Gates’ Letter; Cook’s Style; Hilarious 1 Minute; SmartTribes; ExO Webinar April 14

"…ideas for scale-ups"

HEADLINES:

Grow Exponentially — our second in a series of complimentary webinars on Exponential Organizations (ExOs) is next Tuesday, 14th April – more below, but first…

The 4 Horsemen — but who will ultimately win and drive the direction of commerce/internet among the four ExOs – Amazon/Apple/Facebook/Google? NYU professor Scott Galloway blew me away in this DLD15 presentation where he explains with lots of data and detail who will win and lose. His reasoning provides important insights for moves you might make in your own industry. Thanks to John Ruhlin, The Ruhlin Group, for pointing me to this video, who noted "I have talked to some digital experts and they were blown away by the presentation as well."

Further Down the Torso, Higher the Margins — you must go to 13:15 in the video and watch one minute of Galloway's presentation (I know, you skipped watching above). There are only three ways you appeal to anyone to purchase your products/services – and Apple has captured all three!! Galloway presents a hilarious and accurate description of all three – and why you want to be in the luxury business. Again, this one minute is instructive for all of us (my team is meeting about some of his lessons on Monday). Then watch all 15 minutes – you need the mental stimulation and break!!

#1 Biz Leader — speaking of Apple, its CEO Tim Cook received this latest distinction from FORTUNE – and is the cover story of the April 1 issue. In this lengthy article (7 minutes) on Tim Cook's style – and how it's different from Jobs – Adam Lashinsky notes "he behaves much more like a coach who trusts his players than the manipulative mastermind Jobs was." He goes on to explain:

 Take 30 seconds to scroll down about a quarter of the way in the online article and check out the handy chart that details the differences in Cook's vs. Job's styles. The key lesson – "to thine own self be true" – in approaches to leadership, compensation, core values, etc.

Bill Gates' Letter – Microsoft turned 40 last Saturday (April 4) and to mark the occasion Gates sent out a short letter to all the employees which recalls the original BHAG and reflects on what he feels is an even brighter future. It's worth 45 seconds to see how Gates communicates a milestone like this to his team and how Microsoft is more purpose driven than ever. My inside sources tell me that Gates is back hands-on 3 days per week and is driving the technology side of the business. And Microsoft is essentially tied with Google, Berkshire Hathaway, and ExxonMobile as the second largest market cap company in the world – not bad for a four decade-old tech firm.

Gates calls her "super high bandwidth" — Christine Comaford — serial entrepreneur, investor, and advisor – is author of the New York Times bestseller SmartTribes: How Teams Become Brilliant Together and is keynoting our Leadership Summit May 12 – 13, Orlando — come hang with 600 other leading scale-ups.

Go right to chapter 7 — for some heavy-duty psychological influence go right to chapter 7 titled Meta Programs: Make Loaded Dice Even Heavier. Christine specializes in applying neuroscience to optimize executive performance, powerfully enroll and align teams, and rapidly increase sales and company value. She has built and sold 5 businesses with an average 700% ROI, served on over 24 boards and has invested in over 200 startups, including Google. She has consulted to the White House (Clinton and Bush), 700 of the FORTUNE 1000, and 300 mid-sized businesses. She was a software engineer in the early days of Microsoft, Apple and Adobe. Book club and GPro members will get a copy of her book next week.

Additional Free Books for Children — tomorrow is Freebie Friday where Alive Studios is giving away their popular online children's digital interactive books for FREE. Cynthia and her team will also be at our Leadership Summit in Orlando (note, I'm a proud investor in the company). They are building amazing technologies for our elementary schools for teaching math and reading – check out their classroom demos and then help your child's school get this technology for less than $2k per classroom

Join us next Tuesday April 14 at 2PM ET — Salim Ismail, founding executive director of Singularity University, will host a second Exponential Organizations webinar where he will focus on how mid-market companies can implement the ExO methodology. During this 1-hour session Salim will interview the CEO of a fast growing financial services company to reveal the flexibility and versatility of the ExO model. Register now and understand how to evaluate your company and how any company can become an Exponential Organization. Register here:

COACHING:

What is the value of working with a Certified Gazelles International Coach? There are four key roles a coach plays in helping your company Scale Up…listen here to learn.

TECHNOLOGY:

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.

Align Dashboard — Want to keep track of your plans and progress in the cloud? The complete Growth Tools and Rockefeller Habits disciplines in a SaaS offering.