Economic Acceleration Tour Continues Into Houston and Dallas

Why is it that every business – even the best ones - struggle so much to sustain growth and profitability?

Why is that only 3% of businesses drive the overwhelming majority of economic growth and job creation in any given community?

Why does it have to be only 3%? Can’t we do any better?

Perhaps more importantly, what are we going to do about accelerating growth for the other 97% of businesses?

These are the issues that frustrate CEO and best-selling author, Gary Harpst, but he has a plan, and wants to share it with you.

That’s why he's continuing his 50-city speaking tour “Economic Acceleration: Breaking the 3% Speed Limit”, sponsored by Six Disciplines, in Houston, Texas on February 24th at the Hyatt Regency Houston, from 7:30 a.m - 11:00 a.m, and in Dallas, Texas on February 25th at the Hyatt Regency North Dallas , from 7:30 a.m - 11:00 a.m.

In attendance at the Houston and Dallas Economic Acceleration events will be CEOs of small and midsized businesses, chamber of commerce executives, economic development executives, civic leaders, business incubator professionals, college and university business program chairs and faculty, quality program professionals, venture capitalists, private equity and angel investors, business coaches, management consultants, and professional service firm partners.

To review the agenda and to register for these events, visit:

www.GaryHarpst.com/tour/Houston and www.GaryHarpst.com/tour/Dallas.

A New Age - A Time For Action

As a recap of the historical past several days, please allow me to recap the core words and phrases of the new age:

"Responsibility....transparency....accountability.."

"Our collective failure to make hard choices..."

"Unpleasant decisions we'll need to make..."

"The time has come to set aside childish things..."

"A call to end an age of overconsumption..."

"An era of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some"

"A time to choose our better history..."

"Embrace pragmatism..."

"A time to reclaim values..."

"Extend a hand...to those willing...to unclench your fist"

BOTTOMLINE: "He simply promised to strike the balance differently, as America tries to hew to its ideals while pursuing a strategy of silent strength. Whether he can execute that change is a test that begins Wednesday morning."

Actions, not just words, make the difference. It's a matter of balancing both strategy and execution.

Now, it's time to do OUR part. So, it's time to do YOUR part.

2008 Top 25 Best-Sellers from 800-CEO-READ

800-CEO-Read just released their Top 25 Best-Sellers list for 2008.

Among them?

Six Disciplines Execution Revolution, by veteran CEO and strategy execution expert, Gary Harpst.

Hope Is NOT A Strategy

Especially during tough times, hope is NOT a strategy!

When times are good, business seems to hum along, team members and customers tend to be happy, access to capital is plentiful, and prices are reasonable. During such times, business plans don't often change, and when a change is necessary, there is time to think, react and realign.

However, during times of economic uncertainty, letting business just "happen" is no longer an option. The need for strategic planning and execution is even more critical. Businesses can't expect to survive during this tough time, or thrive in the next upswing, without a comprehensive strategic plan.

Read the entire article here.

Joining The Six Disciplines Clients Community

In November, Ohmart/VEGA (Cincinnati, OH) and Sisler Companies (Marion, OH) became part of the growing Six Disciplines client community. Both organizations look to Six Disciplines for accountability and help focusing their organizations on what's most important.

About Ohmart/VEGA
For over 50 years, Ohmart/VEGA has provided industry-leading products for the measurement of level, density, weight, and pressure. An international corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ohmart/VEGA combines manufacturing, distribution, and service for products that represent the most sophisticated process measurement technologies anywhere in the world. Learn more at www.ohmartvega.com.

About Sisler Companies
Sisler Companies is a second generation family business. Their diverse company portfolio includes a variety of business entities supplying and manufacturing components and parts for the appliance industry, real-estate development and their latest venture, Blue Fusion family entertainment centers. The management team consists of three Sisler brothers, Jon, Lee and Brett and Chris Naumovski. Together this team has built on the success their father started some 40 years ago. They selected Six Disciplines as a means to gain control over the complexities of a diverse company portfolio and to profitably grow their business interests.

New Entrepreneurship Blog Debuts

The good folks from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation have started the "Entrepreneurship.Org" blog.

Lots of good resources, articles, news and event listings for entrepreneurs.

Well worth a look!

How Companies Make Good Decisions

Companies get a lot of advice about how to make good decisions. Which decision-making disciplines really make a difference?

The good folks at McKinsey have some insights. (You'll need to register to read the entire article, but it's free.)

Key findings of their survey:

• More than three-quarters of investments were aimed at revenue growth, and among decisions related to human resources, the majority aimed to improve efficiency or productivity.
• A majority of decisions were undertaken at the request of the CEO or the executive committee
• More decisions were made outside an annual planning process than within one.
• Nearly two-thirds of respondents say they expected their decision to pay off within two years of implementation.
• Operations executives had significant influence on only about a third of the most financially unsuccessful decisions, reinforcing findings from other surveys that companies frequently overlook execution when making decisions.

The Economic Acceleration Tour Rolls Into San Antonio

Why is it that every business – even the best ones - struggle so much to sustain growth and profitability?

Why is that only 3% of businesses drive the overwhelming majority of economic growth and job creation in any given community? Why does it have to be only 3%? Can’t we do any better?

Perhaps more importantly, what are we going to do about accelerating growth for the other 97% of businesses?

Well, these are the issues that frustrate CEO and best-selling author, Gary Harpst, but he has a plan, and wants to share it with you.

That’s why he's continuing his 50-city speaking tour “Economic Acceleration: Breaking the 3% Speed Limit”, sponsored by Six Disciplines, in San Antonio, Texas on January 28th at the Hyatt Regency San Antonio, from 7:30 a.m - 11:00 a.m.

Consider these facts about San Antonio:

• San Antonio ranks 36th in the nation among large metropolitan areas for its number of “high-impact” companies, those that produce both significant revenue growth and expanding employment.


• Yet only 3% (2.13 percent) or 1,687 of San Antonio's 79,232 businesses are considered to be high-impact.


• On average, it takes a company almost 20 years to enter this high-impact stage.


• Yet, three out of four companies cease to be high-impact after just four years.

On January 28, Gary will be sharing this new vision and a specific plan for accelerating the economic development equation with business and community leaders in San Antonio.

In attendance at the San Antonio Economic Acceleration event will be CEOs of small and midsized businesses, chamber of commerce executives, economic development executives, civic leaders, business incubator professionals, college and university business program chairs and faculty, quality program professionals, venture capitalists, private equity and angel investors, business coaches, management consultants, and professional service firm partners.

To review the agenda and to register for this event, visit: www.GaryHarpst.com/Tour/SanAntonio.

The Economic Acceleration Tour Comes To Austin

Why is it that every business – even the best ones - struggle so much to sustain growth and profitability?

Why is that only 3% of businesses drive the overwhelming majority of economic growth and job creation in any given community? Why does it have to be only 3%? Can’t we do any better?

Perhaps more importantly, what are we going to do about accelerating growth for the other 97% of businesses?

Well, these are the issues that frustrate CEO and best-selling author, Gary Harpst, but he has a plan, and wants to share it with you.

That’s why he's continuing his 50-city speaking tour “Economic Acceleration: Breaking the 3% Speed Limit”, sponsored by Six Disciplines, in Austin, Texas on January 27th at the Hyatt Regency Austin, from 7:30 a.m - 11:00 a.m.

Consider these facts about Austin:

• Columbus ranks 26th in the nation among large metropolitan areas for its number of “high-impact” companies, those that produce both significant revenue growth and expanding employment.


• Yet only 3% (2.2 percent) or 2,048 of Austin's 90,720 businesses are considered to be high-impact.


• On average, it takes a company almost 20 years to enter this high-impact stage.


• Yet, three out of four companies cease to be high-impact after just four years.

On January 27, Gary will be sharing this new vision and a specific plan for accelerating the economic development equation with business and community leaders in Austin.

In attendance at the Austin Economic Acceleration event will be CEOs of small and midsized businesses, chamber of commerce executives, economic development executives, civic leaders, business incubator professionals, college and university business program chairs and faculty, quality program professionals, venture capitalists, private equity and angel investors, business coaches, management consultants, and professional service firm partners.

To review the agenda and to register for this event, visit: www.GaryHarpst.com/Tour/Austin.

2008 Best Business Books - Reader's Choice

Anita Campbell, editor-in-chief at Small Business Trends, recently asked for input into the top business books for 2008.

She polled people on the social media site Twitter, and chose 10 responses.

The Smallbiztrends Readers’ Choice Nominees for 10 Best Business Books, 2008 edition, includes Six Disciplines Execution Revolution by Gary Harpst.

Stability - A Top Hot Investment Trend for 2009

One of the top three hot trends for investors in 2009?

According to this investment specialist: inflation, food, and ....stability.

Stability. Companies able to deliver solid revenue and earnings at or maybe even a little above expectations are rare as hens' teeth at this stage of the recession. Companies with those kinds of results are also in a position to use the current global slowdown to attack weaker competitors, buy market share and aggressively develop new products. That's a combination investors particularly prize in the current uncertainty.

BOTTOMLINE: How can you help to ensure the stability of your organization? By balancing both strategy formulation and strategy execution. It's what Six Disciplines is all about.

Why Is Change So Hard - Part IV

"For most of us, the New Year is synonymous with change. We use today as a benchmark to usher in a list of lofty resolutions. Pay off debt. Spend less. Work out. Lose weight.
Yet most of us fail, petering out after only a few days or, at best, weeks."

Here at Be Excellent, we focus on business and organizational goals. For those of you wanting to bring it home more personally, I offer up this link to a Boston Globe article about why personal change is so hard.

BOTTOMLINE: I also suggest that you take a look at the many other blog posts here at Be Excellent on "why change is so hard" - just use the handy search box at the top left!