The Agile Scaleup

Verne’s Insights – Cardinal Sin; Influence Principal; $1.99; April 11 – 13 Fathers/Sons

Weekly scaleup news from Verne Harnish Slow success builds character; fast success builds ego.                          Ratan Tata Praise by name; criticize by category.                          Warren Buffett quoting Tom Murphy Start to Scale – $1.99 For a limited time, the Kindle version of my new book Start to Scale (an update of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits) is available on Amazon for $1.99. Much quicker and easier to read than Scaling Up, it’s the ideal book for employees. https://a.co/d/5Io5kIq Leverage Students – AI Initiatives My latest Chief Executive column details how COE Distributing has been leveraging a local data analytics class in the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh, to complete several significant AI initiatives for his firm. From choosing the location for his new distribution center (down to the specific building) to predicting the latest furniture designs and colors – AI is also creating significant efficiencies throughout his firm. And a few of those students are now leading an internal data analytics function for his office furniture distribution firm. Please invest a couple minutes to read the details. Open with Mistakes – Warren Buffett’s Annual Letter A classic influence strategy, Buffett once again opens his annual letter detailing mistakes he’s made – a way to build trust in what he shares later in the letter. “Words cast spell” – please study Buffett’s letter to absorb as much how he expresses himself as what he shares. This Fortune article details some of those mistakes. The Cardinal Sin of Leadership Notes Buffett in his letter: The cardinal sin (of leadership) is delaying the correction of mistakes or what Charlie Munger called ‘thumb-sucking.’ Problems cannot be wished away. They require action, however uncomfortable that may be. What action do you need to take NOW? Please take it! Fun Fact – Highest Taxes Ever Paid – and Bullish on Japanese Trading Firms Representing 5% of all corporate taxes paid, Buffett notes in his letter that Berkshire Hathaway paid $26.8 billion in taxes for 2024 – the highest the US govt has ever received from a company. He also shared that Berkshire has further increased its stake in the five big Japanese trading firms which he sees are like Berkshire. He remains impressed with how well they operate around the globe. What I’m Reading This Week – On China by Henry Kissinger In short, I’ve never believed China is any kind of military threat to the US (or Australia, where I am this week) – and Kissinger’s book seems to confirm this position. And in his book, he shares the following, which is the best positioning for learning I’ve ever read. Notes Kissinger: Confucius taught that love of kindness, without a love to learn, finds itself obscured by foolishness. Love of knowledge, without a love to learn, finds itself obscured by loose speculation. Love of honesty, without a love to learn, finds itself obscured by harmful candour. Love of straightforwardness, without a love to learn, finds itself obscured by misdirected judgment. Love of daring, without a love to learn, finds itself obscured by insubordination. And love for strength of character, without a love to learn, finds itself obscured by intractability. Father/Son – Learning Together – April 11 – 13, Rolling Ridge, WV A weekend retreat for sons 13 – 18 and their fathers, grandfathers, and/or male mentors, it’s a program I’ve supported for decades. Titled Fathers and Sons Learning Together To Build Bonds for a Lifetime, this is one of the testimonials: My son didn’t really care what we were going to do, he just wanted to spend time with me in the wilderness.  That we could do this with other fathers and sons was a plus.  But it was the rituals and experiences that blew us both away. April 11 – 13 in the beautiful hills of West Virginia (an hour from Dulles Airport) here’s a link for more information  https://www.illumandc.org/fathers-and-sons-2024/learning-together  Buy a box of 20 books Save 50% over the price on Amazon for Scaling Up, and Start to Scale books here for less! Planning for 2025 – Get a Coach or Be a Coach It’s best if the planning session is professionally facilitated according to experienced CEOs. This way they can participate in the process (and not dominate it). If you’re looking for a facilitator, click here. And if you’re interested in becoming a coach/facilitator, we’re always looking to add to our 296 experienced partners around the globe. To learn more, click here. TECHNOLOGY Scaling Up Scoreboard is AI-enabled and 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!) with a real-time visual dashboard of cascading priorities and metrics. Get a personalized tour of the Scaling Up Scoreboard to see how you can use it to better implement Scaling Up in your business. SCALING UP WORKSHOPS: Engage your team with interactive Scaling Up workshops. Here's our list of workshops Planning to Exit – Critical Whitepaper Selling your firm, for its maximum value, is the most important negotiation in which a business owner will participate. You are typically negotiating with 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, stealing tens of millions from you. Seeking help, owners discover 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). Email me to get a whitepaper on how to maximize your valuation and avoid the psychological games buyers play [email protected]. EDUCATION Scaling Up Master Business Course Scaling Up Free Mini Course *This may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. If you choose to purchase after clicking a link, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Guess-a-thons; New Heath Book; PE Yourself; Ryan Holiday

Weekly scaleup news from Verne Harnish If you want to sell bigger, sell bigger solutions.                          Author Tom Searcy There’s so much freedom in not being self-conscious.                          Actor Renée Zellweger Reset: How to Change What’s Not Working Listened to Dan Heath’s new book Reset (2025) last weekend. Please have your head of operations read this book. In short, it’s a practical and modern-day version of Lean filled with practical examples and steps for identifying constraints and then fixing them – it’s a true how-to book and easy to read/listen (I’ve not read a more practical book on the topic). Mid-market firms are sloppy. With Dan’s approach, which aligns nicely with Scaling Up, you can set a target to grow 15% - 20% per year while driving productivity gains the same. This means you can double revenue, in the next 3 - 5 years, with no additional headcount. No “Guess-a-thons” Dan is clever in identifying and giving new language to what we face in business. One is his label of most meetings and planning sessions as “guess-a-thons!” Without firsthand intel – “go see the work” (known as Gemba in Lean) – and data, most company decisions are mere guesses. The Essence of Employee Engagement Dan also succinctly summarizes what drives employee motivation and engagement – making meaningful daily progress toward a worthy goal. This is why setting a worthy audacious goal and reinforcing with the Daily Huddle works so well in driving performance. Ryan Holiday’s Interview of Dan Heath To get a good overview of the book and its main points, this 1-hour Ryan Holiday “Daily Stoic” interview of Dan Heath on his new book is excellent. Enjoy. Continue to PE Yourself This Fortune article by former Jack Stack consultant Bill Fotsch details how PE firms are devouring the economy and how you can do to yourself what a PE firm would do – and reap all the valuation increase instead of giving it away – in short, PE yourself. Bill shares how a civil engineering company based in Wisconsin, did just this. Notes Bill: They made over 20 acquisitions in their sector with the following characteristics: No involvement of private equity firms. Implementation of an Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP), resulting in substantial tax benefits. Integration of acquired companies into the ESOP structure, fostering common stock ownership among a growing number of employees. Emphasis on sharing best practices through “communities of practice,” enhancing employee engagement and performance. The result? Their valuation surged more than sixfold in the last five years, with no sign of slowing. It’s a win-win in which customers benefit, and the wealth created remains in the hands of those who work hard to create it. Please invest 2-minutes to read this article for more examples. Fastline – 250% Revenue Increase Across All Accounts If you want to sell bigger, sell bigger solutions. Fastline, a sales channel for large agricultural equipment, made a big move. Working with Hunt Big Sales, they shifted from selling advertising to becoming a revenue path. This generated a revenue increase of over 250% on average across all their accounts. They changed their message from selling services to selling money. Reach out to Hunt Big Sales (sponsor of insights) to have them help you significantly increase revenues. You’ve seen their monthly case studies – their stuff works. Buy a box of 20 books Save 50% over the price on Amazon for Scaling Up, and Start to Scale books here for less! EDUCATION Scaling Up Master Business Course Scaling Up Free Mini Course Planning for 2025 – Get a Coach or Be a Coach It’s best if the planning session is professionally facilitated according to experienced CEOs. This way they can participate in the process (and not dominate it). If you’re looking for a facilitator, click here. And if you’re interested in becoming a coach/facilitator, we’re always looking to add to our 296 experienced partners around the globe. To learn more, click here. TECHNOLOGY Scaling Up Scoreboard is AI-enabled and 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!) with a real-time visual dashboard of cascading priorities and metrics. Get a personalized tour of the Scaling Up Scoreboard to see how you can use it to better implement Scaling Up in your business. SCALING UP WORKSHOPS: Engage your team with interactive Scaling Up workshops. Here's our list of workshops Planning to Exit – Critical Whitepaper Selling your firm, for its maximum value, is the most important negotiation in which a business owner will participate. You are typically negotiating with 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, stealing tens of millions from you. Seeking help, owners discover 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). Email me to get a whitepaper on how to maximize your valuation and avoid the psychological games buyers play [email protected]. *This may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. If you choose to purchase after clicking a link, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Verne’s Insights – #2 Surprise; Triple High 5; Expected Inflation; Feb 19 2pm

Weekly scaleup news from Verne Harnish To be loved like you've never been loved, you must love like you've never loved.                          The Universe Happy Valentine’s Day! Triple High 5 Theme – One-Minute Video Coached by Dan Holstein, this one-minute LinkedIn video post highlights client Parveen Dhupar’s team celebrating progress on their quarterly theme (you have one?). Their Critical Number is 15% net profitability on their current in-progress projects. Their theme is Triple High 5 (5 X 3 =15%), and their reward is a triple 5-star dining experience. Key – along the way they are dividing their major goal up into 9 mini goals. Every 9 mini goals accomplished they have a mini 5 Star celebration. In this case, chocolates (perfect for Valentines). They also do actual triple high 5's when they hit a goal. Pls watch the quick video. Dr. Chip Mok’s Weekly Comp Incentive – Drives 25% Profit This Scaleups.com article details the innovative weekly compensation plan Dr. Chip Mok, founder Allure Medical, has instituted across his 14 offices which aligns his doctors and staff to achieve their targeted 25% profitability. Coached by Mike Goldman, please invest two minutes to read the details of how to set, align, and roll out a compensation plan that works. Warning, though – as our Scaling Up Compensation book suggests – each comp plan needs to be unique to your culture and customers. Pricing Guru Hermann Simon – 5% Inflation Rest of Decade This wide-ranging Executive Magazine interview of Dr. Hermann Simon is worth 3-minutes. He touches on the importance of “real profit” – not EBITDA, not EBIT, but Net Profit. He addresses how firms should deal with China (set up operations over there); what’s key in maintaining market share as a Hidden Champion (deep innovation in a narrow niche); and to stay on top of pricing given an expects 5% inflation rate the rest of the decade. Please invest the time to scan this article – he’s one of the researchers who studies us, mid-market firms. Please Read Simon’s Thin Book Beating Inflation He shares seven key strategies with plenty of B2C and B2B examples. Please stay on top of Pricing (and Compensation). EO Barcelona and EO Munich – Pricing and Compensation This week each EO chapter hosted between 150 and 200 members and guests. My focus as the speaker was on two critical topics – Pricing and Compensation – given the recent inflation which has driven up costs and wages. If your EO or YPO chapter is interested in these topics, I would love to get on their calendar for 2025 – 2026. Please email me [email protected] and I’ll send over a one-page overview to share with your chapter. Thank you. Beats NVIDIA – Crew Carwash #2 Best Places to Work Glass Door Crews Carwash came in #2 behind Bain and ahead of NVIDIA #4 for the 2025 Glass Door 100 Best Places to Work. Coached by Craig Overmyer, he notes: The leadership team at Crew Carwash, Fishers, Indiana are Scaling Up fanatics! I have served as their coach for 10 years. Think about it… it’s cold in the winter, hot in the summer, but the culture development, following the Scaling Up platform, has created something phenomenal. He goes on to note: This is a third-generation company, Joe and Ed Dahm were the founders and were adamant: “We’re really in the people business. We just happen to wash cars.” Now led by CEO Bill Dahm, and Sally Dahm EVP, Bill’s daughter, they are the model for what it means to leverage the Scaling Up Platform, Align Scaling Up Scoreboard, and Executive Coaching. Our tools/techniques generate significant ROI – why else would Crews keep Craig as their coach for 10 years. Please let one of our more than 300 certified coaching partners help your firm be a great place to work. Bad hires are costly—up to 27 times an employee’s salary… …hurting productivity, morale, and culture. In today’s competitive landscape, hiring mistakes can stall growth. The key? A proven, systematic approach (Crews uses Topgrading!). Join The Hiring Edge: A Free Live Webinar on Feb 19 at 2 PM ET to master Topgrading, the gold standard in talent selection. Chris Mursau, President of Topgrading, Inc., will share strategies to reduce mis-hires, streamline hiring, and build a high-performing team. Don't leave hiring to chance; learn how to attract and retain A-players. Register now: https://hubs.li/Q0363v_x0 Buy a box of 20 books Save 50% over the price on Amazon for Scaling Up, and Start to Scale books here for less! Planning to Exit – Critical Whitepaper Selling your firm, for its maximum value, is the most important negotiation in which a business owner will participate. You are typically negotiating with 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, stealing tens of millions from you. Seeking help, owners discover 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). Email me to get a whitepaper on how to maximize your valuation and avoid the psychological games buyers play [email protected]. EDUCATION Scaling Up Master Business Course Scaling Up Free Mini Course Planning for 2025 – Get a Coach or Be a Coach It’s best if the planning session is professionally facilitated according to experienced CEOs. This way they can participate in the process (and not dominate it). If you’re looking for a facilitator, click here. And if you’re interested in becoming a coach/facilitator, we’re always looking to add to our 296 experienced partners around the globe. To learn more, click here. TECHNOLOGY Scaling Up Scoreboard is AI-enabled and 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!) with a real-time visual dashboard of cascading priorities and metrics. Get a personalized tour of the Scaling Up Scoreboard to see how you can use it to better implement Scaling Up in your business. SCALING UP WORKSHOPS: Engage your team with interactive Scaling Up workshops. Here's our list of workshops *This may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. If you choose to purchase after clicking a link, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

4 or Die; Blackstone Science; Where Party Started; March 05 Sydney

Weekly scaleup news from Verne Harnish Everything that moves will be robotic.                          Jensen Huang, NVIDIA You add a fifth person to a special forces team, and someone is more likely to die .                           Vince Walsh Ideal Team Size – 4 This short IG reel featuring Vince Walsh, who has published over 300 papers on the brain, shares how and why the ideal team size is four people. Notes host Ross Neal: Due to multiple factors, teams stop working as efficiently over the number 4 due to not being able to mentally take in each person as well as the social capital at stake and the subconscious ‘easing off’ and knowledge sharing Less people, paid more, with AI support vs. throwing people at the problem. That’s the way to scale. Explainer Video – How to Use Technology to Make the Future Better Cleo Abram (5 million followers) led a different kind of interview with NVIDIA’s founder Jensen Huang. She did NOT talk about company finances or his disdain for one-on-ones (agree!) or his management style. She spent an hour digging into what the immediate future looks like re: the technologies NVIDIA is pioneering. The #1 Job of a CEO is strategy. Please take an hour over the weekend to absorb what Jensen shares. Then spend time, in your weekly council meetings, discussing how this will play out in your industry. Parallel vs. Sequential Processing – Started with Video Games Cleo explores three deep questions with Jensen. The first, is “how did we get here” with the kind of GPUs NVIDIA pioneered. It started with video gaming in the 90s. In short, 10% of the code drove 90% of the processing and could be done in parallel. The other 90% of the code needed to be sequential. So that was the GPUs NVIDIA built – that could handle both. I share just so you have an appreciation for the different kind of interview this is. I find it helpful to know the deeper how and why and where questions Cleo explores with Jensen. Please watch as Jensen lays out the future for all of us. Blackstone’s Approach to CEO Succession This Fortune article details how after a few failed CEO hires for the 250 firms in their portfolio, Blackstone brought in Courtney della Cava to take their hiring process from art to science. Notes Fortune: …each aspiring company leader now undergoes a rigorous and time-consuming three- to four-month recruitment process that includes nearly a dozen interviews with Blackstone stakeholders, advisors, and consulting partners, as well as board presentations, third-party assessments, exhaustive feedback from references, and a nearly five-hour psychometric evaluation that’s designed to deeply probe the candidate’s cognitive ability, character, motivations, and essence as a leader. Chick-fil-A takes a year to choose their next store operator. The Google boys put Eric Schmidt on their board for a year before putting him in the CEO seat. That’s why it’s best to hire people you’ve worked with in the past – you know how they tick – and still, you need a structured testing and interviewing/assessment process to make the right choice. We can help you put that in place. New Book – Get Busy Livin’, or Get Busy Dyin’ Long-time friend, VP of The Great Game of Business, and author of Get in the Game, Steve Baker has had enough. After 20 years of coaching high-growth execs, he’s seen too many top performers giving their best to their work while personal priorities get the scraps. In his new book, Quality Time Remaining™ (which I enthusiastically endorsed) Steve applies what he’s done for business literacy to life & longevity literacy. Utilizing an actuary’s approach to life expectancy, QTR™ introduces 14 powerful tools to craft your personal strategic plan—your blueprint for fulfillment, happiness, and satisfaction. Grab a copy. Scaling Up Summit March 5 Sydney Australian Scale-ups – next month I’ll be speaking at the Scaling Up Summit hosted by Scaling Up Certified Coach, Anna Samios. It’s shaping up to be the go-to event for Aussie scale ups. Here’s what you can expect: ✅ Proven tools and strategies to scale your business faster and smarter. ✅ World-class speakers: sharing insights from the trenches of business growth. ✅ A room full of like-minded leaders, ready to grow and collaborate. ✅ A practical model to boost cash flow, eliminate cash crunches and empower your business to scale without financial stress. 🎟️ Less than 50 tickets remain. Secure your seat today: https://performance7.global/2025-scaling-up-summit/ Buy a box of 20 books Save 50% over the price on Amazon for Scaling Up, and Start to Scale books here for less! SCALING UP WORKSHOPS: Engage your team with interactive Scaling Up workshops. Here's our list of workshops Planning to Exit – Critical Whitepaper Selling your firm, for its maximum value, is the most important negotiation in which a business owner will participate. You are typically negotiating with 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, stealing tens of millions from you. Seeking help, owners discover 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). Email me to get a whitepaper on how to maximize your valuation and avoid the psychological games buyers play [email protected]. EDUCATION Scaling Up Master Business Course Scaling Up Free Mini Course Planning for 2025 – Get a Coach or Be a Coach It’s best if the planning session is professionally facilitated according to experienced CEOs. This way they can participate in the process (and not dominate it). If you’re looking for a facilitator, click here. And if you’re interested in becoming a coach/facilitator, we’re always looking to add to our 296 experienced partners around the globe. To learn more, click here. TECHNOLOGY Scaling Up Scoreboard is AI-enabled and 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!) with a real-time visual dashboard of cascading priorities and metrics. Get a personalized tour of the Scaling Up Scoreboard to see how you can use it to better implement Scaling Up in your business. *This may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. If you choose to purchase after clicking a link, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.