Scaling Up Business with Bill Gallagher

We would all like to be an innovative company breaking out of the traditional model. When we think innovation, we think of companies like Apple, Tesla, and SpaceX. Do you have an innovative company that comes to your mind that you wish you could emulate? Are you afraid it comes with big budgets, lots of resources, and time? Well, today’s show is all about how you can become innovative without the big pockets.   Lara Hodgson is the President and CEO of NOW Corp, a company she co-founded to free small businesses from the burden of funding trade credit and to enable small business growth. She also serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Harvard Business School.   Lara went to Georgia Institute of Technology where she majored in Aerospace Engineering. Her professor told her she had an engineering mind and a liberal arts personality; She loved problem-solving, but she was very extroverted and loved worked with people at the same time.   Lara applied for a program to go to Japan while she was still in university and she found herself learning Japanese and not speaking a word of English during her time over there. It was difficult and she was completely out of her comfort zone. This is when she discovered that she really didn’t want to be a research engineer anymore. She wanted to be creative.   The good news is, being creative is not about learning how to sing or draw, it’s about being a good problem solver. It’s about looking at the same thing as everyone else and seeing something different.   Fast forward a couple of years, Lara’s career is booming, she’s finding herself working alongside Shaquille O’Neal, Home Depot, Nike, and Coca-Cola, but it was time for her to go off on her own and build her own company. She wanted to be a great wife, mom, and CEO but she wasn’t sure that this was possible if she was working for somebody else.   During this time as a new mom, she kept finding herself having spilled drinks all over her car and there wasn’t really anything out there that was ‘spill-proof’ for babies. So, going back to her problem-solving roots, she co-founded a company called Nourish, a patented line of spill-proof bottled water for kids and ready-to-serve bottles for babies.   Great news! She started out small and suddenly her product was being bought by wholefoods. She was high-fiving her business partner in excitement until they realized … the company is going to have to grow to the point of death, that they’re not actually going to be able to make ends meet, and that this deal would actually put them out of business.   Everything that Lara and her business partner had done right was actually going to be the very thing that would put them out of business. Lara’s greatest strength, her spill-proof product that was selling like crazy, became her greatest weakness. This is when she found herself needing to innovative on a small budget.   Interview Links: Now-Corp.com Lara on LinkedIn   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube  

Today’s show is all about how to transform your company in a remarkable way. Do you want to 10x your company and bring it to the next level? Well, that requires real transformation and this week’s guest has all the answers!   Chuck Kocher is a Certified Executive Leadership Coach and the Owner of The Transformation Company. He works one-on-one with business owners all over the world who are serious about taking their businesses and lives to exceptional levels.   Chuck’s first mentor asked Chuck what he wanted to learn at his first job, he replied with, “Everything.” She told him to keep that desire and ambition for the rest of his career and he will succeed.   Chuck credits another mentor for helping him give him the gift of thinking. Chuck was excellent at execution but was not connecting the dots from execution to vision and strategy. Chuck’s mentor really challenged him to be better, to not just look at the product, but to also look at the market as well. It took him a couple of years before he got it right, but this was his first introduction to how good companies get transformed and scale up.   One of Chuck’s clients was a husband-and-wife team where their company had stagnated in growth. They also wanted their son to take over the business. However, they weren’t sure if he was coachable or the right fit for it. After arranging a family business meeting, Chuck asked the family point blank, “Are you willing to change to take this company to the next level?” Everyone said yes, and with a lot of sweat and tears, amazing things began to happen.   Transformation takes a lot of work to achieve. Chuck helped the family set their BHAG. They wanted to take their $8-million company up to $33 million. This meant a change in leadership styles and company culture. With these shifts, the company was able to hit two 10-year BHAGs in five years! 11 years later, they are now close to doing $55 million, employ 1,500 people, and they rank number three in their franchise.   Why do some people fail the transformation process? Well, usually, one in five to one in four people will quit the process midway through. First, the leadership team is just unwilling to change their approach. Growth simply can not happen if the leadership style doesn’t change and evolve the higher up you go. Second, the leadership is just unwilling to make those ‘daring’ moves to get their company from point A to point B.   Interview Links: Thetransformation.company   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube  

Rajendra Sisodia, is an international speaker, a business professor, and an award-winning author. He has published eight books, including Conscious Capitalism, and over 100 academic articles. On the show, he discusses what conscious capitalism is and the difference it can make on your business.   What are you really getting from all the money you spend on customer retention? Customer loyalty and trust have been declining steadily, despite the fact that companies are spending more money. Is there a way we can make this system better? This was the question that sparked Rajendra’s journey on how to optimize spending and become more efficient.   Rajendra’s research over the years showed that we have a productivity crisis in marketing. There is something fundamentally wrong with the way we think about marketing. So, how do we do it right? Rajendra dived into companies who were getting fantastic results and retention all the while spending less.   Rajendra found that not only did customers love these companies, but their employees did too, and so did their suppliers. The pattern emerged that these companies were stakeholder-oriented and not shareholder-centric. They also all had purpose, and with that came better leaders and a caring company culture.   At the end, Rajendra fully expected that these companies with purpose would not have exceptional returns because it was not their main focus or driving objective to make ‘tons of money.’ He was wrong. They outperformed the market 9 to 1.   Rajendra was led to believe over the years prior to this research that if you showed any signs of being caring or compassionate, you would be walked all over — that being ‘nice’ was a sign of weakness. In fact, ‘nice’ companies were not only stronger but they were also resilient and more successful.   When Bill speaks with entrepreneurs and business owners in a good size room, maybe only about 10-20% of them understand what their life’s purpose is. Business guys just don’t get all that ‘purpose’ stuff, but so many businesses are transformed (on many levels) by being purposeful.   If you want to create win-win situations for your employees, suppliers, and customers, you have to give, give, and give. By creating this kind of environment, you receive a ton back and value systems get put in place that do not always have a byline monetary value on them, like high employee retention, satisfaction, engagement, and commitment to the bigger cause.   Interview Links: Rajsisodia.com Consciouscapitalism.org   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes, and leave a review. It helps other entrepreneurs discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast, so they can also benefit from the knowledge shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...And Why the Rest Don’t, is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and the team at Gazelles, on how the fastest growing companies succeed, where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading business coach with Gazelles.   We help leadership teams to get the 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash right so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Our 4 Decisions are all part of the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from the original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  

We all know that we need to coach people, not manage them. However, for many of us, we doubt our own ability to coach. There are actually principles of great coaching that you can follow and today’s show is going to break down those principles to help you effectively coach your people.   Dave Baney is a fellow Gazelles Growth Coach and the CEO and Founder of 55 Questions. He is also the author of The 3x5 Coach, which is what we’ll be diving into today! Find out how you can stop managing your people and start coaching them instead.   Dave went to school because he initially wanted to become a Spanish teacher, but quickly decided it was not for him. After graduating, he went to work for Burger King, where he spent 22 years working in both corporate and on the field. He then transferred to McDonald’s, where he spent 8 years with them and even relocated to Italy!   This is where Dave learned that the government’s termination policies in Italy were quite expensive for the company to do. When you cannot simply fire people, you have to find creative ways to influence and inspire them. This is when Dave discovered the difference between managing and coaching people.   After retiring from the industry, Dave started 55 Questions to help coach business owners and executive teams of mid-market businesses. He has worked with over 50 different industries and has been in business for the last nine years.   Besides the army, McDonald’s has been one of the largest training grounds for people in America for everything from how to work, taking responsibility, and the discipline of showing up and doing your job the right way. There are so many amazing life lessons you can learn from a company like McDonald’s or even in the restaurant industry.   How fast can a dog sled team run? Well, the answer is, only as fast as the slowest dog. If you had a dogsled team, you would want to work with the slowest dog to help bring him up to speed with the rest of the team. So, what are you doing to help the slowest members of your team learn and grow? This, in essence, is what the 3x5 method is about.   Truth is, we tend to over-manage our people instead of training them to the point where they can become independent and autonomous. There seems to be a disconnect when it comes to the desires of the team and the desires of management, and because of this, it’s very hard to motivate a team when you can’t align with them.   The 3x5 method is really about having the team member and manager sit down and agree on each other’s expectations and desires. It offers clear lines of communication between these two parties for, what it seems to be, the very first time.   Interview Links: 55questions.com Dave on LinkedIn The 3x5 Coach: A Practical Guide to Coaching Your Team for Greater Results and Happier People, by Dave Baney   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube   TWEETABLES:   “Everybody should stop managing and start coaching right away.”   “Some businesses can’t just lop off the bottom 10% of their team, so motivating people changes the game.”   “Back ten years ago, one out of 11 people in America, at one point or another, worked at McDonald’s.”   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes, and leave a review. It helps other entrepreneurs discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast, so they can also benefit from the knowledge shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...And Why the Rest Don’t, is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and the team at Gazelles, on how the fastest growing companies succeed, where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading business coach with Gazelles.   We help leadership teams to get the 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash right so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Our 4 Decisions are all part of the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from the original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  

You’re knowledgeable, right? So how come you’re not known for what you know? How come you’re not the thought leader in your field? Well, if you’ve ever wondered, then this is the show for you. Bill and his guest dive in on the steps it takes to become a thought leader.   Andy Buyting is a full-time CEO and a part-time Gazelles business coach. Andy is a leader in brand positioning and thought leadership. His strategy of “Owning the Ink in Your Industry” has served both himself and his countless clients exceedingly well. On top of that, he brings over 20 years of sales, marketing, operations, business development, entrepreneurship, management and executive experience to his clients.   Andy’s parents were Dutch immigrants living in Canada and came from a farming background. As a kid, Andy had to work on the family farm, which was the largest carrot farm in the country. His parents were very entrepreneurial and were always looking to expand their operations.   Andy ended up taking over the family business at the age of 25 and began implementing the Rockefeller Habits into his family retail business. The 10-year old business grew 86% in two years because of it. After the initial 86% growth, Andy further grew the business by another 600% over the next couple of years.   Andy knows that the process works. However, it can be daunting to take action because you’re working towards changing your bad habits and that can become incredibly uncomfortable. Andy worked with a Gazelles coach for six to seven years and it helped him get over those uncomfortable moments.   Andy remembers Verne saying, “Tiger Woods has two coaches! The best golfer has two coaches. As a business leader, who are you to say ‘I don’t need a coach?’” You need a coach! Even the best in the world need a coach.   Verne kept asking Andy, “Who owns your industry?” and Andy was having a hard time understanding what he meant. This was his first introduction to what a thought leader was and why it was important. When his company started publishing his own garden-news magazine, it was a game changer, and his relatively small business became a big authority in the marketplace.   Companies that want to stand out as a thought leader — as an authority — really need to build a publishing arm out. Print is not dead and you should not write it off. Digital marketing is essential, but it has a short shelf life. Print, however, is there for credibility and longevity.   Andy’s father would have said this quote, “The secret to success is that you need to know what you’re doing. You need to know you know what you’re doing (be confident), and you need to be known for what you know.”   Interview Links: Andybuyting.com Andy on LinkedIn Carlepublishing.com How to Win Clients & Influence People: Create Instant Credibility and Gain an Unfair Advantage Over Your Competition, by Andy Buyting   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube   TWEETABLES:   “Always take your future in your own hands.”   “Even the best performers in the world need a coach.”   “Print is more believable, more credible, and it will stick around longer than digital will… but you still need both.”   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes, and leave a review. It helps other entrepreneurs discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast, so they can also benefit from the knowledge shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...And Why the Rest Don’t, is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and the team at Gazelles, on how the fastest growing companies succeed, where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading business coach with a Gazelles.   We help leadership teams to get the 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash right so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Our 4 Decisions are all part of the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from the original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  

Leaders lead people, which means we have to show up with a certain level of energy to inspire others and get things done. How does this show up differently between introverted and extroverted leaders? And, how can we manage our respective energies to keep the fire lit without burning ourselves out? Our special guest this week has the answers!   Morra Aarons-Mele is the founder of award-winning digital agency Women Online and its database of women influencers, The Mission List. She is an internet marketer who has helped launched online campaigns for world leaders and organizations including the United Nations, Malala Fund, Hillary Clinton for President, President Obama, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Morra is also the author of Hiding in the Bathroom.   As an introvert, Morra wanted to grow her business but did not want to travel nor go out at night. She hates networking and, despite being a consultant, has travel anxiety. Morra wanted to build and grow her business on her own terms and made it her goal in 2016 to achieve this.   We have endless conversations about ‘crushing it’ and always saying yes, but for a lot of people, they’re just not built that way. Introverts might want to crush it and get out there, but it really zaps their energy and some of them, like Morra, have social anxiety. There simply wasn’t a roadmap for people who are introverts as well as leaders, which is why Morra decided to write her book.   Some of the world’s most successful people are introverts. It’s a total myth that introverts are all shy and quiet. Introversion has nothing to do with how people handle ambition or their social skills. Some people even have a hard time believing Morra is an introvert because of how funny she is and that she makes eye contact with people. Introverts can be those things! However, they do need to be more diligent about how they’re managing their energy.   Our culture is obsessed with entrepreneurship, obsessed with scaling up, but what’s motivating you to do those things? Are you trying to grow bigger and bigger for the wrong reasons? Sometimes, you need to stop and tune in to what YOU really want before you experience some sort of health or professional crisis.   It’s really important, no matter what level of your career, to take a step back and see whether you’re truly happy with where you are. If you’re not, are there ways you can fix it so that you can have a more intentional business? Can you scale back? Work from home? Travel less? The reality is, you CAN do work you love and do it on your own terms.   Interview Links: Womenandwork.org Wearewomenonline.com Themissionlist.com Hiding in the Bathroom: An Introvert’s Roadmap to Getting Out There (When You'd Rather Stay Home), by Morra Aarons-Mele   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube   TWEETABLES:   “Leaders tell us to never eat lunch alone, to always say yes, but a lot of us aren’t built that way.”   “Walking into a room full of prospects and strangers fills me with panic and dread.”   “Introversion is just about energy. It’s a total myth that introverts are all shy and quiet.”   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes, and leave a review. It helps other entrepreneurs discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast, so they can also benefit from the knowledge shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...And Why the Rest Don’t, is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and the team at Gazelles, on how the fastest growing companies succeed, where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading business coach with a Gazelles.   We help leadership teams to get the 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash right so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Our 4 Decisions are all part of the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from the original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  

We don’t take enough time to stop and assess our progress. We are always reacting and not thinking! Do you find yourself making some of the same mistakes again and again? If so, it’s time to take a thoughtful retro perspective approach. Bill and his team do it at the end of every quarter and here are some exercises that show how you can do it, too.   Bruce Eckfeldt is a consultant, Certified Gazelles coach, author, and speaker on organizational development and performance management. Bruce is on the show today to talk all about retro perspectives and how you can use exercises to get better at it.   How did Bruce first get into retro perspectives? Bruce was first introduced to the concept when he was in software development. He’s been on projects where he spent weeks, months, and sometimes even years developing new products only to have them fall flat on their faces. How could he prevent this from happening? By taking a more lean approach to technology and by using retro perspective to strive for continuous improvement.   Before we dive into examples of how retro perspective works, what does retro perspective mean, exactly? To put it simply, it’s the process of looking at the past to improve the future. The goal is to use the things we’ve done, the results we’ve already generated, as data.   One of the best ways to cultivate a retro perspective environment is by creating a safe environment in the office to openly share mistakes without fear of pushback. From there, we need to collect the raw data, analyze it, drive down on what really happened, and then brainstorm for solutions.   There’s so much pressure not to mess up that people often try their best to cover their ass, as opposed to openly letting management know there are problems within the organization. There’s so much spin in an organization that ‘it’s okay to mess up,’ but it doesn’t help solve the true problem. What are some of the best ways to create a safe space to openly share mistakes in the office?   Bruce does two things. The first thing is called a prime directive, which sets the context of the meeting. This is said at the start of every meeting to help remind people it’s okay to share. This is the way the prime directive reads: Regardless of what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand.   The second thing Bruce does is to makes sure the senior team is modeling this behavior, too. It can’t just be on the staff’s side to admit mistakes. It’s important that senior leaders call each other out on mistakes they’ve made and bring them to the table as an opportunity to learn how to improve. When the team begins to see the senior team doing this, it really sets the tone and drives the point further that it’s okay to admit your mistakes.   Interview Links: Eckfeldt.com Bruce on LinkedIn   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube  

Do your beliefs help you or hurt you in life? Leaders with limiting beliefs prevent themselves from showing up as powerful leaders. The thing about it is, everyone has limiting beliefs, it’s how we identify them and improve upon them, that helps us get out of the trap.   Elizabeth Crook is a business strategist and advisor at Orchard Advisors. She is also a Gazelles coach and the bestselling author of Live Large.   When Elizabeth was 30 years old, she was living in Latin America and working directly with the American Embassy as well as consulting companies on how to expand and grow.   One day, Elizabeth was invited to speak at a reading and learning group. Despite her extensive experience at the time, Elizabeth kept starting every sentence with, ‘I’m probably wrong, but...’ This belief was seriously limiting her career and her potential in life. When it was pointed out to her, Elizabeth had to stop and break through this.   We can’t scale a company without scaling its leaders as well. An important part of Elizabeth’s work is helping leaders develop and increase their self-awareness so that they can show up in a powerful way. If you’re not evolving your leadership, there is a serious problem within the company.   People can turn a strength into a weakness as they take on more responsibility. For example, Elizabeth was working one-on-one with a leadership member who believed asking for help was a sign of weakness. He cited that his best strength was being self-reliant.   This might have worked when he was an employee, but as a leader, he now needs to grow and start to depend on others. By putting this man in a leadership role, his primary strength effectively got turned upside down. This is where working closely with your leadership team and to help them develop awareness about their limiting beliefs is critical.   Interview Links: Orchardadvisors.com Elizabethbcrook.com Elizabethbcrook.com/resources A Free Chapter of Live Large   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube  

There are five big ways you can improve your business credit. Today’s guest will discuss how it is slightly different than your personal credit, why it’s important for your business, and how to separate the two so they don’t get mixed up!   Ty Crandall is the CEO at Credit Suite, a leading finance software and business credit company in the country. Ty and his team help clients build their business credit and help them get financing.   When Ty experienced the 2008 market crash, he saw first-hand what it was like to build a successful business and then see it disappear. His revenue had dropped 90% and he couldn’t serve his clients as effectively anymore. He had no idea that business credit even existed at the time, much less know how to keep both his personal and business credit separate.   Ty signed everything to his personal credit, so when business was down and he was forced to default on payments, creditors were now able to take assets directly out of the company. It was a mess. Once the creditors couldn’t get any more money out of the company, they then went directly for Ty’s personal assets. He lost everything.   Fortunately, Ty was able to get out of it and he knew he had to help people fix their credit and repair the damage the economy had caused on them. He didn’t want anybody to go through what he went through. This is why he is in the line of work that he is in today.   At the time, there wasn’t a lot of information about corporate credit. Ty had to dig deep to find out how to obtain it, how it worked, and how you could use it to protect your personal assets. Ty was blown away by the various ways you could protect yourself and the financial opportunities you could have with business credit.   Ty walks through the five steps that will improve your business credit:   Step 1: Set up your business correctly! Step 2: Do a free check with all the reporting agencies. Step 3: Start building vendor credit. Step 4: Start building store credit. Step 5: Start building fleet/vehicle credit.   By doing these five steps, you build enough trust with the banks where you can qualify for loans and credit lines for your business. Step 1 is often the hardest part, but once you have it completed, building business credit is actually quite easy!   Interview Links: Creditsuite.com Creditsuite.com — D-U-N-S® Number Creditsuite.com — Monitoring Ty on LinkedIn   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube   TWEETABLES:   “I ended up being very successful at a young age and then systematically lost everything.”   “A downturn of one kind or another is inevitable.”   “Having your business and your personal credit intricately tied can make it a very personal crisis.”   Did you enjoy today’s episode? If so, then head over to iTunes, and leave a review. It helps other entrepreneurs discover the Scaling Up Business Podcast, so they can also benefit from the knowledge shared in these podcasts.   Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...And Why the Rest Don’t, is the best-selling book by Verne Harnish and the team at Gazelles, on how the fastest growing companies succeed, where so many others fail. My name is Bill Gallagher, host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast and a leading business coach with a Gazelles.   We help leadership teams to get the 4 Decisions around People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash right so that they can Scale Up successfully and beat the odds of business growth success. Our 4 Decisions are all part of the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 (from the original best-selling business book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits).  

As someone who is trying to grow your business, what can you learn from the biggest of companies out there? We define fast-moving companies as gazelles and we depict the big, larger, companies as elephants. However, there are important lessons you can learn from both that should not be ignored!   Mike Maddock is a serial entrepreneur, author, and keynote speaker. Currently, Mike is the Founder Partner of Maddock Douglas, an innovation consulting firm that has helped more than 25% of the Fortune 100 companies. Mike has personally launched five successful businesses, written three books, and he is also a columnist for Bloomberg Businessweek and Forbes.   Mike worked all throughout his teen years and has seen what good bosses and bad bosses looked like. A year-and-a-half after graduating high school, Mike started his own marketing communications company and grew the business up to 50 people.   Mike had a ‘Jerry Maguire’ moment and shifted his focus more on innovation. He started a new company and made $3.5 million in revenue within a couple of years. Since then, he’s learned a lot about research, consumer behavior, and fear!   Whenever you’re changing anything, people freak out and they go to what makes them feel strong, which is often the worst thing you can do when the world is changing around you. Fear makes people go ‘back to the basics.’ At the end of the day, it’s a balancing act between the creative/innovation types and the analytical types in an organization. When you can get the right balance of both, these companies survive and thrive in new environments.   Mike shares an example of a meeting gone wrong, at least it appeared to be. Mike was presenting research to dentists about an emerging marketing, teeth whitening, and they ripped into him. Mike and his team predicted teeth whitening would be a $4 billion opportunity, today it is an $11 billion market. The dentists that ripped into him were experts in their market. However, the more you’re an expert in something, the harder it is to see growth, opportunity, and possibility.   Interview Links: Maddockdouglas.com Mike on LinkedIn   Resources: Scaling Up for Business Growth Workshops: Take the first step to mastering the Rockefeller Habits by attending one of our workshops. Scaling Up Website Gazelles Website Bill on YouTube