5 Ways to Name; The Power of TED; Juggling Unicorn and 5 Children; David Marquet Master Class

"…insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

7-Minutes to Mastery (ScalingUp Club) — Alan Miltz's highlights the 7 simple levers you and your team can change to impact cash using his Power of One approach (best I've ever seen). "Shift happens" so have the cash you need. Please watch this short clip with your team at your weekly meeting. More below, but first…

10th Anniversary Edition — it's rare that a book remains a best-seller for over a decade. David Emerald's jewel of a parable titled The Power of TED has positively impacted countless lives, helping people escape (shift) the dreaded drama triangle and replace it with a creator/challenger/coach model of performance. GPro and book club members will receive a copy of the 10th Anniversary Edition next week – then join a 1000 CEOs and leaders of mid-market companies and embrace David's heartfelt keynote at the Growth Summit Presented by Fortune, Oct 25 – 26 Dallas.

5 Ways to Pick a Killer Name — naming stuff matters. And professional/service firms are particularly bad at NOT naming anything, unlike manufacturers who name every product and model. My latest Fortune column highlights 5 ways to choose a killer name for your company (yes, some of you have bad names) and products/services. I particularly like the private equity firm example – Riverside names everything! It provides an important shortcut for people to explain what makes them different. And research is clear – the "quality" of your name(s) will impact how big you scale.

Juggling a Unicorn and 5 Children — Ryan Smith, co-founder of Utah-based Qualtrics, has a statistician for an assistant who tracks all kinds of metrics for him – including days away from home (68 vs. 99 the year before) and time spent with his wife and each of his five children (read about the "most important 9 minutes" idea). He also knows when he is most productive and a dozen other stats on his activities, reviewing quarterly to make improvements. #12 on Fortune's "Top 40 Under 40" list, this article highlights how he juggles scaling a significant customer and employee enterprise survey firm with other aspects of his life. Notes Smith, in the video accompanying the article, it doesn't do any good to scale a business if the rest of your life doesn't come with you! Take 3 minutes to scan down through the article to read how Smith has scaled such a significant firm since 2002 to over a billion in market cap. Focusing initially on ONE narrow (and surprising) niche was key.

Fun Fact: 55% Search Amazon First — Fortune reported this week on a BloomReach poll of 2000 people that found "55% of U.S. online shoppers begin their product searches on Amazon." This is an 11% increase over last year while specific retailers are visited first just 16% of the time, down from 21%. And with 49 million Prime customers, Amazon continues its lock on internet shopping. Why? Because it focuses on one thing – how to make everything easier. What can you do to make it easier for people to do business with you, use your product/service, and for your employees to deliver? It's all about "easy."

Pricing, Ideal Teams, Turnarounds, Value Propositions, Biomimicry, and Human Performance — we have some of the biggest names (Pat Lencioni, Hermann Simon, Alex Osterwalder, Greg Brenneman, Amanda Lindhout, Cal Newport, Jay Harmon, Rory Vaden, and David Emerald) in each of these critical areas of your business, thought leaders who have literally written the book on these topics, coming together at the upcoming Growth Summit. It's a chance for you and your team to hear directly from the authors – the equivalent of reading a dozen books (the ideal "A" player quota for six months). Plus, you'll be in a room and sharing meals/receptions with almost 1000 other leaders of scaleups. Two intense days of learning – to keep you ahead of your competition – Oct 24 – 26, Dallas.

Execution Excellence — I still consider David Marquet's book, Turn the Ship Around, to be one of the best in how to drive execution in a firm. Taking the worst submarine in the US nuclear navy and getting it to first through his Intent-based Leadership model is now a complete online Master Class…

…7-Week Online Program with David — Want to lead an organization where execution happens without permission and results are part of the day-to-day? Join David Marque in his new Intent-Based Leadership Online Master Class. It is a 7-week program (a couple hours per week) where you will learn and gradually implement David's leadership methodology to build a thriving culture and business. Click here for more information or feel free to contact Juan Gonzalez at [email protected] or call him at (512) 773 5465.

7-Minutes to Mastery (ScaleUp Club) — Alan Miltz's "Cash Flow is King" online course (he wrote one of the key Cash chapters in Scaling Up) provides you with the implementation tools to dramatically increase your cash flow. In this 7-minute clip you'll learn how to use "The Power of One" (easier to hear him explain than read in my book), one of the key new Growth Tools. To access the clip, go 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? Click here to watch Gazelles International President Keith Cupp describes the four most important attributes of successful clients. Contact us at [email protected] for more information.

And if you're interested in becoming a world-class certified Gazelles International coach, please go to gicoaches.com/becomeacoach for more information. If you determine that we're a fit and wish to join our premier organization, we invite you to contact our Dir. of Coach Engagement at [email protected] or 877.217.2253 ext.700.

TECHNOLOGY:

Align Software puts everyone on the Same Page – Literally! See, in real time every person in your organization and how they are progressing on their priorities – alongside how they Align to the Company Priorities! Scale Up your Rockefeller Habits implementation with www.aligntoday.com – on your computer and on your 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.