Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.

Jack London

Life is a question and how we live it is our answer.

Gary Keller

Great Read Each Week – Nietzsche’s Wisdom
Uber VC Brad Feld’s newest book is designed for you to read one short chapter each week. The Entrepreneur’s Weekly Nietzsche: A Book for Disruptors*, is written with his first business partner Dave Jilk and released this past Tuesday. Brad’s inspiration was Ryan Holiday's The Daily Stoic* (a book I enjoy each day). Through his writing, Ryan introduced entrepreneurs to Stoicism. Brad and Dave use a similar approach to introduce entrepreneurs to Nietzsche. Like our weekly quotes, there is so much practical wisdom in the interpretations they give to Nietzsche’s insights. LinkedIn founder, and philosophy major, Reid Hoffman, wrote the Foreword – worth the price of getting the Kindle version of the book and reading just that this weekend! Enjoy.

Register for the Newest Master Business Course – Culture Renovation®
Growth Institute’s newest Master Business Course to build your blueprint for an unshakeable company culture is open for enrollment. In this course, Kevin Oakes, author of Culture Renovation®*, will break down each of the critical 18 steps he and his team have identified after 25+ years in the human capital research field. You will learn directly from Kevin and his team about exactly what it takes to intentionally and boldly create or reshape your workplace culture and walk away with a customized action plan to get there. Learn more.

If You Make Your Job Obsolete…We’ll Find You Another One!
One of the best lines I heard this week – but we couldn’t remember who said it – we thought the late Ross Perot. Anyway, it’s a powerful way to engage your team in process improvement using our LEAD approach:

• List the main activities that consume your day
• Eliminate those that no longer serve you or the organization
• Automate what you can
• Delegate the rest

Get everyone to LEAD this initiative to improve productivity in 2021 given the shortage of talent available in the market. Focus on doubling your revenue with no additional headcount while reducing the time it takes people to accomplish their jobs – much more in less time. Time for some spring or fall cleaning, depending on your hemisphere.

Gross Margin Dollars per Employee
A key metric for tracking overall productivity is gross margin dollars per employee. Andy Bailey, now one of our Scaling Up Certified coaching partners, focused on this metric as he scaled NationLink Wireless. His team drove it from $75,000/employee to $275,000/employee. What are your gross margin dollars per employee? What is your goal by the end of 2021? Make it happen by discussing at your weekly mtg how to make something easier! A 1% improvement each week, compounded, will double your productivity in 12 months. 

Phil Mickelson – Meditation and Fasting
Last weekend Phil Mickelson set a record for the oldest winner of a men’s major in golf history, winning the PGA Champion. Phil credited this historic feat to two new routines – meditation to train his mind to remain calm, present, and focused; and fasting for 36 hours every week. In this Golf article Phil explain how this age-defying routine “resets” his body – and 3-day fast every few months resets his immune system. We also know that starving your body heightens the acuity of your brain because our paleo past suggests “we need to sharpen up to find some food!” In turn, constantly feeding your body makes both your body and mind lazy. 

Once Soft and Pudgy – Now Lean and Healthy – Mind and Body
Notes Mickelson:

I wasn’t educated…I either wasn’t aware or didn’t want to know the things I was putting in my body, whether it was diet soda and how toxic that is, or whether it was the amount of sugar and how much inflammation it causes, or whether it was the quantity; all of those things, I just kind of shut my eyes to.

Please take two-minutes to read the Golf article. If Phil can make up his mind at age 50 to learn to eat better, we all can. Thank you for the inspiration Phil.

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

*As an Amazon Associate, I may earn revenue from qualified purchases made through this link.

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

TECHNOLOGY: 
ScalingUp Scoreboard
Integrated 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.

COACHING:
Ready to scale but looking for guidance?
Work with a Coach! Scaling a company is hard, but you don’t have to go it alone. Elevate your business with the only end-to-end solution for entrepreneurs that are ready to move past the plateau and get exponential results. Whether you’re in growth mode, planning strategy, raising capital, or navigating a complex economic landscape, Scaling Up's globally recognized coaches leverage effective tools and an evidence-based methodology to empower you to achieve results. Over 70,000 businesses have done it!

Learn more about what it’s like to work with a Scaling Up Certified Coach™ by scheduling a complimentary, personal follow-up. CLICK HERE! Or check out our FAQ’s. Additional questions can be sent to coaching@scalingup.com. 

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

We’re still in business coaching and training firms:
Amsterdam - June 3, 2021
Sydney, Australia - June 3, 2021
Phoenix, AZ – June 2, 2021 (In-Person)
Atlanta, GA – June 8, 2021 (In-Person)
Colorado Springs, CO - June 9, 2021 (Virtual)
WNY, Ontario, Great Lakes – June 11, 2021 (Virtual)
Melbourne, VIC, AUS - June 15, 2021 (In-person)
Dallas, TX – June 16, 2021 (Virtual)
Dallas, TX – June 17, 2021 (In-Person)
Lowell, Michigan - Jul 22, 2021
Salisbury, England - July 6, 2021
Dallas, TX - Aug 12, 2021
Sydney, Australia - Aug 25, 2021
Melbourne, VIC, AUS - Sep 7, 2021 (Virtual)
Lowell, Michigan - Sep 22, 2021
Lancaster, PA - Oct 26, 2021
Sydney, Australia - Oct 27, 2021
Lowell, Michigan - Nov 4, 2021
Salisbury, England - Nov 18, 2021
Melbourne, VIC, AUS - Nov 23, 2021 (Virtual)

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.

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.
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