Scaling Up Magazine Scaling Up Magazine April 2018 | Page 14

14
ANDY BAILEY
SPRING 2018
Effecting
Change Through
the Rockefeller
Habits
WITH ANDY BAILEY
AS A senior in college, Andy Bailey led a double life. On
the surface, he was just another college student, but back
in his dorm room at Middle Tennessee State University,
he was also earning a high income as a salesperson
in the electronic communications business.
Bailey spent the early part of his career in that very same industry,
launching his first company—NationLink Wireless—in 1993.
The company first operated in the pager space, growing its
subscriber base to 35,000 and then eventually switched to new
technologies, such as two-way radio, wireless and cellular.
In 2004, Bailey happened to meet Verne Harnish, Gazelles
CEO and founder, at a business workshop—a chance encounter
that would have a profound impact on him and become the
foundation of a major professional and personal transformation.
Harnish shared with Bailey the concept of what later became
Harnish’s bestselling book, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits—
named for the business principles of John D. Rockefeller as
portrayed in the biographical book Titan. The Rockefeller Habits
help facilitate growth for rapidly growing businesses, known
as “gazelles.” They include picking a narrow set of priorities;
establishing a regular communication rhythm; systematizing
data; identifying key chokepoints; and focusing on a well-defined
short- and long-term plan. The Rockefeller Habits have since
evolved into the Scaling Up system for growing a company.
Bailey implemented the Rockefeller Habits over the course of
nearly three years at NationLink to put it on a secure growth
track. One key was getting the right people in place to support
the firm’s growth. By making sure he had the right people in
place to handle business operations that were bogging him down,
Bailey was able to focus on his strength: sales and marketing.