Scaling Up Excellence: Getting to More Without Settling for Less (Robert I Sutton; Huggy Rao, 2014)

Review: this is more of a self-improvement book that covers a huge area on human resource management. Learn from this book on the various factors to scale up when you know you are ready. Rated: 8/10

• Scaling mantras
• Spread a mindset, not just a footprint
• Engage all senses
1. Link short-term realities to long-term dreams
2. Accelerate accountability
3. Fear the clusterfug (illusion, impatience, incompetence)
4. Scaling requires both addition and subtraction
5. Slow down to scale faster - and better - down the road
• Create a template in everything you do, it is a little more time but in case you need to do it again, there is already a prototype
• Stoking the virtuous circle (boosting): name the problem > name the enemy > do it where all can see > breath assumption > create gateway experience and on-ramps > new rituals, better rituals > lean on people who can’t leave well enough alone
• Cut cognitive load: subtraction as a way of life (e.g. Apple), make people squirm (if you aren’t upsetting people, you aren’t pushing it hard enough), bring on the load busters (prioritise), divide and conquer, bolster collective brainpower (increase cognitive capacity instead of adding more people)
• Increase accountability by making the employee feel they own the place
• Scaling capacity = talent x accountability
• To scale: squelch free riding, inject pride and righteous anger, bring in guilt-prone leaders, use subtle cues (“I will be watching you”) to prime accountability, create the right gene pool, use other organisations as your HR department
• Scaling in a 3 way process: excellence > efficiency > expansion
• Connections: it’s about diversity and not just numbers, look for master multipliers, bring on the energizers, activate dormant connections, gamify workplace
• Making nets work: the top-down approach, broadcast your message out to one and all, have many teach the few, the power of pairs, from the few to the many, bridging disconnected islands, create crossroads where people connect
• Breaking bad: nip it in the bud (broken window effect), get rid of the bad apples, plumbing before poetry (mundane details), adequacy before excellence, use the cool kids to define and squelch bad behaviour, kill the thrill, focus on future than current selves (less prone to lying), focus on the best and worst and end
• Some reflection: we started where we were and not where we hope to arrive, we did scaling and not just swarming, we used our mindset as a guide and not as the answer to every question and problem, we used constraints that channeled and rather than detailed and ingenuity and effort, our hierarchy squelched unnecessary friction and rather than creating and spreading it, we worked with people we respected and not necessarily our friends, accountability prevailed and free riding and other bad behaviours failed