Running The Gauntlet Essential Business Lessons To Lead Drive Change And Grow Profits

Change your ATTITUDE. Change your BUSINESS. Change your FUTURE. What’s stopping you from making the changes your business needs to thrive? The most dangerous move in business is the failure to make a move at all. The history of business is filled with companies that are no more because their leaders refused to enact change when the writing was on the wall. Fear. Apathy. Lack of personal responsibility. These simple human flaws can turn a good company into a dead company. The writing on the wall has never been clearer than it is now—and marketing phenomenon Jeffrey Hayzlett is on a mission to make you see it, understand it, and heed it. Today’s business environment is so competitive and volatile that you can’t afford to be satisfied with business as usual. You must make changes now to compete in the future. Building on the principles and concepts in his first book The Mirror Test, Hayzlett takes you on a step-by-step journey to: Develop a “takeover mentality” for your business Summon the vision and courage necessary for driving change Sharpen the mental and emotional toughness to make strategic, lasting change Execute the right changes and deal with any disruptions they might cause Sustain and manage your company’s new-found momentum Change is already happening all around you—to products, to organizations, to entire industries. Eventually, it will happen to your company, whether from outside forces or your own initiative. You’ve always had the ability to institute positive change in your company. Now, with Running the Gauntlet, you have the inspiration and knowledge to make it happen and take control of it—instead of letting it control you. Praise for Running the Gauntlet "If the shoe fits, wear it! Jeff's advice fits any hard-charging business owner and leader." —Tony Hsieh, New York Times bestselling author of Delivering Happiness and CEO, Zappos.com “I've seen a lot of sharks, and Hayzlett's advice comes like a Hammerhead. He can smell blood from a mile away, so when Hayzlett jumps in big waters, some sharks have to jump out.” —Daymond John, founder and CEO, FUBU, and star of ABC’s business show Shark Tank “If Jeff were a wine, it would be strong, sassy, and bold - just like his savvy business advice. This is a wine you want to open again and again.” —Gary Vaynerchuk, co-founder, Vaynermedia.com "Running the Gauntlet just played the Trump Card. This book is terrific!" —Ivanka Trump, EVP Trump Organization "It's time someone grabs you (and your business) by the shirt collar and shakes you! Strap on your chaps—business celebrity Jeff Hayzlett is going to take you on a rough-and-tumble ride that just might change the life of your business forever. Muster the courage and buy this book!" —Darren Hardy, Publisher, SUCCESS magazine, and bestselling author of The Compound Effect

Imagine how much you would learn if you could converse with 64 of the brightest minds in marketing. Now imagine if those conversations were focused on all the essential elements that go into being a top-notch chief marketing officer and organized into seven logical, intuitive categories. Now you can stop imagining, and start reading The CMO’s Periodic Table, an essential resource for the modern marketer. Over the last five years, thanks in large part to his friends at The CMO Club, author Drew Neisser has interviewed over 100 marketing leaders at prominent companies such as American Express, Audi, Belkin, Black Duck Software, Converse, College Humor, D&B, Dow, and many more. These interviews, 64 of which are highlighted in this book, reflect the fundamental diversity of challenges and subsequent solution sets deployed by each. Though these interviews don’t yield a magic formula, they offer something a bit more profound and definitely more fundamental—a compendium of elements that every marketer has or will need to examine in the very near future. Organized into a CMO-worthy periodic table modeled on the classic organization of the chemical elements, the chapters progress from basic challenges like research and strategy, to internal issues like culture change and managing up, to advanced, highly volatile subjects like risk-taking and changing agencies.

The most dangerous move in business is the failure to make a move. Global business celebrity and prime-time Bloomberg Television host, Jeffrey W. Hayzlett empowers business leaders to tie their visions to actions, advancing themselves past competitors and closer to their business dream. Drawing upon his own business back stories including his time as CMO of Kodak and sharing examples from the many leaders featured on “The C-Suite with Jeff Hayzlett,” Hayzlett imparts ten core lessons that dare readers to own who they are as a leader and/or company, define where they want to go, and fearlessly do what it takes to get there—caring less about conventional wisdom, re-framing limitations, and steamrolling obstacles as they go.

It’s not profit over people that will make your business successful—it’s when you combine people and profits that you become A HERO LEADER Today’s leaders need to engage, connect with, listen to and include their employees and customers in the conversation surrounding the business. The Hero Factor discusses the importance of a strong company culture as the backbone of any successful business. Companies with leadership that dismisses the importance of transparency in today’s world are more likely to be called out for not living up to the mission statements on their websites. Dive in and learn how to implement the traits that will help them become a hero entrepreneur, change their organization, live their values, and create a winning culture where they: Invest in people as a path to more inclusion Recast the role of business leadership beyond politics Serve others/the common good Avoid failure, reasons why not, and the lure of the dark side when things get tough Know the line between hero and martyr Create the next generation of hero leaders

800-CEO-Read Sales Book Of The Year for 2015 | Forbes 15 Best Business Books of 2015 | “The chapters, (46 of them in this 256 page book) are quick and concise, and it is easy to pick it up anywhere and find a nugget of easily actionable advice, but the kicker is that the actions he recommends are also quick and concise, so that we can accomplish them in the few bursts of spare time we all have left.” – 800CEORead.com “Follow Goldfayn's brilliant advice and you will have an endless supply of customer testimonials, spontaneous referrals, and new business, and it will compel you to buy a beautiful fountain pen and stop obsessing over social media. His advice simply works.” – Inc.com Grow your business by 15% with these proven daily growth actions Do you have trouble finding time during your hectic day to grow your business? Is your company stalled because you are too busy reacting to customer problems? Do you lack the funds to jumpstart an effective marketing plan? The Revenue Growth Habit gives business owners, leaders, and all customer facing staff a hands-on resource for increasing revenue that is fast, easy, and requires no financial investment. Alex Goldfayn, CEO of the Evangelist Marketing Institute, shows how to grow your organization by 15% or more in 15 minutes or less per day—without spending a penny of your money. Forget about relying on social media. Posting on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn doesn't grow revenue, especially for business-to-business companies. The Revenue Growth Habit shows how to request and collect testimonials and how to communicate these testimonials to grow your business. You will discover how to write powerful case studies, ask for (and get!) referrals, grow your lists, and send a revenue-growing newsletter. Goldfayn also includes information for teaching your customer service people how to inform your current clients about what else they can buy from you. This proven approach revolves around letting your customers tell your story. There is nothing you can say about your products and services that is more effective than what your paying customers say. How does it work? Each day, take one quick, proactive communication action that tells someone about how they'll be improved after buying from you. Choose from the 22 actions Goldfayn details in The Revenue Growth Habit. Each technique is fast, simple, and free. It only requires your personal effort to communicate the value of your product or service to someone who can buy from you. Personal communication—the key to the 22 action steps—will make your company stand head-and-shoulders above the competition.

“Who on earth wants to jump into ice baths and run through fire and wallow in mud on a Sunday afternoon, just for the hell of it?” my professors asked. My gut feeling was—plenty of people. Will Dean, founder of extreme obstacle course Tough Mudder, shares the thrilling inside story of how a scrappy startup grew into a movement whose millions of members feel like co-owners. He shows how other companies can embrace the Tough Mudder playbook by nurturing tribes of passionate fans while constantly experimenting with new risks. After five years as a British counterterrorism officer and two years at Harvard Business School, Dean was determined not to follow his classmates to Wall Street or Silicon Valley. Instead, he pursued his unique vision for an extreme obstacle course—a ten- to twelve-mile gauntlet pushing participants to their limits and helping them surpass those limits together. Instead of cutthroat competition, Tough Mudder would be about continual self-improvement and collective energy. It would be about the power of a tribe. Dean and his small team launched the first Tough Mudder event in May 2010, hosting 5,000 pioneers at a deserted ski resort in Pennsylvania. Just seven years later, more than 3 million people on four continents have participated at least once, and hundreds of thousands have done so repeatedly. More than 20,000 are so committed that they sport a Tough Mudder tattoo. Mudders prove the power of fierce and unshakable loyalty to one another and the challenge itself. Proudly sport­ing orange headbands and team uniforms, they’ll run through mud, climb steep walls, face elec­tric shocks, and slide down the side of a moun­tain. The tougher the experience, the greater the satisfaction. It Takes a Tribe shows you how to embody the Tough Mudder spirit and capture the same magic. As a Tough Mudder slogan says, “When was the last time you did something for the first time?”

Every company has a personality. Does yours help or hinder your results? Does it make you fit for growth? Find out by taking the quiz that’s helped 50,000 people better understand their organizations at OrgDNA.com and to learn more about Organizational DNA. Just as you can understand an individual’s personality, so too can you understand a company’s type—what makes it tick, what’s good and bad about it. Results explains why some organizations bob and weave and roll with the punches to consistently deliver on commitments and produce great results, while others can’t leave their corner of the ring without tripping on their own shoelaces. Gary Neilson and Bruce Pasternack help you identify which of the seven company types you work for—and how to keep what’s good and fix what’s wrong. You’ll feel the shock of recognition (“That’s me, that’s my company”) as you find out whether your organization is: • Passive-Aggressive (“everyone agrees, smiles, and nods, but nothing changes”): entrenched underground resistance makes getting anything done like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall • Fits-and-Starts (“let 1,000 flowers bloom”): filled with smart people pulling in different directions • Outgrown (“the good old days meet a brave new world”): reacts slowly to market developments, since it’s too hard to run new ideas up the flagpole • Overmanaged (“we’re from corporate and we’re here to help”): more reporting than working, as managers check on their subordinates’ work so they can in turn report to their bosses • Just-in-Time (“succeeding, but by the skin of our teeth”): can turn on a dime and create real breakthroughs but also tends to burn out its best and brightest • Military Precision (“flying in formation”): executes brilliant strategies but usually does not deal well with events not in the playbook • Resilient (“as good as it gets”): flexible, forward-looking, and fun; bounces back when it hits a bump in the road and never, ever rests on its laurels For anyone who’s ever said, “Wow, that’s a great idea, but it’ll never happen here” or “Whew, we pulled it off again, but I’m tired of all this sprinting,” Results provides robust, practical ideas for becoming and remaining a resilient business. Also available as an eBook From the Hardcover edition.