The Agile Scaleup

100 Fastest; StoneAge ESOP; Bucket List #2; Dec 8 – 9 Master Class

Don't sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.

Madam C.J. Walker

Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical.
                                                  Howard Schultz

Fortune’s 100 Fastest Growing Firms (Fun Facts for Weekend)
Released this morning, the financial sector once again dominated the list of 100 Fastest Growth Firms. And the average age of these firms is 45 years, up from 40 last year (scaleups do get better with age!). 33% average return the past three years vs. 19% for the S&P 500.

Twice-Annual Scaling Up Master Class – Make Opportunity Happen
Dec 8 – 9 I’ll personally teach my twice-annual Master Class (3 hours each day – goes quick attendees share). Hoping to be in-person, the airlines are expected to be impacted Dec 8 (Southwest’s deadline for vaccines) and could significantly strand in-person attendees – so we went virtual. More details here and below (https://scalingup.com/dec-2021-virtual-master-class-scaling-up-workshop/.

YPOer Kerry Siggins’ ESOP – Employee Retention 6.8 years
This article details how 160-employee StoneAge, a manufacturer in Durango, Colo., rolled out an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) in 2015 – something 6000 other firms have done. The company, founded in 1979, makes high-pressure water-blasting tools and automated equipment used in industrial cleaning. Currently, it brings in $55 million in annual revenue.  The article also details the additional benefits CEO Kerry Siggins has structured to maintain outstanding employee retention. Considering 50 of her team were hired within the last two years, a 6.8-year average tenure is tremendous. Please invest 2-minutes to read her story – then grab an eBook copy of Scaling Up Compensation (Kindle, iTunes, etc.) 

Sales Process Key to Driving More Cash
Dramatically improving cash flow starts with the sales process. Shortening the sales cycle, pricing, upfront deposits, etc. all contribute significantly to more cash. Scaling Up coach Rick Crossland has written an easy-to-read article that details various strategies for finetuning your sales process.

Align/Scoreboard Updates Huddles 2.0 Interface.
We’ve supercharged meetings with Scoreboard's newest update to the huddles interface. Take advantage of the new intuitive layout, at-a-glance info, and improved visibility so you can spend more time getting your work done and less time in meetings. Huddles 2.0 provides clearer organization so you have access to all relevant data right in front of you. Current users can login now and give Huddles 2.0 a try! If you’re considering the Scoreboard software and want to experience Huddles 2.0, click here to schedule some time.

Bucket List #2 – Antarctica with the Mavericks
We still have spots for our Pacific to Atlantic bike, hike, kayak experience in Panama. Jan 5 – 12; Feb 13 – 20 are the next two. $15,000 ($10k of which is a tax-deductible donation). For more info (the brochure is beautiful). The other opportunity is Jan 31 – Feb 7 a once-in-a-lifetime experience to Antarctica with an intimate group of top biz leaders/adventurers. Hosted by the famous Maverick 1000 organization – 8 spots left. For more info.

New Team Members or a Refresher, Scaling up?
Dec 8 -9 is the twice-yearly Scaling Up (virtual) Master Class I teach personally. Specifically:

• Wed Dec 8 – 1:00pm - 4:30pm ET (90 min People, 90 min Strategy)
• Thurs Dec 9 – 1:00pm – 4:30pm ET (90 min Execution, 90 min Cash)

And we have a special CEO-only 90-minute session where we’re also talking about how to get exit and SPAC ready this year. Tues Dec 7 – 2pm – 3:30pm ET. Priced $250 - $395/person depending on number you sign up, it’s very affordable and a productive first-class executive education event to jumpstart 2022 and beyond. For more info and to register May 3 – 5, Dallas, is next in-person.

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

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

Planning to Exit?
It’s the most critical decision a business owner will make in their lifetime – and over my 40 years of helping firms I’ve seen owners taken advantage of time and time again – leaving tens of millions on the table. You’re up against sophisticated buyers who have done hundreds of acquisitions – whereas this is often your first rodeo. And these buyers have a formula for ripping you off – and it works. Seeking help, owners find the big M&A firms, especially those specializing in your industry, are more beholden to the buyers than the sellers (they will tell you otherwise). They are not your friend in the process, just another transaction. Email me to get a white paper on what to avoid when exiting [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: 
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 - Nov 4, 2021
Sydney, Australia - Nov 17, 2021 (In-Person)
The New Forest/Wiltshire, England – Nov 18, 2021
Melbourne, VIC, AUS - Nov 23, 2021 (Virtual)
Dallas, TX - Feb 24, 2022 (In-Person)

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. Our Scaling Up Certified Coaches™ are masters at guiding you and your leadership team through the implementation of the Scaling Up Operating system, all with a custom and diagnostic approach to each unique company. 

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 [email protected]. 

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

Sign up for Verne's Weekly Insights  

Jill Belconis; McKeel Hagerty; Taiwan Sintai; Oct 28 Jack Daly

We tend to believe that things are impossible that are very possible.
                                                  Jim McKelvey, co-founder Square

Don't just look to change your business, look to change your industry.
                                                  Ron Lovett, serial entrepreneur and author of Scaling Culture

Scaling Up+ Summit Today – 3:21pm – 5:05pm ET
Register for free includes replay. Billionaire Jim McKelvey; Liz Wiseman; Ron Lovett; and Eric Partaker – four accomplished biz leaders with outstanding new books. Outlearn the competition in 90 minutes – with a fun “Happy Half-Hour” with SongDivision at 5:05 pm ET. Join the over 2800 CEOs/CXOs registered.

CEO Jill Belconis, 30-year Veteran of Biz, Makes a Pivot
Many YPOers know Jill Belconis as the first woman International Chair of YPO. This article details how after scaling 500-employee Shelter Mortgage as CEO and exiting to a PE firm, Belconis began getting calls to help other biz leaders. Choosing to certify with Scaling Up, because it wasn’t prescriptive like other approaches, today Belconis has a thriving coaching practice – a path many other accomplished CEOs have taken with Scaling Up. Please take two minutes to read how Belconis made the transition and then email me if interested in doing something similar [email protected].

Hagerty’s Evolution as Leader and Company
Another former YPO International Chair, McKeel Hagerty is CEO of a family business that went from basement startup insuring wooden boats to a public powerhouse valued at $3 billion, having just gone public via a SPAC. This article details their journey as a business. Coached by Scaling Up Coach Andy Bailey, McKeel first engaged us by attending our CEO Boot Camp (www.ceo-bootcamp.com) as he was coming off his chairmanship of YPO. Please take 3-minutes to read this inspiring story.

Tony Lee, CEO of Taiwan-based Sintai Group (Scaling Up Case study)
After bringing his team to the Scaling Up Master Class in Shenzhen, China, outdoor furniture manufacturer CEO Tony Lee attempted a DIY approach to implementing the tools/techniques. As he notes at the 2:30 mark in this video (with Mandarin subtitles) “So we tried for six months and then this thing just disappeared into thin air like a lot of the practices I tried to initiate in the company.” That’s when he brought on Jeremy Han, one of our Scaling UP coaching partners in Southeast Asia.

It’s About Momentum – Doubles Revenues in 24 Months (Sintai Case Continued)
Tony is very open in this short video about the difficulties of implementing a new way of scaling a company – old habits are hard to change. And “we only know what we know.” The course was the catalyst, and the coach was the support. In the end, after what is still an ongoing 2-year engagement, Sintai doubled revenues. Notes Tony “we used the momentum of someone outside to help us build a new momentum inside.”

3 Sales Growth Principles with Jack Daly – Oct 28 Virtual Workshop
Have your head of sales attend hyper sales growth guru Jack Daly’s workshop next Thursday. When it comes to growing sales, a change in tactics can give you great short-term results.
But what about a big-picture view of your sales systems, processes, and culture? For over 30 years, Jack has been growing sales organizations and bottom lines in small businesses and large organizations. And next Thursday, he’ll share the 3 biggest sales growth principles behind that success in this free live training. If you’re ready to get serious about your sales engine; register for the training here: https://hubs.li/H0ZnQxP0

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

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

Planning to Exit?
It’s the most critical decision a business owner will make in their lifetime – and over my 40 years of helping firms I’ve seen owners taken advantage of time and time again – leaving tens of millions on the table. You’re up against sophisticated buyers who have done hundreds of acquisitions – whereas this is often your first rodeo. And these buyers have a formula for ripping you off – and it works. Seeking help, owners find the big M&A firms, especially those specializing in your industry, are more beholden to the buyers than the sellers (they will tell you otherwise). They are not your friend in the process, just another transaction. Email me to get a white paper on what to avoid when exiting [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: 
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:
Annapolis, MD - Oct 26, 2021 (Virtual)
Vancouver, BC - Oct 27, 2021
West Chester, PA - Oct 27, 2021 (In-Person)
Lowell, Michigan - Nov 4, 2021
Sydney, Australia - Nov 17, 2021 (In-Person)
Salisbury, England - Nov 18, 2021
The New Forest/Wiltshire, England – Nov 18, 2021
Melbourne, VIC, AUS - Nov 23, 2021 (Virtual)
Dallas, TX - Feb 24, 2022 (In-Person)

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. Our Scaling Up Certified Coaches™ are masters at guiding you and your leadership team through the implementation of the Scaling Up Operating system, all with a custom and diagnostic approach to each unique company. 

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 [email protected]. 

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

Sign up for Verne's Weekly Insights  

 

Scaling Up,
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Bucket List; Right Decisions; Stanford Research; Oct 21 Virtual Summit

Longevity in this business is about being able to reinvent yourself or invent the future.
               Satya Nadella, CEO Microsoft

Most entrepreneurial ideas will sound crazy, stupid and uneconomic, and then they’ll turn out to be right.
                Reed Hastings, Founder Netflix

Bucket List Item – Bike, Hike, Canoe Atlantic to Pacific in 6 Days
Space for 8 biz leaders/guests each adventure – a once in a lifetime opportunity in Panama to bike, hike, and canoe from the Atlantic to the Pacific in 6 days through Jaguar Country – what we call the Transcon for Business Leaders adventure. By special arrangement by the Minister of Tourism and the Kuna Tribe, we’ve hosted a half-dozen of these over the last few years (David Meerman Scott on the first one). Jan 5 – 12; Feb 13 – 20 are the next two. $15,000 ($10k of which is a tax-deductible donation). For more info (the brochure is beautiful).

Getting Important Decisions Right – 4 Steps
There are a few decisions that are so critical you need to get them right! There is a four-step process I learned from a top Russian PhD candidate at MIT who researched good and bad decision making at the senior level. Here is how to know if the decision is good or not:

1. Ask yourself/team if you feel like you have 70% of the information needed to make the right decision. You’ll never have 100%. In the case of Coastal Contacts (case in Scaling Up) I could tell they didn't and assigned the senior team a priority of interacting with the clients (4Q questions) for 3 months -- then they came back and made the right decision
2. Next, literally put yourself in the alpha state (for me, in the shower or while meditating)
3. Speak out loud the decision (don’t just think it) in present tense i.e. "we are launching..."
4. Literally check in with your gut – does it feel right in your stomach or did you get a squeezy feeling.

Verbalize the Opposite Decision
Repeat steps 3 and 4 by verbalizing the present tense of the opposing decision. The key is NOT to use the word “not.” So, an opposing decision is not “we are not launching…”. Instead, you would want to verbalize the alternative “we will delay the launch and focus on…”. Does that feel better or worse. BTW, it works!! You can trust your gut if you have sufficient first-hand information, quiet your mind, speak your decision, and check in with this powerful sixth sense.

4-Steps for Dealing with Zoom Fatigue – Stanford Research
Adam Grant’s blog pointed to this Stanford News article  by researcher Vignech Ramachandran on a 4-step approach to dealing with zoom fatigue:

• Increase mobility: give permission to walk around
• Reduce eye contact intensity: sit farther away
• Reduce self-consciousness: turn off the self-view
• Reduce cognitive load: hold audio-only sessions

Please take 2-minutes to read the article to understand additional specifics behind these 4 important steps.

The Innovation Stack – Crushing Your Competition
The theme for next Thursday’s complimentary virtual Scaling Up Summit is “Innovation”. Specifically:

1. Billionaire Square co-founder Jim McKelvey’s approach to beating Amazon, detailed in The Innovation Stack
2. Ron Lovett’s keys to Scaling Culture (the title of his new book)
3. Eric Partaker’s simple system for personal performance base on his new book The 3 Alarms; and
4. Liz Wiseman’s breakthrough book written for employees titled Impact Players

4 top authors, 24 minutes each – then a “Happy Half-hour” with Song Division. 90 minutes of outlearning the competition – invest in you and your team and “sharpen your saw” as you continue to scale. Oct 21, 2021, 3:21pm – 5:05pm ET. Register for free and get the replay.

Forbes 400 Wealthiest – Fun Facts
A record net worth of $2.9 billion is required to make the cut, $800 million more than a year ago, as the fortunes of the nation’s wealthiest rise a collective 40% over the last year. Jeff Bezos #1 on the list for 2020; but you’ve seen the news that Elon Musk has overtaken him, for now. Fun list to scan this weekend. https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/

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

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

Planning to Exit?
It’s the most critical decision a business owner will make in their lifetime – and over my 40 years of helping firms I’ve seen owners taken advantage of time and time again – leaving tens of millions on the table. You’re up against sophisticated buyers who have done hundreds of acquisitions – whereas this is often your first rodeo. And these buyers have a formula for ripping you off – and it works. Seeking help, owners find the big M&A firms, especially those specializing in your industry, are more beholden to the buyers than the sellers (they will tell you otherwise). They are not your friend in the process, just another transaction. Email me to get a white paper on what to avoid when exiting [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: 
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:
Annapolis, MD - Oct 26, 2021 (Virtual)
Vancouver, BC - Oct 27, 2021
West Chester, PA - Oct 27, 2021 (In-Person)
Lowell, Michigan - Nov 4, 2021
Sydney, Australia - Nov 17, 2021 (In-Person)
Salisbury, England - Nov 18, 2021
Melbourne, VIC, AUS - Nov 23, 2021 (Virtual)
London, UK - Nov 25, 2021 (in-person)
Dallas, TX - Feb 24, 2022 (In-Person)

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. Our Scaling Up Certified Coaches™ are masters at guiding you and your leadership team through the implementation of the Scaling Up Operating system, all with a custom and diagnostic approach to each unique company. 

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 [email protected]. 

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

Sign up for Verne's Weekly Insights  

100,000 Acres; Best Employee Book; Southwest Endorsement; Oct 21 Virtual Summit – No Charge

Either you run the day, or the day runs you.
                                                  Jim Rohn

A business is simply an idea to make other people's lives better.
                                                  Richard Branson

Impact Players – For All Employees – Oct 21, 3:21pm ET
Liz Wiseman, author of Multipliers (one of the best leadership books ever written) has done it again!! Her new book Impact Players addresses the other side of the equation – how employees can bring their A-game – a book for all your employees. Rather than just going through the motions of doing their job, instead:

• While others do their job, Impact Players figure out the real job to be done. 
• While others wait for direction, Impact Players step up and lead.
• While others escalate problems, Impact Players move things across the finish line.
• While others attempt to minimize change, Impact Players are learning and adapting to change. 
• While others add to the load, the Impact Players make heavy demands feel lighter.

Liz Wiseman 24-minute Presentation
Liz is presenting, along with billionaire co-founder of Square Jim McKelvey, for our virtual Scaling Up Summit Oct 21, 3:21pm – 5:05pm ET  – 90 minutes of fresh insights. Have ALL your employees tune-in for at least Liz’s segment 3:51pm – 4:15pm ET – but they need to register to get their own link. No charge – our gift to you to keep “outlearning the competition.” I promise these short presentations will get right-to-the-point and not waste your time with needless fluff!

Raised $10 million, Scaling to $1 Billion Galvanic Energy (Scaling Up Case Study)
We’re compiling a list of all the firms our coaching partners have helped scale to a billion revenue/valuation and beyond – and it’s substantial. This latest Scaleups.com article highlights how coach Stacy Eads’ client Galvanic Energy has a unique process for extracting lithium and has a source enough to power 50 million electric vehicles. The Scaling Up tools have brought what founder Brent Wilson calls a scientific approach to scaling a business. Using quarterly themes, they achieved their 100,000-acre acquisition goal for Q2. Please take 2-minutes to read the details.

Scaling Up Compensation – Southwest Airlines Endorsement
I’ve presented the new Scaling Up Compensation: 5 Design Principles for Turning Your Largest Expense into a Strategic Advantage to several CEO/CXO audiences the past few weeks, including the YPO Southern 7 chapter. And the reception has been excellent – I think we really nailed the content/concepts with specific examples from multiple industries and size firms. And we just received this endorsement:

Doing everything differently is a hallmark of great firms – and that includes a company’s approach to compensation.  This easy-to-read book is an essential primer in getting you to ask the right questions in designing a compensation plan that is right for your organization. 
Shari Conaway, Senior Director People, Southwest Airlines

YPO/EO Chapter and Association Presentations
Thank you to Caroline Caskey for recommending to this topic to her EO Austin chapter (which is aiming to be the largest chapter in EO!). I would appreciate the opportunity to present this fresh/new an important content to your YPO or EO chapter. Compensation is one of the hottest topics given the challenges of attracting and retaining talent – and getting it right can add significant energy to the organization and take hundreds of percent more to the bottom line. Email me [email protected] if you have such an opportunity – I want to help as many firms as I can with this topic.

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

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

Planning to Exit?
It’s the most critical decision a business owner will make in their lifetime – and over my 40 years of helping firms I’ve seen owners taken advantage of time and time again – leaving tens of millions on the table. You’re up against sophisticated buyers who have done hundreds of acquisitions – whereas this is often your first rodeo. And these buyers have a formula for ripping you off – and it works. Seeking help, owners find the big M&A firms, especially those specializing in your industry, are more beholden to the buyers than the sellers (they will tell you otherwise). They are not your friend in the process, just another transaction. Email me to get a white paper on what to avoid when exiting [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: 
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:
Vancouver, BC - Oct 13, 2021 (Virtual)
Atlanta (Woodstock), GA - Oct 14, 2021 (In-Person)
London, England - Oct 14, 2021 (In-Person)
Los Angeles, CA - Oct 14, 2021
Annapolis, MD - Oct 26, 2021 (Virtual)
Vancouver, BC - Oct 27, 2021
West Chester, PA - Oct 27, 2021 (In-Person)
Lowell, Michigan - Nov 4, 2021
Sydney, Australia - Nov 17, 2021 (In-Person)
Salisbury, England - Nov 18, 2021
Melbourne, VIC, AUS - Nov 23, 2021 (Virtual)
Dallas, TX - Feb 24, 2022 (In-Person)

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. Our Scaling Up Certified Coaches™ are masters at guiding you and your leadership team through the implementation of the Scaling Up Operating system, all with a custom and diagnostic approach to each unique company. 

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 [email protected]. 

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

Sign up for Verne's Weekly Insights  

A Tribute to Steve Jobs – 10th Anniversary of His Passing

I want to put a ding in the universe
                                                      Steve Jobs

Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have a faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them.
                                                       Steve Jobs

10^th Anniversary of Steve Jobs’ Passing 
A decade ago, today, the world lost one of the greatest entrepreneurs ever! I remember hearing the news and tearing up, like I am right now as I write this sentence. Jony Ive, Apple’s iconic designer, penned a beautiful piece in the Wall Street Journal yesterday recounting his memories of Steve. Thank you to Nick Alexos for sharing the article.

Steve Made Being a Young Entrepreneur Legitimate
It’s so personal for me because it was Steve who gave legitimacy to being a young entrepreneur. It’s hard to fathom today, but back in the early 80s when I launched the Association of Collegiate Entrepreneurs (ACE), it wasn’t cool to be a young entrepreneur. Parents were like “that’s cute, but when are you going to get a real job.” Then Steve Jobs came on the scene and proved someone in their 20s could scale to $1.9 billion in revenue (not just market cap) before age 30.

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates
Both 29 when I released our ACE 100 list of the top young entrepreneurs under the age of 30 for 1985, Bill Gate’s (Microsoft) revenue came in #4 on our list at $256 million – 1/8^th the revenue of what Steve had achieved at Apple by the same age. Important perspective on their lifelong love/hate relationship.

Steve the Reason for EO
And Steve was the inspiration for the Young Entrepreneurs’ Organization (YEO, now EO). I remember the day like it was yesterday. Steve was gracious to keynote our ACE conference in 1986 in Los Angeles (Bonaventure Hotel), his first public speech after being fired from Apple. Nick Alexos (mentioned above) and almost 1200 other collegiate and young entrepreneurs were there – including Michael Dell (who’s latest book published today), Mark Cuban, Neil Balter (California Closets fame), Kevin Harrington (the other original Shark Tank judge with Mark), Julie and Bill Brice (I Can’t Believe it’s Yogurt), etc. It was a magical evening.

Steve Standing in the Corner
Steve then stayed for the after party and I remember looking over and seeing him standing in the corner, alone. At that moment I recalled Joe Mancuso’s mantra “It’s OK to be independent, but no reason to be alone.” I turned to the great sunken treasure hunter, Greg Stemm (his wife Laurie also an accomplished entrepreneur) and exclaimed, “there needs to be an organization for the Steve Jobs’ of the world” and that’s the evening the idea for YEO was birthed. Greg went on to be my perpetual Vice President, signing the official documents along with me as President that legally launched the organization in 1987.

Steve’s Wilderness Years
It was Steve’s time at Pixar that taught him a different way to scale – the power/focus of having only one priority, Toy Story. So, when he returned to Apple he decided his baby would launch one new product every two years like Pixar. Pulling Apple out of most of their product lines (handhelds, scanners, printers, etc.) he launched a great computer, then the iPod/iTunes (2001), iPhone (2007), iPad (2010), and then he knew he was going to die.

Steve’s Apple University 
If you want to guarantee your baby will not only survive, but thrive, education has always been the ticket for the entirety of the human race. So, after he started to dwindle in 2008, he hired the dean of the Yale School of Management and launched Apple University. Unfortunately, I bet against Steve, thinking Apple would also dwindle after his passing, after reaching the pinnacle of business as the highest market cap firm two months prior to his untimely death. However, Apple, still today, holds that distinction, being the first company to surpass $2 trillion in market value ($2.31 trillion today). If the true measure of a leader is the performance of your organization when you’re not there, Steve’s legacy is clear!

Steve’s/Apple’s Greatest Business Decision of All Time
Raghoo Potini and I were at the top of a hotel in New Delhi when the news came of Steve’s passing. After raising a toast to his legacy, we started talking about what an amazing decision it was for Apple to bring Steve back as iCEO after being ousted 10 years prior – something that had never happened before in Fortune 500 history. How did it really come about, was our question? And what were some of the other greatest business decisions of all time. That night we made a list which became the basis of my second book The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time. Again, Steve was the inspiration.

Steve, Thank You
Steve’s willingness to come to LA in 1986 to share his heartbreaking and inspirational story was a pivotal moment. That act of kindness and vulnerability helped me bring together a group of entrepreneurs that evening who served as the founding board for YEO (EO) – and today, there are tens of thousands less lonely entrepreneurs. Thank you, Steve, for all you’ve given to us.

Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow
Steve’s final words.