Just as professional pilots, doctors, and golfers regularly return to the fundamentals, it is just as essential in the business world to continually return to the basics of the performance platform. Going back to the basics is far more effective than constantly seeking new techniques.

This week, Bill talks with Verne Harnish, a world-leading expert, speaker, author, and entrepreneur in the field of business growth. Together they offer insights into Altman’s Maxims, Jobs’s doers vs. dreamers, the power of asking, daily routines, remote work, and much more.

Everyone will tell you it’s important to focus, but Sam Altman, founder of ChatGPT, advises in his 13 Maxims that we would do well to step back and determine what it is that we should focus on. You don’t really have a strategy if you’re not doing everything differently anyway. The key is that the ambitious goals are not simply linear, they are exponential.

Have overconfidence in yourself. Be bold in your goals. Surround yourself with people who challenge your thinking and push you higher. When you get too comfortable with your success, you are limiting yourself. Instead, employ Matthew McConaughey’s definition of humility and recognize that there is always more to learn.

Verne highlights his four-step process for innovation, which includes preparation, incubation, inspiration, and finally, verification. Each step is a critical point in making real progress in the work that you are aiming to do.

The most important words in any language are “Can you help me?” That is what separates the dreamers from the doers. Whether you are Steve Jobs or an early-stage entrepreneur, finding ways to ask for the help you need is the ticket to making your aspirational dreams come true.

Interview Links:

“How to Be Successful,” by Sam Altman

Resources:

20,000 Scaleups

Scaling Up Summits (Select Bill Gallagher as your coach during registration for a discount.)

Bill on YouTube

Recruiter.com Short List (use code scaleup)

Scaling Up is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and our team for Scaling Up Coaches (formerly Gazelles). We share how the fastest-growing companies succeed where so many others fail.

Bill Gallagher, Scaling Coach and host of the show, is an international business coach who works with C-Suite leaders to achieve breakthrough growth.

We help leadership teams with the biggest decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth. Scaling Up is based on Verne’s original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits.

Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then please leave a review! Help other business leaders discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast so they, too, can benefit from the ideas shared in these podcasts.

Leonard Maltin, Jimmy Pardo, and Samm Levine Guest