Covert Award Winner; Gift Giving Tips; Accelerated Intelligence; 2018 Investing

"…insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

Operation Toy Story — led by a group of YPOers and EOers, the US Marines have gotten involved, as have many of you, in the goal to deliver a million toys to storm savaged Puerto Rico. Update below, but first…

Congratulations "Mr. Excellence" Tom Peters — Tom, who was kind enough to endorse my first book and taught me almost everything I know about teaching/presenting, is THE guru who created the modern biz book genre. His book In Search of Excellence remains the gold standard in business books. As such, his winning of the coveted Jack Covert award is fitting recognition of Tom's impact and influence on our industry. Noted Jack Covert, after whom this prestigious award is named:

Please take 1 minute to read this tribute to Mr. Excellence (what word or two do you own?). Congratulations Tom for the huge impact you've had on the business and book world.

Why It's Harder to be Excellent — how do you break out and become great at what you do? And why is it really getting harder? This Quartz at Work article notes:

The key is accelerated intelligence which requires accelerated learning. Michael Simmons, the author of this article, concludes that leaders need to follow the 5-hour rule – a minimum of 5 hours of learning per week (shared by Gates, Oprah, Buffett, etc.) – reading, podcasts, workshops, etc. – along with three other rules. Please take 2 minutes to scan through the data supporting Simmons' premise – especially the two graphs highlighted in the article. Thank you to YPOer Gene Browne, CEO of CityBin, for sharing.

Excellence in Gift Giving — John Ruhlin, author of Giftology, is the king of corporate gift-giving. Notes Fast Company writer Katharine Schwab:

So she consulted with Ruhlin and nailed it! This six-minute video shows how John's process and rules (practical vs. novel, for instance) helped Katharine find the perfect gift. Now it's your turn to choose someone and practice John's tips for finding the perfect, most memorable, gift. Thank you team member Kristin Kopp for sharing this video.

Investing Excellence for 2018 — as you reflect on your investing strategy for 2018, Fortune does one of the more credible jobs pulling together best practices. Go to www.fortune.com and scroll to the bottom where you'll see the first of nine articles in Fortune's 2018 Investor's Guide including how Paul Singer's Hedge Fund always wins and how The World's Biggest Money Manager ($6 trillion) is preparing for 2018. This is your lengthy reading for the weekend. Then take to heart the Pablo Picasso quote above!

Excellent OPERATION TOY STORY Update — Kevin Donnelly, one of the YPOers spearheading Operation Toy Story drive, sent me an update:

The US Marines have jumped in to help with distribution. And the team has set up a link on Amazon that makes it easy to purchase toys and direct them to this great cause. Put a smile on many children's faces this holiday season. If you have any questions, please email Kevin at [email protected]

Excellent Idea/Program for Children — Rich Christiansen has founded or co-founded 49 businesses and does a lot of things differently with his family, including making each child start a company to pay for their vacations or things they want. Rich and his family will be special guests at Maverick's Family New Year's event.

If you have children aged 6-16 this is the first and only event for developing your children's entrepreneurial spirit, building on core success skills, learning from other parents and doing it in a way that's fun, engaging while building unique family memories.

Children get unique business sessions tailored to their interests and comprehension. While the younger children (6-12) are out on the streets selling; the teens (13+) are uncovering their passions and interests to develop their own businesses — all while the parents are holding their sessions on raising more creative, independent and entrepreneurial children without a sense of entitlement.

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? 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:

Create Accountability – Drive Execution
Click Here to Watch a video example.

Align is your cloud based business operating system designed to keep you on your path to executing your goals. 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, tablet or phone. $5.00 per month gets you started.

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.