Hello. I'm Ed Hess. I'm your instructor for Grow to Greatness Smart Growth for Private Businesses and I'd like to speak with you this morning and tell you a little bit about the course. First, the course is about growing an existing private business. It's not about start ups. It's about the challenges of growth and in this course we're gonna focus on the three myths of growth, the truth about growth. Growth is not a linear function. Growth doesn't happen like this. Growth is a zig-zag detour making mistakes, up and down process. We're gonna focus on the truth of growth. Growth's a lot like Mother Nature. She can be very, very good and she can be destructive. Yes, growth can destroy value. In fact too much growth too fast, not properly managed can destroy your business. In this course, focus is on how to prevent that from happening. We're gonna study the preconditions to growth and you're gonna be given tools. Tools how to determine whether you're ready to go, grow, how to plan for growth, ad how to assess the risk of growth. We're gonna study the four Ps, very, very important, planning, prioritization, process, and pace, leading to the key concept of managing growth with the gas pedal approach to growth, letting up on the gas pedal to let people, processes and controls catch up to your growth. We're gonna study scaling, and we're gonna do workshops together. Two of the classes are gonna be workshops. Now, why me? Well, I've spent most of my professional life in the real world advising, financing and building growth businesses, and investing in them. Some successfully, some not. And I've spent the last ten years of my professional life in academia, where I have been studying the science and contributing to the science of growth. What kind of background do you need to take this course? The background you need to take this course is you are interested and you are curious about how private businesses grow. You do not need to have a business background. You do not have to have taken business courses. I invite you to take the course because it's my job to engage you and make the material relevant to you no matter what your background. What's the coolest part about this course? Well, I think there are a couple of things. The keys to successfully managing a business are the four Ps, constant improvement, iterative learning, acting, learning and doing. Learning as you go and taking small, measured steps, low risk as you go along building your business. Well, I think that's also how you successfully manage a life. See, I think in today's highly changing volatile global world, everyone in their own life has to be entrepreneurial and use entrepreneurial processes to constantly learn and improve and if you will, to be successful in this world. So I think managing [INAUDIBLE] private business is a lot like managing your life. I think the second thing that's cool about this course is, I think you'll walk away with tools and how to do something. And if you have interest in, in growing a business or starting a business, you'll learn tools which the research shows will help you avoid the common mistakes people make. Thank you for your interest and I look forward to seeing you in January, we will have fun together.
