Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/507696
palletcentral.com PalletCentral • March-April 2015 37 what is happening in the industry, your company and the competition, and adapt. It is essential if you're going to keep up with change. Smart executives need to "recognize and adapt to fundamental change." 3. Effective Growth Planning The best predictor of growth is effective growth planning. It should be written, well communicated and regularly updated to be shared by the entire organization as an ongoing practice, not a yearly event. "Only 12% of privately-held companies in the U.S. have this in place. When we study the Inc. 500, it's always over 80%. I'm suggesting there's a correlation. I didn't always do it. When I did it, I grew profitably. It's the process by which you plan that gets everyone on board. Planning starts at the bottom and percolates to the top." 4. Customer-Driven Processes "Most of your money should go towards this step." Recall Little's frustration when he couldn't get his milkshake? You don't want to put your customers through that if you want to keep them as customers. As a company grows, it's tempting to develop and implement processes that appear to only benefit the company, not the customer. In reality, what these company-centric processes gain in efficiency is lost through customer displeasure, so it's a short- sighted bargain." How can you define on the notion of better? The marketplace determines what's better. 5. Power of Technology The milkshake example shows how technology can control the employees instead of serving them. Little defines technology as "the use of tools in our time. How do you communicate with the tools of our time? You live in a time where tools matter. If you're in business, you're in the technology business, by definition. You've got to be the expert to be in the growth business. "Human beings have been on this planet using tools for about 1.5 million years. And somehow, in the last 100 years, everything has changed—and tools have been a big part of that change. The next 10 will make the last 10 seem like slow motion." 6. Best and Brightest Companies that are better at customer retention are better at employee retention which equals group growth. "The best predictor that a new hire will be a successful hire is not their resume, experience, IQ nor how well they did in the interview, it is their 1) cognitive (problem solving) ability and 2) motivation. "You can't train for the brain, but you can test for the best." Observe behavior from their past job if possible. If they don't meet your criteria, it's better to not hire them than compromise your standards. "The single biggest barrier to growth is that business owners do what they want to do instead of what needs to be done." So you're probably spending too much time on things that you're already good at. The way to grow is find people who do the same thing better than you do." Retain your employees; they'll let you retain your customers, and grow your company. 7. Seeing the Future For Little's final point, he shared a quote from the Harvard Business Review: "A new factor, that of rapid change, has come into our world. We have yet learned how to adjust to its economic or social consequences." The year… 1932. "It's a new world, new words. Selling up the chain of value for gain will take innovation and adaptation. The future of your opportunity won't simply be about pricing, production and pallets. It will also be about a laser-like focus on the irrefutable." PC