Leadocracy; 12 Books; Avoid Stagnation; Microsoft WPC; Michael Dell
July 3, 2012
Olympic Opportunity; Pricing Strategies; Elliott Jacques; Whining Children
July 13, 2012

India Investment; Org Chart Challenges; Peter Diamandis Online; David Rich’s Move to Barcelona

"…keeping you great"

HEADLINES:

Peter Diamandis Now Online — Receiving one of only a handful of standing ovations in the history of our Summits, Peter's powerful presentation at the FORTUNE Leadership Summit, based on his book Abundance, is now available online (no risk fee). More below, but first…

India Investment Hotspot — Coke, IKEA, and other big firms are betting on India even as its growth slows – the reason? Some key open market reforms, like letting some retailers own 100% of their Indian businesses! Take three minutes to scan this article for some other hints. And I agree with the article – bureaucracy in India probably reduces GDP growth by 2 to 3 percentage points. The population seems genuinely fed-up and substantive changes are being made. I remain bullish on India!!

Organizational Structure Challenges — twice this week clients/friends asked for help on organizational structure challenges – something that becomes more acute around 350 employees or more. It reminded me of the work of the late Elliott Jacques, a great Canadian guru. As noted in this NY Times piece:

Dr. Jaques investigated what he called the "time frame" of the individual. He found that some workers are capable of planning and carrying out tasks that take three months to a year; those people, he said, are suited to the role of manager. A smaller group, capable of one- to two-year assignments, should serve as department leaders. General managers should be able to handle 2- to 5-year projects and division presidents 5- to 10-year strategies. Corporate chiefs should be able to think in terms of 10 to 20 years.

The Real Peter Principle — so, my application of Dr. Jacques ideas? The real Peter Principle (people are promoted beyond their capabilities) is a question of a leader's comfort with various time frames. There are people that are great at delivering "this week" but really can't see beyond their own nose and shouldn't be promoted. So consider time frame a critical aspect in placing people at the right level in your organization.

Nominate Top Women Entrepreneurs — FORTUNE magazine is seeking nominations for the top women entrepreneurs from around the world – revenues between $1 million and $25 million The winners will be invited to FORTUNE's "Most Powerful Women" conference Oct 1- 3 in Laguna Niguel hosting the most powerful women biz leaders of the Global 500 firms. For more info:

David Rich Moving to Barcelona — I continue to encourage entrepreneurs and executives to move to Barcelona for a year (or two or three). David Rich, founder/CEO of ICC Decision Services, a leading provider of mystery shopping services to major retailers, is the latest to make the move with his wife and three children. Read his blog post post for more details on why he's making the move. For me, a chance to immerse the children in Spanish; a great city from which to do global business; and the lifestyle can't be beat. And the international school, BFIS, is excellent and just hired one of the top headmasters from the US.

Peter Diamandis (founder X Prize) Seminar — earlier this year I pointed to Peter's amazing TED talk. But it's the details on how growth firms can use prizes to crowd source solutions (one gold mine owner spent a few hundred thousand to find $32 million in gold); the future technologies we should be applying to our business models; and the message of abundance that helps us "play to win" vs. "play not to lose" is why Peter's 53 minute presentation is worth showing to your management team and children. And his presentation is segmented by his slides so you can easily move to whatever part of the presentation interests you – our unique online presentation capability. And as always, there's a full money back guarantee. Have everyone in your organization invest 53 minutes.

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.