The Agile Scaleup

McKinsey’s CEO Checklist; How Leaders Coach; Elder vs Elderly; Jan 14 – 17 One Seat Left

Dear ScaleUps, 

Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week. Here are some insights/opportunities to help you outlearn/outthink the competition.

An effective manager-as-coach asks questions instead of providing answers, supports employees instead of judging them, and facilitates their development instead of dictating what has to be done.
	HBR article “The Leader as Coach”

The Worst and Best Halloween Candy --
I agree with the #1 best, but the new #1 worst, no way!!  It’s the first candy I buy and consume!! I just love how this candy site grabs the headlines each year with their newsworthy research – how could you do that each year? What data, when?

CEO Boot Camp January – 1 Seat
Sold out for months, our January 14 – 17 CEO Boot Camp just had a seat open up – one of the CEOs needed to move to our March dates. December has 3 of 7 seats left and March now has just 4 of 7.

McKinsey’s CEO Checklist --
If you’re a CEO, go right to the end of this McKinsey article and look at the concise list of mindsets and practices of excellent CEOs based on 25 years of performance data of 7,800 CEOs from 3,500 public companies across 70 countries and 24 industries. One conclusion?

Whereas Steve Jobs advised college graduates, “Stay hungry, stay foolish,” we urge CEOs to “Stay hungry, stay humble.”

At first, I baulked at the list of 18, but Ritz Carlton had 17 gold standards they expected employees to know and abide by, so why not 18 for the CEO! And McKinsey bunched them into 5 categories – the equivalent of people, strategy, execution, board, and community. Again, the chart/checklist at the end of the article is worth printing out and reviewing constantly. 

The Leader as Coach --
…and for the rest of the leadership team, this Nov-Dec HBR article details the pivot managers must make to becoming coaches to their teams. The authors use Microsoft as a case study, describing how and why this company made the change as it moved from a know-it-all culture to a learn-it-all culture. This article digs into the details! It concludes:

We live in a world of flux. Successful executives must increasingly supplement their industry and functional expertise with a general capacity for learning-and they must develop that capacity in the people they supervise. No longer can managers simply command and control. Nor will they succeed by rewarding team members mainly for executing flawlessly on things they already know how to do. Instead, with full institutional support, they need to reinvent themselves as coaches whose job it is to draw energy, creativity, and learning out of the people with whom they work.

Please take 4 minutes to read through this transformation Microsoft made as a model for even us mere mortal companies. Thank you Steve Hall for pointing me to this valuable article.

Modern Day Elder --
Hotelier and now key advisor to Airbnb, Chip Conley's, presentation at the Scale-Up Summit was very popular and resonated deeply. He just launched a daily blog this week called Wisdom Well housed on the Modern Elder Academy website. You can subscribe here to the blog if you'd like it to come to your email daily. And, of course, his book is entitled Wisdom@Work: The Making of a Modern Elder. 

Wisdom@Work is available here
Modern Elder Academy’s new workshops are here

Scaling Up in Chinese (Simplified) --
EO Shanghai and their teams turned out in force to help me launch Scaling Up in Chinese. Thank you to Fred Crosetto and Amelie Mongrain for organizing this tremendous event along with Preston Kuo who organized the overall book launch.

CEO-BOOTCAMP: spend 3.5 days with Verne, serial entrepreneur John Ratliff, and 6 other CEOs in a beautiful retreat setting, addressing the constraints holding back you, your business, and your industry. Dec 3 - 6, 2019; Jan 14 - 17; Mar 10 - 13; Jul 21 - 24; Aug 18 - 21, 2020.

ORDER a BOX of 20 SCALING UP BOOKS --
Want to save 50% over the price on Amazon? Go to this link. 

EXITING: Looking to sell the business in the next 18 to 36 months? Want to avoid the traps many sellers fall into with today's buyers? You can download the white paper Seven Traps Sophisticated Buyers Deploy Against Unwary Sellers from align5 advisors here

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:

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 coaching@scalingup.com

TECHNOLOGY:

Execute Scaling Up Faster and Drive Accountability -- Drive Execution with Scaling Up Scoreboard, the official software tool for implementing Scaling Up – available online and in a mobile app. The technology behind Scaling Up Scoreboard is proven to help you achieve 3.5x more goals. Learn more at https://scalingup.com/software/ - on your computer, tablet or phone.

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.

FAST vs. SMART Goals; Future 50; Costa Rica Summit; Oct 29 Webinar

Dear ScaleUps, 

Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week. Here are some insights/opportunities to help you outlearn/outthink the competition.

Extreme communication. You say something 75 times, and then you have to say it another 75 times.
	AMD CEO Lisa Su, on how to execute a turnaround (Fortune)

Webinar Oct 29 – 3 Barriers to Scaling --
I'm going LIVE on October 29 with an online 90-min training.  More below, but first…

Costa Rica Jan 27 – Feb 1 -- $1000 Discount by Oct 31 --
More below, but second…

FAST vs. SMART Goals --
Rarely is there something new in standard business lingo that makes me pivot.  However, this MIT Sloan Management Review article suggested by Adam Grant (yes, the article is a year old) suggests FAST goals are better than SMART. SMART is a standard acronym I reference even in Scaling Up, yet I’ve always found it clunky and repetitive (aren’t Achievable and Realistic almost the same? Specific and Measurable two sides of the same coin?). What Donald Sull and Charles Sull suggest is the acronym FAST:

Frequently Discussed – aligns with our daily, weekly, quarterly meeting rhythm Ambitious – indicative of scaleups and much better than “attainable” Specific – their definition encompasses that the goal is measurable as well Transparent – supports the need for software like Scaling Up Scoreboard

Please take 2-minutes to read the details. I’m switching language in our workshops (and will update my book) – and hope you find this framework more comprehensive and representative of growing firms.

Top 30% Crushing Bottom 30% --
It seems the big are getting even bigger and the small, smaller when it comes to public companies. Lessons for all of us, this HBR article by Vijay Govindarajan, et. al details what smaller companies can do to breakthrough. My favorite paragraph:

How can a manager of a small firm escape the small size trap? We constructed a statistical model to distinguish between companies that remained small versus those that grew much larger. We find that the latter had a substantially higher investment in intangibles, larger debt raised (to finance investment), and fewer annual losses than the perennially small. Escapees had a relatively higher asset base and were younger than those left behind. Notably, investment in physical assets (property, plant, equipment), share buybacks, dividend payments, and acquisitions were negatively associated with the likelihood of escape.

It underpins research Jim Collins shared in Great by Choice (still my favorite of Jim’s books). He found that companies should only pour in capital and technology AFTER they’ve figured out their business model (i.e. one that is profitable!) And we’re big fans of smaller firms using much more debt to then accelerate a successful business model. Please take 2-minutes to read the article and then figure how to be highly profitable (right customer, right product/service) and then pour in the cash/debt!! 

Best Potential for Future Growth – and Crushing the Market --
Fortune’s “Future 50” last year recorded shareholder returns of 13.9%, significantly above the 7.6% for the MSCI world stock index. This week they released their latest list of 50 and making the top 10: Workday, Square, ServiceNow, Contemporary Amperex Technology, Spotify, Atlassian, Xiaomi, Ctrip.com, Salesforce, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

AI and Machine Learning Used to Determine Future 50 --
…and this Fortune article details the factors that go into determining which companies have the brightest future along the dimensions of strategy, technology and investments, people, and structure. And there was a focus on a “path to profitability” test. It’s worth 3 minutes to soak up the details – and contemplate your own company’s future. 

ScaleUp Summit Highlight Reel – Dallas May 5 – 6 is Next --
The equivalent of reading 24 books in two days, the latest ScaleUp Summit is highlighted in this 2-minute video produced by Align5 Films. And the party Tuesday night ran the latest it’s ever run – entertainment courtesy of the Dutch band Policed! The next Summit is May 5 – 6 (I teach a half-day Scaling Up workshop on May 7 – included in registration) in Dallas, TX.  $250 deposit to hold the best seats – based on size of team and timing of registration. See you in Dallas for another great line-up of keynotes representing the latest new biz books.

Webinar Oct 29 – 3 Barriers to Scaling --
I'm going LIVE on October 29 with an online training called 'Overcome the Growth Paradox - 3 Barriers That Keep You from Scaling in 2020'. I’ll share the common mistakes CEOs and business leaders tend to make that prevent them from achieving the growth they’re after. Join me for free here:

Costa Rica Jan 27 – Feb 1 -- $1000 Discount by Oct 31 --
January 2020 Scaling Your Mindset to Scale your Business retreat in Costa Rica is offering a $1,000 early bird discount before October 31st. Led by Scaling Up Certified coaches Juletta Broomfield and Lisa Foulger, here’s a link for more info.

CEO-BOOTCAMP: spend 3.5 days with Verne, serial entrepreneur John Ratliff, and 6 other CEOs in a beautiful retreat setting, addressing the constraints holding back you, your business, and your industry. Dec 3 - 6, 2019; Jan 14 - 17 (Sold Out); Mar 10 - 13; Jul 21 - 24; Aug 18 - 21, 2020.

ORDER a BOX of 20 SCALING UP BOOKS --
Want to save 50% over the price on Amazon? Go to this link. 

EXITING: Looking to sell the business in the next 18 to 36 months? Want to avoid the traps many sellers fall into with today's buyers? You can download the white paper Seven Traps Sophisticated Buyers Deploy Against Unwary Sellers from align5 advisors here

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:

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 coaching@scalingup.com

TECHNOLOGY:

Execute Scaling Up Faster and Drive Accountability -- Drive Execution with Scaling Up Scoreboard, the official software tool for implementing Scaling Up – available online and in a mobile app. The technology behind Scaling Up Scoreboard is proven to help you achieve 3.5x more goals. Learn more at https://scalingup.com/software/ - on your computer, tablet or phone.

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.

Dyson’s Decision; Father of iPod; Japan’s Coach; Shanghai Next Week

Dear ScaleUps, 

Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week. Here are some insights/opportunities to help you outlearn/outthink the competition.

…the silver lining of this horrible decision is we can concentrate on those (other exciting projects).
	James Dyson on deciding to stop electric car project

Latest ScaleUp News --
Entries still open for Amazon ScaleUp Awards; Bob Glazer’s Elevate book excerpt – this news and more at ScaleUps.com, your one-stop weekly update. 

Dec 3 – 6 CEO Boot Camp --
With January selling out and March filling up, John Ratliff and I added Dec 3 – 6, Marathon, FL (great time to be where it’s warm) for another CEO Boot Camp – join 7 other CEOs where we bring our content and contacts to the table to remove the constraints in your business. 

Dyson Says No --
Saying “no” is often more important than saying yes – and this is just what billionaire inventor James Dyson did last week. Fortune’s exclusive interview with Dyson details why he pulled the plug on his electric car development after dumping $2.5 billion and 2 years into the project. Notes Fortune:

The story of his audacious but ultimately failed project also says much about Dyson, the rare executive who can combine blue-sky dreaming with steely-eyed financial discipline. At a time when every company speaks about innovation and disruption, Dyson’s decision to kill his electric car is a case study in the delicate balancing act of embracing ingenuity while keeping an eye on profits.

Please take 4 minutes to read Dyson’s story. 2018 revenues were up 25% to $5.6 billion and for the first-time profit exceeded $1 billion as his 14,000-employee firm (wow, I had no idea it was this big) continues to reinvent basic industries. What do you need to say no to, especially where it’s draining the firm and the resistance to stop is ego driven? 

Japan’s Rugby Team Defying All Odds – Coaching is Key --
For the first time making it into the quarter finals, Japan stunned Scotland, beating them 28 – 21 earlier this week. The key has been their coaching – and a deep understanding of how to play to one’s strengths. Notes this BBC report 2 days ago:

Conscious that Japanese players will generally be of smaller stature than their opponents, Hasegawa has compared his scrummaging technique with Japan to a punch, where "punching faster" will cause more impact than "punching harder". His breakthrough came in two Tests against Ireland in June 2017. Japan were overpowered in the scrum in the first Test. However, a minor change in the angle of the hooker saw the Brave Blossoms compete the following week. It was then the Japan forwards realised his ability to transform the scrum.

How do you turn a potential disadvantage into a dominating strategy with just the tweak of an angle in your business? Thank you UK Scaling Up Certified coach Neale Lewis who has been in Japan for the entire rugby world cup, sending me regular updates. 

Creator of iPod Shares Details --
Yes, it was locking up a Toshiba flash drive for 3+ years in an “exclusive supply” agreement that gave Apple the runway it needed to scale up the iPod and save the company. In this 9to5Mac Q&A with Tony Fadell, known as the “Father of the iPod”, he reveals details behind the iPod strategy including a later $4 billion purchase order for Samsung flash drives for the iPod nano, the largest purchase order in the company’s history to date. He also details why Sony didn’t compete and how a personal friend (and reporter) of Steve Jobs convinced him to make the iPod compatible with PCs. What key industry “constraint” do you need to lock up in a long-term exclusive arrangement to thwart the competition? Thank you to Scaling Up Certified coach Bill Gallagher for pointing me to this insightful interview.

Shanghai Next Week – Launch of Chinese (simplified) --
Over 200 YPOer and EOers and their teams will join me next week for 2.5 days in Scaling Up their firms – and participate in the book launch of Scaling Up in Chinese (simplified). Thank you to YPOer Mergen Chuluun for all your efforts to host this workshop.

CEO-BOOTCAMP: spend 3.5 days with Verne, serial entrepreneur John Ratliff, and 6 other CEOs in a beautiful retreat setting, addressing the constraints holding back you, your business, and your industry. Dec 3 - 6, 2019; Jan 14 - 17 (Sold Out); Mar 10 - 13; Jul 21 - 24; Aug 18 - 21, 2020.

ORDER a BOX of 20 SCALING UP BOOKS --
Want to save 50% over the price on Amazon? Go to this link. 

EXITING: Looking to sell the business in the next 18 to 36 months? Want to avoid the traps many sellers fall into with today's buyers? You can download the white paper Seven Traps Sophisticated Buyers Deploy Against Unwary Sellers from align5 advisors here

Looking to take a deeper dive? Join the align5 team at the Exit Strategy Retreat Oct 21-24 in Marathon, FL - same amazing venue as CEO Bootcamp! This event is limited to 5 growth company entrepreneurs. All aspects of the exit process will be covered in depth. Additional benefits for attendees and Retreat amenities detailed at the Exit Strategy Retreat site.

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:

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 coaching@scalingup.com

TECHNOLOGY:

Create Accountability - Drive Execution with Align, cloud-based software designed to scale up your Rockefeller Habits implementation. www.alignwithscalingup.com - on your computer, tablet or phone. Click here to watch an introductory video.

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.

$.99 Book Today; Aflac Duck; John DiJulius; Nick Dancer’s Concrete Biz; See You Next Week

Dear ScaleUps, 

Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week. Here are some insights/opportunities to help you outlearn/outthink the competition.

The most important component of a world-class experience is that the staff is not focused on selling stuff. They are focused on building relationships and trying to make people’s lives better.
	John DiJulius, The Relationship Economy

Latest ScaleUp News --
“Unleashing the Power of Encouragement” by Co-Founder and Chairman of Griffin Phoenix Capital; “The Secret Power of Showing Up and Doing the Work” by Nick Dancer - this news and more at ScaleUps.com, your one-stop weekly update.

Sleep Helps You Spot Good Ideas --
Surprise, surprise, but sleep is critical, especially for entrepreneurs, in spotting good ideas. This HBR article details out the research and outcomes. 

The Relationship Economy --
Subtitled Building Stronger Customer Connections in the Digital Age, customer service guru John DiJulius released his latest book this week, just prior to keynoting our ScaleUp Summit. Go to page 186 and read the Ch. 9 takeaways - here are the first three:

1. Your competitor has the same products and services that you do. So all things being equal, how can an organization tip the scale in its favor? Convenience.
2. If you want to win in business, figure out how to be more convenient than your competition by removing traditional bottlenecks that customers are sick of.
3. The key to mitigating disloyalty is reducing customer effort. Companies should focus on making service easier, not more delightful, by reducing the amount of work required of customers to get their issues resolved.

What I love about John’s books are all the practical examples - it’s because he runs his own chain of spas/salons, so he lives in the real world of scaling and serving customers in a very competitive marketspace.

Aflac CEO for 30 Years, Keys to His Success --
10x the revenue and 50x the market cap, Dan Amos, as a 2^nd generation CEO, has been an outstanding leader of $22 billion Aflac. Creator of their famous duck brand, he took a risk with this quirky character. Notes Fortune:

The popularity of that wing-flapping Aflac duck has been a big reason behind the company’s success. Amos says he took a chance on the duck idea even though the $1 million television commercial cost twice as much as any other ad campaign in the company’s history. Most of all, he feared that “we were kinda making fun of our name.” But the ad campaign was an immediate hit “We only had 5 percent name recognition,” says Amos about the Aflac duck launch nearly 20 years ago. “We jumped all the way to 90 (percent) in three years and our sales doubled. So taking risks is worth it.”

Take Care of People – They’ll Take Care of Customer --
At the 1:10 mark in this 7-minute Fortune interview of Dan Amos, he reflects on the most important piece of advice he received from his dad and uncles who founded the firm - take care of the people and they’ll take care of the customer. As an example, his first year as CEO he asked the employees what they wanted, and it was an onsite day care center. Even though his lawyers pushed back, I loved his line in the interview “why would I ask the employees if I wasn’t going to do what they wanted.” Aflac became the first corporation in Georgia, 30 years ago, to host a child care center. The entire 7-minute interview is worth watching - if nothing else to see how a seasoned CEO handles questions and to get his simple, yet profound, insights. 

Day In, Day Out – $.99 Kindle Today (ScaleUp Story) --
Owner of Fort Wayne, IN-based Dancer Concrete Design, Nick Dancer has scaled his business into a regional leader in architectural finishes. He’s taken a lot of what he’s learned and wrote and released his first book this week titled Day In, Day Out: The Secret Power of Showing Up and Doing the Work. With one to two-page chapters (Nick gets to the point), spend $.99 and grab the Kindle version - and go right to chapter 40 “Love the Sludge” - worth the buck. Congrats Nick!!!

CEO-BOOTCAMP: spend 3.5 days with Verne, serial entrepreneur John Ratliff, and 6 other CEOs in a beautiful retreat setting, addressing the constraints holding back you, your business, and your industry. Jan 14 - 17; Jan 21 - 24; Mar 10 - 13, 2020.

ORDER a BOX of 20 SCALING UP BOOKS --
Want to save 50% over the price on Amazon? Go to this link. 

EXITING: Looking to sell the business in the next 18 to 36 months? Want to avoid the traps many sellers fall into with today's buyers? You can download the white paper Seven Traps Sophisticated Buyers Deploy Against Unwary Sellers from align5 advisors here

Looking to take a deeper dive? Join the align5 team at the Exit Strategy Retreat Oct 21-24 in Marathon, FL - same amazing venue as CEO Bootcamp! This event is limited to 5 growth company entrepreneurs. All aspects of the exit process will be covered in depth. Additional benefits for attendees and Retreat amenities detailed at the Exit Strategy Retreat site.

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 coaching@scalingup.com

TECHNOLOGY:

Create Accountability - Drive Execution with Align, cloud-based software designed to scale up your Rockefeller Habits implementation. www.alignwithscalingup.com - on your computer, tablet or phone. Click here to watch an introductory video.

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.

Zuckerberg’s Leaked Audio; Glazer’s Elevate; Last Quarterly Theme; Dec 3 - 6, 2019 Boot Camp

Dear ScaleUps, 

Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week. Here are some insights/opportunities to help you outlearn/outthink the competition.

The difference between what we do and what we’re capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.
	Mahatma Gandhi as quoted in Elevate

Latest ScaleUp News --
8 Things We Learned from Zuckerberg’s Leaked Audio - this news and more at ScaleUps.com, your one-stop weekly update.

New CEO Boot Camp Dates - Florida and Colorado
Since January has already sold out, John Ratliff and I just added Dec 3 - 6, 2019 - a good time to think deeply about 2020 and beyond. Several PE firms are sending CEOs given the immediate impact on valuation, revenue, and profits the boot camps are generating. Join 6 other CEOs for 3 intense days of personal instruction and coaching. We’ve also added July 21- 24 and August 18 - 21 dates in Estes Park, CO - www.ceo-bootcamp.com

Finish Strong - The One Thing This Quarter --
For many of us, 01 Oct was the beginning of our last quarter for the fiscal year.  How are you going to finish strong? What is the #1 Priority - The One Thing - your team needs to accomplish by 31 Dec.? Do you and your team have a strong “kick.” Scaling Up Certified coach Doug Wick shares in this article how his son Josh put a plan together to accomplish his One Thing - “to beat Chase in a race.” Please take 2 minutes to read how he did it and then read about some good biz examples. Then gather your team and pick a quarterly theme - it’s not too late to finish the year strong.

Elevate: Push Beyond Your Limits --
Entrepreneur and CEO Robert Glazer has written another short and insightful personal leadership book about capacity building - increasing your emotional, physical, intellectual, and spiritual capacity. Notes Glazer “…capacity building is not about doing more. It’s about doing more of the right things.” Just 126 pages, grab a copy of Glazer’s book and relish in the practical reminders this weekend. Glazer will also be speaking at the ScaleUp Summit in Anaheim Oct 15 - 17 - come meet and learn from him. One big lesson from Glazer? He knows how to bolt on brands to elevate his own - endorsers for the book include Adam Grant, Dan Pink, Seth Godin, and Dr. Oz!!

Electric Fans Consume 22% of World’s Electricity --
…which generates as much CO2 emissions as all the cars in the world. And until now, there hasn’t been much innovation for 100 years. Check out this Kickstarter campaign by biomimicry guru Jay Harman (he keynoted our Summit) crowd funding the new Flair ultra-efficient, quiet fan which uses a third the energy of even the well-known Dyson fan.  BTW, I’m receiving zero compensation for highlighting - not even a fan! Consider spending $178 and pre-purchasing two fans ($89 each) - and deeper discounts for 3, 4, or more. Support a fellow entrepreneur and the environment - your own and the world’s!! Thank you, Jay, for all you do. 

USC Group’s Visual Approach (Scaling Up Case Study) --
Australia-based UCS Group, which develops urban utility networks, has really embraced the Scaling Up approach. Check out their website: https://www.ucs.com.au/. Scroll around and you’ll see their values, purpose, brand promise (on the wall, their shirts, their vehicles), client video testimonials … and they bring it all together on their recruiting page: https://www.ucs.com.au/culture-careers/. And their CEO Stephen Ellich has ALL levels of leadership present for their annual retreat and quarterly reviews (ie: there are ~35 leaders in the room ranging from the founder and private equity investors through to team leaders who run their field operations). The culture and momentum they have built is just fantastic to see. What are you doing to make more visible your Vision Summary? Thank you Scaling Up Certified coach Rob Nankervis for sharing.

Powerful Women; Uber Founder’s Letter Never Sent; WeWork’s Founder; Anaheim Oct 15 - 17

Dear ScaleUps, 

Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week. Here are some insights/opportunities to help you outlearn/outthink the competition.

Scaling Up Scoreboard® --
Want to increase the number of priorities completed by 3.5x? The newly branded Scaling Up Scoreboard® powered by Align puts your priorities, KPIs, and all the Scaling Up tools at your fingertips (mobile ready). More below, but first…

The Letter Uber’s Founder Never Sent --
If you read just one thing today (or this weekend), I hope all leaders of scaleups read the letter that Gizmodo reports Travis Kalanick wrote but never sent detailing the mistakes he made in scaling up Uber. We’re always talking about the good, but it’s rare we get a direct glimpse into an entrepreneur openly admitting their faults. The 2000-word letter opens with “Over the last seven years, our company has grown a lot - but it hasn’t grown up.” Please take four minutes to read this incredibly insightful look at the pitfalls facing most scaleups - and possibly discussing at your next weekly meeting. Thank you Scaling Up coach Pelle Tornell for sharing this with me.

What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There --
I was struck, in the letter, by this line of Kalanick “...As we grew, I held on to too many things that helped me survive and build a great company, but at scale became ever-increasing liabilities.” He then goes on to list many of those “things” detailing what he called “organizational debt” which built up because of their rapid growth - one being processes that didn’t scale and another having too many first-time managers. Granted, going from 400 to 14,000 employees in seven years is more growth than 99.9% of us will face, nevertheless the lessons he lists are useful to review from your own organizational context. Again, I hope you’ll take a few minutes to read. At a minimum, I found it powerful that Kalanick wrote the letter if for no other reason than to clear his head as he was facing a series of major challenges, both personal and professional. 

WeWork’s Founder Out as Well – So How Did He Scale?
This Fortune article details the reasons WeWork founder Adam Neumann was forced out of his CEO role this week. What I found insightful was this sentence
“Neumann grew WeWork into a disruptive force within the commercial real estate industry through a blend of branding, marketing, messaging, and design.” For all his failures, the lesson we can all take from WeWork is the importance of branding, marketing, messaging, and design. Imagine, then, if you put these things behind a winning business model! These are four powerful topics for your ongoing one-hour marketing meeting – get to it!!

Fortune’s Most Powerful Women List --
Published this week (with excellent video interviews of each woman – really worth watching), the top five are Marillyn Hewson, CEO of Lockheed Martin; Mary Barra, CEO of GM; Abigail Johnson, CEO of Fidelity Investments; Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM; and Gail Boudreaux, CEO of Anthem. Moving up or newly joining include Accenture’s new Global CEO Julie Sweet and Best Buy’s new CEO Corie Barry. Here’s a link to the entire list of 50.

Scaling Up Scoreboard® Whitepaper --
Looking at data from 1900 companies which have created more than 435,000 priorities on our partner dashboarding system called Align -- now white label branded Scaling Up Scoreboard® - the software’s data provides quantitative insights into how successful companies scale up and grow. Using this data, we compiled a whitepaper featuring research that proves you can reduce your timeline for achieving your goals by continuously improving your strategic planning and execution using technology. You can download the whitepaper here.

1 in 3 Children; Sisodia; Adele; Rosenzweig; Sept 26 Cutoff

Dear ScaleUps, 

Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week. Here are some insights/opportunities to help you outlearn/outthink the competition.

Latest ScaleUp News --
SpaceX’s Orbital Starship; WeWork’s Rough Week; Facebook’s Supreme Court; and how a mine in Africa dramatically reduced employee theft - this news and more at ScaleUps.com, your one-stop weekly update.

The Full-Circle Biz Owner Experience --
Russ sold then bought back his firm - more below, but next…

The Healing Organization --
Raj Sisodia, co-founder of Conscious Capitalism with Whole Foods’ founder John Mackey - and co-author of the best-seller by the same name - has a new book out this week titled The Healing Organization. Another brilliantly written and timely book, it shares many real-world examples of how firms are taking a complete stakeholder approach - care for customers, employees, community, and shareholders - and driving superior performance. This Conscious Magazine article provides a good two-page overview and highlights Appletree Answers, the call center business that Scaling Up Coaching CEO John Ratliff scaled to 650 employees while driving down employee turnover to 18% -- one-tenth industry average.

Recession? Time to Prune? But Don’t Layoff? --
The nation’s top CFOs and other indicators are pointing to a recession fall 2020, just before the US elections. We’ve often suggested the talk of recession provides a good reason to clean house - reduce unnecessary expenses, streamline processes, etc - activities you should be doing quarterly anyway. But what about trimming back employees? The article, highlighted above, includes how Detroit-based DTE Energy, during the last financial crisis, went to its 10,000 employees and asked their help to survive, working more creatively and passionately, without laying anyone off The results -- a significant turnaround within a year and a much stronger culture as a result. Raj’s book is full of these specific “conscious” leadership decisions - SPro and Book Club members will receive a copy and Raj is keynoting our May 5 - 6 ScaleUp Summit in Dallas next year. 

1 in 3 Children in US Have One of the 4As (This Needs Healing!) --
Autism, Allergies (food), ADHD, and Asthma now inflict 1 in 3 children in the US earning them the label Generation Rx because of the amount of medication they are taking. Cancer is the leading cause of death in children under age 13. This is an epidemic of huge proportion and all epidemics have a trigger. Robyn O’Brien says it’s our food! Her TED talk has been viewed by millions around the globe and she’s been called “food’s Erin Brockovich” by Bloomberg and New York Times. This 28-minute video details her findings (7:38 in the video is where she shares the facts stated above). It’s our food and children that need healed - and is a true energy crisis in the US, given that our own happiness/energy is tied to the least-healthy of our children. This should matter to all our companies. Thank you to Scaling Up Coach Greg Eisen for sharing.

Again, Daily Huddle Works! (Scaling Up Case Study) --
QuickBox has scaled to over $60 million and 300 employees in 3 years and was just named by Inc. to the top 10% of the fastest growing private companies in America. Notes CEO Stephen Adele:

I too, want to send you an immense amount of gratitude for teaching us the importance of the “Daily Huddle” - among many other great business concepts. (Our growth) is in no small part to our internal mantra (because we serve ecommerce marketers/brands in health and wellness), “the internet doesn’t shut off, so we can’t either” and how that aligns with our daily huddles, across the business units.

14 Business Units, Morning Huddle 365 Days a Year --
Stephen goes on to explain:

EVERY SINGLE BUSINESS UNIT inside QuickBox (14 in total) has a morning daily huddle, 365 days a year. Our huddles are loved by everyone, because they are fast, organized, set priorities and build plans for the day - and we can make business decisions or course corrections quickly. They provide transparency and a high level of accountability. They are the bedrock of our success. Thank you, thank you, thank you! For staying persistent on the foundations of what makes a good business turn great!

Thank you, Stephen and team, for your persistence and discipline. 

Visualization of Major Award Works --
A consumer products company, aspiring to win a major international award, used visualisation. Notes their Australia-based Scaling Up Coach Rob Nankervis,“it was a bold ambition considering their current state of scale and performance. So, my colleague and I dressed in formal attire, dimmed the lights, stood behind a lectern and ran a mock ‘awards’ ceremony where we called them to the stage and asked ‘how did you get here?’. Two years later they were on the real stage in the USA getting the real award.” This stuff works!!!

Full-Circle, continued --
Russ Rosenzweig emailed me to let me know he just bought back the expert witness services firm he sold to Thomson Reuters in 2010. Called Round Table Group, Russ’s story runs the gamut of entrepreneurial journeys -- inventing a new industry, creating one of the first virtual companies, almost folding during the 2000 dot com crash, then growing from 0 to $15m fast, having an exit, and then buying it back. That’s how it works out sometimes. Congratulations, Russ!

Room Cut-off Extended to Sept 26th --
Attending the ScaleUp Summit? To secure the discounted conference rate for hotel rooms at the Anaheim Marriott, the cut-off date is Sept 26 - go to this link. And let us know if you need anything special. See you in Anaheim in a month.

CEO-BOOTCAMP: spend 3.5 days with Verne, serial entrepreneur John Ratliff, and 6 other CEOs in a beautiful retreat setting, addressing the constraints holding back you, your business, and your industry. Jan 14 - 17; Jan 21 - 24; Mar 10 - 13, 2020.

ORDER a BOX of 20 SCALING UP BOOKS --
Want to save 50% over the price on Amazon? Go to this link. 

EXITING: Looking to sell the business in the next 18 to 36 months? Want to avoid the traps many sellers fall into with today's buyers? You can download the white paper Seven Traps Sophisticated Buyers Deploy Against Unwary Sellers from align5 advisors here

Looking to take a deeper dive? Join the align5 team at the Exit Strategy Retreat Oct 21-24 in Marathon, FL - same amazing venue as CEO Bootcamp! This event is limited to 5 growth company entrepreneurs. All aspects of the exit process will be covered in depth. Additional benefits for attendees and Retreat amenities detailed at the Exit Strategy Retreat site.

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 coaching@scalingup.com

TECHNOLOGY:

Create Accountability - Drive Execution with Align, cloud-based software designed to scale up your Rockefeller Habits implementation. www.alignwithscalingup.com - on your computer, tablet or phone. Click here to watch an introductory video.

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.

First Canadian; T. Boone Quotes; Dashboard Saves Life; Sept 19 Room Cutoff

Dear ScaleUps, 

Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week. Here are some insights/opportunities to help you outlearn/outthink the competition.

When you invent the ship, you also invent the shipwreck.
                                           Philosopher Paul Virilio as quoted in Indistractable

I guess these visualizations really, really work…
                                           Bianca Andreescu, US Open Tennis Champ

Room Cut-off Sept 19 ScaleUp Summit Anaheim --
Attending the ScaleUp Summit? To secure the discounted conference rate for hotel rooms at the Anaheim Marriott, the cut-off date is Sept 19 - go to this link. And let us know if you need anything special. See you in Anaheim in a month.

How a Dashboard Saved Doug’s Life --
This week on ScaleUps.com read how Doug Wick used the same dashboarding system he uses with clients to save his own life - from zero percent chance of survival to cured (know someone battling for their life? Please have them read!). And Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, retired at 55 worth $41.8 billion. This and more news about scaleups at ScaleUps.com.

Indistractable by Nir Eyal --
Released this week and titled Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life” Nir has done it again - written another beautifully titled and written book on the heels of his runaway hit Hooked. Please go to page 228 and review the “Chapter Takeaways” (he summarizes the main point from each chapter - wish I would have thought of that!). Then pick a chapter/topic and dig in - my two favorites are Ch 34 and 35 dealing with indistractable relationships. SPro and book club members will receive a copy next week; then come hear Nir keynote our ScaleUp Summit May 5 - 6, 2020 in Dallas - mark your calendars for two-days of insightful exec ed.

5 Lessons in Mental Strength from US Open Champ --
Last Saturday 19-year-old Bianca Andreescu beat Serena Williams to become the first Canadian to win a singles Grand Slam tennis title. This Thrive Global article details five mental tactics she used to win, available to any of us. My favorite was writing herself a mock $3.25 million check when she was 15, representing the winner’s check that year at the US Open.  She then updated the check each year, as the amount raised, until she received the real check for $3.85 million on Saturday. Her reaction? “I guess this visualization stuff works!!” Here are the five strategies:

• Visualize, visualize, visualize – she did more than just write a mock check
• Write the check – just like Canadian Jim Carrey
• Be present (with every shot) – her meditation routine honed this skill
• Breathe! – deep breathing calms mind and body
• Dream Big and Get Big – something she learned from her mother

Please take 1-minute to scan the details - and then share with your children!!

Mr. Jenkins’ Two-Questions (Biz Biography) --
Scaling to over $100 million and 453 employees, Jonathan Bancroft, President & CEO of Charlotte, NC-based Morris-Jenkins, shares the lessons he learned from his mentor Dewey Jenkins in a book released this week titled Mr. Jenkins Told Me…. At the heart of Morris-Jenkins’s success were two questions:

1. “How can we give our customers a better experience?”
2. “What can we eliminate, or make easier, so that doing business with us is effortless, happy, and fun?”

Not surprisingly, these two questions are at the heart of what we’re teaching scaleups. First, its not just about the product or service but the entire customer experience. Is every touch point in the business a great experience? Second, the ultimate strategy for every business is to make something easier for the customer. Are you easy to find? Is your website easy to navigate? How does your product/service make a customer’s life/work easier? These two questions are key - ask them at your next quarterly/monthly/weekly gathering.

The Daily Huddle Works (Scaling Up Case Study) --
Eric McDonald shared the following story:

I wanted to relay a quick, funny story with you and show a bit of gratitude. My wife Rachel and I were just on vacation for a week. She learned Gazelle’s methodologies years ago when she worked for a company called Plant Interscapes, and it was years after I had worked with you guys, but your core teachings were still the same.

Anyway, at breakfast, every morning last week, both of our phones pinged at exactly the same time and said exactly the same thing. “Reminder - Daily Huddle”. We’re both people leaders in our respective organizations, and we both, to this day, have a daily huddle with our direct reports. I know you have tons of testimonials, but by my calculations I’ve been practicing a daily huddle for about 20 years now, and her for 10. In case anyone asks, yes, IT WORKS! Thank you!

T. Boone Pickens Has Died at Age 91 --
Both a big thinker and doer, T. Boone Pickens passed away this week from natural causes. Working up until a year ago, I shared, again, from the stage in Mexico City how T. Boone implemented just one-daily routine and turned $2.8 million into $4 billion, which he proceeded to give away. And that routine was the same as John D. Rockefeller and Steve Jobs. He would have breakfast every morning with his senior team to talk and set priorities for the day after an hour of working out (he once challenged Barack Obama, 33 years his junior, to a fitness challenge) and gathering intel from the marketplace. He understood if you want to move faster you have to pulse faster - the daily huddle works!! This Fortune article shares T. Boone Pickens life and philosophies in a series of memorable quotes - please take 2 minutes to take in the wisdom of this “Oracle of Oil” icon of the entrepreneurial world.

CEO-BOOTCAMP: spend 3.5 days with Verne, serial entrepreneur John Ratliff, and 6 other CEOs in a beautiful retreat setting, addressing the constraints holding back you, your business, and your industry. Jan 14 - 17; Jan 21 - 24; Mar 10 - 13, 2020.

ORDER a BOX of 20 SCALING UP BOOKS --
Want to save 50% over the price on Amazon? Go to this link. 

EXITING: Looking to sell the business in the next 18 to 36 months? Want to avoid the traps many sellers fall into with today's buyers? You can download the white paper Seven Traps Sophisticated Buyers Deploy Against Unwary Sellers from align5 advisors here

Looking to take a deeper dive? Join the align5 team at the Exit Strategy Retreat Oct 21-24 in Marathon, FL - same amazing venue as CEO Bootcamp! This event is limited to 5 growth company entrepreneurs. All aspects of the exit process will be covered in depth. Additional benefits for attendees and Retreat amenities detailed at the Exit Strategy Retreat site.

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 coaching@scalingup.com

TECHNOLOGY:

Create Accountability - Drive Execution with Align, cloud-based software designed to scale up your Rockefeller Habits implementation. www.alignwithscalingup.com - on your computer, tablet or phone. Click here to watch an introductory video.

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.

Elon in China; Modern Day Rockefeller; Huddle Golden Rules; Chief Executive Interview

Dear ScaleUps, 

Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week. Here are some insights/opportunities to help you outlearn/outthink the competition.

“Routine sets you free.”

Scaleups.com, the Medium for Growing Firms --
This week we launched a new media property called ScaleUps - the latest up-to-date news, articles, and videos featuring growing firms. Curated each week by Elaine Pofeldt, who led Fortune Small Business online, take a few minutes to scan through the site and read about the “50 Best Private Equity Firms for Entrepreneurs” and how Elon Musk went to China and received tax breaks for Tesla…and more…

Chief Executive Magazine Interview --
One of the most extensive interviews I’ve done lately, for the premier CEO magazine in the world, I loved Editor Dan Bigman’s opening question about what John D. Rockefeller would think of businesses today (hope you agree). I also share what is the most important leader KPI; what is the biggest challenge facing mid-market firms; and we explore a host of other topics including important routines that drive growth. Grab your favorite beverage and take 3-minutes to scan the article. And I keynote their annual CEO Leadership Summit in Dallas. 

Modern Day Rockefeller - Keys to Scale
Not surprisingly, Microsoft is the largest market cap firm. This HBR article details four habits/routines Microsoft uses to maintain a sense of community and “learning culture” among its 144,000 employees – all available to us mere mortal mid-market firms. Specifically:

1. Enterprise-Level Social Networking - key to staying connected around the globe
2. Daily Pulse Checks -- snapshot of how employees are feeling about the company, its culture, and other timely topics
3. Monthly Live Events - chance for employees to connect directly with CEO Nadella
4. “Growth Mindset in Action” Video Series -- to model the shift toward creating a learning organization, to spark dialogue, and to prompt employees to talk about their learnings.

“Routine sets you free.” Check out the short article for more details about each routine. Thanks to Mirko Wormuth for sharing. 

Golden Rules for Daily Huddle (Scaling Up Case Study) --
Intraway CTO Matt Torchinsky attended our 2.5 day Scaling Up workshop with his senior team and came away committed to the daily huddle (the importance of which our competition downplays!). To fine tune his 9-person huddle, he instituted some simple rules. Notes Matt, in an email to me:

What I did?

1. I setup what i called "Huddle Golden Rules" which are:
2. Daily Huddles take, maximum, 15'. Then the call will shut down (no matter who is speaking)
3. If you arrive late, you have the right to listen but not to talk, and must share your updates with the team through slack/hangouts/mail/etc.

What was the Outcome?

1. Everybody started attending the huddle on-time (Everybody wants to talk!!)
2. The team auto-regulates. Having in mind golden rule #1 it turns out that when someone takes too much time the team pushes them to stop (We all want to talk!)
3. Our Daily Huddles take (maximum) 15', therefore we are learning day by day how to improve our messaging and share relevant information!
4. Focus: People understand this is THE call were we (the team) sync up (and it takes maximum 15'!!!), we need them all to focus on the call.

And most importantly, the Daily Huddle works – if you want to move faster you want to pulse faster – and every minute in a daily huddle, if operated correctly, saves everyone 10 minutes – a 10x return on time!  Let us help if your daily huddles need a tune up!

CEO-BOOTCAMP: spend 3.5 days with Verne, serial entrepreneur John Ratliff, and 6 other CEOs in a beautiful retreat setting, addressing the constraints holding back you, your business, and your industry. Jan 14 - 17; Jan 21 - 24; Mar 10 - 13, 2020.

EXITING: Looking to sell the business in the next 18 to 36 months? Want to avoid the traps many sellers fall into with today's buyers? You can download the white paper Seven Traps Sophisticated Buyers Deploy Against Unwary Sellers from align5 advisors 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 coaching@scalingup.com

TECHNOLOGY:

Create Accountability - Drive Execution with Align, cloud-based software designed to scale up your Rockefeller Habits implementation. www.alignwithscalingup.com - on your computer, tablet or phone. Click here to watch an introductory video.

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.
 

Great Scoreboard; Reward A-Players; Moon-Shot Questions; Philly SMP

Dear ScaleUps, 

Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week. Here are some insights/opportunities to help you outlearn/outthink the competition.

ScaleUp Summit Anaheim --
Join the largest gathering of executives leading scaleups - along with a dozen+ authors of the top business books to outlearn the competition - and have some fun. Ben Horowitz, Chip Conley, David Meerman Scott, John DiJulius, Robert Glazer, Alden Mills, Mark Divine, Santiago Jaramillo, and the infamous Molly Bloom (of the movie Molly’s Game fame) and more.  We’ll host a fun casino party in Molly’s honor with the band Policed. And I’ll be leading an optional half-day Scaling Up workshop included in the registration price. Executive education is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s the single highest ROI of any marginal dollar invested - and the Summit is like reading a dozen biz books, the pace of A-player execs. See you in Anaheim Oct 15 – 17. 

Red Balloon’s Latest BHAG and Scoreboard --
In 2005 Red Balloon founder Naomi Simson, having sold just 7500 experiences, set a BHAG to sell 2 million experiences (representing 10% of Australia’s population) by 2015.Equally important, she put up a big scoreboard and tracked it real time. Results? Her team achieved the BHAG two years early, in 2013. Her latest BHAG is based around “velocity of experiences served” with the goal being 1 per second! Currently they are at 1 per 49 seconds. Are you tracking your BHAG real time? Posted on big scoreboards? 

6 Questions Before Launching a Moon-Shot Project --
This HBR article uses Jeff Bezos’s space ambitions to demonstrate six questions to evaluate the likely success of a significant project. Notes the authors:

We have come to realize that the success of a project largely depends on six questions. Six simple, straightforward, yes-or-no questions. Below, we’ll apply them to Bezos’s space ambitions to analyze and assess the likelihood of his moon shot’s succeeding (literally and figuratively). As you read, apply these questions to your own moon shot projects and make your own assessment.

Not surprising, the six questions are summarized as Who, What, When, Where, How, and Why - the same that have driven the One-Page Strategic Plan for almost two decades. And we would add “should or shouldn’t” - a core values/ethical question Anyway, the more detailed questions in the article are excellent and serve as a quick way to evaluate your ambitious projects. I have a new moon-shot project to bring together the owners of sports team in the US and Europe and using these 6 questions during a key meeting today to assess the likely success - stay tuned. Thanks to Steve Hall for sharing.

Rewarding A-Players --
Our 180+ coaching partners participate in a Yammer channel where they support each other in coaching you. This week one of the partners posted “A client has asked how she should better understand the drivers/motivations of her A-Players and appropriately reward them to inspire and retain that valuable talent. Interested in what others have done.” Another partner responded with an excellent list:

• Provide them with stretching assignments, challenges and projects.
• Ensure that they have a line manager/ leader as their Boss/ Coach. Nothing pisses off A players more than having a poor boss
• Remove C players from the team. Again, nothing frustrates A players more than having to put up with DoDos
• Provide regular coaching and 1-2-1s. Ensure that they have a clear progression route to grow up through the company
• Provide them with ongoing business education. Gazelles Growth Institute is great for this and you can set up specific pathways.
• Take the time to recognize their efforts and thank them for their contribution. Employee recognition is one of the key facets of employee engagement.
• Conduct a strengths finder exercise and ensure that they are in a role that plays to these strengths.
• Make sure that you are removing all the barriers that are preventing them from doing their job.
• Ensure that you are rewarding them with the right remuneration for the results that they are achieving

ScaleUp Masters’ Program (SMP) Coming to Philadelphia --
Feb 24 - 26 is the kickoff of our next SMP. It’s an opportunity for five firms to coming together quarterly for a year to master the tools/techniques of Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0).  The program integrates all our offerings - coaching, learning, and our technology platform that gives you a real time scoreboard to drive execution. For more information go to this link.

CEO-BOOTCAMP: spend 3.5 days with Verne, serial entrepreneur John Ratliff, and 6 other CEOs in a beautiful retreat setting, addressing the constraints holding back you, your business, and your industry. Jan 14 - 17; Jan 21 - 24; Mar 10 - 13, 2020.

EXITING: Looking to sell the business in the next 18 to 36 months? Want to avoid the traps many sellers fall into with today's buyers? You can download the white paper Seven Traps Sophisticated Buyers Deploy Against Unwary Sellers from align5 advisors 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 coaching@scalingup.com

TECHNOLOGY:

Create Accountability - Drive Execution with Align, cloud-based software designed to scale up your Rockefeller Habits implementation. www.alignwithscalingup.com - on your computer, tablet or phone. Click here to watch an introductory video.

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.