• Scaling Up

  • How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't, Rockefeller Habits 2.0
  • By: Verne Harnish
  • Narrated by: Spencer Cannon
  • Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (2,198 ratings)

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Scaling Up  By  cover art

Scaling Up

By: Verne Harnish
Narrated by: Spencer Cannon
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Publisher's summary

It's been over a decade since Verne Harnish's best-selling book Mastering the Rockefeller Habits was first released. Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't is the first major revision of this business classic. In Scaling Up, Harnish and his team share practical tools and techniques for building an industry-dominating business. These approaches have been honed from over three decades of advising tens of thousands of CEOs and executives and helping them navigate the increasing complexities (and weight) that come with scaling up a venture.

This book is written so everyone - from front line employees to senior executives - can get aligned in contributing to the growth of a firm. There's no reason to do it alone, yet many top leaders feel like they are the ones dragging the rest of the organization up the S-curve of growth. The goal of this book is to help you turn what feels like an anchor into wind at your back - creating a company where the team is engaged; the customers are doing your marketing; and everyone is making money. To accomplish this, Scaling Up focuses on the four major decision areas every company must get right: People, Strategy, Execution, and Cash.

The book includes a series of new one-page tools including the updated One-Page Strategic Plan and the Rockefeller Habits ChecklistTM, which more than 40,000 firms around the globe have used to scale their companies successfully - many to $1 billion and beyond. Running a business is ultimately about freedom. Scaling Up shows business leaders how to get their organizations moving in sync to create something significant and enjoy the ride. Bonus material for Scaling Up may be found at www.ScalingUp.com.

©2014 Gazelles East Pte. Ltd. (P)2014 Gazelles East Pte. Ltd.

What listeners say about Scaling Up

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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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Literally Useless | No Way 5 Star Reviews are real

What disappointed you about Scaling Up?

This book is literally Useless. It has no meat. No real advice. It's filled with a string of unconnected thoughts, thin metaphors and anecdotal stories that barely scratch the surface of any real business issue. It's filled with useless phrases like "the first rule of money management is don't run out of money" and then it moves on to a completely separate thought like "business is like climbing everest...". It feels like it was written by a high school student. It's SOOO Bad.

What could Verne Harnish have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I wish he had done some first hand research, and/or had some first hand experience in business. It sounds like he's just regurgitating things he's heard from amateur entrepreneurs.

What aspect of Spencer Cannon’s performance would you have changed?

Performance was fine, content was mind-numbingly awful

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The first 3 chapters were literally Useless. The rest of the book was maybe 90% useless (if I'm totally honest)

Any additional comments?

Normally the reviews you find on audible are fairly reliable, but there is literally no possible way that the 5 Star Reviews on this book are real. They have to be faked becuase this book is seriously useless. The only way those 5 Star Reviews could be real is if they all came from people who have zero actual experience running a business and instead they thrive on pep-talks and spend their days dreaming about "one day I'll start a business..." but if you want real help scaling up a business, stay away from this book, you'll find nothing useful here.

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58 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

It's good – but mostly for large companies

It's a good book. Dense and full of wisdom. Highly practical too – lots of worksheets to fill out.

It's mostly for companies 7-10 employees and up though. I can't help but wonder why there aren't more books written, targeting the solopreneurial startup phase: from 1 (you) to those 2-3 employees and up to the 8-12 employees where books like this one can take over, offering helpful advice for those stages.

Yes, there are plenty startup books with advice on how to select the best team members – but few that talk about the dangers of taking in/on those initial few employees: cashflow-wise, it can be a huge killer to any little business.

When should one hire the first employee – and what signs and pitfalls should one look for, in times of distress (bad cashflow for example)... And should one even hire ANY employees at all? Or rather find a solid business partner and a mentor, essentially making it a small company of three?What are the pros and cons of such a constellation?

Again: very few books seem to target this market and those vital questions. Without first finding the answers to them, and the challenges they represent; there's little need for a book like Scaling Up – many of us just aren't there yet.

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26 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Good advice but too much advertising for Gazelles

It has very practical, actionable advice but there are way too many plugs for his business. At the end one is left wondering if the intent was really to help entrepreneurs or to generate opportunities for his consulting group.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Might be good, can't get past naration

Would you try another book from Verne Harnish and/or Spencer Cannon?

Sure, as long as there is a different narator

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Couldn't get past the naration

How could the performance have been better?

Hiring a human to narrate the book.

Did Scaling Up inspire you to do anything?

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Any additional comments?

The narrator has this weird cadence, he starts low, goes high, then goes low again, long pause at each period, than starts again on the next sentence. The whole thing feels like he is reading a bullet point list, it is very taxing to listen to.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Just what the doctor ordered

Would you listen to Scaling Up again? Why?

I will have to listen again but this time with a pen and paper ready to take notes.

Any additional comments?

This is the perfect book for business owners that have gotten over the "start-up" hurdle and are beginning to enjoy some success. It really gets specific on how to carefully grow your company as to avoid some common pitfalls...mainly running out of CASH!!! I have seen our company sales growing rapidly but could not figure out where all the cash was going. This book hit me right in the face! My problem was not sales it was cash flow!!! I now have several specific action items I went to work on immediately.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

The information is good, but it's wrapped with so

It's wrapped with so much sales pitch that almost every two minutes you feel like stopping.
Good intention, awful execution, this book could have been so much better had they not made into a huge sales pitch.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Starts The Juices Flowing

This book is good to get your brain thinking about the right way to do things/change things.

Not super in-depth about any one particular item; but covers a lot of different aspects that will now require further study and implementation.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great but fast.

The subject info and stories are amazing yet the narrator too fast and is telling the story like a robot

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

every word is worth your time

What did you love best about Scaling Up?

Amazing insights, i read one book every week and this one is at the top in content and relevance!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Scaling Up?

what could be better then really understanding why you are stuck, and how the best companies in the world scale up and break through.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Confusing narration but great content

The overall content was great. Narration style was difficult to follow due to too frequent accentuation.

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6 people found this helpful