Top 5 Books 2015; Biz Person of the Year; 2016 Predictions; ExO Course; Cybercrime Stories Needed

"…insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

Exponential Organizations' Class — McKinsey, the CIA, and even the Pope's organization are embracing Salim Ismail's breakthrough book. He's personally (and exclusively) teaching an online course on how his ideas practically apply to mid-market growth firms, more info below, but first…

Need Stories: Cyber Security Threats — For my next Fortune column I'm looking for insights on practical ways mid-market companies can protect themselves from the latest cyber security threats, more info below, but second…

Top 5 Biz Books — here's a link to my latest Fortune column – hope you've read these five books this year. We've hosted four of the five authors, including Exponential Organizations' author Salim Ismail, at our Summits – and hope to snag the fifth (General McChrystal).

The Container Store CEO Interview — one of the top 5 books is Kip Tindell's book Uncontainable, one of the most practical "how to" books I've ever read in how to scale up a business (21% compounded growth for 37 years) retailing waste baskets and other "empty boxes." This 5 minute interview explores why they don't have an HR department, yet get so many high quality applicants that they only have to hire 4% of those that apply.

Business Person of the Year — Fortune chose Nike CEO Mark Parker. Doubling the size of Nike the past nine years, Parker's goal is to add another $20 billion in revenue by 2020, taking the company to $50 billion. This cover story reveals how Parker is doing it. What first caught my attention – Parker was one of founder Phil Knight's first recruits right out of college back in 1979, proving the importance of grooming (and retaining) talent from inside the organization. FYI, Knight initially messed up, hiring an outsider to replace him as CEO in 2004. That guy lasted one year and Parker replaced him. So many founders make this same mistake.

It's About the Questions — Parker exemplifies the idea that a leader's main task is to ask questions. Notes Fortune, "What's fascinating about his use of questions is that it leaves other leaders empowered to find the answers themselves and act on them." Fortune goes on to note:

All Companies are Tech Companies — Nike's success also proves that ALL companies are tech companies. Parker has led with technology to drive all aspects of the business – design, manufacturing, marketing, and retail. The article is chock full of marketing, sales, and operational insights (including the importance of naming buildings/meeting rooms) – worth 4 minutes of intense reading.

Fortune's Predictions for 2016 — and here's a link to Fortune's predictions about the events, people and ideas that will matter in 2016, in business, politics, technology and more. Apple buying Tesla and becoming the first $800 billion market cap firm are two of the many prognostications. Fortune also predicts who will top both the Republican and Democratic tickets for President/Vice President; the price of oil and the stock market by the end of 2016; and some not-so-surprising consumer trends. It's worth 1 minute to scan down through the list.

Appster Winning the Talent Wars (Gazelles case study) — and my latest Huffington Post blog highlights how Australia-based Appster, famous for their 22 hour Topgrading interviews, has scaled in four years from two young founders to 350 "Appsterfarians" and $20 million in revenue. Business Review Weekly estimates these two 20-somethings have a combined net worth of $58 million today – not bad for a self-funded tech biz. This article digs into some of their keys to success, including implementation of the Rockefeller Habits 2.0.

Exponential Organizations Class — Join Salim Ismail for his second Exponential Organizations class. Salim has again decided to personally teach this class that features brand new videos and content with co-author Yuri van Geest. This class is designed as blueprint to help you learn and implement the attributes used by the most successful companies in the world. From retail to auto shops to food processing the cases span every industry. Join Salim and his team for this amazing learning experience. For those of you who like the Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0) methodology, this is a must! (Even Amazon is bundling the two methodologies). For more information or to request a detailed outline of this class email Juan Gonzalez at [email protected]

Need Stories: Cyber Security Threats — Thank you for the trend ideas – that column is submitted. For my next Fortune column I'm looking for insights on practical ways mid-market companies can protect themselves from the latest cyber security threats. We've all seen dozens of articles saying there is more we can do, yet how do we mere mortals put safeguards in place that employees will really use, when we don't have multi-million dollar IT budgets? If you have found strategies that are working for you, please include your company name, the city where it is located, your number of employees and your annual revenues — [email protected] — thank you.

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.

TECHNOLOGY:

Align Software puts everyone on the Same Page – Literally! See, in real time every person in your organization and how they are progress on their priorities – alongside how these 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.