Big China Win; 40 Lessons from Southwest; Raising Selfish Children; Canada’s Purpose

"…keeping you great"

HEADLINES:

NFTE Big Winner in China — see below, but first…

Clever Ways to Cut Costs — my next Fortune column will focus on ways to cut costs when you don't think you have any more costs to cut. Where are some "hidden" places you've found costs to cut? What are some costs you were surprised you had that you were able to eliminate? Email me [email protected] with a short explanation and we'll call to get details. Deadline Friday, 1st July.

40 Lessons From Southwest Airlines — following the 5 big lessons from IBM's first 100 years, Southwest celebrated its 40th birthday 18th June. To highlight its success, 40 hard fought lessons are shared in the June issue of their in-flight magazine. Lesson 1 (keep it simple); 8 (be the good guy); and 19 (crisis drives creativity) are my three favorite. Lesson 25 is the cleverest; 28 is the most surprising; and 38 likely the most important. It's worth taking 8 minutes to read through the list and pick one or two to emulate.

Canada's Purpose — and this note from Azam Bhaloo, President of Ontario-based Foray Group, "thought you might find this interesting, given the use of Purpose in your planning model." Notes Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper, as he explains why Canada must prepare itself for a larger role internationally, "If, in 50 more years, we wish our descendants to celebrate Canada's 200th anniversary, then we must be all we can be in the world today. Therefore, my friends, our party's great purpose is nothing less than to prepare our nation to shoulder a bigger load, in a world that will require it of us." BTW, I'm bullish on both Canada and Australia (and their currencies) – they are huge countries with massive natural resources and relatively few citizens to support.

How to Raise Selfish Children — Rabbi Stephen Baars, founder of Bliss, has launched an excellent set of 90 second video parenting lessons. The latest is on the best thing you can do to teach your children how to give. His conclusions are always counterintuitive and insightful. BTW, he's coming to the Fortune Growth Summit to share quick tips on parenting and marriage. When things are going better at home, it's easier to focus on growing your business.

Good to Great Award Winner — congratulations to Matt Kuttler and his team at ReStockIt, a leading online retailer of supplies to small businesses, for winning South Florida's Good to Great Award. Regulars at our Growth Summits, they've seen revenues increase from $1 million in 2004 to over $25 million last year. Today they represent over 200,000 products from 3,100 manufacturers. Check them out — you might be able to save some money for your business!

Big Win in China — after 500,000 votes and over a quarter billion viewing the awards show, NFTE's partner in China was voted the best charity project in China!! NFTE (Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship) has been my favorite charity (and its founder, Steve Mariotti, one of my dearest friends) for almost 25 years. Working in China since 2003, today NFTE's curriculum reaches 22,000 young people in this growing economy. For me, it says a lot about China and the aspirations of its people that this charity won – I'm not sure US or European citizens would have been as supportive, likely voting instead for a charity that gives people fish instead of teaching them how to fish (entitlement vs. ownership mentality). Anyway, after this award and recognition, the number of youth learning to be entrepreneurs should skyrocket in China.

Austin's Fittest Entrepreneur Update — well, we didn't quite generate enough votes for Sam Goodner, CEO of Catapult Systems. Even though he came in first on the actual fitness tests (not surprising, if you know Sam); he came in second in terms of popular votes. I'm bummed that my insight readers didn't put him over the top. Anyway, he placed second overall.