1 Word; #2 Biz Book; Being Decisive in 4 Steps; April 8 Cutoff
March 26, 2013300% ROI; 3% Solution; Games Buyers Play; Dr. Laurie Bassi
April 4, 20135 Ways to Go Global; The Soap Queen; Ashiana Housing Video; Dan Pink Interview
"…keeping you great"
HEADLINES:
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Jim Koch's |
The Soap Queen
— talk about owning a word, Anne-Marie Faiola, founder of
Bramble Berry Soap Making Supplies, is THE Soap Queen. More below, but
first…
Jim Koch's Samuel Adams
— take 3 minutes to read
this inspiring Fortune article on Jim Koch who runs the largest craft
brewery in the US, Boston Beer ($629 million in 2012). It's a great story of how
he started, went public, and has thrived during the Great Recession against the
big guys (had to get a cease and desist against Bud) and 2400 small competitors.
His bottom line advice:
Know the
market – must be better or cheaper or go home
Don't hire
people unless they raise the average – takes selection seriously
Learn to fail
quickly – they've pulled dozens of beers that didn't sell
5
Ways Smart Companies Go Global
— Pankaj Ghemawat, the youngest ever to be appointed full
professor at Harvard Business School (now prof in Barcelona at IESE), outlines
five practical keys for going global – applicable to mid-market firms as well as
Fortune
500:
Chopping
Deadwood – pull out of countries that don't make sense
Manning the
Bridges – pick countries with cultural links – he outlines three questions
Fortifying
Regions – OK to stay close to home
Riding the
Big Shift – emerging markets makes up 38% of global GDP, and 79% of growth
Cherry
picking – avoid "globaloney"
My
take – best to follow your existing customers to other countries – that way you
have revenue day one in a foreign country.
Take three minutes to read his piece in Fortune.
Core Values Video
— Ankur Gupta, head of award-winning Ashiana
Housing in India, sent me a link to their latest
core values video. Notes Ankur "I really want to thank you for creating such
systems that we are able to transfer the core values to many of our employees.
One of the employees told me that this is the only company which he has seen
practicing its core values, not just talking about them."
8 Ways to Align HR with Core
Values — the system Ankur is talking about, in aligning all your
HR systems with your core values, is detailed in this short
Growth Guy article – take 3 minutes to review the 8 ways – then share a copy
with your head of HR.
Dan Pink Interview
— I meant to point you Tuesday to a 4 minute interview Sean Finter, CEO of Barmetrix
did with Dan Pink – it's nicely produced and gives you a quick
overview of Dan's thoughts on sales – including why most employees are
better at sales than they might think and what the #1 thing all sales people
must do in today's sales environment – what Jeff Thule calls Sales 3.0.
The Soap Queen
— seeing my
latest LinkedIn Influencer article about the importance of owning a word or
two, Anne-Marie sent me this kind note "I must give you credit for the Soap
Queen name. You told us to call ourselves the King/Queen/Whatever of our domains
and I started calling myself the 'Soap Queen' and now, I'm identified as that
term so much that it even made the cover of my new book." Anne-Marie lives the
notion that you "are what you publish" (thank you David Meerman Scott) and has a
new book coming out in August; a Soap Queen blog; and even Soap Queen TV! Here's
a link to all she's doing. She was also kind enough to give a shout out to
her Gazelles coach of 7 years, Ron Huntington.
