Over the past 6-weeks I had a chance to catch-up on some reading. Below are my insights on 3 of my recent reads.
Company of One by Paul Jarvis
I recently finished this book. Written by fellow Canadian Paul Jarvis, Paul provides an interesting prospective and roadmap on questioning growth. It is not a book that questions growth as being negative, but instead questions growth in the context of why it matters. It’s really a book about choices and understanding the why behind choices.
He outlined 4 reasons companies seek growth:
- Inflation
- Investors
- Churn
- Ego
In the context of the above, he outlines one rule for a company of one, “stay attentive to those opportunity that require growth and question then before taking them”. This applies whether you are an Entrepreneur or an Intrapreneur.
If you are interested, here is a link to purchase Company of One.
New to Big by David Kidder and Christina Wallace
Having been both an entrepreneur and intrapreneur in my career, this is really well written roadmap by David and Christina on scaling inside a big corporation.
The book highlights the difference between Incremental Leaders and Growth Leaders. If I summarize, growth leadership comes down to 3 key points.
- Clarity on what metrics define success
- Clearly defined span of control for the team
- It’s always about investing in your team
I really enjoyed this read and I highly recommend it for any both who is working on growth projects inside of a big organization.
If you are interested here is a link to purchase New to Big.
Measure What Matters by John Doerr
Setting big audacious goals is one thing, how to execute on them is something else. I have always been a big fan of 2 two things; 1) measuring and 2) setting goals.
John does a great job of outlining OKR’s and they are being used by organization to drive 10x growth. Google is obviously very prominent in the book, and rightly so when you consider what they have accomplished in 20-years, however the other examples really outline the value of OKR’s and this management style impacted many industries.
I would summarize the lessons in this book as follows:
- Set goals, make them big. Even if you are half right, you are probably still further ahead then setting incremental goals
- Focus on key metrics. You need to understand your business and what really matters. Stripe the complexity when setting what success looks like.
- Recognize its a cultural and focus on the people to execute. Not everybody wants to be held accountable. Weed these people out and create a culture where accountability, focus and trust to question exists.
In essence this is a management book using OKR’s as the foundation by which to manage. Absolutely worth the read.
If you are interested in purchasing, here is a link to Measure What Matters.