Scaling Up Quotes

“And our more progressive clients, monitored by their CFOs, are starting to require a specific number of hours of ongoing education at all levels of the organization (we suggest 12 hours for the frontline; 25 hours for middle management; and 45 to 60 hours for senior leaders as a starting point). Worried about spending all that money on training only to watch your people go elsewhere? The research definitively shows that training and development increases loyalty. Besides, what’s the alternative? Do you really want your people not to be the best-trained for the jobs they have to do? And how much should you spend on training? It obviously depends, but 2% to 3% of your payroll is a good benchmark. Who should you spend it on? Senior leaders, middle managers, frontline employees? They all need training, but focus first on your middle management. In most growth companies, they have the hardest jobs and are critical to employee engagement and retention, yet get the least preparation for it.”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“Famous sales coach and dear friend Jack Daly suggests, “Why don’t you throw people a party when they start, instead of when they leave?” Sydney-based software firm Atlassian sends each new employee, whatever his or her position, to a resort spa the weekend before the start date as a way to celebrate the new job. The spouse or a guest gets to go along — making both new employees and their spouses raving Atlassian fans.”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“To do this, Buckingham suggests taking a couple of weeks and documenting all those activities you either love or loathe. This is precisely what Melbourne has her programmers do regularly, noting all of the activities that drain their energy and keep these techies away from their primary strength: programming. She then eliminates those activities no one should have to do (they creep into every job) and then uses the remaining list to create a Job Scorecard for a new position — to be filled by a new chess piece that loves to do what others hate. Result: happier, more productive, and loyal programmers.”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“One thing we learned while building Google is that it’s easier to find what you’re looking for if it comes looking for you. What we’re looking for are the best engineers in the world. And here you are.”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“How Fast Can Your Company Afford to Grow?”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“KEY QUESTION: Are the stakeholders (employees, customers, shareholders) happy and engaged in the business; and would you “rehire” all of them?”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“The bottleneck is always at the top of the bottle!”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“The 75 Measures Every Manager Needs to Know, by Bernard Marr.”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“Un objectif sans routine est un souhait; une routine sans objectif n’a pas de finalité. Les chefs d’entreprise les plus performants ont une vision précise ainsi qu’une discipline (grâce aux routines) leur permettant de faire de cette vision une réalité.”
― Verne Harnish et l'équipe Gazelles : Traduction par Cléo Maheux, Scaling-Up - Hypercroissance

“N’oubliez pas ce que dit Bill Gates: «La plupart des gens surestiment ce qu’ils peuvent accomplir en une année, mais ils sous-estiment ce qu’ils peuvent accomplir en dix années.»”
― Verne Harnish et l'équipe Gazelles : Traduction par Cléo Maheux, Scaling-Up - Hypercroissance

“All these great biz leaders know one thing — nothing interesting can come out of your brain that you don’t put in first. Having a natural curiosity and thirst for learning separates the good from the great in our experience. Happy reading!”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“Yet few companies make proper use of this opportunity. Instead, the first days on the job often feel more like waterboarding than onboarding: no desk, no computer, no phone, the new boss is traveling, and the first assignment is shadowing an unenthusiastic colleague for two weeks.”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“As a winding river must follow the contours of the landscape on its way to the ocean, a business must navigate the undulations of the marketplace on the way to its Everest.”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“Sydney-based software firm Atlassian sends each new employee, whatever his or her position, to a resort spa the weekend before the start date as a way to celebrate the new job. The spouse or a guest gets to go along — making both new employees and their spouses raving Atlassian fans.”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“I’m always amazed how overnight successes take a helluva long time.”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“People join companies. They leave managers. Therefore, to keep your team happy and engaged, you need one thing above all else: great managers — not free lunches or yoga classes! As Gallup notes, “Managers account for at least 70% of variance in employee engagement scores.” And great managers are not just born; they are continually advancing their skills and those of their employees.”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“This is a little story about four people named Everybody,
Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure
that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody
realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did
what Anybody could have done.”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“4. Give recognition and show appreciation. “The deepest principle of human nature is the craving to be appreciated,” wrote William James, the father of American psychology. It is impossible to be motivated and do great work if you don’t feel that somebody cares and appreciates what you do. Studies have shown that for people to be happy and productive at work, they need to experience positive interactions (appreciation, praise) vs. negative (reprimands, criticism) with their manager in a ratio of at least 3:1. (Watch out: For a marriage to work, you actually need a 5:1 ratio!!) So make it a simple habit to thank people each and every day — and that includes using the word generously in emails to your team. The way people want to receive recognition varies greatly: public vs. private, material vs. immaterial, from peers vs. from superiors, etc. Great managers test different approaches and observe reactions until they find the triggers that work best with each of their people. At MOM’s Organic Market, managers will sometimes publicly recognize employees who have performed well, but CEO Scott Nash has often found that one-on-one comments are most effective.”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“It’s time to break apart a 50-year-old business term — strategic planning — and think about it in terms of two distinct activities: strategic thinking and execution planning. Each requires two very different teams and processes.”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“How can we expect our employees to be extraordinary and differentiate the company if we use the same hiring and onboarding methods as competitors?”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“Recruiting Is a (Guerilla) Marketing Function”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“You need a “strange” culture and a “strange” strategy to differentiate your firm in the marketplace.”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“Lords of Strategy: The Secret Intellectual History of the New Corporate World”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“Simply send an email to vharnish@gazelles.com and put “weekly insights” in the subject line. And please include a first and last name and your title, and tell us where your company is based.”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“Who, What, When (WWW): Improve the impact of your weekly meetings by taking a few minutes at the end and summarizing Who said they are going to do What, When.”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“For additional examples, read the Harvard Business Review article titled “Building Your Company’s Vision,” by James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras. You’ll notice that all the Values listed are phrases, not single words.”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“Lynne Twist’s insightful book titled The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Life”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“The Business of Happiness: 6 Secrets to Extraordinary Success in Life and Work.”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“Steven Johnson’s Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software.”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't

“Larry E. Greiner’s classic Harvard Business Review article titled “Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow,”
― Verne Harnish, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't