the sales process i.e. all proposals/contracts/questions are handled via a phone/zoom call. How many times has a prospective client gone “dark” after the proposal was sent? Instead, schedule a second call to take them through the proposal and don’t send until a minute before the call. Next, when a follow-up question is emailed, NEVER, EVER, EVER answer it during the sales process. Instead, schedule a call to discuss. There is always more behind that their question and you need to uncover it. Synchronous communication will also speed up the sales cycle, thwarting competitors and increasing cash flow.

Harvard Innovation Fellow’s Free Lecture Series – Starts Oct 21
Dr. David S. Ricketts’ new Executive Innovation Lecture Series, which kicks off on Wednesday, October 21, 2020 at 12:00 pm EDT, will share the same insights and strategies he teaches in his highly sought after Innovation course at Harvard University (he’s a fantastic teacher…and dear friend). For more information, click here.

A Dozen Lessons Learned Running Dunkin Donuts for 35 Years
I love and learn the most from the biographies of business leaders scaling companies. Bob Rosenberg became CEO of his dad’s company, including Dunkin Donuts, when he was 25. Bob managed to lead the franchise from 100 shops and $10 million in sales when he took over to 6,500 outlets, including Baskin Robbins Ice Cream Shops, and nearly $2.5 billion in sales in 1998 the year he retired. Published this week, the octogenarian’s book Around the Corner to Around the World * is a quick and enjoyable read. And this Chief Executive article provides a good summary.

Stay Mum About Innovations Until They are Ready
One specific piece of advice from Rosenberg? Don’t talk about your innovations until they are ready! He also shares four lessons and dealing with a crisis (he’s seen many in his 55 years of biz experience) – and most importantly how critical it is to get first-hand intel!!!! Intel wins wars and markets – so get out and talk to your customers and employees DAILY!! Please. 

New Survey: CEOs of the Fastest Growth Companies
Inc. magazine’s exhaustive survey (80 questions) of the CEOs of the 5000 fastest growing firms is published. What I found most insightful:

Despite the popular conception of 20-something tech moguls, these founders are at least flirting with middle age: Seventy-two percent are between 35 and 54. That partly explains their success: They've had time to develop networks and expertise (54 percent started their business after working in the same industry).

Getting up the learning curve within an industry – and building out your network – are critical in scaling any business. 

Morning Minute – Inspiration to Start Your Day
Starting Monday morning, you’ll receive a one-minute video with a dozen quotes, like Sir Richard Branson’s above, to share some inspiration and insights to start your day. The quotes will also appear in text form to make it easy for you to share with your team and social media. The same video/quotes will repeat each day for a week – with a fresh set each Monday. Hope you find this minute a great way to start the day – mindset matters.

Prepare to Prosper 2021 – Scaling Up Master Class Dec 8 – 10, Dallas
Limited to 80 teams, join me for 2.5 days as I take you through the 4 Decisions of Scaling Up: People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash. One thing I’ve heard over and over this year – the companies using the Scaling Up tools/techniques have both survived and thrived. So much that we won a contract from the country of Canada to help their scaleups; a top franchise organization found that the one thing their top performers in 2020 have in common is they are using Scaling Up; and companies like InfoTrack and others email me almost daily to share how they are using the tools to prosper. Go here for more information – and I look forward to working with your team (safely) to jump start (or refine) the use of Scaling Up as you prepare for 2021. 

* As an Amazon Associate, I may earn revenue from qualified purchases made through this link.

Order a box of 20 Scaling Up books
Want to save 50% over the price on Amazon? Go to this link.

EDUCATION: 

We’re Still in Business Coaching and Training Firms:
Columbus, OH - Oct 21, 2020 (Virtual)
Franklin, TN - Oct 22, 2020 (Virtual)
Lancaster, PA - Oct 27, 2020 (Virtual)
San Antonio, TX - Oct 27 (Virtual & In-Person)
Colombia - Oct 27 & 28, 2020
Franklin, TN - Oct 29, 2020 (Virtual)
Salisbury, England - Nov 3, 2020
Chicago, IL - Nov 10, 2020 (Virtual)
Costa Mesa, CA - Nov 10, 2020 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia - Nov 10, 2020
Sydney, Australia - Nov 10 & 11, 2020 (2 Day Masterclass)
Mexico City - Nov 10 & 11, 2020
Grand Rapids, MI - Nov 11, 2020  (Virtual)
Phoenix, AZ - Nov 12, 2020 (Virtual)
Guadalajara, Mexico - Nov 12 & 13, 2020
Tampa Bay Area, FL - Nov 18, 2020 (Virtual)
Sydney, AUS - Nov 19, 2020
Guatemala City, Guatemala - Nov 25 & 26, 2020 (Virtual)
Franklin, TN - Dec 3, 2020 (Virtual)
Dallas, TX - Dec 3, 2020 (Virtual)
Atlanta, GA - Dec 9, 2020 (Virtual)
Sydney, Australia - Dec 10, 2020
San Diego, CA - Dec 16, 2020 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA - Dec 17, 2020 (Virtual)
Waltham, MA – Jan 14, 2021
Salisbury, England - Jan 14, 2021
Salisbury, England - Feb 18, 2021

Growth Institute Online Executive Education:
Master of Business Dynamics
Scaling Up Master Business Course
Exponential Organizations Master Business Course
Topgrading Master Business Course

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: 

ScalingUp Scoreboard
Integrated with Salesforce, Slack, and Zapier (allowing it to connect with 1000s of systems), use Scoreboard to provide your team (working remotely even more important!) a real time visual dashboard of cascading priorities and metrics. Get a personalized tour of Scaling Up Scoreboard to see how you can use it to better implement Scaling Up in your business.

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.

Write Your Own Book
Whether you want to make it to the bestseller lists or just sell a lot more of your goods or services, with a profound competitive edge over the competition, Book The Business: How to Make BIG Money With Your Book Without Selling a Single Copy is for you!
Request your free copy of this ground-breaking book at advantagefamily.com/scalingup.

Did you miss previous insights? - read here 
  
Read Verne's Insights on Kindle http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003SX13YI 

Sign up for Verne's Weekly Insights  

 

Galloway Gift; Key Opportunity; 40 – 1200; Oct 13 Scaling Up; Dec 8 – 10 Dallas

Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week for you. Here are some insights to help you outlearn/outthink our reaction to the virus.

...the learnings from you allowed us to not only weather the storm with COVID, but to prosper and accelerate out of it into a much stronger place than we were pre pandemic.

Ed Watts, CEO InfoTrack re: Scaling Up

There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen. 

Scott Galloway quoting Vladimir Lenin

Scaling Up Webinar Oct 13, 5pm ET –
Join over a thousand CEOs and CXOs next Tuesday for my latest complimentary Scaling Up webinar where I’ll share an hour (then Q&A) of what I’ve picked up to continue to prosper in the areas of People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash. I’ll share hacks, fundamentals, and some advanced ideas in each area. Register here.

40 to 1200 Employees – and Prospering on Scaling Up –
InfoTrack (Ed Watts CEO, quote above) is one of a group of companies that together service the legal industry. Growing from 40 to over 1200 employees worldwide, they have powered the firm using Scaling Up. This week I led their top 48 leaders through another Scaling Up Master Class which I’ve hosted for YPO members and their teams for a decade. Now, for the first time, this 2.5 day in-person class, taught by me and the Scaling Up team, is open to the “public” – Dec 8 – 10, Dallas. Bring your team and prepare to prosper in 2021. More info here. Limited to 80 teams given social distancing and size of ballroom.

Galloway Gift of 14 Minutes –
NYU Stern professor and author of The Four, Scott Galloway, delivered an insightful 14 minutes during our virtual Summit 2.0. Sharing 60 slides, his presentation is chock full of current marketing and branding data – like ecommerce growing 1%/year for the last 20 years and then jumping from 18% to 28% in 8 weeks. To find the video go to the link above and scroll down until you see Scott!

What is the Profound Opportunity for All of Us?
Go to 12:18 in Galloway’s presentation if you only have 30 seconds to learn what he sees is the profound opportunity for all of us. Scott also references his 3-week branding course (my team is participating) and the link is under the video and it’s here. I am not receiving compensation from Scott to share this – I believe in his work and this course. Then consider signing up to watch the other short presentations by Richard Branson, Adam Grant, Gary Hamel, Sarah Friar, and Nate Blecharczyk, Airbnb’s co-founder.

Standout Virtual Events –
Hosting virtual events? Marketing guru David Meerman Scott just released a quick book titled Standout Virtual Events: How to create an experience that your audience will love. To learn more and grab a copy, go here. Thx to David for highlighting in the book what we’ve learned in hosting over 18,000 CEOs and CXOs on five virtual events the past few months. 

Prepare to Prosper 2021 – Scaling Up Master Class Dec 8 – 10, Dallas
Limited to 80 teams, join me for 2.5 days as I take you through the 4 Decisions of Scaling Up: People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash. One thing I’ve heard over and over this year – the companies using the Scaling Up tools/techniques have both survived and thrived. So much that we won a contract from the country of Canada to help their scaleups; a top franchise organization found that the one thing their top performers in 2020 have in common is they are using Scaling Up; and companies like InfoTrack and others email me almost daily to share how they are using the tools to prosper. Go here for more information – and I look forward to working with your team (safely) to jump start (or refine) the use of Scaling Up as you prepare for 2021. 

Order a box of 20 Scaling Up books
Want to save 50% over the price on Amazon? Go to this link.

Growth Institute Online Executive Education:
Master of Business Dynamics
Scaling Up Master Business Course
Exponential Organizations Master Business Course
Topgrading Master Business Course

TECHNOLOGY: 

ScalingUp Scoreboard
Integrated with Salesforce, Slack, and Zapier (allowing it to connect with 1000s of systems), use Scoreboard to provide your team (working remotely even more important!) a real time visual dashboard of cascading priorities and metrics. Get a personalized tour of Scaling Up Scoreboard to see how you can use it to better implement Scaling Up in your business.

EDUCATION: 

We’re Still in Business Coaching and Training Firms:
Vancouver, BC, CAN - Oct 14, 2020 (Virtual)
Stockholm, Sweden - Oct 15, 2020
Phoenix, AZ - Oct 15, 2020 (Virtual)
Sydney, Australia - Oct 15, 2020
Louisville, KY - Oct 15, 2020 (Virtual)
Tampa Bay Area, FL - Nov 18, 2020 (Virtual)
Columbus, OH - Oct 21, 2020 (Virtual)
Lancaster, PA - Oct 27, 2020 (Virtual)
San Antonio, TX - Oct 27 (Virtual & In-Person)
Colombia - Oct 27 & 28, 2020
Franklin, TN - Oct 29, 2020 (Virtual)
Salisbury, England - Nov 3, 2020
Chicago, IL - Nov 10, 2020 (Virtual)
Costa Mesa, CA - Nov 10, 2020 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia - Nov 10, 2020
Sydney, Australia - Nov 10 & 11, 2020 (2 Day Masterclass)
Mexico City - Nov 10 & 11, 2020
Grand Rapids, MI - Nov 11, 2020  (Virtual)
Phoenix, AZ - Nov 12, 2020 (Virtual)
Guadalajara, Mexico - Nov 12 & 13, 2020
Sydney, AUS - Nov 19, 2020
Franklin, TN - Dec 3, 2020 (Virtual)
Dallas, TX - Dec 3, 2020 (Virtual)
Sydney, Australia - Dec 10, 2020
San Diego, CA - Dec 16, 2020 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA - Dec 17, 2020 (Virtual)
Waltham, MA – Jan 14, 2021
Salisbury, England - Jan 14, 2021
Salisbury, England - Feb 18, 2021

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]

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.

Write Your Own Book
Whether you want to make it to the bestseller lists or just sell a lot more of your goods or services, with a profound competitive edge over the competition, Book The Business: How to Make BIG Money With Your Book Without Selling a Single Copy is for you!
Request your free copy of this ground-breaking book at advantagefamily.com/scalingup.

Did you miss previous insights? - read here 
  
Read Verne's Insights on Kindle http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003SX13YI 

Sign up for Verne's Weekly Insights  

 

Riches in Niches; Youngest Billionaire; Zero Turnover; Mean Values

Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week for you. Here are some insights to help you outlearn/outthink our reaction to the virus.

Riches in niches!!

EOer Don Tanquay, quoting Susan Friedmann

Core values don't have to be nice!

CEO Darius Mirshahzadeh, author of The Core Value Equation

Youngest Self-Made Billionaire –
28-year-old Thomas Healy is set to become the youngest self-made billionaire when his electric truck startup, Hyliion, goes public. Lot’s of lessons around focusing on a hot niche, partnering, simplification, and speed in this 3-minute Forbes article. What lessons will you take from his strategy?

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MPA’s Niche –
Tampa EOer (and Scaling Up fan) Don Tanquay’s Buffalo and Tampa-based plumbing firm MPA does just one thing – installation work for new multifamily construction – that’s it. And because it’s all they do his firm is the best at it. A tight niche also makes the bidding and work formulaic! Spending a lot of time saying “no” to hundreds of other jobs while having all the work he can handle, he maintains healthy margins (I promised not to share). Are you this niched in your industry? Riches ARE in niches, which I discovered is the name of Susan Friedmann’s book! 

New Niche –
Don has identified a new profitable niche in the plumbing industry (I also promised not to share, but it was obvious when he shared it with me). The key -- he’s spinning up a new firm he can franchise rather than bolt it on to his existing firm. Otherwise he risks defocusing MPA. The other lesson? You can continuously innovate in any industry! Focus on picking one thing and making it easier for everyone.

Zero Turnover –
Don has also maintained close to zero turnover in a highly competitive market. Named a “Best Place to Work” (you’re applying for these?), Don focuses on culture via a strong set of core values that allow his plumbing teams to work independently without a lot of micromanagement. These values provide the guard rails/boundaries for making decisions without having to “check in with the boss.” In addition, 5 or 6 times per year he surprises his team with social events. 

What Can We Get Away With? –
Don also noted at the EO dinner I attended this week in Orlando that business owners often have a mindset of “what can I get away with?” Don could pay certain labor he uses less, but he doesn’t. He’s able to charge a slightly higher (formulaic) price because he’s the best and he shares some of those winnings with his employees in terms of wages – and this solidifies his zero turnover. Money isn’t everything but paying slightly higher wages keeps compensation from being a demotivator.

Core Values Don’t Need to be Nice – from 30 – 1000 employees in 36 months –
If you ask Darius Mirshahzadeh his thoughts on Core Values, his first response is always the same, "Core Values Don't Need to Be Nice!" The Core Value Equation (published two weeks ago) is written by high-growth CEO Darius Mirshahzadeh. Mirshahzadeh successfully grew his most recent company, The Money Source (a Scaling Up company) from 30 to 1000 employees in 36 months. He leveraged his framework on core values to supercharge the work he did with his Scaling Up Coach, Cheryl Beth Kuchler. Cheryl Beth had this to say about Darius:

Darius’ thought leadership and passion on the subject of Core Values and utilizing them as a leader to Scale Up is a fantastic example for anyone looking to grow sustainably and profitably to follow and learn from.

Core values aren’t a nice to have; they are must – the rules of the game. You wouldn’t think to play a game/sport without rules – don’t scale a business without them and knowing how to use them – Darius’ book will help!

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TECHNOLOGY: 

ScalingUp Scoreboard
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EDUCATION: 

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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. 
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For questions or more information contact us at [email protected]

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