Jobs to Be Done; Your Main Job; Job of a Parent; Biz Leader Job; Mexico City Sept 26

"… insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

Mexico City Sept 26 — I'll be leading a Scaling Up workshop, more below, but first…

Jobs to Be Done — what is the main job your product/service does for your customer? I consider this one of the most important strategy questions ever conceived. And when you truly understand the answer for each customer segment (buyer persona) then you can know how to improve/innovate what you do much better. For instance, a parent with three children in various after school activities needs nutritious meals fast. Looking at microwaves, rather than trying to upsell them on an oven, suggesting better options for preparing meals quickly while locking in the nutrition would be better. But you need to understand the job that specific customer needs done.

Job Drivers — Jessica Wattman is one of the authors of the book Jobs to Be Done – SPro and book club members will get a copy next week. Skip right to chapter 2 titled "Job Drivers" and figure out what are the specific jobs and job drivers – driven by attritudes, background, and circumstances — for your various customer segments. Jessica is keynoting our upcoming ScaleUp Summit Oct 17 – 18, St. Louis and will guide us through this process.

Job of a Parent — Prof. Anupam Sibal's latest video addresses "How to communicate with young people in an era of constant noise" (includes teens and college students). It's based on his excellent book titled Is Your Child Ready to Face the World? His presentation is 19 minutes with the balance Q&A. At a minimum, go to 18:43 for a minute and hear a powerful Thomas Edison story I had never heard before – and if you have another 40 seconds, start at 18:06 for an equally moving and heart wrenching story. However, the essence of his message is earlier in the video – the power of using situations "in the moment" to share stories that reinforce important values – this is a key job of being a parent and leader. The first 15 minutes are worth the watch.

And Your Job? — according to Mark Sanborn, we all have a fundamental job to close the gap between how good we are and how good we could be. Mark, a dear friend and author of the highly acclaimed book The Fred Factor, has a new book out this week titled The Potential Principle (the quote above came from that book). Right away he addresses the key question in bridging our potential – so "better at what?" Notes Mark:

This is a gem of a book – clearly written and quick to read. It will provide a great start to the last four months of the year as we continue to get better.

Biz Leader's Job? — According to Howard Shore, it's to stop the leakage! I had the pleasure of writing the Foreword for a new book written by Howard, one of our most tenured Gazelles coaching partners. Your Business Is a Leaky Bucket: Learn How to Avoid Losing Millions in Revenue and Profit Annually was released yesterday as the #1 New Release by Amazon. With 20+ years of running and advising significant firms, Howard addresses the 15 most common issues in the areas of people, strategy, and execution that drain energy, direction, and profitability from every business. What I like most is that it's a very practical and actionable book for the entire exec team – with ideas that will start making and saving you money immediately. Congrats, Howard, on writing such an insightful book.

Mexico City Sept 26 — Join me in Mexico City for a live Scaling Up workshop. I will be joined by several other coaching partners all focused on helping you take your business to the next level. The event will be in Spanish but my segment will be in English. Click Here to learn more and register.

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:

Create Accountability – Drive Execution
Click Here to Watch a video example.

Align is your cloud based business operating system designed to keep you on your path to executing your goals. 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, tablet or phone. $5.00 per month gets you started.

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.