Do you hate losing more than you love winning?
Ditto. Get to know me and you will quickly learn that I hate losing more than I love winning.
There is no need to reinvent the proverbial wheel on how to win more while scaling a rapidly-growing business. If you expect to lose less and win more... Scaling Up by Verne Harnish is your "go-to-" business operating system. Accept no substitutes.
Properly scaling a business is an exercise in mastering four critical decisions: People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash. These pillars, outlined in the Scaling Up framework, determine whether a company thrives or struggles under the pressure of growth.
- People – Do you have the right team in the right seats, aligned with your vision, culture, and performance expectations?
- Strategy – Is your company’s strategy clear, differentiated, and capable of driving sustainable revenue growth?
- Execution – Can your organization consistently deliver on its strategy with efficiency and accountability?
- Cash – Is your business financially healthy with strong cash flow to fuel expansion?
While all four are crucial, People is your single most important decision—because getting the right people in right seats trumps everything else. Getting the right people in the right seats makes Strategy, Execution, and Cash significantly easier to manage.
People Drive Absolutely Everything
Without the right people in the right seats on the bus, nothing else matters. Truly. Every business challenge ultimately ties back to people. A brilliant strategy means nothing without the right team to execute it. Flawless execution is impossible with a weak or misaligned workforce. Even financial health depends on having people who manage resources wisely, drive sales, and deliver value.
The companies that scale successfully—those that break past the $10M, $50M, and $100M revenue ceilings—are those that prioritize their People decisions.
People – What Gets Measured Gets Improved
People are your future. If you expect to optimize talent, you must objectively measure it. Too many CEOs and their people rely on gut instinct when hiring and managing talent, but scaling requires a more scientific approach. Just as you would not make financial decisions without accurate data, you should never make People decisions without objective insights.
This is where powerful psychometric assessments like the TriMetrix® HD come in. The TriMetrix® HD provides a multi-dimensional view of talent, measuring:
✅ Behaviors – How someone naturally takes action
✅ Driving Forces – What motivates them at their core
✅ Competencies – Their skills and decision-making ability
✅ Acumen – How they process information and see the world
With this data, you can align people with roles where they will thrive, identify gaps in leadership, and build high-performance teams that scale with your business. If you are not measuring talent with the TriMetrix® HD, you are leaving growth - the future of your business to chance.
Knowing how your people think is a super power.
The Key People Questions Every CEO Must Answer
To determine if you have the right team to scale, ask yourself:
- Do I have A-players in leadership and key roles?
- Are my people aligned with the company’s vision, values, and goals?
- Do I have a talent pipeline that supports growth?
- Is there a culture of accountability and execution?
If the answer to any of these is “no,” your business is at risk of stagnation—or worse, decline.
The People-First Approach to Scaling Up Your Business
To ensure your people strategy fuels business growth, focus on:
1. Hiring and Retaining Top Talent
The right talent changes absolutely everything. Identify what an "A-player" looks like in each role and do not settle. Develop a recruiting system that attracts high performers and a culture that retains them.
Every job has Key Accountabilities that support a Benchmark. EVERY job is benchmarked. No exceptions.
Team members are humble, hungry and smart.
2. Aligning People with Strategy
High-performing people demand clarity. Define your company’s Core Values, Purpose, and Strategic Priorities and ensure every employee team member understands how their role directly contributes.
3. Building a Culture of Accountability
Scaling requires discipline. Implement a Function Accountability Chart (FACe) to ensure every key function has a responsible leader. Set clear Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and hold regular check-ins.
4. Developing Leaders at Every Level
Scaling demands strong leadership, not just at the top but throughout the organization. Invest in leadership training, mentorship, and continuous learning.
Without the Right People, Nothing Else Matters.
Your People decisions dictate your company’s ability to scale. Strategy, Execution, and Cash all depend on having the right people in place. As a CEO, your primary job is to ensure you have a team capable of taking your company to the next level. Because without the right people, nothing else matters.
Disciplined People - Disciplined Thoughts - Disciplined Action
That's great. Hire the right people and get them doing the right things.. Got it.
No. Really. What do you do with this?
You get disciplined in how you hire - who you hire - how you onboard - how you engage - how you develop - how the work gets done and how you and your people honor the greatness in one another.
Every job that you care about must be Benchmarked. And HR must truly be strategic in this approach.
Every candidate goes through a very structured hiring / selection process. No one gets in without going through the gauntlet. And that is just the beginning. Give me a shout when you want to start winning or better yet - schedule a dialogue.
