Think Like Steve Jobs; How Microsoft Did It; 3 MSP Mistakes; Oct 4 Kaihan Krippendorff Webinar

"…insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

Outlearn the Competition — a dozen top biz thought leaders in addition to eight ScaleUpX speakers (successful leaders of mid-market firms) will keynote our upcoming ScaleUp Summit Oct 16 – 17, Denver. Learning is not a "nice to have" it's a "must have" in today's information-driven economy as the top market cap companies in the world have learned (below). See you in Denver.

Learn It All Culture — at almost $900 billion in market cap, Microsoft is the third largest market cap firm in the world behind Apple and Amazon and just ahead of Alphabet (hint, pick a name that starts with the letter "A"). This 4+ minute Fortune interview of Microsoft's EVP of Biz Dev Peggy Johnson gives insights into the unbelievable turnaround of this tech giant and how it has become nimble again. One key was CEO Nadella's focus on creating a "learn it all" culture. The second is highlighted at the 3:52 mark where Peggy describes how every Microsoft employee knows and is focused on Microsoft's mission, which she shares. The key is that CEO Nadella repeats this statement and a handful of ambitions at EVERY weekly executive all-hands meeting It's worth a few seconds to hear her talk about this – then watch the entire 4 minutes.

What is Your Weekly Mantra? — what are the messages you're going to share meeting after meeting after meeting – from the quarterly theme to the company's purpose/BHAG. As Peggy Johnson mentions in the interview, you can't just check off a box that you have these strategy decisions. You need to stay on message by repeating them a lot – this is what leaders of major companies like Microsoft do – simple and effective. So just do it!!

Learn to Think Like Steve Jobs — so what was Steve Jobs' final "project." It wasn't a product, it was Apple University – his succession plan. One of the best kept secrets still today, my partner Daniel Marcos found this Deloitte posted blog. Notes the blog:

It goes on to note:

Please take 2 minutes to read the entire piece. Hopefully the tools within Scaling Up serve as a foundation for best practices in scaling your firm – and our educational and coaching services help you keep everyone educated.

MSP's Growing 5x GDP — I keynoted IT Glue's customer conference last week. Chris Day, founder and CEO, is riding a fast growth firm in a fast growth industry – the Managed Service Provider (MSP) space. It's fun to see mid-market firms growing so fast given the kind of "wind at their back" market forces swirling around them. Yet, they also face some challenges. In this interview for Channel Partners Online I share 3 things MSPs (and most mid-market firms) do poorly – Pricing, Targeting, and Marketing. Please take 2 minutes to skim through the three ideas.

Strategy Webinar 12pm ET Oct. 4 — Dr. Kaihan Krippendorff, author of OUTThink the Competition, has captured the essence of strategy and given us a truly fresh language to guide and enhance the process. He will be sharing that on October 4th. Register here:

Kaihan is a dear friend of mine and a great business strategist who has consulted an impressive list of outstanding companies, including Sotheby's, TedX, Kraft, NASA, and Google. I'm so excited to announce that Kaihan has agreed to share his insights on the secrets to outthinking the competition and creating disruptive innovation. You don't want to miss this free webinar on October 4th. Click here to register:

CEO-BOOTCAMP: spend 3.5 days with Verne, serial entrepreneur John Ratliff, and 6 other CEOs in a beautiful retreat setting, addressing the constraints holding back you, your business, and your industry. October 2 – 5; January 15 – 18, 2019.

EXITING: Thinking about selling the business for $40 million or more? Want to get 25% to 200% more than you thought? Request the whitepaper from the Exit Strategies Summit at Harvard from Denise Richmond at (610) 299-6466 or email at [email protected]

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? Contact us at [email protected] for more information or visit https://coaches.scalingup.com/.

TECHNOLOGY:

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

Better Book Club — What's your team reading? Increase your books read per team member. Easy, Proven, and in the Cloud at http://www.BetterBookClub.com.