Secret Deal Whisperer; AI meets C-Suite; FastCat Promises; Sept 24 Sumo course online
September 18, 2014
3 Important Books; Perfect Persuasion Manual; 9 Email Rules; Amsterdam, Athens, and Cyprus
October 2, 2014

Better than iPhone6; Rookie Smarts; Internal Shark Tanks; Sept 29 Room Cutoff

"…keeping you great"

HEADLINES:  

Room Block Cutoff Sept 29 — if you're attending the Growth Summit and don't have rooms booked yet, see below, but first…

Asking for Help, Helps You — Successful people ask for help, yet many people seem hardwired NOT to ask for help. This recent Fortune article by Camille Preston outlines 8 guidelines for seeking assistance. Take 2 minutes to scan the 8 ideas and pick one to implement immediately. At a minimum, post a sign in front of you that simply says "ask for help." As Jim Collins' suggests, whenever you face an opportunity or challenge, your first question should always be a "who" question (not why!) — "who knows more than me and my team that can help?"

Internal Shark Tanks — One group to ask for help is your own employees. Kevin Harrington, original Shark on the hit TV show Shark Tank and author of Act Now! How I Turn Ideas into Million-Dollar Products is helping major firms set-up "Shark Tank-like" competitions inside their companies as a way to surface profitable ideas. Roger Hardy, founder of Coastal Contacts (recently sold for $430 million), ran something similar inside his firm which added another 15% to his topline. Both will be sharing their specific approaches at Fortune's upcoming Growth Summit in Las Vegas, Oct 28 – 29. Come out-learn the competition.

Ask Your Middle Leaders — What happens when a senior leadership empowers and turns loose A-Player talent? They create, innovate and grow. CEO Vic Oenning of Ridgefield, WA-based Corwin Beverage recently asked his middle leadership team to "take a day, go have fun and come back with some great ideas" (it was both a reward and challenge). Here's a 1 minute video that recaps their day. Corwin plans to use it as a recruiting tool to show it's a "company that knows how to have fun." Note: Oenning didn't ask them to produce a video…he was as surprised and delighted as everyone else with their creativity, team building and inspiration. Turn your middle management team loose!

Ask the Young — and its young people who are most willing to ask for help. In a world where experience can be a curse, "rookies" are the creative forces behind some of the most successful firms in the world (what's the average age of your senior team?). Leadership expert Liz Wiseman (author of the huge bestseller Multipliers) has a new book coming out called Rookie Smarts: Why Learning Beats Knowing in the New Game of Work. She explains how to reclaim and cultivate the curious, flexible, youthful mindset. Wiseman reveals the different modes of the rookie mindset that lead to success:

  • Backpacker: Unencumbered, rookies are more open to new possibilities, ready to explore new terrain, and don't get stuck in yesterday's best practices.
  • Hunter-Gatherer: Rookies seek out experts and return with ideas and resources to address the challenges they face.
  • Firewalker: Lacking situational confidence, rookies take small, calculated steps, moving fast and seeking feedback to stay on track.
  • Pioneer: Keeping things simple and focusing on meeting core needs, rookies improvise and work tirelessly while pushing boundaries.

Wiseman's book pointedly addresses the questions every experienced professional faces: Will my knowledge and skills become obsolete and irrelevant? Will a young, inexperienced newcomer upend my company or me? How can I keep up? The answer is to stay fresh, keep learning, and know when to think like a rookie. Come hear Wiseman share her latest insights (she ran Oracle U for Ellison) at the upcoming Growth Summit in Vegas as well.

Better Than iPhone 6 — and if you really want an amazing new tool, take 2 minutes to see the announcement of this new "old" device. It's a brilliant example of "newsjacking" the huge publicity around the release of the iPhone 6 – I wish I had thought of this. Thanks to James Aldridge, owner of Sydney-based Assist Group for pointing me to this clever video.

Room Block Cutoff Sept 29 Fortune's Growth Summit room block cutoff date at the JW Marriott is this coming Monday, 9/29. There are only a few rooms left in our block and because the hotel is sold out over our peak nights, they do not have additional rooms to offer us. Once our block is sold out, we will post overflow hotel options on the Growth Summit venue page on our website. For reservations, click on this link.

Dubai Oct 1 — I'll be in Dubai next week including an event open to the public Wednesday evening from 6pm – 8pm. For more info.

COACHING:

Need help implementing the Rockefeller Habits?

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.