Zuckerberg’s BHAG; Case’s Vision; Delaying College; Seth Godin’s key tip

"…insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

7-Minute Exec Ed — the Scaling Up Club's featured clip this week is from Seth Godin's unusual and fascinating seminar Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable. Links below, but first…

Why Your Teen Should Skip College for Now — see details below, but second…

Remarkable Book — wow, Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, authored a very important and well-written book. Released last week, I read The Third Wave: An Entrepreneurs' Vision for the Future over the weekend, as promised, and it has to be the best book I've read so far in 2016. Key learnings:

1. The third wave – the Internet of Everything – is something all of us, in every industry, must embrace – and he details why and how.
    
2. This wave is more like the first wave – vs. the second wave where lone entrepreneurs could dominate. Why? Because…
    
3. The next wave will transform entire industries like transportation and healthcare. This requires partnering with major players including governments.

Case quotes the above African Proverb in the book.

3 P's — notes Case, when he discusses with entrepreneurs the keys to success in the third wave "I tell them that it comes down to the three P's: partnership, policy, and perseverance." Partnership – I mentioned above; Policy, because you're going to be touching significant industries, most of which impact constituencies and governments (think Zuckerberg's meetings with Chinese officials); and perseverance, because all of this is tough, really tough.

Chapter 12 — if you want a quick summary, go to the last chapter where Case shares his "Key Takeaways" in two pages. Grab this book and absorb it as soon as you can (and have your teenage children read it). For Gazelles, we're taking an entire day to start identifying key partnerships and outlining the technology roadmap we must pursue in delivering executive education, coaching, and cloud-based support in helping you scaleup (thank you Raghoo Potinii for spearheading this).

Zuckerberg's 10-Year Plan — speaking of third waves, on Tuesday Facebook's founder/CEO announced his next BHAG — "give everyone the power to share anything with anyone" (he literally means all 7+ billion people). Notes this USA Today report, it's supported by three pillars:

• Artificial intelligence, which will help Facebook better sift through and understand all the photos, videos and updates people post to Facebook;
   
• Connectivity, the goal of making Facebook and the internet available everywhere and to everyone through lasers and drones;
   
• Virtual and augmented reality, which Zuckerberg says one day will bring friends together even if they are on other sides of the planet through a pair of "normal-looking" glasses that can overlay digital elements on the physical world and become "the most social platform."

It was a politically charged and powerful speech, worth the 2 minutes to read USA Today's summary (I couldn't find a transcript of the speech).

Skip College (for now) — and this NY Times piece looks at the critical importance of students taking a "gap year" after high school. Notes the piece: 

Our oldest son took a gap year (working various jobs for friends around the globe) and entirely changed his mind on where he wanted to go to school and his major. That saved what would have been a wasted year of college and tuition in our case – and he's super happy and motivated just as the article describes. More importantly, Julie and I weren't involved at all in his college decision-making and didn't even know he had applied – yea, no costly and time consuming college campus visits. My parents didn't escort me around – so I didn't want to do it either (mean dad!).

7-Minute Scaling Up Club — Advertising and marketing that is built off other people's work is doomed to fail, and the only way to stand out is to be remarkable – In just 7-minutes (11:24-17:30), understand how crucial it is to be beyond average and remarkable! In this section, Seth Godin focuses on the initial stage – how to change something in your business to start being a little better than average.

If you only have one-minute, check out from 19:14 to 20:25 to see one specific example of how to make an impression and have a remarkable business. To access both clips: Scaling Up Club Members go here, Non members can join here to enjoy!

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.

COACHING:

Have you ever wondered if your company would be a good candidate to work with an executive growth coach? Click here to watch Gazelles International President Keith Cupp describes the four most important attributes of successful clients.

And if you're interested in becoming a world-class certified Gazelles International coach, please contact Jean Carpenter at [email protected] / (360) 798.9471.