Category: Growth Guy Articles

By: Verne Harnish “Growth Guy” Dec 31, 2012 1:00:00 PM ET Everyone agrees that an excellent education system, cutting-edge research and development efforts, a thriving export market, and global competitiveness are critical ingredients for any thriving economy. And while some countries are winning in these areas, the U.S. is falling behind dramatically in all four. What we’ve been trying hasn’t worked for decades. It’s time to learn from those around the planet-and in our own back yard-and figure out how to get more bang for the bucks we’re investing in revitalizing our economy. Here’s my prescription for a robust turnaround. TAP …

By: Verne Harnish “Growth Guy” Nov 30, 2012 1:00:00 PM ET Hunkering down in year-end strategic planning sessions, you and your team are probably thinking hard about what’s next for the economy and how that will affect your business. Slow down. You should really be laser focused on maximizing what Jim Collins, in his book Great by Choice, calls your “return on luck” – what I consider one of the most important business concepts ever articulated. As Collins points out, great companies don’t have better luck than other companies. Sometimes, they get a bum deal. After all, they’re subject to the same …

By: Verne Harnish “Growth Guy” Oct 31, 2012 1:00:00 PM ET Marissa Levin more than doubled her revenues at Information Experts in the past three years, and she’s the first to tell you she couldn’t have done it alone. Her secret sauce: A great advisory board. About three years ago, the founder and CEO of the 18-year-old strategic communications consultancy turned to a mentor for help in growing Information Experts. “My company was stuck at $5 million,” she says. “I couldn’t get past certain road blocks.” Her mentor advised her to put the board of advisors in place. “He said it’s …

By: Verne Harnish “Growth Guy” Oct 1, 2012 1:00:00 PM ET As Jim Collins notes in the intro to my new book, The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time (Oct 2, 2012)(www.greatestdecisions.com), we’re living in times of tremendous uncertainty. Many growth-company CEOs feel rudderless.. “What is the key thing you can do about that uncertainty?” Jim asked. “You can have the right people with you.” And once you do, he notes, you have to make the right decisions. Often, that means asking those great people you brought on board to guide you in areas outside of your core expertise. Jim’s research evidence shows …

By: Verne Harnish “Growth Guy” Aug 30, 2012 1:00:00 PM ET When Dietmar Petutschnig needs to find great engineers for his manufacturing company, ISD Limited in Whangarei, New Zealand,he heads to the docks. ISD is focused on innovation in the agricultural sector. One pursuit, for instance, is turning effluent from dairy firms into drinkable water. Recruiting people who fit into the company’s culture is crucial to its R&D efforts–yet that’s not so easy, given the country’s remote location. “How do you find engineers when all of the engineers want to leave the country?” asks Petutschnig, who acquired ISD in 2010 through …

By: Verne Harnish “Growth Guy” Aug 4, 2012 1:00:00 PM ET Everything in business begins and ends with leadership. And because it’s a complex topic, no one expert has a complete formula for what makes a better leader. Therefore, here are five important bodies of knowledge for those who are trying to sharpen their leadership skills. All have been developed by true students and teachers of leadership. Master these lessons and you’ll be far more effective. In a future column I’ll look at a similar set of skills and attributes of effective management. Though leadership and management are related, they are …

By: Verne Harnish “Growth Guy” Mar 1, 2012 1:00:00 PM ET “Things tend to get slow after Thanksgiving in the U.S.,” noted Ajay Prabhu, COO of India-based QuEST, a leader in global engineering services. “However, this year was different!” Last November 30, one of QuEST’s strategic customers called Prabhu requesting 100 more technical workers by January. For a team that had been adding about 20 a month, this was a challenge, especially with the Christmas and New Year’s holidays coming up. Companies I talk to around the world are back to hiring aggressively. However, it’s always taxing to find enough quality …

By: Verne Harnish “Growth Guy” Feb 2, 2012 1:00:00 PM ET Dave Clark, founder of a leading manufacturer of industrial blinds and awnings, had always sold through a dedicated network of distribution representatives. However, his son, who had recently joined the firm, was hearing from some of their best customers that they would prefer to buy direct. Not only did the customers hope to save money, but many felt they were more knowledgeable about what they wanted than Clark’s manufacturing representatives. Channel conflict! More and more business leaders are facing similarly difficult decisions about sales and marketing channels like Clark, whose …

By: Verne Harnish “Growth Guy” Nov 17, 2011 1:00:00 PM ET Looking for the perfect holiday gift to keep you and your company from becoming irrelevant? Here are four must-read books that will help you thrive, no matter what the economy throws at you in 2012 and beyond. Great by Choice Jim Collins has written yet another soon-to-be best-selling classic! Teaming up with colleague Morten T. Hansen, Collins has spent the last nine years researching growth firms companies he calls 10xers, which outperformed the market by a factor of 10 or more. In the process, he discovered a set of traits, …

By: Verne Harnish “Growth Guy” Nov 14, 2011 1:00:00 PM ET It’s time to break apart a 50-year-old business tradition –strategic planning – and think about it in terms of two distinct activities: strategic thinking and execution planning. I’m not sure why the two words, strategy and planning, were ever lumped together. And I’ve been as guilty as anyone for spreading this term among growth firms around the globe with our One-Page Strategic Planning document.  In reality, effective strategic planning requires two very different ongoing processes and teams if you’re going to generate the kinds of results worthy of the effort that goes into a …