Scaling Up

How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't, Rockefeller Habits 2.0

By: Verne Harnish

Narrated by: Spencer Cannon

Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's Summary

It's been over a decade since Verne Harnish's best-selling book Mastering the Rockefeller Habits was first released. Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't is the first major revision of this business classic. In Scaling Up, Harnish and his team share practical tools and techniques for building an industry-dominating business. These approaches have been honed from over three decades of advising tens of thousands of CEOs and executives and helping them navigate the increasing complexities (and weight) that come with scaling up a venture.

This book is written so everyone - from front line employees to senior executives - can get aligned in contributing to the growth of a firm. There's no reason to do it alone, yet many top leaders feel like they are the ones dragging the rest of the organization up the S-curve of growth. The goal of this book is to help you turn what feels like an anchor into wind at your back - creating a company where the team is engaged; the customers are doing your marketing; and everyone is making money. To accomplish this, Scaling Up focuses on the four major decision areas every company must get right: People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash.

The book includes a series of new one-page tools including the updated One-Page Strategic Plan and the Rockefeller Habits ChecklistTM, which more than 40,000 firms around the globe have used to scale their companies successfully - many to $1 billion and beyond. Running a business is ultimately about freedom. Scaling Up shows business leaders how to get their organizations moving in sync to create something significant and enjoy the ride. Bonus material for Scaling Up may be found at www.ScalingUp.com.

©2014 Gazelles East Pte. Ltd. (P)2014 Gazelles East Pte. Ltd.

It's good – but mostly for large companies

It's a good book. Dense and full of wisdom. Highly practical too – lots of worksheets to fill out.

It's mostly for companies 7-10 employees and up though. I can't help but wonder why there aren't more books written, targeting the solopreneurial startup phase: from 1 (you) to those 2-3 employees and up to the 8-12 employees where books like this one can take over, offering helpful advice for those stages.

Yes, there are plenty startup books with advice on how to select the best team members – but few that talk about the dangers of taking in/on those initial few employees: cashflow-wise, it can be a huge killer to any little business.

When should one hire the first employee – and what signs and pitfalls should one look for, in times of distress (bad cashflow for example)... And should one even hire ANY employees at all? Or rather find a solid business partner and a mentor, essentially making it a small company of three?What are the pros and cons of such a constellation?

Again: very few books seem to target this market and those vital questions. Without first finding the answers to them, and the challenges they represent; there's little need for a book like Scaling Up – many of us just aren't there yet.

Just what the doctor ordered

Would you listen to Scaling Up again? Why?

I will have to listen again but this time with a pen and paper ready to take notes.

Any additional comments?

This is the perfect book for business owners that have gotten over the "start-up" hurdle and are beginning to enjoy some success. It really gets specific on how to carefully grow your company as to avoid some common pitfalls...mainly running out of CASH!!! I have seen our company sales growing rapidly but could not figure out where all the cash was going. This book hit me right in the face! My problem was not sales it was cash flow!!! I now have several specific action items I went to work on immediately.

Good advice but too much advertising for Gazelles

It has very practical, actionable advice but there are way too many plugs for his business. At the end one is left wondering if the intent was really to help entrepreneurs or to generate opportunities for his consulting group.

Confusing narration but great content

The overall content was great. Narration style was difficult to follow due to too frequent accentuation.

Starts The Juices Flowing

This book is good to get your brain thinking about the right way to do things/change things.

Not super in-depth about any one particular item; but covers a lot of different aspects that will now require further study and implementation.

Mind blown

Well, I thought my business was doing well. Now I have my work cutout for me. Desire to learn and a bias for action.

Literally Useless | No Way 5 Star Reviews are real

What disappointed you about Scaling Up?

This book is literally Useless. It has no meat. No real advice. It's filled with a string of unconnected thoughts, thin metaphors and anecdotal stories that barely scratch the surface of any real business issue. It's filled with useless phrases like "the first rule of money management is don't run out of money" and then it moves on to a completely separate thought like "business is like climbing everest...". It feels like it was written by a high school student. It's SOOO Bad.

What could Verne Harnish have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I wish he had done some first hand research, and/or had some first hand experience in business. It sounds like he's just regurgitating things he's heard from amateur entrepreneurs.

What aspect of Spencer Cannon’s performance would you have changed?

Performance was fine, content was mind-numbingly awful

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The first 3 chapters were literally Useless. The rest of the book was maybe 90% useless (if I'm totally honest)

Any additional comments?

Normally the reviews you find on audible are fairly reliable, but there is literally no possible way that the 5 Star Reviews on this book are real. They have to be faked becuase this book is seriously useless. The only way those 5 Star Reviews could be real is if they all came from people who have zero actual experience running a business and instead they thrive on pep-talks and spend their days dreaming about "one day I'll start a business..." but if you want real help scaling up a business, stay away from this book, you'll find nothing useful here.

The information is good, but it's wrapped with so

It's wrapped with so much sales pitch that almost every two minutes you feel like stopping.
Good intention, awful execution, this book could have been so much better had they not made into a huge sales pitch.

great but fast.

The subject info and stories are amazing yet the narrator too fast and is telling the story like a robot

Might be good, can't get past naration

Would you try another book from Verne Harnish and/or Spencer Cannon?

Sure, as long as there is a different narator

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Couldn't get past the naration

How could the performance have been better?

Hiring a human to narrate the book.

Did Scaling Up inspire you to do anything?

Write this review

Any additional comments?

The narrator has this weird cadence, he starts low, goes high, then goes low again, long pause at each period, than starts again on the next sentence. The whole thing feels like he is reading a bullet point list, it is very taxing to listen to.

Written in Corporate (am I missing something?)

Lots of positive reviews persuaded me to give this a go.

Sadly though I couldn't get on with it.

If the idea of renaming "HR" with "employee enablement" appeals to you, this book will be great.

If the thought of having whole departments dedicate the quarter to "storytelling" by "personifying the companies core values [empowerment / caringness / insert corporate buzzword here]" then definitely get it.

If you think employees should be "incentivized" by awarding a t-shirt to the employee with the best story of how they embodied that buzzword then you'll love it. The t-shirt will have the buzzword printed on it for extra coolness in the same way a school nerd will be slapped on the back with a "kick me" sign or a 'prefect' badge)

For anyone else that wants something more practical and logical check out Entrepreneurial Operating System.

Audio is not enough, buy also paper book/ebook

Good to listen audio, however I recommend to buy also a paper copy. It would enable more systematic implementation of the advices from this book and better clarification of described concepts. If you want to buy only one version, then choose only a paper copy.

Fantastic Book

If you are looking to be part of a successful business you need to read and study this book! Excellent valur

Brilliant for a growing business

Just taking away getting everyone in our organisation to do one thing each day has paid off.

Average

You need to have a physical copy of the book to understand and see what the narrator is narrating.

Probably the most useful business book ever

What did you like most about Scaling Up?

Its simplicity to follow and how easy to use some of the tools provided in the book and online.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

as its not a story book its not really the question - the logical way its presented that makes it easy to follow and use

What does Spencer Cannon bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

nothing really ...

Exceptional

if you are a business owner who is keen to grow sustainably, this is a must read.

Hodge podge of ideas that don't work as audio book

This is a meze of ideas and insights that will help people scale their businesses. Whilst it has some useful ideas, most of it is stuff you have heard elsewhere rebranded and re-packaged. The book is useful to dip in and out of as a reference, but the audiobook is difficult to follow. I tried this on a long car journey and ended up frustrated. Without seeing the templates and models that are referred to, this book really does not work.

Lots of detail and opportunities to improve

The narrator was good and the book was packed with information and case studies. The only slight negative was the spoken description of the various tools and templates suggested. It was difficult to make sense of all the abbreviations and visualise the columns.

If you are really into the topic and want to take immediate action, it's probably best to have a physical copy of the book as well. Or go to the website and download the templates.

Still a book to recommend though.

Fantastic book

Couldn’t recommend it more highly if you’re looking to scale a business. Full of brilliant tools and insight that you can immediately put into practice.