Interview with Verne Harnish

Our Chat with Verne Harnish

How did you get the nickname “the growth guy”? 
It happened organically, having spent 33 years doing one thing – helping growth firms – so someone labelled me the growth guy when introducing me and it stuck!  We do encourage all businesses to find a word or two they can own – like Volvo owns “safety” and Google owns “search.”

Many people see you as a mentor, guru, all- knowing business sage… but who have you looked up to along the way through your career? Who inspires you? 
Tom Peters, the uber-guru who is credited with co-authoring the first hugely popular business book, In Search of Excellence, was my first inspiration.  I heard him speak at an early student entrepreneurship conference at Stanford back in the early 80s; I was then one of his surrogate speakers in the early 90s; and he was kind enough to provide the cover endorsement of my first book Mastering the Rockefeller Habits in 2002.  And we’ve hosted him for several of our Growth Summits.  The other huge influence is Jim Collins, whom I’ve known for almost two decades and whose theories and ideas have shaped our own tools for helping scale-ups.

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It’s so refreshing that you’re in Dubai to talk about scaling up rather than start- ups- what’s your opinion on the state of play with start- ups at the moment? 
Many startup…but few scale-up.  And it’s the scale-ups that are the true economic engines of economies – those firms over 10 employees which are able to scale to over 100, 1000 or 10,000 employees.  This is our focus –to help startups scale-up.  And it’s this same focus we’re hoping the leadership (and media) of countries will give to this vital sector of business – through their conversations and policies.

Why do you think so many start- ups are not focusing on the bottom line today?
I think most startups are focused on the bottom line, however, it’s only the fast growing tech sector startups that generally garner attention, which we think is part of the challenge.  In the case of these tech firms, given the speed with which their niches are growing, it’s important to scale quickly – so cash is more important than profit.  Case in point is Amazon.  They have been marginally profitable since the beginning, but have crafted a business model – the Prime membership being a key driver – that has provided plenty of cash to keep scaling.   It’s why all entrepreneurs should structure some kind of subscription-based revenue stream as part of their business and why I encourage startups to read John Warrillow’s new book The Automatic Customer.

What do you think of the SME category in Dubai? Is there a difference in entrepreneurial spirit here? 
It’s better to ask our local coaching partner Hazel Jackson of Biz-Ability – an expat woman entrepreneur. She’s been working with this sector (and large companies) for two decades in the region.  And this is why we partner with local firms – they have the knowledge and insights into what is happening in the UAE I can’t possibly have living in Barcelona.  And her firm, two years in a row, has won the coveted #1 Best Place to Work award in the UAE for companies under 100 employees.  Localization is something all growing firms must do if they want to expand beyond their own city or country.

What can delegates expect to take away from the Scaling Up Business Growth Workshop?
How to scale-up a business and enjoy the climb!  Growing a business is hard – which is why only a few are able to do it.  We have the tools and techniques that help business leaders manage the increasing chaos that comes with adding more customers, product lines, locations, and employees – and keep their sanity along the way.  More specifically, we help leaders make the tough decisions – People, Strategy, Execution and Cash – necessary to navigate the ever changing market and dominate it through attracting and keeping the best talent; devising a competition crushing strategy; executing flawlessly; and generating the kind of cash that will continue to fuel growth.

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Who should be attending? What kind of companies and positions within companies? 
CEOs and senior team members of any organization or division of a larger firm that want to continue scaling up – for profit or non-profit.  We often have “intrapreneurs” attend as well – leaders inside large companies that want to improve their own internal performance.

Have you got any new books planned… what’s next? 
Following Scaling Up, we’re taking a deep dive into each of the four decisions and writing separate books – Scaling Up People; Scaling Up Strategy; Scaling Up Execution; and Scaling Up Cash.

If you could do it all again knowing what you know now- which business would you have loved to create/own and why? 
I absolutely love the impact we’re having around the world and the chance to work with all kinds of businesses in all kinds of industries.  And I enjoy writing and teaching – so Gazelles is on the right path to becoming the significant business I always visioned.  Now, if I had the talent, I would love to be Sting – but that’s whole other line of questioning!