Musings Scaling up Excellence

The Notes and Musings of James
Cracknell of The Weave
on
Scaling Up Excellence
Getting to More Without Settling For Less
A Book by
Robert I. Sutton / Hayagreeva R., (2014)
London, Penguin Random House Business Books

Robert Lowell
First verse of ‘Waking Early Sunday Morning’
O to break loose, like the chinook
salmon jumping and falling back,
nosing up to the impossible
stone and bone-crushing waterfall –
raw-jawed, weak-fleshed there, stopped by ten
steps of the roaring ladder, and then
to clear the top on the last try,
alive enough to spawn and die
For those who wish to scale new heights
and create extraordinary value

“The problem of
more”
• It’s a leadership issue first and
foremost. To scale we need to infect the
business with a virus of positivity.
Mediocrity will not win the day, where
mediocrity exists, and it is always
present, we need to seek it out and
replace it with excellence.
• This book approaches the learning
with academic rigour and creative
problem solving. The evidence is based
on seven years of interviews and, over
the same time span, the sharing of
ideas to an audience of 6000.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

The Four Big
Lessons
Learned
In the preface of the book we are introduced to the
four areas of learning that the authors journey has
taken them on. Each of these areas is then
addressed in future chapters.
Lessons are:
1. The similarities that all leadership face
regardless of sector, size or any unique facet
are more important than the differences
2. Scaling is much more than the ‘Problem of
More’ we have to do ‘More but better’
3. All the models we use and the clarity they
bring will simplify the process – but be aware
the best scaling teams revel in the “inevitable
moments and months of messiness” (p xiv)
4. Its all about people – from start to end what
matters is the skills and sense of purpose of
the people involved – therefore scaling is
essentially a function of leadership
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

Where to start?
• “We are making room for growth, clearing the
decks, making space and pruning.”
• All these images may be cliched but they are
absolutely right. To start we must first make good
on what we have done before. Client’s need to be
self-aware they must also be primed.
• Advice on where to start from Claudia Kotchka
of Proctor and Gamble - “Start with yourself,
where you are right now, and with what you have
and can get right now.” (p xviii)
• Don’t make this about the start – in every way
and every day practice ‘self-reflection’ as core
aspect of learning and searching for excellence.
Everyday question your resources, your resolve and
align yourself to your purpose

Chapter 1: It’s a
Ground War Not Just
an Air War
Their metaphor instils the following messages into
the way leaders must think about scaling.
To approach scaling only from distance leads to
ineffective scaling – leaders must be both delivering
their message from above but more importantly
from the ground, to infect their people with the
buzz of new horizons.
Focus on moving the masses small steps not the
individuals great distances. The battle of scaling is
one of solidification and then movement.
Like a glacier that gathers size as it inches down the
side of a mountain. Leadership is thawing and
refreezing and constantly soothing abrasions from
the collective move forward. As we work every day
to make the journey better. Expect resistance,
expect pain and get to love it.
It is this complexity that we will embrace, this ‘grit’
that we will embed in people’s minds as they lose
the manacles of closed thinking and embrace the
new.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Scaling Mantras
Seven mantras that we all need to memorise. These
seven ‘calls’ bring focus, highlight areas where
problems occur and enforce us to act. They are:
1. Spread a mindset, not just a footprint – go
way blow the superficial, this needs to be in
the grain of thinking
2. Engage all the senses – touch, taste, feel and
sight as cues
3. Visualise the future – talk in terms of being
there and repeat where ‘there is’ not just once
but everyday
4. Spread accountability – those in the business
need to feel they own it.
5. Embrace confusion – you will see mirages, face
intense worries and moments of terrible self-
doubt, learn to live with them
6. First subtract and divide before we add – to
grow we need to be constantly pruning and
weeding
7. In praise of slow – appreciate that we have
gears, two minds the reactive and proactive –
embed rituals that ask about which gear we
should be in today

The role of leadership
• Open communication. Learn the language of the people and speak it – fluently but be
aware that you are not a native and acknowledge the differences you bring.
• Remain vigilant to those whose behaviours are working against the vision. This may not
be overt but be subversive – this is why it is at ground level that we gain the most insight.
• What got us here is great but it is not what will get us there. Be self-aware and breed
self-awareness throughout. Where skills are lacking (your own included) acknowledge it
and get trained.
• Assign mentors and embrace mentoring into the process
• It is better to fail early at with minimum cost than to fail once you have spent all your
resources. Don’t shake your head and bury it in your hands – welcome questions, learning
and ideas.
• Be prepared to wield the shears and prune when things become overly complex. Make
people accountable to weeding out the inept, the illogical , the illusionary. Scaling is hard,
complex and continuous – tell it like it is.
• Habits take time to become habits – it is the constant reinforcement, the sharing of
these habits and accountability to yourself and each other that keeps us looking at the
collective ‘true north’.
• Why do you want to scale? Is it personal wealth, power and adoration you want? Or do
you want to see your mission reach an ever wider audience, your message to fall on global
ears? Which is it – be honest. If wealth and adoration drive you then do not make these
vain purposes – share in the collective wealth that you wish to create.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA

The Ground War
Mindset
Never forget that scaling is playing
the long game, running a marathon
and not a sprint.
As a youngster I hated cross
country runs, you never knew
which path was the right path, how
long was long and the nature of the
terrain. Had I invested more time in
understanding how life mirrored so
much of this endeavour I might
have paid greater attention to the
lessons it offered.
Scaling may well be one of the
more messy tasks you will face,
revert back to the seven mantras
and use these to help you get
comfortable with the path.

Chapter 2:
Buddhism Versus
Catholicism
Two choices – Catholicism, a path of
replication where preordained teachings
and practices are instilled or Buddhism, an
intrinsic mindset that encourages free
thinking but guides rather than imposes
behaviours.
This thinking was the result of a VC called
Michael Dearing who posed this question
to students at Stanford’s Institute of
Design.
In systems thinking we are again looking at
hard, soft and critical typology of thought.
There is supportive evidence for success
through both paths but creative
approaches are more aligned to Buddhist
approaches yet we know the value of
Viable System Thinking in focusing on
making organisations that survive.
The evidence would suggest that both are
two extremes of a continuum and where
the energy lies depends upon the nature of
the task in front of us.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

How this figures in our approach
• There is a continuum between ‘replication to
adaptation’ that we will have to constantly
navigate, much of which will depend very heavily
on the owner’s state of mind, aspirations,
location and perspective.
• We will have to remain fluid in our approach –
using the Soft System Methodology for
purposeful model building – some of these
models will be adept at emotional pull others
focused upon recursive approaches to
organisational building. It is a dance that
switches between the rigidity of a waltz and the
interpretive moves of jazz.
• The challenge is not which to favour rather
when to move towards, one end or another

Beware of ‘bespoke’ – it
can absorb and destroy
you
• Franchise models work because of replication.
Many franchisees stray from the path of replication
because they believe ‘they are unique’, they want to
innovate. If they believe this then they are probably
not a franchisee.
• Changing what works because you believe it does
not can kill the model. Recursion and replication can
stifle creativity and uniqueness so when we scale bear
in mind what we are asking people to accept and do.
• Look for ‘templates’ within your working practices –
apply them and watch for what increases traction and
what disturbs outcomes. Modify rather than create
wholly new processes.
• What tasted so good on holiday rarely tastes the
same at home.

Refine and
specialise – own
the process
If we can build in replication into a process so
we can build in reliability, economy of scale and
increased saleability.
The ‘Sash Window Repair Company’ – that’s all
the do. The model does not allow for anything
else, the process is owned by the team that
deliver the service, but that process is wholly
recursive. A team leader, two fitters (maybe
more) and a process that says start here and
finish there. If the process fails they are brave
enough to deliver a solution, if that failure
recurs so the solution becomes adopted
practice.
We scale by building more teams – as with
McDonalds we recognise that scalable
innovation does not happen everywhere but it
can happen anywhere. Be Buddhist to welcome
ground floor innovation but Catholic in adopting
and rolling it out. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Sometimes its
good to be
‘snowball’
Despite the need to strive for
constant improvement in the
scaling process, to expand on
excellence – when we need to
move forward doing more is
potentially the best choice.
Business is often about
compromise but do so wisely,
getting the message out there is
good even if the message is not as
well formed as you would have
hoped.
As a snowball moves forward so it
gathers momentum, grows through
replication. At the end – we can let
it melt or build a snowman.

People – be
respectful and
give them room
No matter where you start the process, scaling is all
about people, how we move them, work with them
and gain their belief for the process.
As the authors say – we steer not force, coercion to
scale is like forcing someone to climb a mountain
without oxygen.
Change processes, how we move people forward
and the models and approaches we use, such as
Strategic Options Development and Analysis are
about gaining buy-in. Vision transference and
visualisation are crucial, listening and responding to
concerns and ideas, vital.
Sometimes choosing the slow route with Buddhist
overtones is far better than the replication and
imposition of Catholicism but do so by providing a
‘guard rails’.
How – by reducing complexity and what is noise,
described by the authors as ‘cognitive overload’

Chapter 3: Hot
Causes, Cool
Solutions
Do we start with trying to change beliefs or start
with behaviours?
Where to start is probably not the right question
– the question is what is dictating the current
situation? Where can you instil a sense of
urgency.
Once we know this then where we start, beliefs
or behaviours, depends on what we see and
understand to be the situation now. The chances
are that an approach that incorporates both
may well be the most pragmatic.
Strive to create reinforcing loops – behaviours
that lead to changing perceptions that reinforce
behaviours.
Emotional resonance – talking with emotion
reinforced by a positive posture – strive to build
communities that share the vision.

Reason now
“What I hear I forget, what I see I remember,
and what I do I understand”
If we only rely on mindset and passion the
cool solutions we seek will never be found.
Yes we need to be instilling a mindset of
continuous improvement but we also need
to be living that improvement, daily.
When we work with our clients we become
their advocates, we align them to us and
with passion deliver their message. We do
this publicly for two reasons – the first, to
empower their message, second, to
publicise a mutual bond.
Virtuous scaling circle – the system
dynamics or scaling excellence

The Virtuous
Circle
1. Name the problem – to build a cohesive approach
by making the problem tangible
2. Name the enemy – instil sense of collective
righteous anger by freezing the problem,
personalise it and make it a central plank of the
strategy to ‘kill it’
3. Encourage pubic openness – get people to make
a public stand – once in the domain there is no
place to hide
4. Be open about assumptions – challenge and test
them but provide a safe harbour
5. Create gateway experiences – bigger breaks in
behaviours require small steps from which to
launch. They develop and grow trust, the provide
insight and places where excellence can flourish.
6. Create new and better rituals – bring in new
positive rituals that bring about new behaviours
by breaking the old
7. Lean on the leaders – find people who simply
love the idea of advancement, want to
understand all the facets, who bore easily, stress
free, don’t freak out

Chapter 4: Cut
Cognitive Load
Evidence suggests that humans have a coping level
when it comes to mental ability. George Miller’s 7+-
2 has some validation when it comes to our ability
to manage short term memory.
As an organisation grows the temptation is simply to
pile on metrics, chores and processes yet this would
be wrong. This way leads to mistakes via pressure,
teams become unproductive and individuals shut
down. The culture of creativity requires less stimulus
not more.
As a business grows from survival to growth layers of
complexity are created. New rules, procedures and
practices can weigh down the organisation and the
owner(s).
Good rules create predictable outcomes, reduce
areas of conflict and facilitate coordination. Viable
Systems know this to be true. As businesses grow
customer service can evaporate unless effective
monitoring is in place.

Five Tactics for Achieving
Better Operating Systems
I. Make subtraction a way of life – everybody has responsibility for
identifying excess, repetition and worthless activity. Scaling assumes a
temporary need for complexity – once it is no longer required – remove.
II. Make people squirm – subtracting things should not be painless it should
hurt. We hold on to those things that justify our existence regardless of their
value. Get comfortable with change.
III. Bring on the Load Busters: Turning the attention of people to what is the
most important of activity while getting them to streamline a secondary, less
important task. The ‘Traffic Light System’ when time exists you have the
green light to elucidate when ‘red’ move fast.
IV. Divide and Conquer – creating subsets and smaller pods has the
advantage that accountability grows, task confusion is less and efficiencies
gained. The greatest challenge lay in the coordination of smaller pods and
maintaining organisational focus.
V. Bolster collective brainpower – teams are essential to the running of a
business but build them around chemistry. Don’t just bring in new blood and
expect seamless working – outsiders have greater challenges becoming
accepted. Breaking cultures down through conflict is not normally a
successful formula.

Give Ground Grudgingly
• Scaling requires the absorption of complexity, the constant search
for ‘requisite variety’ where the demands of the environment we
engage with match the organisational capability.
• As we scale avoid creating unnecessary frictions such as overlarge
teams, a lack of accountability and a loss of communication. Stay
vigilant to the needs of people and to the problematical situations
that might arise.
• Avoid cognitive overload by accepting everything thrown at you
and constantly asking more from people. Running anything at full
throttle for extended periods of time creates problems of overheating,
friction and wear and tear
In rugby, fullbacks decide when its right to move forward to add depth
in attack, or yield, to give up ground and in doing so decrease the
options of the attacker. Run the business in a way that accommodates
shifting levels of variety in the most effective way.

Chapter 5: People Who Propel
Scaling
• Scaling requires hiring people with
the right talent and skills. People who
are ‘involved’ in every way, not distant
from the mission but married to it.
People who cannot leave things alone.
Steve Jobs never stopped the tinkering,
the focus he had became the focus of
everyone. Scaling is not about a one
person effort it is a collective one
which means big changes, at times
hurtful decisions and sacrifice.
• When you hire do so as though you
are inserting a vital organ into a body.
Asking if talents and skills are more
important than accountability and
ownership is the wrong question. The
heart has its own talents but without it
the liver and brain would not function,
equally no brain and what is the point
of a heart? Hiring is about getting the
right body parts for the system as a
whole.

Shared ownership
• Sometimes it pays to be ruthless but be careful. Don’t carry
deadweight because it saps the entire organisation. Exiting
people is sometimes the only way so learn how to do it
effectively. Each situation is different but four things, be honest,
be clear, be legal and be kind.
• You need people who feel that they own the place but equally
that the place owns them, that there is a mutual respect. This
respect can evaporate if you let people go in the wrong way. The
primary goal in any change like this is to maintain the love of
those who stay behind.
• Bringing in new talent and expecting amazing results is
disrespectful to those arriving and those sitting there. The
induction process is so much more important in scaling as it is in
mature organisations, often because impact and accountability
are expectations not measured outcomes.

Talent x Accountability =
Scaling Capacity
Simple formula that relies on maximising both variables so that
resilience, cohesion and a learning environment thrive.
Leadership is the key – as business scales, teams are created and
expectations around incentives put in place. Incentivise the teams and
reward them for leadership as well as results
Leadership outcomes should be measured by there effect on:
• Perpetuating a positive culture
• Mentoring
• Learning
• Problem solving
• Commitment people show to others
• Creativity
The following are seven suggested ways of raising both
talent and accountability and in doing so build resilience and
the capacity to scale.

The First of the
Seven ways to
cement this
equation
1. Squelch free riding
There is nothing harder for teams
when they feel that they have to
carry someone. So keep them lean,
focused and strongly led.
Incentivise the team not the
individual but watch out for when
incentives produce counter
productive results.
• As numbers grow avoid feelings
of being an employee NOT an
owner. Where you see it stand-up
against behaviours such as being
‘cutthroat’, ‘back-stabbing’ and
‘selfish acts’ instead favour and
praise great work that supports
team.

The Second of the
Seven ways to
cement this
equation
2. Inject Pride and Righteous Anger
Cohesion through pride, unified effort through
righteous anger. God help anyone who stands in the
way of us achieving our mission!
Don’t be afraid of aggression in pursuit of purpose.
If we want it as much as we say we do why
shouldn't we feel frustrated by those who impede?
But before you go on the offensive you have to
make sure that the pride you feel is shared. That
what you are of proud of is more than an idea and
that you have and continue to learn. Make sure that
those with you feel the warmth of being a part of
this family. Empower them in the process and arm
with stories, myths and a culture they can relate to.

The Third of the Seven
ways to cement this
equation
3. Bring in Guilt Prone Leaders
When you are prone to feeling guilty you
have a greater tendency to care about
the welfare of others ahead of yourself.
You are thoughtful of your actions,
considerate in your language and
regretful of past mistakes. You are
humble and have a natural inclination to
humility.
Leaders with a ‘guilt proneness’ rarely
show signs of outright self-interest. They
strive to live up to the expectations of
others and because they see the greater
good they are more attuned to making
the harder decisions that leaders have to
make. Research suggests – those with
humility will face up to challenges
because they see the cost if they don’t.

The Fourth of the Seven
ways to cement this
equation
4. “I’ll Be Watching You” – Use Subtle Cues to Prime
Accountability
• When we are put in a situation where there is a sense
of being watched we have a far greater tendency to do
the right thing. Use this to shift thinking and change
habits.
• But do make these subtle and not cameras that are in
your face. We are aiming to make people feel and behave
as though they are accountable. Not like they can’t be
trusted.
• In the book Sutton and Rao recount the story of a
poster with eyes next door to an honesty box. This simple
strategy had a profound effect upon the contribution
rate, regardless of the fact that it had nothing to do with
the honesty box. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

The Fifth of the Seven ways to
cement this equation
5. Create the Right ‘Gene Pool’
• A business becomes the people it hires right
from the first few on-boarders. Founders, aware
of the culture they are trying to create, hire for fit
and people who can tackle the primary issues of
the day.
• As we build out we need to engineer the gene
pool of talent. Make a commitment to training
and mentoring people. Explain and grow the
culture through stories and then establish sub-
units, invite them to be led by home-grown
talent.
• Build fit managers, mentally strong, talented
communicators and embracing of the culture

The Sixth of
the Seven ways
to cement this
equation
6. Use Other Organisations as Your HR
Department
• Positioning yourself next to a
university is a smart recruiting decision.
Placing yourself on their radar as a
mentor helps in opening doors to finding
the right hires.
• Work with interns, not as cheap
labour but in ways of helping the student
to maximise their potential. Once they
graduate you may find that they become
the next and best layer of employment.
Equally work with schools and colleges to
help manage the pipeline.
• They may not be the finished article
but they are normally moldable
employees energised, engaged and
primed for action. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

The Seventh way
to cement this
equation
7. Hire People Prewired to Fit
Your Mindset
There is something to be said to bring
in a vetting process into the business.
Using the talent pools on your door
steps as low cost test beds is smart
thinking. You need to scale, you need
talent – how much better is it that the
talent is primed, vetted and raring to
go?
Why more businesses do not follow
this path amazes me, what would you
rather do – hire a person at a high
cost that may or may not be a fit, or
have first hand experience.
Scaling businesses need to start the
pre-vetting process now.

Outsource or Hire?
Your objective should be to build reserves through
outsourcing, to engage with a community of
suppliers so that you can broaden the talent pool
and then hire.
• In this day and age many business models are
simply built on the competitive advantage that
using outsourced labour brings. If cost and
commitment frighten you, good – because that
means you won’t take hiring lightly.
• Employees are advocates and if they are led well
they become the most potent sales person that you
could wish for. Predisposed to building better
relationships with customers because they embrace
the mindset that you instill in them. If you want to
‘scale’ get used to the idea – you need to become a
leader.
Every person you meet is a potential hire, every
conversation you have, an interview. Keep a daily
journal of interesting conversations their content,
context and contribution

Chapter 6:
Connect People
and Cascade
Excellence
What is excellence in your business? Not just
something you are good at but something you are
immensely proud of? Once you find that ‘something’
that is the cornerstone of why you are here and why
you believe you need it to reach a wider audience.
As a business your job is to be gathering evidence on
where this excellence is growing, how its growing and
how it must be shared through networks and
ultimately through the culture you create. Remember
this is a ‘ground war’ and the most effective way of
spreading excellence is by being there, in the middle
of it, constantly communicating it, honing it and
gaining insight from others.
“Connect and Cascade” – Mantra No.1 ‘Spread a
mindset not just a footprint’ so make that mindset –
in pursuit of excellence.

To Spread Excellence you need to
have some excellence to spread
‘Excellence’ is not just about ‘being good at it’ it is something far more
profound, culturally engrained in every facet of your approach. To me
excellence exists when:
• It is spontaneous and responsive, everyone wears it like a badge of
honour
• It is ‘wholly natural’ and therefore for the most part unnoticed but
accepted from within and expected by those outside
• It is skillfully applied not just by you but by everyone – responsive to old
situations and essential to the new. The ability to solve problems in a way
that fits with the whole system
It is not something that you sprinkle like fairy dust across a business in the
hope it will appear, excellence is simply attained through focused hard work,
evidence building and learning.
As you work on a facet of your business build in learning mechanisms that
capture the effort. When something transformative occurs and the evidence
supports this observation, cascade this lesson. Excellence is a desired state
not just an outcome but once found, becomes the differential that acts as the
catalyst to the scaling process.

It is About
Diversity, Not
Just Numbers
Evidence suggests that diversity
propels scaling.
All humans, like it or not, feel more
comfortable with those who mirror
themselves, psychologists refer to
this as ‘Similarity-attraction’. By
building diversity into an
organisation from the start you are
creating nodes of connectivity that
propel scaling efforts.
Having a diverse group of
‘advocates’ means that the voice
carries further and farther than a
group of clones could ever muster.

Look for ‘Master
Multipliers’
Despite being successful you still
struggle in spreading the word
about your business. When the
telephone goes you get unnerved
because it means someone is about
to judge you.
Sometimes you need someone who
understands the business, has a
real passion for it and a desire to
spread the word. Someone who
has a good eye for talent, and a
desire to see it flourish. Multipliers
are people like this, mentors who
bring a learning culture to the
business and infect it with a growth
based mindset.

Bring On the Energizers
Emotions fluctuate, energy levels rise and fall,
feelings of positivity and enthusiasm are at times
drowned in negativity, this is only natural. Culturally
the UK responds less well to hubris and the ‘high-
five’ mentality we would associate with Silicon
Valley start-ups, those ‘hoots and hollers’ we hear at
the annual conference raise eyebrows and at times
heckles rather than the desire to stand-up and
praise. That said every business needs those people
who enthuse energy with their words, with their
actions and a sense of ‘knowing’ what the future
holds. The assuredness and confidence can uplift
and counteract any negativity that may run through
the business.
Learn how to feel this and use it in a way that is
authentic rather than Hollywood.
Create a mentor relationships at every level and
when looking for mentors make sure they are
energisers not de-energisers. Where de-energisers
exist – use counter measures to control their ‘can’t
do’ mindset, drown it out, create and celebrate
short-term wins but never stop talking about the
longer-term objectives.

Activate
Dormant
Connections
It has never been easier to reconnect to those who
you have left behind. Of course you may have left
them behind for a reason but some will most
certainly be relationships with fond memories – it
is this that is worth tapping into.
Hopefully without sounding gender specific, my
wife is excellent and holding on to long term
relationships whilst I am not so, I have always been
more transient in that respect. But activating
connections from the past can open new doors.
As a policy – make sure that as the business grows,
those who leave always have a way to return.
People change – if they left on a negative note then
it is your duty to listen to why. Don’t let arrogance
through the door. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Connect Everybody: Turn Work
into a Game People Like to Play
OK so I can hear the sighs from many people and
to be fair the authors address this to some degree
but ‘WORK IS NOT A PLACE OF FUN’. Well with
employee engagement rates stubbornly stuck in
the low 30% perhaps injecting something different
into the mindset is not a dumb idea? I started my
career in the travel industry where ‘fun’ was
essential, but often killed off by deadlines,
competitor fighting and general corporate malaise.
But there was a sense of purpose, a team ethos
where being social, playing games and allowing
humour built trust, brought about cohesion and let
new ideas flourish. The authors suggest there is a
value of bringing in a ‘gamification strategy’ –
maybe to stimulate creativity, innovation and
camaraderie we need to focus on what is right for
people. But this is better driven from an open
culture not through trying to impose fun – that
just leads to cynicism.

Making Nets Work
For ‘net’ we can substitute ‘organisation or system’. A
common theme of the book is scaling involves the
spread of excellence. We can’t scale a business if we
create impenetrable barriers through closed
communication. As a leader you need to get people up
for it, you need the net to be working.
The authors have provided 7 strategies to help achieve
this and one rule that they suggest is required for the
strategy to work. The rule is Once is not enough and
One is not enough. As Kotter says in the 8-stages of
change, repetition reinforces, beliefs are often tightly
bound and rarely ignited by a single match. They need
to be nurtured, lived by and reinforced through
repetition and consistency of message.
Each strategy alone will unlikely be sufficient to get the
‘net’ to work, you need to engage with more than one
strategy at a time. Look for synergies that match the
challenge and moment. Don’t be tempted to flood the
organisation with all seven that may simply confuse
and disable the approach. Each strategy is an ‘on-
ramp’ for living and breathing the mindset, make sure
there is more than one.

Making Nets Work – Tool 1
The Top Down Approach
• Hierarchies have their use but in reality they don’t truly
exist. Dissention in the corporate world is not something that
leads to death, when we use power to coerce others into a
decision too hard or too painful to apply any subordinate will
chose to do something else.
• On occasions where it is useful is when leaders set
examples of behaviours for reports to directly follow, for
them to adopt the practice and encourage others to adopt it
as well. One area of that springs to mind was the use of an
intranet on a trading floor. There was general resistance to
use this tool even though a dealing room thrives on open
communication. In sophisticated capital markets where
pricing advantages appear and disappear in milliseconds, the
senior manager felt this to be a vital tool to gain a
competitive edge. But traders did not use it since ‘what’s in it
for me mindset was prevalent’. Then the head of the room
started, within a short time deals were being struck between
teams as assets were being transacted internally – and so it
followed.

Broadcast Your Message Out to one and All
• How good is your business model? A mission led
business is more than running a single campaign its
about building a community of advocates over time.
Advocates who are impassioned to participate in the
mission but also for it to be delivered to as many
followers as possible. You need to get that message out
there in as many pertinent forms as possible, but with
all need to be authentic and the passion real.
• By doing this we build a moat around the mission,
permeable to let people across but defendable from
competition. Once on board our community become
‘sticky’ so to switch is not about hurting your
customers with financial penalties, to switch is a
question of loyalty and allegiances you have built.
Brew Dog the Aberdeen Craft Beer producers wanted
to get craft beers on the map. Every facet of their
approach has been to capture the community of
drinkers, from product quality right through to fund
raising through cloud platforms.

Making Nets Work –
Tool 3
Surround Them: Have the Many
Teach the Few
• We learn best when we teach. For me the
workshops that I have given over the last 5
years have bought new ideas and
understanding to the subject of start-ups.
Whether it is passing on the concepts around
Leans Start-ups, the Business Model Canvas
or Systems Thinking or any other facet of my
own education. The goal is to get the many
to immerse the few in the culture of
excellence. At that moment when there is a
general acceptance of worldview, we bring
outsiders in to teach, motivate and coach
them in the ways of ‘excellence’.

One on One: The Power of Pairs
When I was running my academic coaching
service I learned that matching, a desirable
aspect, only really worked if you had depth in the
coaching pool. There was no doubt that one-to-
one coaching when it is done with real empathy,
and by those with passion and energy, is
motivational and a catalyst to scaling.
Be aware though, that mentoring when the
matching process is given no thought, can be
highly toxic to the relationship and outcomes.
Matching a wasp to a buzzy proud bee can bring
them both down rather than raise them up.
So the power of pairing is huge, getting new
people in and assigning them a go-to mentor can
speed up the process – but if the mentee meets
with resentment or hostility, the damage can be
terminal.
Hire those with a mentoring mindset and a desire
to learn

Making Nets
Work – Tool
5
From the Few to the Many
• Infect others or die – another
mantra for the hardline scaleup team. A
lot depends upon the situation but as a
team grows and the number of teams
increases, find your advocates and
place them throughout the
organisation. Get people used to the
idea of working with different groups,
to be flexible and also aware of what it
takes to work in fluid, dynamic ways,
these are your ambassadors. Their role
is simply this, get the mindset right and
spread the word. Let the right people
be the Trojan Horse for opening doors
and letting in the desired culture.
Don’t under estimate the importance of
‘density’ when spreading a message,
words travel faster when they can be
shared without shouting.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-ND

Brokers: Bridging Disconnected Islands
“Disconnection is the enemy of scaling “ – excellence can
not cross the voids between islands of expertise. Brokers
are the knowledge transference people, those who
bridge the gap. Brokers are adept at the following:
I. Building diverse networks – brokers know a lot of
people but they also know how to see synergies
II. They are balanced – they live the mindset but can
engage in a way that does not create resentment
III. Strong opinions but weakly held – they never let
their own beliefs stand in the way of the projects
goals
IV. They use their ears – receptive to their
environment and willing to learn
V. Connectors – immediately think of ways of
bringing people together, where synergies could
lay and serendipity flourish

Create Crossroads Where People
Connect
So much of our ‘connecting’ and coming together
is done from behind a computer screen. Social
Media tools, essential though they are for many,
are also not as effective as many think. Building a
culture of one to one engagement, attending the
right networking groups, going to events, trade
shows and conferences are important but you are
inevitably the passive arrival.
Think about the purpose of bringing people
together and create your own events. If you want
to broaden your network of people from within
your field work with a select few to deliver an
event where you can shape the agenda. You don’t
have to think so big, start small and grow.
Business Bazaars – bringing talent and services to
an existing or new market place in the heart of
your community. Exchange ideas, find talent and
subliminally raise the profile of your business from
participant top industry leader

Create a Common
Heartbeat
• There has been many studies focused on the benefits of
harmonisation upon creating cohesion, mutual respect and
trust. Developing practices from the start that bring people
together so that they become second nature, engrained into
the culture is important. The morning meetings become a
ritual but also never a chore. Information flows, challenges
are shared and input sort as people visibly put their hands
up, making an open commitment to help. It’s all about the
shared mindset and keeping the communication as open as
possible. In the words of ‘Agile’, the software development
model, we create huddles known as ‘scrums’ where
yesterday’s experiences were shared, today’s goals put out
into the public space and barriers acknowledged. By doing
this everyone is focused, cooperation encouraged and the
pace from idea to implementation, that much faster.
Setting a rhythm going means that you need the musicians
on board, hire well.

Leaders as Connectors:
Three Litmus Tests
So what makes a good leader for scaling? The authors have
made the role of the leader clear, to “find or develop pockets of
excellence, connect people and teams” so that excellence flows
through the arteries of the business. Leaders can do no more
than get the conditions right for positive engagement
Everybody carries with them a ‘worldview’ but in business this
is rarely acknowledged. Leaders must be observant to the way
those within communicate in light of their perspectives. Healthy
communication, where people appear to engage freely, take
lunch together, not consistently with the same people but with
a mix of people and generally demonstrate positive
demeanours at work. The authors consider three litmus tests to
judge how the businesses is handling its scaling objectives:
1. Listen for clashing perspectives and inconsistencies from
those who should be in harmony
2. Observe work behaviours and look for long silences,
infrequent interactions and those who appear together
but are in fact alone.
3. Look for dangerous decision making, confirmation bias,
group think and an inability to embrace opposing
worldviews.
Practice regular Strategic Options Development & Analysis
(SODA) sessions to counter group blindness

Chapter 7:
Bad is Stronger Than Good
• Removing the negative is as equally as important as
accentuating the positive if we are to create harmonious
working. Letting in even a modicum of bad can rip apart all
the good you have done. Using the Gottman rule, to
mitigate one negative emotion we need a minimum of five
positives. Bear than in mind when handling client
complaints or building teams. One ‘bad apple’, someone
who can’t follow through on help, is low in enthusiasm
and emotionally confrontational, can destroy a teams
productivity by as much as 40%.
• Bad behaviour can be more contagious than good – as
we saw with domino effects for passing on positives, the
force and speed the dominos fall for bad is significantly
greater and quicker. As the authors say – ‘the ugly side of
the connect –and-cascade process’

It’s Not My Problem
Cause of bad behaviour:
The ‘bystander effect’; a proven feature of human
behaviour. We would like to think that if we saw bad
behaviour we would intervene, alas that is not the
case. As humans we have a tendency to look the
other way, why? Psychologists believe there are a
number of factors but three are:
I. Ambiguity – are the events happening
really that bad to warrant intervention?
II. Diffusion of responsibility – more than one
witness it becomes another person’s
problem
III. By-stander disapproval – if no one else is
involved if I jump in what will everyone
think?
To reverse these build a culture of accountability,
everyone needs to know that bad behaviour is your
problem. Also be clear on what constitutes bad
behaviour, if chatting at a coffee machine is deemed
bad by one person but not another – then make it
clear. Finally if we let the behaviour become
engrained then we are setting out bad habits and
habits are really hard to break. Be aware and build a
counter culture

Good People, Perverse
Incentives, and Bad
Behaviour
People set out to incentivise outcomes over
behaviours, results over the means by which we
achieve them. This approach clouds the issue and
means that bad behaviours become the accepted
pattern.
City traders incentivised only to attain financial
outputs spend more time learning how to bypass
the systems of control than they do trading in the
assets they are paid to trade. Controls
circumvented for a far greater reward, problems
undisclosed so that long term harm never undoes
short-term gains. More controls simply increase
complexity not modify excess because bonus
structures continue unabated.
When scaling make sure you incentivise positive
behaviours and think systemically about perverse
outcomes
This Photo by Unknown Author is
licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

Breaking Bad – Eight Ways to
Protect Your Scaling Effort
1. Nip it in the bud – the worst thing is to
leave bad behaviour until it becomes an
accepted way of working. As hard as it is
– stop it in its tracts, fess up to the
perpetrators but do it with dignity
2. Get rid of the Bad Apples – scaling is
rarely about taking an easy path. When
we have bad apples often the approach
is to throw them away. Yet bad apples
may indeed be a symptom of something
else and by discarding them we may be
missing a bigger issue. Isolate them and
treat them with coaching and direction,
gain feedback and learn. Clean them
and when convinced they no longer will
infect others, reintroduce them. That is
unless they are rotten otherwise
rejection maybe the only course of
action.

Breaking Bad – Eight
Ways to Protect Your
Scaling Effort
3. Plumbing Before Poetry – the practical
removal of barriers before we move
into an expansive creative mode. If we
do not start by fixing the plumbing then
as we spout poetry it will be seen as
irrelevant and impractical. As we take a
business through the design process we
start with ‘What is’ - a deep audit of
their existing life. We simplify, we look
at what is essential and what is simply
habit, we prune and pare back with an
aim of uncovering ‘excellence’ but also
establishing value as we free up
resources. The frazzled mind of an
owner cannot move forward unless
they have space to adjust and believe.

Breaking Bad – Eight Ways to
Protect Your Scaling Effort
4. Adequacy Before Excellence – A consequence of
pursuing the ‘plumbing before poetry’ is that we
identify those bad behaviours that must be exposed
and driven out. Leaders master the skill of the self-
audit, an honest piece of introspection that brings
focus on what is ‘obvious’ in the search for the
reduction of complexity. We pursue a mantra of ‘under
promise and over deliver’ and on the face of it we
would expect that this would lead to improved
customer experience – yet evidence would suggest
that this approach leads to complexity, confusion and a
sometimes simply a change in expectations as we
move the goal posts. Our promise sets us up to
disappoint. With only 25% of customers happy to say
something positive about a customer experience and a
whopping 65% happy to communicate dissatisfaction –
getting the basics right should be our goal.

Scaling Effort
5. Use the Cool Kids (and Adults) to Define
and Squelch Bad Behaviour
• Sometimes to get the message out there of
what is and isn’t acceptable we need to recruit
the help of an ‘in-crowd’ – a group who people
who others look up to and aspire to be like. By
bringing these into a full on leadership role it
will help eliminate negativity as those who
perpetrate bad are being encouraged to see it
as a counter cultural aspect.
• Rebels have their place as a point of conflict
which can drive creativity, get the rebels on
board with a sense of purpose. Establishing new
norms of behaviour is the objective but we
should also challenge what we assume to be
correct.

Scaling Effort
6. Kill the Thrill
• The now famous in folk-lore ‘broken windows’
policy which was attributed to the turn around of New
York’s crime culture, was in essence the means to stop
anti-social behaviours becoming engrained. But being
bad sometimes feels so good (once you hear the tinkle
of broken glass you want to continue) but when bad
behaviours become the accepted norm, then we have a
major impediment to the scaling effort.
• Bad behaviour often stems from peer pressure,
using the ‘cool-kids’ mindset can help but sometimes, if
the behaviours are habitual, look at the incentives and
disincentives to perpetuate. You need to remove the
‘why’ through constructive but rewarding challenges.
• Systemic behaviours uncovered through system
dynamics, widen the net of causality and incentives.

Scaling Effort
7. Time Shifting: From Current to Future
Selves
• Do you have a vision of a better self, an
aspiration of a life that you want? Learn to
differentiate between what we can change and
what is out of our control, then make your days
activity relevant to this.
• Stand in your better future and look back
whilst envisioning your journey and the choices
you made. Both good and bad choices reside
within yourself they are not in the domain of
others. This about being critical of choices yet
to be chosen so that you can focus on the
positive outcomes and deemphasise the worries
and concerns that develop negativity.

Breaking Bad – Eight Ways to Protect Your Scaling Effort
8. Focus on the Best Times, the Worst Times,
and the End
According to Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel laureate, we judge
an experience only by its emotional ‘peak’ and whether or
not the ‘end’ was a positive or negative one. This rule, called
‘Peak-End’ has implication for scaling as we seek to remove
bad experiences not just from the customer journey but also
from an employee perspective. If, during this process, layoffs
are required then make the process as humanistic as
possible. Having experienced redundancy on a number of
occasions how it is managed is a vital aspect for those
leaving as it is for those staying behind. There is never an
easy way but there is a better way. Invest time in saying
‘Goodbye’ – you never know, one day that exiting employee
may become a valuable partner of the future.

Warning Signs: Five Dangerous
Feelings
Scaling requires vigilance, that is observation of what
is taking place on a daily basis, when it is happening
and how is it manifesting itself. We have so far
emphasised the ‘ground war’ element to scaling, the
Catholic vs. Buddhist continuum and the ways of
‘Breaking Bad’ – stopping those beliefs and habits that
can derail the best most meaningful scaling efforts.
The authors identify five feelings, that if present,
signal that bad behaviours is already prevalent.
The five warning signs are:

Five
Dangerous
Feelings
1. A fear of taking responsibility
• Do you or the team you are working with
shy away from things and have a belief that
no action is often the best course of action?
We have all heard about the stories of failed
whistleblowing, or a culture of ‘turning a
blind eye’. The stories in the Health and
Safety world are too numerous in that a
silence has led to serious injury or even
death.
• Silence is often associated with fear, fear
of being dressed down in pubic, fear of
recrimination. Matthew Syed’s Black Box
Thinking recounts the story of two industries,
aviation and health, one that embraces the
culture of learning the other, not so much.
• It is not until an open culture, a culture of
responsibility is embraced that the learning
needed to propel scaling will be adopted.

Five
Dangerous
Feelings
2. A Fear of being ostracized
• If you have ever worked in an
environment of fear, a bullying and
oppressive atmosphere, then you know how
hard it is to stand up for what you believe is
right. The Dragon’s Den Culture, of ripping
apart people’s self-esteem for a public
display of humiliation is all too rife in our
culture. It is not a healthy place to be – but
where bad behaviours does exist then as a
means to help control the situation, public
displays of annoyance can be used. It is
though advisable that when using these tools
that they are done so sparsely. Also they are
best served with a modicum of humour.
• Avoid doing this unless there is a clear
alternative for the person to follow.

Five Dangerous
Feelings
3. A fear of being anonymous
• Evidence suggests that being in the shadows,
unobserved can lead to unattractive traits of
selfishness, dishonesty, being unpleasant and
free-riding.
• Being invisible means that you are also
unaccountable, you are a nameless face or just a
number, as such who are you accountable to?
• In the opposite situation, where an
organisation takes a vested interest in each and
everyone, people’s humanity is a catalyst for
increased accountability.
• Invest in people – not just numbers but
personalities

Five Dangerous Feelings
4. A fear of feeling injustice
Quid pro quo - if I am hard done by then
the extent of my loyalty is limited. Being
treated unfairly is far more common that
you would think and one of the hardest
feeling to detect. Those who harbour a
sense of injustice often do so in silence,
not wanting to be seen as petty of
selfish. Being overlooked for promotion,
being overlooked for a pay rise or not
included in an office outing, all common
events but what we fail to recognise are
the feelings of the person being
overlooked. All this may seem trivial but
the fallout can be significant from simply
being rude to behaviour that is
disruptive and inconsiderate.
Remember – “There is a difference
between what you do and how you do
it”

Five Dangerous
Feelings
5. A fear of feeling helpless
Who holds the power and how is it
wielded? When people feel coerced
into situations they are without
power which leads to shirking
responsibility, a desire not to act and
retreat into the shadows. We have
shown in all these instances bad
behaviours become prolific. How to
stop helplessness, get people to
recognise what is in their control and
what is not. Focus on the best of
behaviours and the difference that
they make. Let everyone in the team
gain a real sense of their impact as a
unit and individually. Learn how to
treat people with respect and reward
them for small steps towards
empowerment.

Chapter 8:
Did this, Not That
What follows is a series of actions that come from the
learning of the last 60 plus slides. There are no easy
answers to scaling excellence. No matter what
methodologies we pursue and models we apply we
are going to have to learn to not only live with
incongruence, messiness and complexity, we are
going to have to learn to love it. By embracing the
scaling mindset, embodying it through our actions, we
create a learning organisation that can spread
vigorous thinking, explore new horizons and instill a
sense of new found purpose.
Get comfortable with the problematical situations and
learn to adopt new ways of thinking. Become the
leader who not only sees a better future but knows
how to build one.

Look Back from
the Future
The ‘pre-mortem’ is essentially placing yourself in
the finishing zone with a highly critical eye. The
‘future perfect tense’ where, “We will have done
this” surpasses, “We will do this”. It is thinking
from a position of ‘the happened’ as opposed to
‘the happening’.
When a project is envisioned like this dangers are
being pre-lived and remedies applied. Doing this
helps scaling attempts avoid the pitfalls of
confusing strategies that lead to never ending
complexity. Blind spots become surmountable
whilst the thinking shifts from short-term to long-
term.
For the scaling team, outcomes are concrete,
described in the language of achievement, and
achievable – teams become animated and
motivated. There is also an air of realism, the
more outlandish concepts become the catalyst for
fresh thinking.
All of this relies on honest open communication.
We need people who can counter the future
without fear of recrimination. Build that culture.

Was Scaling a
Good Idea?
Scaling is not always the way forward for either the owner or the
business. It is not a decision to take for short-term gain because
value extraction is a long-term slog. Scaling is not about growth since
growth is a feature of expanding within a niche, scaling is stepping
outside the niche into a wilderness of infinite complexity.
You are entrepreneurs and hard work is no stranger, but money will
evaporate, fatigue will set in and burnout is a real possibility. In the
future every decision you make carries far greater weight, it is a
much harder decision when you hold people’s lives in your hand,
their mortgages, their children’s education and ultimately their
happiness. How does this feel?
• Imagine success but also spend time on imagining failure, both
personal and business. Before you start the journey make sure that
what you have in your bag is more than a flashlight and one piece of
sustenance and realize this is a no retreat move.
• Scaling too fast too quickly eats resources, piling on costs forces
us to find customers before we build value. Delivering something
that you do not love or feel confident about is fine – so long as it is
part of your strategic advancement and not a make-do situation.

The Seven lessons for ‘Scaling
Up Without Screwing Up’
• A simple step though you need to practice this to
become habitual in it, change your language from the
advisory ‘do this, not that’ to the reflective ‘did this, not
that’.
• “If we do have a successful day tomorrow, what will
we have done?” is an excellent premortem question and
one that can be modified from day, week, month or year.
Weave ‘prospective hindsight’ into your language – it
immediately deepens your thinking, strengthens the
decision making process by encouraging your creativity.
• The evidence suggests that leaders who embrace this
style of questioning gain a new perspective and insights
into their business.
The following are seven bits of advice for all who still
wish to set out on this journey.

Lesson 1
We Started Where We Were, Not Where
We Hoped to Arrive
This doesn’t mean we don’t look to the future
it means we garner and gather as much about
the excellence we have built today, what
collateral is accessible now, what resources
need to be acquired and what state of mind
are we in. This is the best place to start. The
Design Thinking process we take businesses
through is iterative and systemic not linear and
discrete, in fact every day is a start day for that
very reason. We need to adopt the ‘beginners
mindset’ – engage in testing and playfulness in
every way, it is what brings creativity to life. If
we are not creating initial pockets of
excellence we cannot cascade anything
through the business other than mediocrity.

Lesson 2
We Did Scaling, Not Just Swarming
Some like to wave their arms around, provide
inspiration and walk away. They like to ‘swarm’ but
what does it take to scale? Hard work and a
commitment to fighting the ground war. Strategy is
valuable, inspiration necessary but action and
implementation are essential. Throughout the book
the theme of application has been a common one.
In our business we do not simply advise we apply.
We can attend meetings, events and deliver
workshops, but we avoid simply ‘swarming’. We
oversea the creation of the learning culture, stand
at trade fairs, shoulder to shoulder and immerse
ourselves in the thick of the battle. Resources are
not simply imagined they are hard fought for. If we
are not spreading an enduring mindset, we are not
scaling.

Lesson 3
We Used Our Mindset as a Guide, Not as the Answer to
Every Question and Problem
When we need to retreat, and we will do as we scale, we
must unburden ourselves quickly unless the heavy tools we
carry slow this retreat down. This is where the growth
mindset becomes a vital tool for scaling. Dr Carol Dweck’s
seminal book ‘mindset’ focuses on how we attain this and
also what the alternative might look like. If we have a fixed
mindset, we are closed to new opportunity because our
minds are messed up with erratic thoughts, effort becomes
a chore since effort expended is only related to outcome
attained NOT to the learning acquired, effort is therefore a
burden. It is the growth mindset that scaling needs, the
ability to “grow and bear fruit”.
• Mindset though does not provide an answer in itself
because every problem solved creates more problems.
Change one thing and we change every connection to the
environment. We must aim not for solving but for constant
improvement of a problematic situation.
• Our methodology embraces the open thinking of
systems, not the linear strategic approaches of old.

Lesson 4
We Used Constraints That Channelled,
Rather Than Derailed, Ingenuity and
Effort
Scaling is at its most effective when we
create constraints, that is we shun the
more fluid Buddhist adaptive approach
and embrace the Catholic need for
replication. This does not stifle creativity,
evidence would suggest that creativity
flourishes when the obstacles in our
path are indeed, immoveable ones. It is
the constraints that force innovation to
surface and solve the problem of what is
doable. As much as anything the
cognitive load is reduced as options for
random walks are forbidden and focus
maintained on what is being done. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Lesson 5
Our Hierarchy Squelched Unnecessary Friction, Rather
Than Creating and Spreading It
• “The job of hierarchy is to defeat hierarchy” – a
mantra of Chris Fry head of engineering at Twitter. By
this he means that if through the traditional
organisational mechanisms we can create an
operational system focused on the removal of
complexity and the ability to lessen friction, that this is
a good thing. The best of scaling involves a desire to
subtract not simply add and multiply. Improved cross
boundary communication, better and more ethical
monitoring builds trusted bonds. Teams should never
grow above seven and if they do they should be broken
up in to sub-groups.
• Critical System Heuristics and the Viable Systems
approached focus in on boundary issues and
organisational structure

Lesson 6
We Worked with People We Respected, Not
Necessarily Our friends
• It is essential that we approach scaling with an eye
on diversity. The more dispersed our experiences are
the greater the breadth of skills, the more likely that
different viewpoints are embraced. Soft System
Methodology allows us to embrace a wider
understanding of worldviews in problematic situations.
We must also recognise that diversity in itself can
generate friction and a clashing of worldviews – do not
despair of this welcome it, at this junction creativity
and energy are generated. What is needed is respect,
trust and openness, an atmosphere that fosters a
learning mindset.
• Our approach is to facilitate this openness, to allow
for the accommodation of worldviews not the
compromising of ideals. We lead by example and
welcome all viewpoints.

Lesson 7
Accountability Prevailed, Free Riding
and Other Bad Behaviours Failed.
It’s a challenge to manage bad behaviours but
as leaders we have to set a tone. Engaged
employees are what we desire, if we allow bad
behaviour in engagement will lessen. We need
people who want and feel it is essential to do
the right thing. If bad behaviours prevail, then
people distance themselves from the business,
weakening cohesion and lessening the energy.
Make people feel accountable, let them feel
that it is their space, but also their place,
where reciprocity exists and accountability
shared. If you start this journey solely with the
belief it is yours, an yours alone, you ill fail.
Excellence thrives in a place where people feel
accountable, where a common mission
solidifies why people turn up and why they
never want to stop doing so.
As a leader it is down to you to build a learning
culture, where people feel “compelled to be
both teacher and a student”.

The Satisfaction
of Scaling
The authors final section reflects on
all those organisations that they have
worked with. The common theme
that each talked about through the
thousands of interviews they
conducted was not the hardships, the
difficulties they faced, the challenges
that vexed them. No, it was the
immense sense of accomplishment
and pride in what they had done. Not
from a position of arrogance, the
“look what we have done’ approach,
but the one that said “this was
achieved by everyone, together, by
being accountable to each other,
believing in our collective wisdom, to
build a place where we own it and it
owns us”

A phenomenal read and a great insight
into the leadership needed to scale

My final
thoughts
I have been fortunate in my career to
date that I have been involved in
significant scaling efforts and to some
degree, lesser ones. I have learned
much from all those experiences,
where teams that I put together
behaved as teams and sometimes
when they did not. I have seen the
power that scaling can create as well
as the toll it can take on those who
follows this path.
The Weave is a community of practice
in the domain of open-innovation. We
connect the resources of the region to
aspirational entrepreneurs through
the power of ‘The Challenge’. Join us
at www.wearetheweave.co.uk and be
a part of the next generation of
business development.
Contact me on james@wearetheweave.co.uk
or find me on LinkedIn (cracknelljames121) if
you would like to discuss what we can do to
assist you.

Musings Scaling up Excellence

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Musings Scaling up Excellence