Verne Harnish is the founder of the distinguished Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), a prestigious organization with more than 14, 000 members worldwide. For fifteen years now, he also chairs “Birthing of Giants,” a leadership program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as well as the MIT / WEO Advanced Business Program for entrepreneurs over 40. Verne is also the founder and chief executive officer of Gazelles, Inc. He also serves as principal and co-founder of Gazelles Growth Institute. Verne also collaborates with Bloomberg LIVE for the bi-annual ScaleUp Summits.
Apart from spending the past three decades helping numerous companies scale up, Verne has also authored several bestselling books. Also known as the “Growth Guy,” Verne is also a venture columnist for FORTUNE magazine. His bestselling book “Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Growing Firm,” has been translated into 9 languages. He also authored “The Greatest Business Decision of All Time: How Apple, Ford, IBM, Zappos, and Others Made Radical Choices that Changed the Core of Business.” His latest book, “Scaling Up: How Few Companies Make It . . . and Why the Rest Don’t (Rockefeller Habits 2.0),” has garnered 8 major international book awards. It also bagged the prestigious International Book Award for Best General Business book.
Verne serves on several boards and is currently chairman of The Riordan Clinic as well as Geoversity. The brilliant entrepreneur, author, and private investor plays tennis and piano during his spare time. He also enjoys magic and is even a card-carrying member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.
This week’s episode talks about the importance of having a general direction, why you need to be clear about your big hairy audacious goals, and why your business shouldn’t go a day without cash.
Verne also shares what drove him to write his book "Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Growing Firm," his recommendations for those who would like to buy a company, and his advice to entrepreneurs who would like to manage their emotions better.
For those who would like to start a business, Verne has this to say, “I would not start a company. If anyone’s interested in being in business for themselves, I would buy a company cause I gotta tell you from zero to one, it’s really hard.”
