Written by Cheryl Beth Kuchler, CEO Think Tank
It’s been almost a decade since I first heard Verne Harnish speak at a two-day “Mastering the Rockefeller Habits” workshop in Washington D.C. about “Scaling Up” a small business. It was, to put it bluntly, engrossing, overwhelming and life-changing.
Listening to Verne Harnish is like drinking from a fire hose. More illustratively, as one of my fellow Lehigh alums would say, listening to him is like drinking from the beer bong of business learning.
There’s so much to absorb, it’s nearly impossible to keep up. And if you’re not quick enough, you could drown. Six or seven hours into his workshop, as my head was going under water for the umpteenth time, I decided I needed a life vest.
So I started to capture the “highlights” from my learning to help me remember as well as focus. Two days later, I had thirteen points that summarized my key insights, my takeaways, which in turn would guide my behaviors in the years to come – in my own consulting business – which I was working to grow as well as with my clients who were working to grow their businesses.
As pertinent today as they were ten years ago, I offer them to you to consider for your own 2018 planning. My favorite? #3 – If you have a problem or an opportunity ask yourself, “Who’s already doing this and how are they doing it?” Verne taught me that most business problems have been solved by someone else. We spend way too much time re-inventing the wheel. You just have to figure out who that resource is, and reach out. (See Lesson #2 for your next step.)