Two Main Steps of Growth

(0:00 – 0:27)
Today we are inching our way up into the right of the growth checkup chart. We’re, we’re still at the bottom left, but we’re kind of inching our way up a little bit to the right a bit, a little bit. So, uh, let’s get right to it.

Let’s start growing. Let’s start with another law of growth. I call it the law of the rope, the law of the rope, R O P E. We’ve all heard of tug of war tug of war happens every day in business.

(0:27 – 0:49)
So for those that don’t know the tug of war, you’ve got six people on one end of a rope, pulling one way, six people on another end of the rope, tugging in another direction. Somebody blows a whistle and you know, the strongest team wins. Uh, but bottom line is that rope is either standing still or inching one way, inching the next.

(0:49 – 1:06)
It isn’t really ever going in one direction quickly until one team gives up. So in business, there is an incredible analogy of sales versus engineering. That is the tug of war, uh, exemplified.

(1:06 – 1:39)
So what I mean by this is in 2000, excuse me, in 2000 I was asked to go into a telecom company that was having some sales issues. And it was very clear that the sales people thought the engineers, um, that installed the sales service they sold were slow, were stupid, didn’t understand what they were going through to sell a deal. Didn’t understand the urgency to turn that phone line on once it was sold.

(1:39 – 1:47)
They hated engineering. Well, guess what? Engineering hated salespeople. They didn’t fill out the paperwork properly.

(1:47 – 2:22)
They jammed orders through the, before they were finished, they would put orders in before they had a full deposit. They would cancel. So engineering would do all this work.

It would cancel. So engineering hated sales. Well, one simple management team decision to send sales and engineering on a three day kind of camp or brainstorming session, it literally unified everybody prior to that three day camp where they were literally forced to get to know each other and realize they’re all human beings.

(2:22 – 2:51)
They’re all really on the same team. They get their paychecks paid by the same company. Prior to that, they never really associated with that other side.

Prior to that, they didn’t empathize or care what the other side had to do or, or deal with. After three days of literally living together, eating together, breathing together, literally in the same bunk bed, you know, engineering on top, sales on the bottom. The next day sales was on top, engineering on bottom.

(2:51 – 2:59)
It was a camp. This team came out unified. They came out as a team.

(3:00 – 4:07)
So let’s start putting all of this in context. Okay. In that episode, that group went from tug of war to, okay, we’re on the same team.

I understand why you’re jamming orders through. I understand sometimes why engineering is slow. Let’s all pull in the same direction.

So that being said, if you running your company, and it might just be you, but if it, if you’re running a company and I literally gave you a grace card, I gave you a do over, you could start your current company or your project all over. Would you choose to sell the same products? Would you choose to rehire all of the same people-