The Agile Scaleup

Top 5 Books 2021; Exit Retreat; Crazy Recruiting; Jan 11 – 14 One Spot

If you are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room.
                                              Confucius

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

Top 5 Business Books of 2021
My annual article detailing the top 5 business books for 2021 published today on ScaleUps.com. See how many you’ve read or heard the authors keynote one of our virtual summits. In addition, there are two top 5 books from past lists – Influence and Teeming 2.0 -- that were significantly updated in 2021. Please take 2-minutes to scan through the list and read the reasons why they were chosen, one each for People, Strategy, Execution, Cash, and Personal Development.  Here are the top 5:
            People – Impact Players by Liz Wiseman
            Strategy – The Innovation Stack by Jim McKelvey
            Execution – The Heart of Business by Hubert Joly
            Cash – Negotiate without Fear by Victoria Medvec
            PD – Peak Mind by Amishi P. Jha

One CEO/COO Team Spot – Jan 11 – 14 CEO Boot Camp
Because of new COVID travel restrictions just announced, an international CEO/COO team needed to postpone their participation which opened up a spot. Join 8 other top CEOs/COOs for 3.5 days of intense preparation, one-on-one time with me, and fun Tuesday evening Jan 11 thru Friday afternoon Jan 14 in Marathon, FL (the Keys). Prepare for 2022 and beyond with John Ratliff and me sharing tools/techniques from Scaling Up and the books mentioned above www.ceo-bootcamp.com

FACe Tool – Function Accountability Chart
A-Player expert and Scaling Up coach Rick Crossland wrote an excellent article taking you through our Function Accountability Chart (FACe). I’m on the board of a firm which hired a new head of sales and their sales literally doubled this quarter from a budgeted $2 million to over $4 million! And as Rick suggests, you want to start with the results you would like to achieve with each position and then determine the KPIs. Last is evaluating if you have the right person in the right seat (the firm I’m advising also moved a couple key people horizontally to great advantage for everyone).

Where People Sit
I also spent quite a bit of time with the CEO this morning thinking through where everyone should physically sit. Most importantly, making sure that the head of sales and head of operations were physically co-located together (instead of sales being near their new head of marketing). Those two functions (oil and water) need to be tightly aligned to promise and deliver what the customer wants. And because marketing strategy equals strategy, I suggested the new CMO be located right next to the CEO’s office. Let one of our 207 coaching partners help you think through these important decisions. 

Go From a Good to Great Interview? 
Speaking of talent, EK Machine, this Fall River, WI-based firm, is adding an incentive to entice people to interview – Free Beer! This ad says it all! Hilarious (and effective?). 

Two New “Exit Strategy Retreats” – March 2022
Limited to 8 CEOs each, John Ratliff and I just announced two new 3-day “Exit Strategy Retreats” to expand upon the whitepaper we authored on preparing your firm to exit. If you’re exploring selling your firm in the next 6 to 36 months, join us in Marathon, FL either March 20 – 23 or March 23 – 26. $7k discount for Scaling Up insight readers. For more information and application.

The $65.5 Million Secret Online Course
Scaling through 24 buyside acquisitions, John Ratliff exited for 14x earnings in an industry averaging 3x. In this new online course, he details how to build a company worth selling, even if you don’t. And if/when you do, how to garner a strategic vs. financial multiple for the business. Don’t leave tens of millions on the table – take time to go through John’s outstanding course. For details and a complete syllabus.

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:
Greater Sydney – Wollongong, Australis – Jan 12 & 13, 2022 (2 Day In-Person Workshop)
Chapel Hill, NC – Jan 19, 2022 (Virtual)
Franklin, TN - Jan 20, 2022 (Virtual)
Ann Arbor, MI – Jan 27, 2022 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia – Feb 16, 2022 (In-Person)
Indianapolis, IN– Feb 17, 2022 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Feb 24, 2022 (Virtual)
Dallas, TX - Feb 24, 2022 (In-Person)
Brisbane, Australia – March 23, 2022 (In-Person)
Auckland, New Zealand – May 11 & 12, 2022 (In-Person 2 Day Master Class)
Melbourne, Australia – June 7, 2022 (In-Person)
Melbourne, Australia – Sep 13, 2022 (In-Person)
Melbourne, Australia – Nov 22, 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  

Nepal Success; Retention Key; Fred Book; Love is All You Need

Don't just look to change your business, look to change your industry.
                                              Ron Lovett

Love is the state of caring so much for a person that most of your own happiness derives from increasing that person’s happiness and well-being.
                                              Fred Reichheld

Are Your Online Customers Walking Away? Show Them Some Love!
Those who have visited our website and have questions about where to find something, etc. may have seen we have a service that is 24/7 available to support you. It’s been one of the best value-added services we use – more info below (we don’t get any commissions for promoting – just think it’s a critical service!)

Nepal Conglomerate Scales to 21,000 Employees (Scaling Up Case Study)
The Vishal Group, led by Executive Director Arpit Agrawal and board member and EO Nepal founder Anuj Agrawal, discovered the Scaling Up Performance Platform in 2011. Scaling to 21,000 employees in 10 business verticals, the Four Decisions and tools have been crucial in driving revenue, profits, and cash. They have recently pledged $3 million for scholarships – and have a focus on educating their people weekly. This Scaleups.com article details their use of daily huddles, BHAG, Purpose, KPIs, etc. Scaling up scales!

NPS Guru’s New Book – Start with Chapter 3
There are a few biz authors that produce nothing but gold – and one of them is Fred Reichheld, the Bain Fellow and father of the Net Promoter Score (NPS). His latest book, released Tuesday, is Winning on Purpose: The Unbeatable Strategy of Loving Your Customers. Download for less than $10 this week – and start with the short Foreword by Nike CEO John Donohoe who calls Fred the DG – Digital God of loyalty. Then go right to Chapter 3. Above is Reichheld’s quote from Chapter 3. The key word is “caring.” It starts with caring for your team and then they will care for your customers – and you! How might you show more caring for your customers/employees?

Powerful Communication Hint
After Chapter 3, jump to Chapter 9. Fred opens with a great insight “At Bain, we teach that in every communication you should give the answer first, and always finish high---with a call to action.” We were about to send out an email and I’ve forwarded to my team to revamp based on these insights. What messaging do you need to update based on this?

Friendships Key to Retention
A challenge with remote workers is they are less likely to develop/maintain friendships at work – and having friends at work is a KEY to retention. This Fortune blog post shares important data the emphasizes the need to get people back together – especially cross-functionally. It’s for this reason many top leaders are emphasizing the need for people to return back to work – and I think we’ll see more of it sooner than later. I know I’m enjoying being in our coaching offices in West Chester today as I write these insights. The informal conversation with John and Kristin and Diane (and the parking attendant) are crucial!

Are Your Online Customers Walking Away?
The global coronavirus pandemic is affecting consumer behavior worldwide. Customers prefer to do business online and most of the industries have seen increases in website traffic. Your website is like a shop. If there are no salespeople to help your online customers, they will walk away to a competitor. LiveAdmins helps businesses proactively greet online customers and engage them in conversation. The multilingual chat services offered by LiveAdmins are provided round the clock, ensuring needs of all visitors are taken care of. LiveAdmins has helped companies across all industries significantly increase sales and enhance visitor experience for over a decade.

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:
Chapel Hill, NC – Jan 19, 2022 (Virtual)
Franklin, TN - Jan 20, 2022 (Virtual)
Ann Arbor, MI – Jan 27, 2022 (Virtual)
Indianapolis, IN– Feb 17, 2022 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Feb 24, 2022 (Virtual)
Dallas, TX - Feb 24, 2022 (In-Person)
Brisbane, Australia – March 23, 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  

Free Book; 4 Keys; Teeming 2.0; Feb 7, 4pm

What makes you different or weird, that's your strength.
                                                Meryl Streep

The ants are not choking on smog or stuck in traffic. The fungi aren’t counting carbon credits or worrying about the Pacific Garbage Patch. All have grown and prospered for hundreds of millions of years, through all kinds of radical change with the same metabolic needs we have. We know it can be done.
                                                Tamsin Woolley-Barker

4 Key Decisions for 2022 – Tuesday 4pm ET
Next Tuesday I’ll share a clever place to find talent; what’s the most important strategy decision to make; the three discipline fundamentals; and the best way to quickly increase cash flow – plus the biggest threat to our businesses as we sail into 2022. Join me for 90-minutes including Q&A time – no charge – here to help.

Fortune Future 50 List
Leading Fortune’s Future 50 list is cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike Holdings. Also making the Top 10 -- Airbnb, DocuSign, and Block (the new name for Square, emphasizing their focus on supporting cryptocurrencies). For a glance into what is hot, take one minute to scan the list. Companies making peoples’ lives safer and easier is a common thread – how could you do more of that to scale your business? 

Teeming 2.0 Released Today
The most important book written for businesspeople this century, Dr. Tamsin Woolley-Barker significantly updated her original classic. Titled Teeming 2.0: How Nature’s Oldest Teams Adapt and Thrive, her five principles for scaling any organization mirror what most unicorn companies have done to scale quicker – principles all of us can use to make it easier to scale.

Leading@Scale -- Feb 22, 2022 Joint YPO/EO Virtual Event
To bring these principles alive, the first-ever official joint YPO/EO event is set for Feb 22. Open to members and their teams, I’ll be moderating a group of 8 keynoters including Warren Buffett’s protégé’ who scaled to 100,000 people NOT on her payroll; a YPOer who used the crowd to source $6 billion in gold; and the Oscar-winning production manager for My Octopus Teacher – all sharing lessons that align with Dr. Woolley-Barker’s five principles. Offered at no charge – for more information and to register.

Free Book Offer – 1000 copies 
John Anderson, our first-ever coaching partner and author of Replace Retirement: Living Your Legacy, is giving away 1000 copies of his book for the holidays. In Replace Retirement, John teaches readers of all ages to look at their future through an exponential lens and create a purposeful, rewarding, and inspired plan, charting a course for a fuller, richer life today, and continue making the world a better place for years to come. Email him at [email protected] with a shipping address. Thank you, John!

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:
Chapel Hill, NC – Jan 19, 2022 (Virtual)
Ann Arbor, MI – Jan 27, 2022 (Virtual)
Indianapolis, IN– Feb 17, 2022 (Virtual)
Dallas, TX - Feb 24, 2022 (In-Person)
Brisbane, Australia – March 23, 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