You can’t overtake 15 cars in sunny weather…but you can when it’s raining.
                                                Racing legend Ayrton Senna

To this day, I think the time we spent training and travelingto stores was the key to our success.
                                                Bernie Marcus, co-founder Home Depot

Great Game of Business Webinar – Nov 1, 1pm ET 
Have you thought about what separates the level or quality of decisions you’re making vs those of your employees? It most likely comes down to context and incentives. The good news is there is a simple fix. Growth Institute is hosting Great Game of Business’s Steve Baker to give you the blueprint to confidently scale your organization's decision-making. Join us next week, November 1st @ 1 PM ET/ 10 AM PT / 6 PM CET. Click here to learn more at save your seat! https://hubs.li/Q01qMg1b0

Home Depot Co-Founder Bernie Marcus on People/Hiring
Released Oct 18, the co-founder of Home Depot has an excellent book out titled Kick Up Some Dust: Lessons on Thinking Big, Giving Back, and Doing It Yourself. This Chief Executive magazine article details many of the people strategies the founders used to attract, hire, train, and retain talent – too many insightful ideas to mention – please, please scan thru the article.

Home Depot Onboarding 

So many mid-market firms lack any kind of onboarding. The key is making the newbies “pay their dues” and prove worthy to work at the firm. To his point, Marcus notes:

We believed that everyone at Home Depot should have experience working in the stores, including lawyers, accountants, marketing executives and human resources people. They unloaded trucks, worked in the parking lots, helped with inventory, and worked as cashiers for three to six weeks. I once had a lawyer complain, and I finally asked, “How can you handle our lawsuits if you don’t know how our business operates?”

He continues:

We used to insist that buyers and suppliers conduct their business in the stores, so they could see what customers wanted. We even invited our vendors to come to the store, grab an orange apron, and work with customers in the department where we sold their product. We also required that board members visit 12 stores every quarter to stay in touch with what was happening. 

Steve Jobs on Hiring and Retention 
This Inc.article is a little misleading re: Steve Jobs, but is excellent, nevertheless, in detailing why and how to attract A-players. Notes Jobs:

I noticed that the dynamic range between what an average person could accomplish and what the best person could accomplish was 50 or 100 to 1. Given that, you're well advised to go after the cream of the cream ... A small team of A-players can run circles around a giant team of B and C-players.

Jobs goes on to explain:

I found that when you get enough A-players together, when you go through the incredible work to find these A-players, they really like working with each other. Because they have never had the chance to do that before.

Five Hiring Strategies – The “Beer Test”
The article goes on to explain five ways to hire A-players:

• Create an A-Player Avatar
• Recruit, Don’t Hire
• Turn Your A-Players into Recruiters
• Do the “Beer Test”
• Constantly Recruit

Please take 2-minutes to read the important details and then another 5-minutes to study this article. Then take 30-minutes to discuss with your team. Thank you to Scaling Up coach Manoj Chugani’s wife for sharing this article.

91% of CEOs Plan to Invest in A.I.
Fortune noted:

Our survey also found that 91% of the CEOs plan to invest in A.I. in the next twelve months. They said those investments are driven less by a desire to reduce costs (48%) than to accelerate intelligent insights (63%), improve decision-making (53%), and increase speed to execution (50%).

It’s time for all of us to make the move – or you’ll be replaced by a 22-year-old out of Toronto who disrupts your business. It’s about speed, prediction, and decision-making!!

100 Best CEOs Mexico – Congratulations Daniel Marcos 
CEO of our online education platform Growth Institute, Daniel Marcos was named one of the 100 Best CEOs in Mexico by the Great Places to Work organization. In addition, the Growth Institute made, yet again, the Inc 5000. Both accolades align with our Core Value “Practice What We Preach” confirming that we eat our own dog food!! Congratulations Daniel – well deserved.

Weekend Countdown – 1-Minute of Wisdom
Enjoy this kickoff to your weekend – some bits of wisdom from a fresh set of wise teachers, updated each weekend.
https://vimeo.com/showcase/weekendcountdown

Order a box of 20 Scaling Up books
Want to save 50% over the price on Amazon? Go to this link.

SCALING UP WORKSHOPS:
Engage your team with interactive workshops to optimize your company’s performance.
(list of workshops below)

Sydney, Australia – Nov 2, 2022 (In-Person)
Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Nov 3, 2022 (In-Person)
Phoenix, AZ-  Nov 3, 2022 (In-Person)
Boulder, CO – Nov 8, 2022 (Virtual)
Melbourne, Australia – Nov 8, 2022 (In-Person)
Indiana & Michigan – Nov 8, 2022 (Virtual)
Barcelona, Spain – Nov 9, 2022 (Virtual)
Toronto, Canada - Nov 10, 2022 (Virtual)
Salisbury, England – Nov 15, 2022 (In-Person)
Indiana & Michigan – Nov 16, 2022 (Virtual)
Washington, DC – Nov 16, 2022
Boulder, CO – Nov 17, 2022 (Virtual)
Amsterdam, The Netherlands –Nov 17, 2022 (In-Person)
Melbourne, Australia – Nov 29, 2022 (In-Person)
Barcelona, Spain – Nov 30, 2022 (Virtual)
Toronto, Canada - Dec 1, 2022 (Virtual)
Wilmington, NC - December 2, 2022 (In-Person)
Dallas, TX – Dec 8, 2022 (In-Person)
Columbus, Ohio – Jan 20, 2023 (In-Person & Virtual options)
Ann Arbor, MI – Jan 26, 2022 (In-Person)
Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Feb 7, 2023 (In-Person)
Annapolis, MD – Mar 7, 2023 (In-Person)

Write Your Own Book
Whether you want to make it to the bestseller lists or just sell a lot more of your goods or services, with a profound competitive edge over the competition, Book The Business: How to Make BIG Money With Your Book Without Selling a Single Copy is for you! Request your free copy of this ground-breaking book at advantagefamily.com/scalingup.

COACHING: 
Now is the time to start planning for a strong Q4 and 2023. Implementing Scaling Up is not an overnight process but you can see quick wins if you know where to start. Our Scaling Up Certified Coaches™ are masters at guiding you and your leadership team through the implementation of the Scaling Up Performance Program. Using our custom diagnostic approach from Day 1, we can match you with the right coach to help you scale faster.

We even have a team member dedicated to helping you find the perfect Scaling Up Certified Coach.™ Schedule a complimentary, personal follow-up. CLICK HERE! Or check out our FAQs. Additional questions can be sent to [email protected].

Better Book Club â€“
What's your team reading? Increase your books read per team member. Easy, Proven, and in the Cloud at http://www.BetterBookClub.com.

TECHNOLOGY:
ScalingUp ScoreboardIntegrated with Salesforce, Slack, and Zapier (allowing it to connect with 1000s of systems), use Scoreboard to provide your team (working remotely even more important!) a real-time visual dashboard of cascading priorities and metrics. Get a personalized tour of Scaling Up Scoreboard to see how you can use it to better implement Scaling Up in your business.

Planning to Exit?
It’s the most critical decision a business owner will make in their lifetime – and over my 40 years of helping firms, I’ve seen owners taken advantage of time and time again – leaving tens of millions on the table. You’re up against sophisticated buyers who have done hundreds of acquisitions – whereas this is often your first rodeo. And these buyers have a formula for ripping you off – and it works. Seeking help, owners find the big M&A firms, especially those specializing in your industry, are more beholden to the buyers than the sellers (they will tell you otherwise). They are not your friend in the process, just another transaction. Email me to get a white paper on what to avoid when exiting [email protected].

EDUCATION: 
Growth Institute Online Executive Education:
Master of Business Dynamics
Scaling Up Master Business Course
Exponential Organizations Master Business Course
Topgrading Master Business Course

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