Buffett’s Top 10; Growth Paradox; Founder’s Mentality; CEO Boot Camp
February 9, 2017
#1 Book; Facebook’s Purpose; Google’s Five Hiring Attributes; Moog Music; Feb 28 Webinar
February 23, 2017

Benchmarks; Trust Neuroscience; Daily Huddle; Long Term Benefits; Mexico City March 2

"…insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

Salim Ismail in Mexico City March 2 author of Exponential Organizations, Salim will present live. More info below, but first…

CEO Boot Camp spend 4 fun and deeply interactive days with Verne and John Ratliff in Marathon, FL March 7 – 10 – 2 seats left. For more info [email protected]

Productivity Benchmarks Fortune's Most Admired Companies list is out and Apple is again #1. Overall, Fortune 500 companies account for $12.5 trillion in revenues, $945 billion in profits, $17 trillion in market value and employ 26.8 million people worldwide. That works out to $466,418 revenue/employee and $35,261 profit/employee. In turn, the average revenue/employee for mid-market firms ($10 million to $1 billion) is $126,000/employee. Pricing and bad processes are the main reasons scaleups are less than a third as efficient in generating revenue than large companies.

Trust Drives Productivity not surprisingly, high-trust organizations outperform low-trust firms as reported in this HBR article. Specifically, people in high-trust companies report:

74% less stress, 106% more energy at work, 50% higher productivity, 13% fewer sick days, 76% more engagement, 29% more satisfaction with their lives, 40% less burnout.

There are 8 management practices that specifically drive trust, including frequent communication. Notes the article, in support of the daily huddle:

A 2015 study of 2.5 million manager-led teams in 195 countries found that workforce engagement improved when supervisors had some form of daily communication with direct reports.

One of the firms highlighted in the article is Barry-Wehmiller, whose CEO (and author of Everybody Matters) is keynoting our upcoming ScaleUp Summit May 23 – 24, San Antonio. Thanks for Steve Hall, founder of DriversSelect, for pointing me to this important article.

India's Biggest Robot Company Drives Productivitywith the explosion of online commerce, automating warehouses is big business – and one of the leaders is India-based GreyOrange. This BBC News item details how two students have built this 650 employee company. Notes co-founder Samay Kohli:

A single person would pick about 100 to 120 items in one hour. With our Butler robot, he is able to pick 400 to 500 items every hour.

This is how you boost revenue/employee! Mr. Kohli goes on to note:

Ten years ago, every person did not have a computer, today every person has one computer. We look at robots in that sense: as everyone has one computer, in the future they will have one robot with them to help them do their work better.

Managing for the Long Term Drives Performancethis McKinsey study which tracked 615 companies between 2001 and 2015 reports that firms which took a long term perspective grew revenues 47% faster and profit 36% faster vs. their peers.

Proven Completely Wrong About Productivity note's this Fortune article, Eric Schmidt, Executive Chair of Google, admits he was wrong about the impact of artificial intelligence and now believes that "AI-first" is real. A Google Brain team's focus on recognizing cats in YouTube videos changed Schmidt's mind about the potential for AI to approach human intelligence. What are you doing to explore AI applications in your industry to drive productivity?

For my friends in Mexico! The Scaling Up book continues to rank at the top of Amazon and is frequently purchased with Salim Ismail's Exponential Organizations. If you've had success with the Scaling Up methodology I recommend considering a related and unique opportunity with Salim. On March 2nd, our Growth Institute is hosting a summit in Mexico City featuring Salim and his revolutionary approach to business growth. Click here to learn more about the event. Seats are very limited so reserve your spot today.

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:

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.

Verne Harnish
Verne Harnish
Verne Harnish is founder of the world-renowned Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) and chaired for fifteen years EO’s premiere CEO program, the “Birthing of Giants” and WEO’s “Advanced Business” executive program both held at MIT. Founder and CEO of Gazelles, a global executive education and coaching company with over 150 coaching partners on six continents, Verne has spent the past three decades helping companies scale-up. The “Growth Guy” syndicated columnist, he’s also the Venture columnist for FORTUNE magazine. He’s the author of Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0); Mastering the Rockefeller Habits; and along with the editors of Fortune, authored The Greatest Business Decisions of All Times," for which Jim Collins wrote the foreword. Verne also chairs FORTUNE Magazine’s annual Leadership and Growth Summits and serves on several boards including chairman of The Riordan Clinic and the newly launched Geoversity. He is an investor in many scale-ups. A father of four, he enjoys piano, tennis, and magic as a card-carrying member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.