Zell’s Angels; Leading Countries; Samsung Surpasses Apple; High Stakes Negotiations Course

"…insights for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

High Stakes Negotiation — Northwestern U professor Dr. Victoria Medvec's next accredited online course is launching. More below, but first…

Free Starbucks Tea Friday 1pm – 2pm — Customers in North America can try a complimentary Tall (12 fluid-ounce) Teavana Shaken Iced Tea Infusion during "Free Tea Friday" on July 14 from 1-2 p.m. Maybe a great time to grab a drink and read the rest of the insights! Enjoy.

Am I Being Too Subtle? – this is the title of maverick entrepreneur and negotiator Sam Zell's autobiography. Subtitled Straight Talk from a Business Rebel this is THE business biography for 2017 (I just finished it this past weekend). Always the contrarian, he details why he turned down an offer to purchase the World Trade Center a few months before 9/11. Known as the Grave Dancer, he shares his formula for spotting bargain real estate and companies – and how he negotiates the deals. Someone who started wearing jeans to work in the 60s, he explains how he established a strong culture that allures and keeps team members fiercely loyal for decades. SPro and book club members will get a copy next week.

Zell's Angels — Sam also believes in having fun. A motorcycle enthusiast, he and his friends (Zell's Angels) take a ride someone around the world each year. Someone who keeps ducks at his office, his annual music box gifts, with custom lyrics highlighting current affairs, are legendary. And every few years his birthday party is an intellectual and musical fest not to be missed as everyone figures out a clever way to wear the mandatory t-shirt. Having taken many companies public, his roadshow t-shirts are also classics. Zell will be our "celebrity CEO" at the fall  ScaleUp Summit in Collaboration with Fortune – Oct 17 – 18 St. Louis. In the meantime, grab a copy of his book and pick up some important ideas for scaling your business.

Which Countries are Leading Digitally — Sam Zell is a trend watcher – and uses this information, like Warren Buffett, to know where to invest or buy around the globe. This HBR article has an info-graph that shows which countries are leading and lagging digitally. Didn't surprise me that Portugal is in the "stand out" section – it's one of the first countries to also embrace our ScaleUpU initiative with the launch of 20 impressive scaleups a couple months ago. The graph has informed me where we might want to launch next – what about you?

Nona Creative's Quarterly Theme — Ed O'Reilly, Founder of Nona Creative, a Cape Town, South Africa-based digital studio, has his team focused on billable production this quarter. The first photo shows the digital scoreboard he's created that keeps the team updated real time (as of today they are just R29k behind – roughly $2k). The second photo provides context for where he has this posted – in a place everyone can see. Do you have your quarterly theme decided, tracked, and visible?

Samsung's Profit Surpasses Apple's — fun fact for weekend conversations – Samsung's quarterly profit will surpass Apple's for the first time in the smartphone era. This Telegraph article provides the details and a historic graph as Samsung's quarterly profits top $12 billion while Apple is expected to report just over $10 billion.

Trust the Company; Not the CEO — and a second sobering fact for the weekend. Notes Alan Murray, President of Fortune:

High Stakes Negotiation — how do you "win" while strengthening the relationship.
Every executive, leader, and manager needs to know how to negotiate, as negotiations both internally and externally take place within every role and company. In the next "High Stakes Negotiations Master Class" Dr. Victoria Medvec and her team are going to help you assess your current skills, develop new strategies and thus improve your negotiation capabilities. During this accredited program, you will learn new negotiation strategies and how to directly apply them with case-based exercises all under a safe but challenging learning environment. To learn more about the course please contact Juan Gonzalez at [email protected] or call him at (512) 773 5465. Note: This program has a maximum capacity of 30 students and already has 21 executives registered.

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.

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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.