{"id":53787,"date":"2021-11-11T03:21:26","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T07:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=53787"},"modified":"2021-11-15T03:39:09","modified_gmt":"2021-11-15T07:39:09","slug":"book-scaling-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/book-scaling-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Vision and Values: Insights From the Book Scaling Up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What does the book <em>Scaling Up<\/em> say about your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/company-vision\/\">business&#8217;s vision<\/a> and values? How do they impact growth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his book <em>Scaling Up<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/verne-harnish\/\">Verne Harnish<\/a> discusses what you need to do to successfully guide your business as it grows from a small company or sole proprietorship into a firm employing hundreds or thousands of people. He argues that, first, you must articulate a clear vision for what you ultimately want your company to be\u2014anchored by a core set of values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading for insights from the book <em>Scaling Up<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Business Wisdom From the Book <em>Scaling Up<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In his book <em>Scaling Up<\/em>, Verne Harnish asserts that you must clearly articulate your vision and values to keep your business growing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Articulate Your Vision<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Harnish, <strong>scaling up requires the articulation of a grand vision, an idea about not just <\/strong><strong><em>how much the company will do,<\/em><\/strong><strong> but more deeply, what it primarily <\/strong><strong><em>exists to do<\/em><\/strong><strong>. <\/strong>Ultimately,<strong> <\/strong>a vision<strong> <\/strong>is about what ultimate \u201cstate\u201d or identity the company aspires to achieve. Bringing this vision into focus and aligning all company activities toward its achievement is what a strategy is for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, a furniture retailer might have a vision of being the nation\u2019s largest, best-known, and most-trusted name for families looking to decorate the home of their dreams. Or an investment bank might have a vision of being the financial world\u2019s leader in \u201cgreen\u201d investments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td>Beyond just an \u201cAbout Us&#8221; section on your website, your vision is the \u201cwhy\u201d that should anchor every decision your company makes. And studies show that defining this vision makes a significant difference to your customers and employees. A survey conducted by EY and Harvard Business school found that, of 474 executives surveyed, <a href=\"https:\/\/assets.ey.com\/content\/dam\/ey-sites\/ey-com\/en_gl\/topics\/digital\/ey-the-business-case-for-purpose.pdf\">89% agreed that a company\u2019s sense of purpose was an important contributor to employee satisfaction<\/a>. However, fewer than half of the executives surveyed\u201446%\u2014said that their business currently operates with a clear vision and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/having-a-purpose-in-life\/\">sense of purpose<\/a>.<br><br>Tim Ferriss, the author of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/4-hour-work-week-book\/\">The 4-Hour Workweek<\/a>, similarly argues that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/business-growth\/\">business growth<\/a> has to be rooted in an ultimate purpose or vision. But, he adds, it must be specific for it to be useful. You have to envision some ultimate state you want your company to attain or the position you want it to be in. Simply wanting to be \u201cbigger\u201d or more profitable doesn\u2019t provide any concrete guidance on the steps you should take to get there.\u00a0<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Articulate Your Values<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In the book <em>Scaling Up<\/em>, <strong>Harnish writes that<\/strong> <strong>the vision must be grounded in your company\u2019s values. Indeed, the vision is the ultimate <em>expression <\/em>of those values. <\/strong>Values are the rules, norms, and standards that guide conduct. According to Harnish, all employees should have a keen understanding of what those values are and use them as their compass to guide every action and decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, one of a retail chain\u2019s values might be, \u201cWe strive to provide excellent service and an unmatched buying environment for all our customers.\u201d This will then inform how employees in every department and at every phase of the sales cycle will do their jobs\u2014from sourcing the best <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/bargaining-power-of-suppliers-understanding-michael-porter\/\">suppliers<\/a> to the layout and decor of physical stores to the demeanor and presentation of frontline staff.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A crucial component of your company\u2019s values, according to the book <em>Scaling Up<\/em>, is how effectively and compellingly you tell your story. <\/strong>Harnish says that story is more than just a company history. It speaks to something much deeper\u2014your company\u2019s reason for being, the fundamental problem that it solves, and, most importantly, the ultimate vision for what it aspires to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inc.com\/entrepreneurs-organization\/a-labor-of-love-how-to-craft-your-companys-core-values.html\">Some companies favor a bottom-up, crowdsourcing process to develop core values<\/a>, in which people split into separate groups during <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/weekly-meetings\/\">weekly meetings<\/a> to discuss and debate what the company\u2019s essential and unique qualities and commitments are. From there, the company as a whole can evaluate each group\u2019s ideas, identify patterns and commonalities, use a voting process to narrow them down, and turn them into value statements in a collaborative process.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Find Your Points of Excellence<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The book <em>Scaling Up<\/em> further asserts that successfully articulating your values hinges on your company being able to cite its points of excellence\u2014those things your company does that are unique, create customer value, and are difficult to copy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your points of excellence can be a wide variety of things\u2014a certain proprietary technology (like Coca-Cola\u2019s famously protected trade secret for its soft drink recipe), your ubiquitous presence in a wide variety of geographical markets (like McDonald\u2019s or Starbucks) or a unique process of production (like the Ford Motor Company\u2019s assembly line production in the early 20th century).&nbsp;(Shortform note: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ignytebrands.com\/the-psychology-of-brand-personality\/\">The concept of points of excellence is closely tied to what marketing experts call \u201cbrand personality.\u201d<\/a> A brand personality is the set of emotional attributes you want customers to ascribe to your brand, as if they were talking about an actual human being. This matters because whether you\u2019re a consumer-facing brand or a B2B company, customers are looking for a relationship with a \u201cpersonality\u201d that meets their needs and expectations. Your brand personality is the foundation upon which customers will build a relationship with your company, develop loyalty to it, and come to see it as offering something unique that they can\u2019t find anywhere else.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What does the book Scaling Up say about your business&#8217;s vision and values? How do they impact growth? In his book Scaling Up, Verne Harnish discusses what you need to do to successfully guide your business as it grows from a small company or sole proprietorship into a firm employing hundreds or thousands of people. He argues that, first, you must articulate a clear vision for what you ultimately want your company to be\u2014anchored by a core set of values. Keep reading for insights from the book Scaling Up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":53794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,45,14],"tags":[515],"class_list":["post-53787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-business","category-management","tag-scaling-up","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Vision and Values: Insights From the Book Scaling Up - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In his book Scaling Up, Verne Harnish says that you must clearly articulate your vision and values to keep your business growing. Read more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/book-scaling-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vision and Values: Insights From the Book Scaling Up\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In his book Scaling Up, Verne Harnish says that you must clearly articulate your vision and values to keep your business growing. Read more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/book-scaling-up\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-11T07:21:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-15T07:39:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/book-scaling-up.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"364\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/book-scaling-up\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/book-scaling-up\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"Vision and Values: Insights From the Book Scaling Up\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-11T07:21:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-15T07:39:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/book-scaling-up\/\"},\"wordCount\":905,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/book-scaling-up\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/book-scaling-up.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Scaling Up\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Books\",\"Business\",\"Management\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/book-scaling-up\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/book-scaling-up\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/book-scaling-up\/\",\"name\":\"Vision and Values: Insights From the Book Scaling Up - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/book-scaling-up\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/book-scaling-up\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/book-scaling-up.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-11T07:21:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-15T07:39:09+00:00\",\"description\":\"In his book Scaling Up, Verne Harnish says that you must clearly articulate your vision and values to keep your business growing. 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