High employee engagement generally results from employees having an emotional attachment to the organization that is more meaningful than simply having a job.

three dimensions: 1. The movement from a hands-on doer, to a manager, to a leader, and ultimately to a coach/mentor of others; 2. From a functional specialist to a general manager, back to a functional specialist, and ultimately to a strategy and culture “conductor;” and 3. From having a passionate belief in the primacy of oneself, to having a

“If we take great care of our employees, they take great care of our customers, and we have a bottom line.

To better manage the risks of growth, every growth company should create a prioritized list of the preconditions to growth. What has to be put in place so you can grow without creating unintended bad consequences?

Everything we do is pretty much keyed around, “Are we getting better, and can we do that better?

Aligning a business’s strategy, culture, structure, execution process, leadership model, human resource policies, measurement, and rewards on motivating the right behaviors that create long-term value are mission critical.

Financing production growth complicates the scaling decision for most growing, private companies because financing can be as big a concern for an entrepreneur as maintaining quality.

Innovations can be less risky if entrepreneurs adopt experiential learning and customer co-creation processes that get customers engaged in creating what customers need

Others had to modify their sales model from a retail model to a wholesale model because they could not afford to build a sales organization or to expand geographically.