The Agile Scaleup

$1 Trillion Raise; Fairness; 23 Newbies; Oct 10 Freebie

Unstoppable teams don’t shy away from problems.
                     Alden Mills, Unstoppable Mindset

Customers will remember the experience they have with a brand longer than they remember the price they paid.
                     Tiffani Bova, The Experience Mindset

Instead of setting overly ambitious goals and practicing failure, simplify the start.
                     Dr. Jeff Karp, LIT: Life Ignition Tools

An invitation to invest 2 to 22 minutes in your executive education this week.

Oct 10, Virtual Summit – 3 Authors/3 New Books/77 Min
Gather your team for 77 min of exec ed together – no charge – 10:10am ET 10/10 – info and to register, which includes replay: 

1. Alden Mills, Navy SEAL, Inc. 500 Entrepreneur – Unstoppable Mindset: The Four Essential Actions of High-Performance Leadership
   
   
2. Tiffany Bova, 3x Thinkers 50, 2x WSJ Bestseller – The Experience Mindset: Changing the Way We Think About Growth
   
   
3. Jeff Karp, Harvard Medical School and MIT – LIT: Life Ignition Tools

NZ-Based MSP Scales 6x – Heading to NZ$100 Million (Scaling Up case study)
Greg Mikkelsen, with the help of Scaling Up Coach Rob Morris, bought into a 20-year-old MSP Securecom in 2016. Guiding it thru the pandemic, he’s scaled from NZ$5 million to NZ$30 million – and is headed to NZ$100 million in revenue by 2033. Notes Mikkelsen:

“We can spend 120% of our time being busy but not achieving a lot,” he says. “Scaling Up helps us put priorities and structure around our strategy and turn strategy into execution.”

A key, referring to Bova’s quote above, is exceptional customer service, garnering a client satisfaction rating of 97%. Also focused on generating 75% recurring revenue, pls take 2-minutes to read how Mikkelsen has scaled with a discipline around cash.

Fairness not Sameness – Key Lesson in Setting Compensation
It’s the time of the year for many to rethink/reset their compensation strategy. This Center for Social Capital article provides a nice summary of a key point in Scaling Up Compensation – the importance of having wide pay bands – providing your team members with a way to be promoted within a job vs. into management (and those positions are going away). No two players on a sports team, playing the same position, make the same; why is that the same at your firm? The article features Barcelona-based Telemedicine Clinic’s approach.

What Drives Employee Loyalty – Changes Over Time
What new employees want, in the first few months, changes once they’ve been with the firm for a year. This Fortune article details this change from organizational fit to wanting a career path. And this is code word for “what’s the path for making more money” in addition to more challenging and rewarding work (which should compensate more). Notes this Fortune article:

…and as employees become more established, they also begin to value their pay packages more, and expect them to reflect their growing expertise and business impact. 

This is why wide pay bands and a series of promotions/titles within a job are crucial to your compensation strategy – like TMC put in place (article above) – so long as you have the solid metrics/outcomes to support these pay increases as TMC does.

CEO and Senior Executive Compensation for Private Firms – Report
Each year Chief Executive magazine publishes a comprehensive report based on 500,000 datapoints from 1600 private firms to help you benchmark compensation for you and your senior team. $2495 for 2023-2024; $4995 for both 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 (we don’t get any commission).

Forbes 400 Wealthiest List – $1 Trillion Pay Raise!  
Forbes published their annual list this week with some fun graphics. Notes Forbes: 

…they are worth a record $5.4 trillion, up nearly $1 trillion from last year. A dozen have $100 billion-plus fortunes, also a record. And admission to this elite club is pricier than ever: A minimum net worth of $3.3 billion is required, up $400 million since 2023.

And there are 23 newbies. Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg round out the top 3, though I read this morning Zuckerberg jumped to #2. His “year of efficiency” last year; and his focus this year “all in in AI” are working. What is your #1 focus/theme for 2025? Let one of our Scaling Up coaches help you nail it down.

Trade Association, YPO and EO Chapters – Pricing and Compensation Topic
YPO Western Michigan and YPO/EO Motor City (Detroit) booked me last week to present for 90-minutes and Pricing and Compensation – to excellent reviews. I also keynoted the National Parking Association convention in Las Vegas. If your trade association, YPO, or EO chapter wants to dig into these two critical strategic decisions – that can move top and bottom lines significantly – please reach out to me [email protected] – I have a one-pager, with testimonials, I’ll send. Would love to visit your city/event and have you introduce me when I present.

“5Cs Leading Thru a Crisis” – Link to Recording
If you need inspired and a few practical approaches to guiding your firm thru a downturn/crisis, here’s a link to the 58-minute virtual presentation I hosted Wednesday for EO GRIT.

Order a box of 20 books
Save 50% over the price on Amazon for Scaling Up, and Start to Scale books here for less! 

Additional Books 
Scaling Up Compensation, a quick read helping you get much greater impact and outcomes from one of your largest expenses; and The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time, which provides you with some great ideas to borrow/steal for your own business are available on Amazon.

EDUCATION: 
Scaling Up Master Business Course
Scaling Up Free Mini Course

COACHING: Unlock Explosive Growth with a Scaling Up Coach
As we enter the fourth quarter, ensure your business thrives amidst economic uncertainties with expert guidance from a Scaling-up Coach. Our proven methodology and proprietary tools will help align your team, translate strategy into action, and drive measurable results. Schedule a complimentary call today to take the first step towards a clear, actionable Q4 strategy. For additional questions, email [email protected] or check our FAQs.

Have you considered becoming a Certified Scaling Up Coach?
Learn more about what it takes to certify and what being a coach is like. Pop into our Coach Office Hours to talk with our coach certification coordinator and a certified Scaling Up Coach. Learn More & Register for Office Hours here >

SCALING UP WORKSHOPS:
Engage your team with interactive Scaling Up workshops. Here's our list of workshops

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – Oct 7, 2024 (In-Person)
Atlanta, GA – Oct 10, 2024 (In-Person)
Phoenix, AZ – Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Ontario, Canada - Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Oct 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Oct 15, 2024 (Virtual)
Fort Lauderdale, FL – Oct 15, 2024 (In-Person)
San Francisco, CA – Oct 16, 2024 (Virtual)
Columbus, OH – Oct 25, 2024 (In-Person)
St. Louis, MO – Oct 31, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Nov 12, 2024 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia – Nov 12, 2024 (In-Person)
United Kingdom – Nov 13, 2024 (Virtual)
Sydney, Australia – Nov 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Nov 14, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Nov 19, 2024 (Virtual)
Franklin, TN – Dec 5, 2024 (Virtual)
Chile – Dec 10, 2024 (Virtual)
San Antonio, TX – Dec 10, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Dec 12, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Dec 18, 2024 (Virtual)
Washington, DC – Jan 28, 2025 (In-Person)

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].

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.

Sign up for Verne's Weekly Insights  

*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.

Cobots; My People; Erythritol; Oct 02 Crisis

I dare you!
                     Stacey Lauren

There are no straight lines in nature or business.
                     Verne Harnish

An invitation to invest 2 to 22 minutes in your executive education this week.

Oct 10, Virtual Summit – 3 Authors/3 New Books/77 Min
Gather your team for 77 min of exec ed together -- no charge – 10:10am ET 10/10 – info and to register, which includes replay.

My People – TEDx Talk Stacey Lauren
You want to accomplish anything? Stacey Lauren’s 10-min TEDx talk, released this week, shares the key secret – identify “my people” and form a small support group? It’s not the same as your friends and family, who likely don’t support the same goals you have – like writing a book or scaling a firm or solving a social issue. The support, ideas, and accountability a small group provides are key – seriously. She’s on to something bigger than just EO and YPO Forums. Thx Stacey.

One Shopping Center at a Time (Scaling Up case study)
There are no bad industries, just bad strategy/leadership. This ScaleUps.com article details how Jack Glottmann, CEO of family-owned Saglo Companies, has used Scaling Up with the help of coach Jennifer Berkowitz to provide excellent returns for their investors in a tough sector – shopping malls. With comprehensive dashboards, meeting rhythms, and making some tough decisions on the leadership side, please invest 2-minutes to read the details on how Saglo is surviving and thriving in a tough market. There are always opportunities in every sector of the economy.

Order Kiosks NOT Decreasing Employment
McDonald’s, Shake Shack, and others are finding that self-service kiosks, rather than eliminating jobs, are doing the opposite. Notes this CNN article: 

…touchscreen kiosks have added extra work for kitchen staff and pushed customers to order more food than they do at the cash register. 

And it’s allowing employees to provide better service and keeping the restaurant cleaner. Please invest 1-minute to read the details. Where can technology eliminate mindless work and free up your people to provide “Unreasonable Hospitality” per the title of one of my favorite books.

Cobots – Key to the Equitable Burrito Bowl
Brand is about delivering consistency. Where could technology help? What Chipotle customers want is an equitable burrito bowl assembly with no need to see who got more guac or cheese! Cobots – collaborative robots -- are being tried in two California Chipotles. This Fortune article provides the details.

Sugar Substitute Linked to Heart Issues/Blood Clots 
If you can’t pronounce it or spell it, don’t eat it. This Lifecode article shares research showing sugar substitute erythritol (in many keto diet products, snack bars, etc.) is linked to increases in heart issues and blood clots.

Recession Unlikely?
Bank of America on Monday looked at five major economic fears (US) and provided counter data to suggest we’ll avoid a recession. This Fortune article provides the details.

Leading in a Crisis – Verne Harnish Oct 2, 3pm ET – No Charge
Micro-economics are more important than the macro-economy – meaning some sectors are often hurting even if the general trends are OK. Next Wednesday, Oct 2, 3pm ET I’ll be leading a one-hour webinar sharing the 5Cs (which I mentioned last week) for handling any crisis/downturn in the business. There are no straight lines in nature, neither in business! Register here which includes getting a replay if you can’t make it LIVE.



Order a box of 20 books
Save 50% over the price on Amazon for Scaling Up, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, and 12 Habits of Valuable Employees books here for less! 

Additional Books 
Scaling Up Compensation, a quick read helping you get much greater impact and outcomes from one of your largest expenses; and The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time, which provides you with some great ideas to borrow/steal for your own business are available on Amazon.

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.

EDUCATION: 
Scaling Up Master Business Course
Scaling Up Free Mini Course

COACHING: Unlock Explosive Growth with a Scaling Up Coach
Is your business hitting a growth ceiling? Break through with a Scaling Up Certified Coach™. Our elite coaches master the Scaling Up methodology to reignite growth, align your team, and chart a clear scalability path. From day one, we provide a custom-tailored approach - conducting a comprehensive diagnostic, hand-picking your perfect coach match, and providing dedicated support. Whether a $5M or $250M firm, invest in coaching to propel your business to extraordinary new heights.
Schedule a complimentary follow-up or check out our FAQs. Additional questions can be sent to [email protected].

Have you considered becoming a Certified Scaling Up Coach?
Learn more about what it takes to certify and what being a coach is like. Pop into our Coach Office Hours to talk with our coach certification coordinator and a certified Scaling Up Coach. Learn More & Register for Office Hours here >

SCALING UP WORKSHOPS:
Engage your team with interactive Scaling Up workshops. Here's our list of workshops

Nottingham, UK – Oct 1, 2024 (In-Person)
London, UK – Oct 2, 2024 (In-Person)
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – Oct 7, 2024 (In-Person)
Atlanta, GA – Oct 10, 2024 (In-Person)
Phoenix, AZ – Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Ontario, Canada - Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Oct 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Oct 15, 2024 (Virtual)
Fort Lauderdale, FL – Oct 15, 2024 (In-Person)
San Francisco, CA – Oct 16, 2024 (Virtual)
Columbus, OH – Oct 25, 2024 (In-Person)
St. Louis, MO – Oct 31, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Nov 12, 2024 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia – Nov 12, 2024 (In-Person)
Sydney, Australia – Nov 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Nov 14, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Nov 19, 2024 (Virtual)
Franklin, TN – Dec 5, 2024 (Virtual)
Chile – Dec 10, 2024 (Virtual)
San Antonio, TX – Dec 10, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Dec 12, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Dec 18, 2024 (Virtual)
Washington, DC – Jan 28, 2025 (In-Person)

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].

Sign up for Verne's Weekly Insights  

*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.

5Cs; Risk Only Money; Lehman’s 10 Lessons; 10/10, 10:10am

Leaders absorb fear and exude hope.
                     Greg Brenneman

Arrogance always kills.
                     Jeffries CEO Richard Handler says of Lehman Brothers' 2008 bankruptcy

An invitation to invest 2 to 22 minutes in your executive education this week.

Free Virtual Summit -- Oct 10, 10:10am – 11:22am ET
3 new 2024 books; 77 minutes; no charge – our twice annual gift to you and your team’s executive education:

1. Jeff Karp, Harvard Medical School and MIT – LIT: Life Ignition Tools
2. Tiffani Bova, 3x Thinkers 50, 2x WSJ Bestseller – The Experience Mindset: Changing the Way We Think About Growth
3. Alden Mills, Navy SEAL, Inc. 500 Entrepreneur – Unstoppable Mindset: The Four Essential Actions of High-Performance Leadership

Register you and your team – includes a recording if you miss – thx for investing the time to outlearn the competition. Right now the right mindset is the constraint to scaling.

5Cs for Surviving a Downturn in the Biz
Inflation is real, pushing up costs and wages. Without sufficient price increases and a tightening of budgets by clients, revenues may have stalled, and margins squeezed. To get thru this:

1. Communicate Daily – Airbnb went into a daily huddle 7 days a week when they lost $1 billion in bookings during the pandemic. The key is looking at data and making decisions DAILY.
2. Customer Contact – double down on connecting with clients and finding out how to help them – they might be struggling as well. “Hidden Champion” firms have twice the number of employees directly supporting customers than other firms. Give to receive.
3. Clean Up and Catch Up – a downturn is a good time to clean up sloppy processes, eliminate needless activities, and play catch up with systems. Simplify, simplify, simplify.
4. Cash, Cash, Cash – review ALL recurring expenses that may have creeped into costs; ask all employees to find ways to reduce their expenditures; seek lower cost solutions; and tighten up billing and collections.
5. Calm and Considerate – above all, take a few deep breathes, only risk money (not your health), and remain calm and considerate. “Leaders absorb fear and exude hope” – it’s your job.

Please let us know how we can be of help – you’re not alone – ask for help. Most of our coaching partners will be happy to donate an hour of proactive and practical support – email me [email protected]

Lessons From Lehman Brothers’ Collapse

This Fortune article provides insights into the lessons learned after Lehman Brothers’ filed for the largest bankruptcy in history. Please invest 2-minutes to read the story as a reminder of how this can happen to anyone of us – and how to keep perspective. Here are the 10 lessons:

1. There is no such thing as a “slight liquidity crisis”
2. Everything in life is fragile
3. Sometimes bad things happen to good people
4. Never take anything or anyone for granted
5. Leverage can’t distinguish between good or bad, but it will happily (magnify) both
6. You never have as much time as you may think
7. Character is determined during tough times
8. Arrogance always kills
9. If your debt holders are at risk, your shareholders will probably be wiped out
10. If you stay positive through the storm, the sun always eventually rises, and life will go on.

Risk Only Money – Jack DeBoer
My friend, the late Jack DeBoer, came close to committing suicide after the collapse of his real estate empire. He recovered to go on to create Residence Inns, which he sold to Marriott, and four other industry changing concepts. He wrote a book I encourage all biz leaders to read who are going thru rough times titled Risk Only Money: Success in Business Without Risking Family, Friends, and Reputation. You’ll get thru this – please re-read lesson #10 above.

How to Boost Sales Going into Q4 – Sales CURE for Women
Sell, sell, sell is key right now. Particularly if you have women in sales, Million Dollar Women (MDW) and Julia Pimsleur are offering another one-month intensive sales training for women, Sales CURE Live starting on October 9th. I am on the MDW board and have seen grads rave about this program, many of whom have closed significant deals after the training – her stuff works (with men too). The program includes lifetime access to Sales CURE training and four live sessions for role play (which Jack Daly says is key to making this stuff stick). Julia has sold $32MM in products and services, and has helped thousands of women in business have greater confidence selling and close more deals. Check it out if you want to boost your team's skills. Insights subscribers get a 10% discount so be sure to mention us. You can sample Julia's teaching on her YouTube channel (FYI, I don’t get a penny for promoting this – just a huge fan during this tougher season to sell).

Order a box of 20 books
Save 50% over the price on Amazon for Scaling Up, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, and 12 Habits of Valuable Employees books here for less! 

Additional Books 
Scaling Up Compensation, a quick read helping you get much greater impact and outcomes from one of your largest expenses; and The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time, which provides you with some great ideas to borrow/steal for your own business are available on Amazon.

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].

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.

EDUCATION: 
Scaling Up Master Business Course
Scaling Up Free Mini Course

COACHING: Unlock Explosive Growth with a Scaling Up Coach
Is your business hitting a growth ceiling? Break through with a Scaling Up Certified Coach™. Our elite coaches master the Scaling Up methodology to reignite growth, align your team, and chart a clear scalability path. From day one, we provide a custom-tailored approach - conducting a comprehensive diagnostic, hand-picking your perfect coach match, and providing dedicated support. Whether a $5M or $250M firm, invest in coaching to propel your business to extraordinary new heights.
Schedule a complimentary follow-up or check out our FAQs. Additional questions can be sent to [email protected].

Have you considered becoming a Certified Scaling Up Coach?
Learn more about what it takes to certify and what being a coach is like. Pop into our Coach Office Hours to talk with our coach certification coordinator and a certified Scaling Up Coach. Learn More & Register for Office Hours here >

SCALING UP WORKSHOPS:
Engage your team with interactive Scaling Up workshops. Here's our list of workshops

Pune, India – Sep 21, 2024 (In-Person)
Adelaide, Australia – Sep 23 & 24, 2024 (2 Day, In-Person)
San Francisco, CA – Sep 24, 2024 (Virtual)
Nottingham, UK – Oct 1, 2024 (In-Person)
London, UK – Oct 2, 2024 (In-Person)
Brisbane, Australia – Oct 2, 2024 (In-Person)
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – Oct 7, 2024 (In-Person)
Atlanta, GA – Oct 10, 2024 (In-Person)
Phoenix, AZ – Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Ontario, Canada - Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Oct 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Oct 15, 2024 (Virtual)
Fort Lauderdale, FL – Oct 15, 2024 (In-Person)
San Francisco, CA – Oct 16, 2024 (Virtual)
Columbus, OH – Oct 25, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Nov 12, 2024 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia – Nov 12, 2024 (In-Person)
Sydney, Australia – Nov 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Nov 14, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Nov 19, 2024 (Virtual)
Franklin, TN – Dec 5, 2024 (Virtual)
Chile – Dec 10, 2024 (Virtual)
San Antonio, TX – Dec 10, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Dec 12, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Dec 18, 2024 (Virtual)
Washington, DC – Jan 28, 2025 (In-Person)

Sign up for Verne's Weekly Insights  

*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.

Likable Badass; Pro Fakers; Founder Mode; Sept 19 Webinar

…hire professional fakers and let them drive the company into the ground.
                     Paul Graham (context below)

Your customers will never be any happier than your employees.
                     John DiJulius

An invitation to invest 2 to 22 minutes in your executive education this week.

John DiJulius – Customer Experience Revolution – Sept 19 Free
I’m noticing my own behavior – and veering toward firms that provide a better customer experience – and that requires a workforce willing to deliver on that experience. See below info on author John DiJulius’s Sept 19 webinar – no cost.

Founder CEOs 20x the Valuation – Fortune 500
Continuing the conversation around Paul Graham’s Founder Mode vs. Manager Mode, this Fortune article looked at the cumulative returns generated by the 22 Fortune 500 firms still run by the founder (Michael Dell, Mark Zuckerberg, etc.) and found:

The founder-CEOs’ companies delivered a median of 1,129% vs. 57% for the rest of the 500.

That’s 20x. They also outperformed their sectors by a median factor greater than 6x. Please invest 1-minute to read the article for the details.

Professional Fakers?
Paul Graham, founder of Y-Combinator, which has birthed thousands of firms including Airbnb, DoorDash, Reddit, etc. shared, after hearing Brian Chesky, founder/CEO of Airbnb describe the awful experience he’s had bringing in outside managers. Notes Graham:

Hire good people and give them room to do their jobs. Sounds great when it’s described that way, doesn’t it? Except in practice, judging from the report of founder after founder, what this often turns out to mean is: hire professional fakers and let them drive the company into the ground.

Let’s also suggest “professional interviewers” as one of our CEO Boot Campers noted this week in Vail.

Likable Badass: How Women Get the Success They Deserve
Warmth and Competence – the two dimensions most people are immediately judged on – is the basis for noted research psychologist, professor, and consultant Alison Fagale’s new book Likable Badass (I’m halfway thru – its excellent). Recommended by Adam Grant, Fagale’s book makes a key point – that status (perceived competence) is how you get influence and power vs. the opposite. How you attain this – along with warmth – makes you a Likeable Badass. This interview (start at 9:06) flushes out her many insights.

To Double Your Revenue, Stop Selling by Half
Terakeet, a leading SEO marketing firm, was selling $100,000 contracts with a 30% close rate. By weeding out every possible “no” before presenting, they were able to increase their average contract size to $800,000 and double their close rate using the Hunt Big Sales Process.

Mark Kennedy, the President, stated:
“We were going to double our sales staff until we used the Hunt Big Sales Process. It’s changed our whole revenue game plan.”

Hunt Big Sales is a key strategic partner helping our clients significantly increase revenue at a time sales seem to be getting tougher to make. They make it easier to double revenue.

Elevate Your Customer Service – Free Live Webinar Sept 19
Delivering exceptional customer service is non-negotiable in competitive environments. The challenge: How to train our employees in the top service aptitude skills to consistently meet and exceed customer expectations? The answer is crucial for every business, yet so often overlooked.

Join us September 19th at 2 PM ET/11 AM PT/8 PM CEST for the Customer Experience Revolution Free Live Webinar with John DiJulius. During this 90-minute session, you’ll discover how a thriving workforce translates directly into customer satisfaction and business success. Register for free here: https://hubs.li/Q02N_7qM0



Order a box of 20 books
Save 50% over the price on Amazon for Scaling Up, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, and 12 Habits of Valuable Employees books here for less! 

Additional Books 
Scaling Up Compensation, a quick read helping you get much greater impact and outcomes from one of your largest expenses; and The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time, which provides you with some great ideas to borrow/steal for your own business are available on Amazon.

SCALING UP WORKSHOPS:
Engage your team with interactive Scaling Up workshops. Here's our list of workshops

Denver, CO – Sep 17, 2024 (In-Person)
Adelaide, Australia – Sep 23 & 24, 2024 (2 Day, In-Person)
San Francisco, CA – Sep 24, 2024 (Virtual)
Nottingham, UK – Oct 1, 2024 (In-Person)
London, UK – Oct 2, 2024 (In-Person)
Brisbane, Australia – Oct 2, 2024 (In-Person)
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – Oct 7, 2024 (In-Person)
Phoenix, AZ – Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Ontario, Canada - Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Oct 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Oct 15, 2024 (Virtual)
Fort Lauderdale, FL – Oct 15, 2024 (In-Person)
San Francisco, CA – Oct 16, 2024 (Virtual)
Columbus, OH – Oct 25, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Nov 12, 2024 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia – Nov 12, 2024 (In-Person)
Sydney, Australia – Nov 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Nov 14, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Nov 19, 2024 (Virtual)
Franklin, TN – Dec 5, 2024 (Virtual)
Chile – Dec 10, 2024 (Virtual)
San Antonio, TX – Dec 10, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Dec 12, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Dec 18, 2024 (Virtual)
Washington, DC – Jan 28, 2025 (In-Person)

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].

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.

EDUCATION: 
Scaling Up Master Business Course
Scaling Up Free Mini Course

COACHING: Unlock Explosive Growth with a Scaling Up Coach
Is your business hitting a growth ceiling? Break through with a Scaling Up Certified Coach™. Our elite coaches master the Scaling Up methodology to reignite growth, align your team, and chart a clear scalability path. From day one, we provide a custom-tailored approach - conducting a comprehensive diagnostic, hand-picking your perfect coach match, and providing dedicated support. Whether a $5M or $250M firm, invest in coaching to propel your business to extraordinary new heights.
Schedule a complimentary follow-up or check out our FAQs. Additional questions can be sent to [email protected].

Have you considered becoming a Certified Scaling Up Coach?
Learn more about what it takes to certify and what being a coach is like. Pop into our Coach Office Hours to talk with our coach certification coordinator and a certified Scaling Up Coach. Learn More & Register for Office Hours here >

Sign up for Verne's Weekly Insights  

*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.

Founder Mode; Elle MacPherson; Graham Warning; Rick Sapio

Outsource everything but your soul.
                     Tom Peters

Delegate everything but your soul.
                     Verne Harnish

An invitation to invest 2 to 22 minutes in your executive education this week.

East African Firm Triples Revenue (Scaling Up Case Study)
Growing from $15 million in 2021 to $43 million in 2023, this ScaleUps.com article details how Patrick Mbonye, founder and CEO of Q-Sourcing ServTec, used Scaling up to drive this significant revenue growth. With the help of coach Elton Mutize, the firm has set a $500 million BHAG, serving small to mid-size firms with their outsourced staffing and training needs throughout East Africa including Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania. Please take 2-minutes to read all that Mbonye is doing throughout the region.

Founder Mode vs. Manager Mode
All the rage this week, at least in Silicon Valley, is Y-Combinator Paul Graham’s essay about the importance of staying in Founder Mode vs. Manager Mode (which you learn in MBA school, Graham suggests) when scaling a venture – all based on a talk Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky gave last week. This Inc. article provides the details and a link to Graham’s short blog post – worth the one minute to read. In essence, does the CEO fully delegate everything (manager mode) or remain in the muck of things (founder mode).

Graham’s Critical Warning – Misuse of Founder Mode
If you scroll down on Graham’s blog post, you’ll see this warning (Note 3):

I also have another less optimistic prediction: as soon as the concept of founder mode becomes established, people will start misusing it. Founders who are unable to delegate even things they should, will use founder mode as the excuse. Or managers who aren't founders will decide they should try to act like founders. That may even work, to some extent, but the results will be messy when it doesn't; the modular approach does at least limit the damage a bad CEO can do.

Please take a minute to read Graham’s post which includes reference to hosting meetings with a diagonal cut of your team, like the late Steve Jobs did.

Delegate Everything but Your Soul
Tom Peter’s quote above, warning firms that they need to hold onto for themselves the soul of the business i.e. Tesla writes their own software, the soul of their vehicles, which allowed them to pivot to whatever chips were available in the pandemic. All the other auto manufacturers were stuck. Same with what you delegate inside the firm. Design is the soul of Apple which is why Steve Jobs met DAILY with Jony Ive and the design team. What is the soul of your firm and stay in “founder mode” around this aspect of the business.

Bonuses Can Backfire
This Fortune article details research showing how certain individual bonuses (“certain individual” are the keywords) can decrease performance. Aligned with Chapter 4 in Scaling Up Compensation titled “Easy on the Carrots”, bonuses are meant to signal behaviors you want on top of the normal job. Giving bonuses for just showing up is an example of mis-signaling. Please invest 2-minutes to read how nuanced setting bonuses can be. And note…

Daily Huddles Drive Better Performance
…the above article goes on to note:

…daily set-up meetings, where employees are asked to present their progress on a project or task, can keep them accountable without having to introduce pay for performance.

We at Scaling Up couldn’t agree more. Another reason the daily huddle is indispensable in driving performance. Is everyone on the team in one?

Thank You Adam Gant
Received this note and photo from CFA Adam Grant:

…finished reading your book Scaling Up Compensation while on a climbing trip yesterday. Summitted Mt Colonel Foster and really love the book. Lots of great ideas I'm going to implement in the business immediately. 

Thx Adam – I’m sure that’s the highest point on the planet this book has ever been read.

Supermodel Elle MacPherson’s Integrative Medicine Journey
Following on the heels of Rick Sapio’s journey to recover from stage 4 pancreatic cancer, shunning the advice of traditional doctors and still alive a year later; Elle MacPherson also opted out of chemo and instead took an integrative medicine approach to recover and thrive post a breast cancer diagnosis. This BBC article provides the details. You might note, her team included two holistic dentists. We’ve found at the Riordan Clinic (I’m Vice Chair) a strong correlation between infections in the mouth and breast cancer. Not surprisingly, a day later various news organization have come out with “experts” criticizing her approach.

Benefiting from Insights – $20 to Rick – Please
Thank you to all of you who donated to Rick’s “find the cure” fund last week. If you benefit from these insights, rather than charge a fee, once a year I ask for a donation to a cause – this one is for Rick and his family. If all of you who open these insights donate $20, Rick will be covered. Please and thank you https://rickneedsacure.com/

Order a box of 20 books
Save 50% over the price on Amazon for Scaling Up, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, and 12 Habits of Valuable Employees books here for less! 

Additional Books 
Scaling Up Compensation, a quick read helping you get much greater impact and outcomes from one of your largest expenses; and The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time, which provides you with some great ideas to borrow/steal for your own business are available on Amazon.

Have you considered becoming a Certified Scaling Up Coach?
Learn more about what it takes to certify and what being a coach is like. Pop into our Coach Office Hours to talk with our coach certification coordinator and a certified Scaling Up Coach. Learn More & Register for Office Hours here >

SCALING UP WORKSHOPS:
Engage your team with interactive Scaling Up workshops. Here's our list of workshops

Chile – Sep 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia – Sep 10, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada – Sep 12, 2024 (Virtual)
Denver, CO – Sep 17, 2024 (In-Person)
Adelaide, Australia – Sep 23 & 24, 2024 (2 Day, In-Person)
San Francisco, CA – Sep 24, 2024 (Virtual)
Nottingham, UK – Oct 1, 2024 (In-Person)
London, UK – Oct 2, 2024 (In-Person)
Brisbane, Australia – Oct 2, 2024 (In-Person)
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – Oct 7, 2024 (In-Person)
Phoenix, AZ – Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Ontario, Canada - Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Oct 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Oct 15, 2024 (Virtual)
Fort Lauderdale, FL – Oct 15, 2024 (In-Person)
San Francisco, CA – Oct 16, 2024 (Virtual)
Columbus, OH – Oct 25, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Nov 12, 2024 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia – Nov 12, 2024 (In-Person)
Sydney, Australia – Nov 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Nov 14, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Nov 19, 2024 (Virtual)
Franklin, TN – Dec 5, 2024 (Virtual)
Chile – Dec 10, 2024 (Virtual)
San Antonio, TX – Dec 10, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Dec 12, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Dec 18, 2024 (Virtual)
Washington, DC – Jan 28, 2025 (In-Person)

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].

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.

EDUCATION: 
Scaling Up Master Business Course
Scaling Up Free Mini Course

COACHING: Unlock Explosive Growth with a Scaling Up Coach
Is your business hitting a growth ceiling? Break through with a Scaling Up Certified Coach™. Our elite coaches master the Scaling Up methodology to reignite growth, align your team, and chart a clear scalability path. From day one, we provide a custom-tailored approach - conducting a comprehensive diagnostic, hand-picking your perfect coach match, and providing dedicated support. Whether a $5M or $250M firm, invest in coaching to propel your business to extraordinary new heights.
Schedule a complimentary follow-up or check out our FAQs. Additional questions can be sent to [email protected].

Sign up for Verne's Weekly Insights  

*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.

Courage; $2 - $20 billion; Dale Wolf; Rick Sapio; Please Help

You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.
                     Aristotle

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
                     T.S. Elliott

An invitation to invest 2 to 22 minutes in your executive education this week.

Rick Sapio Needs Our Help – $20
See below my one personal request – thank you.

“Courage in the Boardroom” Award Winner
Our media partner Chief Executive magazine, in this article, honors their latest “Courage in the Boardroom” award winner, Dale Wolf.

Notes the magazine:

Like many family businesses, Molina Healthcare hit a wall under second-generation leadership, spurring its board to remove founding family members serving as CEO and CFO. Board Chair Dale Wolf was recognized with the 2024 Courage in the Boardroom Award for his role in navigating that difficult and contentious decision—and putting a flagging company back on a path to impressive growth.

Orchestrated over a week in 2017, Wolf installed an interim CEO and helped scale Molina Healthcare from $2 billion in market cap to over $20 billion in 2024.

Courage to Turnaround a Family Business
Please invest 3 minutes to read Chief Executive’s interview of Dale Wolf to read how he led this 10x increase in valuation. Notes Wolf, in leading the important changes at Molina Healthcare as a board member:

The first is trust your gut. We should have known that this was the right thing to do earlier than we did. The signs were all there. Replacing a family CEO, CFO, in a public company is no mean task. So, I don’t think anybody should take it lightly. But on the other hand, it’s like every employee matter I’ve ever dealt with, when it’s over, you say, “Geez, I should have done that earlier.” So, trust your gut and act. Don’t wait.

Don’t wait – trust your gut and act. What decisions are you delaying when your instincts tell you to act? Have the courage.

Help Someone Courageous – $20?
If these insights, and our body of work, have been helpful to you, please consider donating $20 to what I’m going to share next – and help Rick and our healthcare system reform. Please, please, please.

Rick Sapio’s Courage 
No one I know recently has shown more courage than fellow EOer, BOGer, GOTer, serial entrepreneur, and dear friend Rick Sapio. Bravely dealing with stage 4 inoperable pancreatic cancer, he’s alive over a year later because he’s challenged traditional healthcare which only wants to feed him chemo at $98k/month (which would have killed him by the 4^th month) with zero interest in learning how he’s “miraculously” remained alive 3x longer without it.

Experimental Treatments
A devoted father of four, each day is a race against time, and securing the critical care and experimental treatments he needs is essential for his survival. In a devastating twist, Rick’s wife, Melissa, has also been diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer. Now, both parents are fighting for their lives, leaving their children, ages 10, 12, 14, and 16, facing an uncertain future.

Breaking the Bank – $20
Like most entrepreneurs, Rick’s wealth is tied up in his businesses – and he’s not able to put in a full day’s work. He’ll be OK financially in the long run, but the stress of the medical bills which insurance won’t cover, is breaking his back and bank in the short run. If each of you would please donate $20, we can provide a huge relief to Rick and his family.

Finding a Cure
The non-profit Riordan Clinic, of which I’m Vice Chair, has saved others from stage 4 pancreatic cancer. I’m helping pay for Rick’s treatments at our clinic – and he’s part of our “N-of-1” study finding more ways to survive these deadly cancers. We need your help to find a cure and to support Rick’s life-saving treatments. Your support can make all the difference, offering hope and a chance for the Sapio family to continue their journey together. Please share their story and help us ensure a future filled with love and laughter for this incredible family. Learn more, Please donate and Join Team Rick: https://rickneedsacure.com/

RickNeedsACure.com #TeamRick #BigAsk #FindACure #PancreaticCancer

Be Brave, Have Courage, Make Decisions, Love All

Order a box of 20 books
Save 50% over the price on Amazon for Scaling Up, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, and 12 Habits of Valuable Employees books here for less! 

Additional Books 
Scaling Up Compensation, a quick read helping you get much greater impact and outcomes from one of your largest expenses; and The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time, which provides you with some great ideas to borrow/steal for your own business are available on Amazon.

COACHING: Unlock Explosive Growth with a Scaling Up Coach
Is your business hitting a growth ceiling? Break through with a Scaling Up Certified Coach™. Our elite coaches master the Scaling Up methodology to reignite growth, align your team, and chart a clear scalability path. From day one, we provide a custom-tailored approach - conducting a comprehensive diagnostic, hand-picking your perfect coach match, and providing dedicated support. Whether a $5M or $250M firm, invest in coaching to propel your business to extraordinary new heights.
Schedule a complimentary follow-up or check out our FAQs. Additional questions can be sent to [email protected].

Have you considered becoming a Certified Scaling Up Coach?
Learn more about what it takes to certify and what being a coach is like. Pop into our Coach Office Hours to talk with our coach certification coordinator and a certified Scaling Up Coach. Learn More & Register for Office Hours here >

SCALING UP WORKSHOPS:
Engage your team with interactive Scaling Up workshops. Here's our list of workshops

Sydney, Australia –  Sep 5, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Sep 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia – Sep 10, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada – Sep 12, 2024 (Virtual)
Denver, CO – Sep 17, 2024 (In-Person)
Adelaide, Australia – Sep 23 & 24, 2024 (2 Day, In-Person)
San Francisco, CA – Sep 24, 2024 (Virtual)
Nottingham, UK – Oct 1, 2024 (In-Person)
London, UK – Oct 2, 2024 (In-Person)
Brisbane, Australia – Oct 2, 2024 (In-Person)
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – Oct 7, 2024 (In-Person)
Phoenix, AZ – Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Ontario, Canada - Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Oct 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Oct 15, 2024 (Virtual)
Fort Lauderdale, FL – Oct 15, 2024 (In-Person)
San Francisco, CA – Oct 16, 2024 (Virtual)
Columbus, OH – Oct 25, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Nov 12, 2024 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia – Nov 12, 2024 (In-Person)
Sydney, Australia – Nov 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Nov 14, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Nov 19, 2024 (Virtual)
Franklin, TN – Dec 5, 2024 (Virtual)
Chile – Dec 10, 2024 (Virtual)
San Antonio, TX – Dec 10, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Dec 12, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Dec 18, 2024 (Virtual)
Washington, DC – Jan 28, 2025 (In-Person)

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].

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.

EDUCATION: 
Scaling Up Master Business Course
Scaling Up Free Mini Course

Sign up for Verne's Weekly Insights  

*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.

Twitter Mistake; The ONE Innovation; Strange Tradeshow; Raptor 1 - 3

Possibly the most common error of a smart engineer is to optimize a thing that should not exist.
                     Elon Musk

We are intentionally building a culture around systems and processes from the top down, using Scaling Up and Topgrading.
                     Patrick Griffor, co-founder Heritage Hills Capital Partners

An invitation to invest 2 to 22 minutes in your executive education this week.

Workforce Housing Developer Accelerates Growth/Returns
Cincinnati-based Heritage Hills Capital Partners, a vertically integrated real estate and private equity firm, experienced stalled growth. This ScaleUps.com article details how CEO Sean Blythe, with the help of Columbus-based Scaling Up Coach Rick Crossland, increased the number of A-Players from 68% to 88% and saw revenue growth jump from $20 million to $27 million in the 24 months they’ve worked together, delivering returns far above industry standards. Please take 2-minutes to read how the FACe and PACe tools, Scaling Up Cash, meeting rhythms, productivity enhancements, and relentless focus on weekly execution using scrums have helped them drive the cost of the “doors” they manage down to almost half new construction and increased profit and cash flow.

Jack Dorsey’s Biggest Mistake at Twitter
This brief IG Reel features Square and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s self-professed biggest mistake at Twitter and how he corrected it at Square. In short, he didn’t have a good system for seeing the numbers running Twitter, so he created an admin dashboard for Square. Do you have the real-time numbers/data you need, mobile ready, to have better visibility into the biz and make better predictions?

Only ONE Breakthrough Innovation Needed…
I keynoted Insper University’s Innovation Summit this week in Sao Paulo. My key message – you only need ONE stepwise innovation every two to five years (think Pixar). One that lets you leapfrog the competition and build a moat around the business. And it’s not necessarily a product/service offering. The innovation can be in the way you deliver, sell, or support the product or service. But you only need ONE.

Where to Start?
Start looking for this innovation at the intersection of your industry’s constraint and your business model constraint. For SpaceX, the key innovation was a reusable rocket. This 48-second video shows the first successful triple booster landing. Until SpaceX figured this out, nothing else mattered. For Rackspace, it was figuring out how to provide “Fanatical Support” (good to name your differentiation) that included having a Level 2 Tech answer the phone within 3 rings. Sounds easy but it was initially a staffing nightmare.

…Then It’s Continuous Improvement
To continue to drop the cost per pound of payload (the Moneyball stat of the space industry), it's next a process of continuous improvement requiring hundreds of incremental innovations. This photo of the evolution of the Raptor engine says it all – with a reduction in cost from $2 million to $250,000 (rumor has it).

Elon’s “Algorithm”
SpaceX’s version of Lean is based on what Elon calls the “algorithm.” This Inc. article provides a good summary of the five-step process. The key is eliminating as many steps/parts as possible BEFORE automating – otherwise, you’re just speeding up a mess. Below is a visual of the process:



Stay Focused on the Job to be Done
It’s easy to get distracted and innovate a bunch of stuff nobody wants. And be careful what customers do want – they might actually mess up your value proposition as I’m afraid is happening with IKEA (which has seen its profitability plummet) and now Southwest Airlines as it looks to provide advance reservation seating, putting at risk their key Moneyball stat – planes in the air 2 hours more per day than other airlines.

Please Attend a Random Tradeshow
Many of the breakthroughs in Elon’s firms came from the toy industry. Choose one industry tradeshow that seems as far from your industry as possible and walk the aisles, mining insights you can shamelessly borrow to innovate your industry.

What Is Your ONE Key Innovation for 2025?

Order a box of 20 books
Save 50% over the price on Amazon for Scaling Up, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, and 12 Habits of Valuable Employees books here for less! 

Additional Books 
Scaling Up Compensation, a quick read helping you get much greater impact and outcomes from one of your largest expenses; and The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time, which provides you with some great ideas to borrow/steal for your own business are available on Amazon.

EDUCATION: 
Scaling Up Master Business Course
Scaling Up Free Mini Course

COACHING: Unlock Explosive Growth with a Scaling Up Coach
Is your business hitting a growth ceiling? Break through with a Scaling Up Certified Coach™. Our elite coaches master the Scaling Up methodology to reignite growth, align your team, and chart a clear scalability path. From day one, we provide a custom-tailored approach - conducting a comprehensive diagnostic, hand-picking your perfect coach match, and providing dedicated support. Whether a $5M or $250M firm, invest in coaching to propel your business to extraordinary new heights.
Schedule a complimentary follow-up or check out our FAQs. Additional questions can be sent to [email protected].

Have you considered becoming a Certified Scaling Up Coach?
Learn more about what it takes to certify and what being a coach is like. Pop into our Coach Office Hours to talk with our coach certification coordinator and a certified Scaling Up Coach. Learn More & Register for Office Hours here >

SCALING UP WORKSHOPS:
Engage your team with interactive Scaling Up workshops. Here's our list of workshops

San Francisco, CA –  Aug 28, 2024 (Virtual)
Brussels, Belgium – Aug 29, 2024 (In-Person)
Sydney, Australia –  Sep 5, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Sep 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia – Sep 10, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada – Sep 12, 2024 (Virtual)
Denver, CO – Sep 17, 2024 (In-Person)
Adelaide, Australia – Sep 23 & 24, 2024 (2 Day, In-Person)
San Francisco, CA – Sep 24, 2024 (Virtual)
Nottingham, UK – Oct 1, 2024 (In-Person)
London, UK – Oct 2, 2024 (In-Person)
Brisbane, Australia – Oct 2, 2024 (In-Person)
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – Oct 7, 2024 (In-Person)
Phoenix, AZ – Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Ontario, Canada - Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Oct 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Oct 15, 2024 (Virtual)
Fort Lauderdale, FL – Oct 15, 2024 (In-Person)
San Francisco, CA – Oct 16, 2024 (Virtual)
Columbus, OH – Oct 25, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Nov 12, 2024 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia – Nov 12, 2024 (In-Person)
Sydney, Australia – Nov 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Nov 14, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Nov 19, 2024 (Virtual)
Franklin, TN – Dec 5, 2024 (Virtual)
Chile – Dec 10, 2024 (Virtual)
San Antonio, TX – Dec 10, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Dec 12, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Dec 18, 2024 (Virtual)
Washington, DC – Jan 28, 2025 (In-Person)

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].

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.

Sign up for Verne's Weekly Insights  

*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.

Brutal; Starbucks; Compounding; Sept 5 Jack Daly – All Proceeds Donated to Ruhlin

Our ceiling is your floor.
                     Dr. Kevin Fleming, parents for children

It blows my mind that we routinely screen for several health issues (mammograms, etc.) yet a proactive diagnostic for the leading cause of death in the US is rarely performed.
                     Lisa Ridley, Scaling Up Coach

An invitation to invest 2 to 22 minutes in your executive education this week.

All Proceeds to Ruhlin’s Family – Jack Daly’s 4-Hour Sales Course
Sales coach extraordinaire, Jack Daly’s, highly rated 4-hour Virtual Sales Workshop is scheduled for Thursday, September 5, 2024, and all proceeds will be gifted to Giftology guru John Ruhlin’s wife Lindsay and her four daughters after his sudden passing last week. The fee for the workshop is discounted to $300 per participant. If you have salespeople in your organization, get them "Jack'dUp!" Register here - John Ruhlin Memorial Sales Workshop - Jack Daly – thank you Jack.

Jack’s Hyper Sales Growth Self-Paced Course – Also Donating
Jack is also donating all his proceeds from his self-paced course featuring over 8 hours of video content. Jack shares the strategies and methodologies behind his book Hyper Sales Growth, empowering you to achieve consistent, predictable sales success. Get immediate access here: https://hubs.li/Q02LnHr40 -- now is the time to boost revenue.

The Zoom Stretch
This Seth Godin quick post suggests teams take regular “Zoom stretches” – a few seconds every dozen minutes to give people a mental break – and test if worth continuing the meeting.

AI + A-Player – The Future
My latest Chief Executive magazine column suggests the future belongs to firms that match the right A-Players with AI – otherwise you’re just automating a mess. It’s a warning for team members to step up their game and continue to reinvent themselves…and for companies to settle only for A-Players matched with AI. Please take 2-minutes to scan the article for details and resources – and then share with your team.

Leaving the Better Candidate Behind -- Compounding
You are probably hiring good people. However, without using Topgrading (book Foolproof Hiring), you’re likely leaving a better candidate behind – see my column for a real-world example. If each hire is 10% better, 1.1x1.1x1.1, etc. quickly means you have a team twice as effective as the competition. The Olympics remind us that the difference between gold and making the podium is hundredths of a second/mm.

Starbucks’ New A-Player CEO?
I have some egg on my face since highlighting Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan’s “Triple Shot Reinvention” strategy, emphasizing the importance of naming your strategy and having three priorities. Though I didn’t say they were right, clearly Howard Schultz wasn’t happy with revenues down 3%, letting Laxman go immediately (after a year on the job) and hiring Chipotle’s CEO Brian Niccol. Let’s see if a fifth successor to Schultz is the charm.

CEO Niccol’s Greatest Lesson
This Fortune article highlights Starbucks new CEO’s greatest lesson – staying curious. Notes Brian Niccol, emphasizing the importance of asking questions if you don’t really know the answer:

If you know the answer to the question, that’s probably not the question to ask. If you’re asking for clarity, you’re asking to learn, you’re asking because you’re curious, that’s fine. But if the questions aren’t thoughtful, then you’ve gone too far.

He also notes the worst piece of advice he’s ever received – to find someone to fire so you can demonstrate your leadership skills. Notes Niccol:

I think everybody comes to work wanting to succeed, and that’s just the wrong frame of reference.

Brutal Thought Experiment – Turnaround of Robinhood
Tripling the share price, Vlad Tenev turned around investing site Robinhood. This Fortune article details his strategy, noting:

In a move few other leaders would emulate, Tenev engaged in a brutal thought exercise: holding quarterly meetings that envisioned him being replaced by a veteran executive like former Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman, who excels at taking over companies in trouble.

Please take 2 minutes to pick up more hints from Tenev.

Leading Cause of Death – Pls Get Screened
Lisa Ridley (quote above) wants to alert all of us to the AI-driven Cleerly CCTA assessment. Given her family’s history of heart disease, she had her first baseline assessment last year and her cardiologist just ordered the follow-up.

Clarify – Earlobe Crease
Just because you DON’T have a crease, you should still get your heart checked with a Coronary Calcium Score (ten-minute, non-invasive scan) and/or the Cleerly CCTA assessment. Several of you emailed that you didn’t suspect any heart issues yet had a calcium scan done and it came back dangerously high. And there are natural ways to clean out your arteries without taking pharma drugs. Do your research.

Order a box of 20 books
Save 50% over the price on Amazon for Scaling Up, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, and 12 Habits of Valuable Employees books here for less! 

Additional Books 
Scaling Up Compensation, a quick read helping you get much greater impact and outcomes from one of your largest expenses; and The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time, which provides you with some great ideas to borrow/steal for your own business are available on Amazon.

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.

EDUCATION: 
Scaling Up Master Business Course
Scaling Up Free Mini Course

COACHING: Unlock Explosive Growth with a Scaling Up Coach
Is your business hitting a growth ceiling? Break through with a Scaling Up Certified Coach™. Our elite coaches master the Scaling Up methodology to reignite growth, align your team, and chart a clear scalability path. From day one, we provide a custom-tailored approach - conducting a comprehensive diagnostic, hand-picking your perfect coach match, and providing dedicated support. Whether a $5M or $250M firm, invest in coaching to propel your business to extraordinary new heights.
Schedule a complimentary follow-up or check out our FAQs. Additional questions can be sent to [email protected].

Have you considered becoming a Certified Scaling Up Coach?
Learn more about what it takes to certify and what being a coach is like. Pop into our Coach Office Hours to talk with our coach certification coordinator and a certified Scaling Up Coach. Learn More & Register for Office Hours here >

SCALING UP WORKSHOPS:
Engage your team with interactive Scaling Up workshops. Here's our list of workshops

San Francisco, CA –  Aug 28, 2024 (Virtual)
Brussels, Belgium – Aug 29, 2024 (In-Person)
Sydney, Australia –  Sep 5, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Sep 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia – Sep 10, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada – Sep 12, 2024 (Virtual)
Denver, CO – Sep 17, 2024 (In-Person)
Adelaide, Australia – Sep 23 & 24, 2024 (2 Day, In-Person)
San Francisco, CA – Sep 24, 2024 (Virtual)
Nottingham, UK – Oct 1, 2024 (In-Person)
London, UK – Oct 2, 2024 (In-Person)
Brisbane, Australia – Oct 2, 2024 (In-Person)
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – Oct 7, 2024 (In-Person)
Phoenix, AZ – Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Ontario, Canada - Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Oct 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Oct 15, 2024 (Virtual)
Fort Lauderdale, FL – Oct 15, 2024 (In-Person)
San Francisco, CA – Oct 16, 2024 (Virtual)
Columbus, OH – Oct 25, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Nov 12, 2024 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia – Nov 12, 2024 (In-Person)
Sydney, Australia – Nov 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Nov 14, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Nov 19, 2024 (Virtual)
Franklin, TN – Dec 5, 2024 (Virtual)
Chile – Dec 10, 2024 (Virtual)
San Antonio, TX – Dec 10, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Dec 12, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Dec 18, 2024 (Virtual)
Washington, DC – Jan 28, 2025 (In-Person)

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].

Sign up for Verne's Weekly Insights  

*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.

Earlobe Crease; Rough Week; Two Died – John and Gene Lessons

Whatever you have to say, say it with love.
                     The Universe (daily post)

If it’s not coming from a place of love, it’s probably about you.
                     Sebastian Ross

An invitation to invest 2 to 22 minutes in your executive education this week.

Coronary Calcium Test – Please Get One
Do you have a Diagonal Earlobe Crease (DELC)? More on that below, but I lost two friends – not sure why one collapsed Sunday, but it’s normally a heart condition. And the other died of heart disease. An early warning is a crease in your earlobe. And one of the least expensive, non-invasive tests you can get is a coronary calcium test – mine cost $150. It’s an early, early warning sign of potential heart issues. Please get one.

Rough Week
So many articles, videos, etc. I wanted to share with you this week – including the numbers from the Fortune Global 500 released this week– they averaged $581,560 rev/employee and $42,127 profit/employee as a benchmark. But I’m just heartbroken and unable to write further about anything but my two friends who passed…

…John Ruhlin Passed Away Sunday
Leaving behind his lovely wife Lindsay and 4 beautiful young daughters, Giftology author John Ruhlin was vacationing with his family when he collapsed on Sunday, unable to be revived. The EO, author, biz, and his friend community (and he had so many) are shocked. Many of you might remember the times we’ve had John keynote our Fortune Summits – and share his wisdom with our coaching community on the power of gifting and how to do it beautifully. This IG post provides details of his passing and sites to offer support for his family.

Memory of John – Sara Blakely Interview
…the first memory that immediately came to mind, when I heard the news, was of John’s sit-down interview of Sara Blakely and Jesse Itzler for EO’s GLC which was held virtually because of the pandemic. EO clearly chose the right guy to host this amazing interview of two of the most iconic entrepreneurs of our time. I remember tuning in LIVE to watch and being blown away by John’s interview.

Important Lesson – Take That Extra Leap
This LinkedIn post captures the post excitement for John’s interview and notes:

Sara mentioned on stage that she has never had anyone fly down the day before and grab a meal prior to an interview with her.

John goes on to note, and this is the lesson:

I say it all the time when it comes to gifting, but it also applies to life in general too. Most people settle for “what’s the least I can do” vs “what’s the most I could do” take that extra leap when it comes to your business and watch things change around you.

Best Gift Ever – Portrait Made of Spanx Packaging
John then precedes, post the interview, to present Sara and Jesse with the most special gift to thank them for giving back to our EO community during such a crazy time for most of us during the pandemic. It was a massive (must have been 6ft or 7ft tall) portrait of Sara, Jesse, and their children comprised of pieces of packaging from Spanx. It might sound strange, but it is stunningly beautiful and memorable and one-of-a-kind. So many people have been touched by the special gifts John has given and made happen, including a $1000 coffee mug I was gifted by coach Andy Bailey that captures the history of my life beautifully. It’s one of the few cherished items I packed up and brought to Spain after moving from Boulder.

…and Gene Kirila Passed Away – Youngest Hero of Manufacturing
Last Saturday I attended the memorial for my dear friend Gene Kirila (60). Named by Fortune the youngest hero of manufacturing for revolutionizing several industries and featured in Mastering the Rockefeller Habits and Scaling Up, Gene passed away from a long-standing heart ailment leaving behind his lovely wife Ginger and four grown children. A family friend as well, Gene a specialist coach for Scaling Up, was an EO/Birthing of Giants grad, and early Rockefeller Habits client. And I learned more from Gene than I’m sure Gene learned from me.

Monthly Meeting Master
He was a master at Lean and the first to show me the power of hosting his broader leadership team for a monthly meeting (4pm - ?) at his lake retreat. It was these longer meetings that helped bond the team over a fun dinner, dig in and resolve a key constraint or two, and give Gene a chance to pass along some of his wisdom as the team used their own company as a working case study from which to learn and grow.

Gene’s Personal Framework – Family, Self, Spirit, Work
In addition to Ginger, all four of his children spoke at his memorial, with each addressing one of the four pillars of Gene’s framework for setting goals – something he passed down to his children and all the people who worked closely with Gene. Literally expressed as a picture frame, he encouraged everyone to set goals that equally focused on Family, Self, Spirit, and Work.

Gene’s Obituary
Gene, I miss you dearly and thank you for the wisdom you’ve shared with so many, including myself. Here’s an image (click to view in full) of his obituary.



Coronary Calcium Test
This Stanford Medicine article discusses what is referred to as Frank’s sign, a Diagonal Earlobe Crease (DELC) – and it includes photos. It’s correlated to arterial disease. I recently noticed that I’ve developed this crease and showed it to my doctor at the Riordan Clinic. He had me get a Coronary Calcium test, and sure enough, mine is elevated. Not in the super danger zone, but high enough that I’m addressing it. Please get tested.

Be Well

Order a box of 20 books
Save 50% over the price on Amazon for Scaling Up, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, and 12 Habits of Valuable Employees books here for less! 

Additional Books 
Scaling Up Compensation, a quick read helping you get much greater impact and outcomes from one of your largest expenses; and The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time, which provides you with some great ideas to borrow/steal for your own business are available on Amazon.

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].

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.

EDUCATION: 
Scaling Up Master Business Course
Scaling Up Free Mini Course

COACHING: Unlock Explosive Growth with a Scaling Up Coach
Is your business hitting a growth ceiling? Break through with a Scaling Up Certified Coach™. Our elite coaches master the Scaling Up methodology to reignite growth, align your team, and chart a clear scalability path. From day one, we provide a custom-tailored approach - conducting a comprehensive diagnostic, hand-picking your perfect coach match, and providing dedicated support. Whether a $5M or $250M firm, invest in coaching to propel your business to extraordinary new heights.
Schedule a complimentary follow-up or check out our FAQs. Additional questions can be sent to [email protected].

Have you considered becoming a Certified Scaling Up Coach?
Learn more about what it takes to certify and what being a coach is like. Pop into our Coach Office Hours to talk with our coach certification coordinator and a certified Scaling Up Coach. Learn More & Register for Office Hours here >

SCALING UP WORKSHOPS:
Engage your team with interactive Scaling Up workshops. Here's our list of workshops

Adelaide, Australia – Aug 13 & 14, 2024 (2 Day, In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Aug 15, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA –  Aug 28, 2024 (Virtual)
Brussels, Belgium – Aug 29, 2024 (In-Person)
Sydney, Australia –  Sep 5, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Sep 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia – Sep 10, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada – Sep 12, 2024 (Virtual)
Denver, CO – Sep 17, 2024 (In-Person)
San Francisco, CA – Sep 24, 2024 (Virtual)
Nottingham, UK – Oct 1, 2024 (In-Person)
London, UK – Oct 2, 2024 (In-Person)
Brisbane, Australia – Oct 2, 2024 (In-Person)
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – Oct 7, 2024 (In-Person)
Phoenix, AZ – Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Ontario, Canada - Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Oct 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Oct 15, 2024 (Virtual)
Fort Lauderdale, FL – Oct 15, 2024 (In-Person)
San Francisco, CA – Oct 16, 2024 (Virtual)
Columbus, OH – Oct 25, 2024 (In-Person)
Chile – Nov 12, 2024 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia – Nov 12, 2024 (In-Person)
Sydney, Australia – Nov 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Nov 14, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Nov 19, 2024 (Virtual)
Franklin, TN – Dec 5, 2024 (Virtual)
Chile – Dec 10, 2024 (Virtual)
San Antonio, TX – Dec 10, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Dec 12, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Dec 18, 2024 (Virtual)
Washington, DC – Jan 28, 2025 (In-Person)

Sign up for Verne's Weekly Insights  

*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.

Quitting; Bomber Jackets; Best Bars; Aug 6 Freebie

Giving up is a waste. Quitting, on the other hand, is a fine thing to do.
                     Seth Godin

Everything was just hard
                     Dana Tatana, Journey

An invitation to invest 2 to 22 minutes in your executive education this week.

NZ-based Digital Agency Triples Revenue Since 2019 (Scaling Up Case Study)
…and the firm tripled revenue with the same number of staff. This Scaleups.com article details how Journey’s Managing Director Dana Tatana, with the help of coach Adrian Pickstock starting in 2019, has rapidly scaled his digital agency using the tools/techniques of Scaling Up. Notes Tatana in the article:

“Everything was just hard,” recalls Tatana. “We were constantly firefighting. There were client issues, people issues, trying to find profit, working month-to-month on sales, making sure we hit the wage bill, and chasing debtors.”

Scaling doesn’t have to be this hard. Let us help you scale up easier with less drama as we have Dana and his team at Journey.

Giving Up vs. Quitting – Important Distinction
One of the daily posts I read every day is from marketing guru Seth Godin. This post on the distinction between giving up and quitting is simple yet profound. Where are you giving up? What do you need to quit? Please take 10 seconds to read – then a lifetime to ponder – Seth’s insightful post. Thank you, Seth.

Important Supreme Court Ruling – Lyft and Uber
Giving people the “freedom to work when and how they want” has been supported by California’s state Supreme Court when they ruled yesterday that Lyft and Uber can continue to treat drivers as independent contractors, capping a year-long case. It’s an important ruling for all small to mid-sized firms and gig workers. This NBC News video reports the details.

Golden Bomber Jackets and Bonuses
This Fortune article details how CEO Sundar Pichai has gone back to basics hosting fun, yet vital, competitions inside Google using golden bomber jackets and bonuses to prompt (pun intended) winning “golden prompts” to make their AI tool Gemini more user-friendly. What fun, yet critical, competitions are you hosting inside your firm this last half of 2024?

Winning Prompts – Highlights Practical Uses
Quoting from the same Fortune article:

The winning prompt in this scenario, BI reported, was: “Every time I get a new Google review from a customer, add it to my Reviews Sheet, and suggest a response. Let me review the response before publishing to Google Maps.”

Seven winners of the competition were chosen, with their prompts spanning examples from tracking and following up on business leads to flagging customers who need an urgent response. Other cases included keeping track of invoices and receipts, as well as helping users find research on leads.

Driving Sustainable Growth: The Critical Four Decisions of Scaling Up
On the fence whether Scaling Up can help you like it has Journey (featured above) and 102,000+ other firms, please join us on August 6th at 2 PM ET for an enlightening free live webinar where we delve into the four pivotal decisions every business must master to achieve sustainable growth: People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash. Daniel Marcos, Co-Founder and CEO of Growth Institute will share practical insights and actionable strategies to help you build a high-performance team, craft a winning strategy, ensure operational excellence, and manage your finances effectively. Save your seat here: https://hubs.li/Q02HCG_s0

Fun Facts – World’s Best Bars
Notes Forbes this morning:

Farm-to-bar Cartagena, Colombia cocktail lounge Alquímico was named World’s Best Bar at the 18th annual Spirited Awards in New Orleans, (Forbes is the official media partner). Denver’s Yacht Club won Best U.S. Cocktail Bar, and New York’s Superbueno was named the Best New Cocktail Bar in America.

Thank You Immensely – Reviews MRH 22^nd Edition
Thank you to all who took a moment to write a quick Amazon review for Mastering the Rockefeller Habits 22^nd Edition released in April – your support is appreciated as I was getting killed by a bogus 1 rating claiming the book was written by AI. Your support means a great deal to me.

Order a box of 20 books
Save 50% over the price on Amazon for Scaling Up, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, and 12 Habits of Valuable Employees books here for less! 

Additional Books 
Scaling Up Compensation, a quick read helping you get much greater impact and outcomes from one of your largest expenses; and The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time, which provides you with some great ideas to borrow/steal for your own business are available on Amazon.

SCALING UP WORKSHOPS:
Engage your team with interactive Scaling Up workshops. Here's our list of workshops

Bengaluru / Hyderabad / Dhaka, India – Jul 31, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Jul 31, 2024 (Virtual)
Adelaide, Australia – Aug 13 & 14, 2024 (2 Day, In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Aug 15, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA –  Aug 28, 2024 (Virtual)
Brussels, Belgium – Aug 29, 2024 (In-Person)
Sydney, Australia –  Aug 29, 2024 (In-Person)
Melbourne, Australia – Sep 10, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada – Sep 12, 2024 (Virtual)
Denver, CO – Sep 17, 2024 (In-Person)
Columbus, OH – Sep 20, 2024 (In-Person)
San Francisco, CA – Sep 24, 2024 (Virtual)
Nottingham, UK – Oct 1, 2024 (In-Person)
Brisbane, Australia – Oct 2, 2024 (In-Person)
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – Oct 7, 2024 (In-Person)
Phoenix, AZ – Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Ontario, Canada - Oct 10, 2024 (Virtual)
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Oct 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Fort Lauderdale, FL – Oct 15, 2024 (In-Person)
San Francisco, CA – Oct 16, 2024 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia – Nov 12, 2024 (In-Person)
Sydney, Australia – Nov 14, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Nov 14, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Nov 19, 2024 (Virtual)
Franklin, TN – Dec 5, 2024 (Virtual)
San Antonio, TX – Dec 10, 2024 (In-Person)
Ontario, Canada - Dec 12, 2024 (Virtual)
San Francisco, CA – Dec 18, 2024 (Virtual)
Washington, DC – Jan 28, 2025 (In-Person)

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].

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.

EDUCATION: 
Scaling Up Master Business Course
Scaling Up Free Mini Course

COACHING: Unlock Explosive Growth with a Scaling Up Coach
Is your business hitting a growth ceiling? Break through with a Scaling Up Certified Coach™. Our elite coaches master the Scaling Up methodology to reignite growth, align your team, and chart a clear scalability path. From day one, we provide a custom-tailored approach - conducting a comprehensive diagnostic, hand-picking your perfect coach match, and providing dedicated support. Whether a $5M or $250M firm, invest in coaching to propel your business to extraordinary new heights.
Schedule a complimentary follow-up or check out our FAQs. Additional questions can be sent to [email protected].

Have you considered becoming a Certified Scaling Up Coach?
Learn more about what it takes to certify and what being a coach is like. Pop into our Coach Office Hours to talk with our coach certification coordinator and a certified Scaling Up Coach. Learn More & Register for Office Hours here >

Sign up for Verne's Weekly Insights  

*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.