Today I spent half my day at an Entrepreneur Organization (EO Seattle) event.  Mark Moses was the speaker.  Mark spends the majority of his time working one on one with CEO’s and organizations helping them with strategies to grow their business, grow revenue and increase profits. He knows what makes ordinary people do extraordinary things. He knows that a CEO doesn’t grow a business, but grows people who grow the business. Mark is known for using unconventional strategies for making his point. When he wanted his young company to “think big” he rode into the annual meeting atop an 8,000 African elephant. The elephant immediately took root in the company’s culture and “thinking big” became second nature.
Mark went over 1) Vision; 2) Cash; 3) Right People in Right Jobs; 4) Relationships; and 5) Learning
I’m only going to touch on a couple points…

Continuous Learning

While Mark didn’t spend a lot of time talking about learning, I really think that is one of the key things that an entrepreneur, CEO, key employee, should always be doing.  It doesn’t matter what size company you are running be it a $250K, $1M+ and even a $100M+ company.  You’ve got to have a thirst for knowledge. I’ve learned an incredible amount from being in the Entrepreneur Organization over the last few years. There are things that I’ve learned from other successful entrepreneurs who are running $1M+ companies that have allowed me to side step potential landmines. Also working inside a place like thinkspace has also helped me make invaluable connections to other entrepreneurs. We’ve also created a place where there is easy access to learning. Each month is have a Brown Bag Lunch in which we bring in successful entrepreneurs who share their amazing and inspiring stories.

Right People in Right Jobs

Prior to attending the event, we were instructed to take a Leadership DISC Survey and then review the Behaviors and Motivators Report.  The report is designed to increase the understanding of an individual’s talents. My report is 47 pages long. I think it’s incredibly interesting to understand what makes me tick and the report provides me suggestions on how to communicate with others. I want to be a good communicator, I also want my team to have good communication. I’m looking into hiring a business coach to work with my team so that we can have amazing communication within our team and with our customers. The other key thing is hiring the right people. Mark suggested that you ask yourself a question “Do you ever compromise on quality when hiring?”. He also said that you should make a list of people that you wish you could hire.  Hiring mistakes are very costly and in EO there’s a motto: “Slow to hire, quick to fire”.
If you’re interested in hearing more or seeing the packet that Mark provided to us, swing by and tell you more!