SPRING 2018 ANDY BAILEY 15
“ It was like introducing a breath of fresh air when I was on the verge of serious career burnout,” Bailey said.
By 2011, Bailey had sold his company, and at the age of 43, took some time to ponder his next career move. Having spent so much time implementing the Rockefeller Habits himself— a sprint, not a marathon, he says— he started helping other businesses who were looking for help in this area as well. He also traveled globally, talking with organizations while doing work for Entrepreneurs’ Organization( EO). In a matter of months, he was hooked— not just on the Rockefeller Habits themselves but on helping other organizations implement its principles.
Now, through his firm Petra Coach, Bailey works with small- to medium-sized companies of between $ 5 million and $ 500 million in revenues to implement the Scaling Up system.“ Many of these entrepreneurs have difficulty seeing their own blind spots, and their employees and families either don’ t know or are afraid to tell them the truth,” says Bailey.“ They really appreciate hearing someone like me boldly tell them what is hindering their progress.”
Identifying these truths is a key part of the formula, establishing trust that can eliminate barriers and enhance efficiencies.“ Transparency and hard conversations help the business grow faster,” says Bailey.
One way to help pave the way is regular meeting rhythms. Starting with daily 15-minute huddles that outline company goals and align individual priorities for the day, the team can eventually progress to practicing more efficient— and typically shorter— weekly, monthly, and eventually annual meetings too.
“ Basing meetings on Harnish’ s methodology not only makes the organization better, but its people too,” says Bailey.“ If the business is growing quickly, the people inside need to get better, faster, and smarter too— or the company probably won’ t make it.”
Bailey’ s firm, Petra Coach, has succeeded in growing 80 percent a year on average over the past few years, and Bailey expects to continue that progress in 2018. Not only is Bailey now running the practice’ s consulting business, but he recently hired a CEO to run his second business, which develops the software to scale the original coaching business.
This approach to setting a strategy and then putting the right systems in place to execute on it is exactly what Bailey recommends to his clients.“ The key is to make a plan and then do the work,” says Bailey.“ Some organizations set goals, but very few actually do the work needed to achieve a true transformation. We help them set goals, create their plan, and then we hold them accountable. That’ s been a real road map for success.”