Business opportunities are like buses, there's always another one coming.
Richard Branson
Vision without execution is hallucination.
Walter Isaacson
All-Pro Dad – 3 Keys to Introducing Your Children
For years I’ve received/read the daily All-Pro Dad email written by many contributors including retired NFL coach Tony Dunge. This morning’s contribution is about 3 tips when introducing your children to other people:
- Prepare them for a handshake and greeting
- Avoid embarrassing them
- Mention a reason you’re proud of them
Please take 1 minute to read the details for each tip – and note that they have meet-ups each month for an hour where you and your child can meet other dads and their children.
Scaling Up Compensation – New Book Just Released
Subtitled 5 Design Principles for Turning Your Largest Expense into a Strategic Advantage, my latest 122-page book, co-authored with Dr. Sebastian Ross, provides dozens of small to large company examples of compensation schemes driving significant results.
5 Design Principles
Organized around 5 universal principles, one key is designing a comp plan that is “different” from the competition and aligned with the brand promises you want to deliver to your market. Most importantly – simply putting some thought into what is one of your largest single expenses will put you ahead of most. As companies scale it often becomes a piecemeal mess creating angst and demotivation throughout the organization (our apologies Amazon isn’t discounting the Kindle version at all – and it’s just Kindle – huge paper shortages would delay the book months – hoping the impact of the ideas is worth a gazillionX more than a $20 bill! Hope it’s not a demotivator.)
Hubert Joly Redesigned Best Buy’s Comp
For those who tuned into my fireside chat with former Best Buy CEO (or read his outstanding book The Heart of Business*) changed his thinking about compensation after reading Dan Pink’s book Drive* – and he credits the changes they made to compensation to driving a 10x increase in the stock price and a transformation of the culture. Compensation design matters a great deal!
Compensation – Other Side of Pricing Coin – Results up 250%
Designing compensation schemes is much the same as designing pricing schemes – two sides of the same psychological coin. Because both involve people, the design needs to be attuned to a deeper understanding of human behavior. In the book we share a case study of a firm that took the same variable compensation portion of their comp plan and put it on a casino-like “intermittent reinforcement” schedule and drove results up 250% -- and we’ve seen this over and over. The same on the pricing side – where demand-based pricing has driven profits up 250% or more. This is what is at stake putting some additional thought into your comp (and pricing) plans.
#1 Right Now – Compensation to Attract and Retain Talent
Employees will/should read this book. The war for talent has heated up – with shortages across entire industries. And the wage pressures are particularly prevalent at the frontline in addition to the senior ranks. What we don’t cover, however, is the very special topic of executive compensation. The books that are written about compensation seem to be geared for senior leaders of Fortune 500 firms! Not much else for the rest of us mere mortals.
Start with the CEO, CFO, and head of People (HR)…
…reading the book – then take a few “council” sessions to tweak your existing companywide comp plan. The Overview is designed to summarize the entire book – so a quick read for the CEO. The CFO and head of People can then dive into the specifics within each of the design principles. There is also a significant section dedicated to the special topic of sales compensation.
Five Years in the Making
Compensation is such an important topic – yet very little is written about it that is practical. Thus Dr. Sebastian Ross, my peer coach and partner in writing much of the People section of Scaling Up, and I teamed up to pull together the best practices gleaned from thousands of pages of research, articles, and interviews. Sebastian, a people-oriented CEO, also had a crucible company, Telemedicine Clinic, in which he was able to test the various design principles. With over 400 employees scattered around the globe, the approaches were rolled out across various cultures and countries – and we know the approaches scale.
We Welcome Your Feedback
Before we take the book to print in 2022 we would love your critique/feedback/case studies – we’ll continue to update the book, like I do Scaling Up, and share stories in these weekly insights.
Weekend Countdown – 1-Minute of Wisdom
Enjoy this kickoff to your weekend – some bits of wisdom from a fresh set of wise teachers, updated each weekend. https://vimeo.com/showcase/weekendcountdown
*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:
Growth Institute Online Executive Education:
Master of Business Dynamics
Scaling Up Master Business Course
Exponential Organizations Master Business Course
Topgrading Master Business Course
We’re still in business coaching and training firms:
Lowell, Michigan - Jul 22, 2021
Salisbury, England - July 6, 2021
Hong Kong, China, India, Middle East - July 14 OR 15 (Virtual)
California - July 19 & 20, 2021 - 2 Day Master Class (Virtual)
Dallas, TX - Aug 12, 2021
Auckland, NZ - Aug 12, 2021 (In-Person)
Sydney, Australia - Aug 25, 2021
Phoenix, AZ - Aug 26, 2021 (In-Person)
Melbourne, VIC, AUS - Sep 7, 2021 (Virtual)
Amsterdam, NL - Sep 9, 2021 (In-Person)
Brisbane, Australia - Sep 22, 2021 (In-Person)
Lowell, Michigan - Sep 22, 2021
Lancaster, PA - Oct 26, 2021
Sydney, Australia - Oct 27, 2021
Lowell, Michigan - Nov 4, 2021
Salisbury, England - Nov 18, 2021
Melbourne, VIC, AUS - Nov 23, 2021 (Virtual)
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.
COACHING:
Ready to scale but looking for guidance?
Work with a Coach! Scaling a company is hard, but you don’t have to go it alone. Elevate your business with the only end-to-end solution for entrepreneurs that are ready to move past the plateau and get exponential results. Whether you’re in growth mode, planning strategy, raising capital, or navigating a complex economic landscape, Scaling Up's globally recognized coaches leverage effective tools and an evidence-based methodology to empower you to achieve results. Over 70,000 businesses have done it!
Learn more about what it’s like to work with a Scaling Up Certified Coach™ by scheduling a complimentary, personal follow-up. CLICK HERE! Or check out our FAQ’s. Additional questions can be sent to coaching@scalingup.com.
Did you miss previous insights? - read here
Read Verne's Insights on Kindle http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003SX13YI
Follow Verne on Instagram: @scalingup2.0