Become the leader that your people need you to be
The transition from bootstrapping entrepreneur to effective leader is arduous, and very few make the transition. Essentially the entrepreneur needs to throw everything out the window that made them successful and learn the qualities it takes to be a strong leader. GROW was written to assist in that transformation and shows readers how to build their organization into one with an environment that expects people to thrive, with a leader who meets the organization where it needs to be met and where trust is a baseline for all relationships. The GROW phase ends with the leader being so effective at leading and creating a powerful team to run the organization that they have become irrelevant to the business thriving into the future.
GROW is an Amazon Bestseller and #1 New Release.
GROW is also the Nonfiction Book Awards Silver Medalist.
GROW is now available in stores – get your copy today!
The Grandest Milestone of All – Sustainability
Where you, the entrepreneur, can get trucked by a bus, end up six feet under sucking tulip roots, but your company will continue to thrive.
How’s Your Fluidability?
Pressure to get managing people right? Of course there is pressure. Few people are naturally good at managing and even fewer entrepreneurs manage well because the things that made them a good entrepreneur are exactly the things that will get in the way of being a successful manager.
Moving Forward with Integrity
To maintain positive relationships with your team as you work with them to grow and develop as a unit, you must be fully engaged and work hard to build trust, but first you must recognize, mitigate, and root out fear. It starts by acting with integrity – by following your own personal values and the stated values of the company.
Time Management – Check More Boxes or Be a Better Human?
Time frames have gone from weeks and months to hours and minutes. So what are we doing with all of this saved time? Are we enjoying our lives more? Spending more time on self-care? Sharing more time with loved ones? Spending time thinking and creating new and dynamic methods, products, messages, and relationships? For most, the answer is no. What the heck is all this efficiency about then?
Soul-Cleansing Trust
Most managers seem to think there is a default trust setting. They should receive full trust from their employees simply because they are the manager. Nothing could be further from the truth; in fact, the inverse is true. When people work for you, my assertion is that they start out hopeful but skeptical that you will be a trustworthy person. You must earn trust.
Blending the Professional and Personal
The fact of the matter is people live lives without brick walls between work and home. The two are meshed in inextricable ways. Traditionalists would like you to believe it is possible to leave personal issues at the door – but that is as impossible as leaving the office in the car when you pull into the driveway at home.
Walk through Your Own Front Door: Become Your Biggest Critic
Sometimes it is very difficult, but you need to know. As the manager you have to consider yourself one of your best outside resources. Of course, you are not technically outside, but you must pretend you are and look at your business from the perspective of the person with whom you are transacting.
Learning from the Greatest Leaders of All Time
The great managers/leaders I know are constantly reading. They are constantly trying to learn and improve. We all have access to the great thinkers of our day. Not only that, but we have access to the greatest thinkers of all time. It shocks me when I hear people say they don’t read much. Where and how do they learn?
Lessening Our Addiction to Financials
Why in the heck would I start a section on finance and budgeting by basically saying they are not that important? Because…they are not that important.
Ready to Grow and Succeed
We firmly believe you can build a loving, caring, supportive environment within a company and grow an amazingly successful business. We are going to prove it out, and when people ask how we did it, we get to share our story. We get to inspire others to consider a purpose worthy of everyone’s time, attention, effort and energy. A purpose worth committing your life to. This is the power of purpose.
Testimonials
Many companies and leaders have a compulsion to grow, which leads them to create workplaces filled with striving and stress. But there is a far better, healthier approach to growing a business, one that is about the emotional, and spiritual growth of its leaders as well as employees. Such companies become places and sources of healing in their world; the more they grow, the better it is for the world and for all the lives they touch. BIGGBY is one such company. In this important and inspiring book, Mike shares how he acquired and applied the wisdom to become a healing leader.
Any book that uses four pages to cover the work of a beer league hockey team manager in relationship to leadership is a book I want to read.
Entrepreneurs are the backbone of our economy. I meet them every day in my work and commend those like Mike McFall who are willing to share their experience and insights to help future generations follow in their footsteps.
This book is like a look inside the heart and soul of a leader who has traversed the landscape from bootstrapping entrepreneur to bonified leader of a powerful company. It is down to earth and practical with sage advice for anyone looking to go on the same journey.
This is a powerful work that outlines the importance of putting the human being and healthy relationships at the center of one’s organizational philosophy. We need more business leaders like Mike McFall who takes a strong stand on JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity while Inclusion) while understanding his own positionality. I am proud of Mike in writing this book but as I know Mike would expect I would urge him to keep going further and deeper along the JEDI path.
I spent the last two decades moving the software industry from chaos to joy. Now my friend Mike McFall is helping me with his hard-won wisdom in GROW – from Chaos to Calm. The lessons in the book are simple, practical and require the personal change that is both hard and uplifting. This timeless book will be a staple in the Menlo Innovations library.
The transition from being a successful entrepreneur to an inspiring leader requires the recognition that culture is the secret sauce of the most successful organizations. With self-effacing humor and candor, this book provides a roadmap for this transformation.
IF you read ONLY one book this year on business leadership, “Grow” by Michael J. McFall is THE book to read. Based upon his deeply ingrained leadership principle that all (business) success is based upon the ability to create nurture and “Grow” healthy relationships, McFall has grown his company Biggby Coffee from zero to over $100M in revenue. McFall understands that a true leader seeks to acknowledge both the personal and professional lives of his employees, and how they impact each other. McFall describes the importance of active listening – to insure all employees feel valued and heard. Thank you, Michael J. McFall, for sharing your wisdom and insight in “Grow” – the leadership book every leader must read.
Leading an organization to sustainability and scale requires a completely different approach than leading a startup from zero to profitability. In his new book, Mike provides a compelling roadmap for leaders looking to GROW into success at scale.
The most important topic for any manager today relates to people. This book provides many valuable insights and suggestions on how to better engage your people and create a healthy environment.
Zing! The leader as a chameleon is so simple yet so powerful. I haven’t articulated it this way, but Mike does a nice job of explaining the importance of adaptability but also how it can be exhausting at the same time. Read on for more simple yet powerful nuggets you can carry forward in your role as a leader.
This is next gen content on leadership. I am excited to see the messages in this book land in the world and see the positive impact proliferate.
This book opened my eyes to quite a few different concepts. I love learning new and different ways to think. Take the time to read it and I promise you will walk away with value.
Many companies and leaders have a compulsion to grow, which leads them to create workplaces filled with striving and stress. But there is a far better, healthier approach to growing a business, one that is about the emotional, and spiritual growth of its leaders as well as employees. Such companies become places and sources of healing in their world; the more they grow, the better it is for the world and for all the lives they touch. BIGGBY is one such company. In this important and inspiring book, Mike shares how he acquired and applied the wisdom to become a healing leader.
Any book that uses four pages to cover the work of a beer league hockey team manager in relationship to leadership is a book I want to read.
Entrepreneurs are the backbone of our economy. I meet them every day in my work and commend those like Mike McFall who are willing to share their experience and insights to help future generations follow in their footsteps.
This book is like a look inside the heart and soul of a leader who has traversed the landscape from bootstrapping entrepreneur to bonified leader of a powerful company. It is down to earth and practical with sage advice for anyone looking to go on the same journey.
This is a powerful work that outlines the importance of putting the human being and healthy relationships at the center of one’s organizational philosophy. We need more business leaders like Mike McFall who takes a strong stand on JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity while Inclusion) while understanding his own positionality. I am proud of Mike in writing this book but as I know Mike would expect I would urge him to keep going further and deeper along the JEDI path.
I spent the last two decades moving the software industry from chaos to joy. Now my friend Mike McFall is helping me with his hard-won wisdom in GROW – from Chaos to Calm. The lessons in the book are simple, practical and require the personal change that is both hard and uplifting. This timeless book will be a staple in the Menlo Innovations library.
The transition from being a successful entrepreneur to an inspiring leader requires the recognition that culture is the secret sauce of the most successful organizations. With self-effacing humor and candor, this book provides a roadmap for this transformation.
IF you read ONLY one book this year on business leadership, “Grow” by Michael J. McFall is THE book to read. Based upon his deeply ingrained leadership principle that all (business) success is based upon the ability to create nurture and “Grow” healthy relationships, McFall has grown his company Biggby Coffee from zero to over $100M in revenue. McFall understands that a true leader seeks to acknowledge both the personal and professional lives of his employees, and how they impact each other. McFall describes the importance of active listening – to insure all employees feel valued and heard. Thank you, Michael J. McFall, for sharing your wisdom and insight in “Grow” – the leadership book every leader must read.
Leading an organization to sustainability and scale requires a completely different approach than leading a startup from zero to profitability. In his new book, Mike provides a compelling roadmap for leaders looking to GROW into success at scale.
The most important topic for any manager today relates to people. This book provides many valuable insights and suggestions on how to better engage your people and create a healthy environment.
Zing! The leader as a chameleon is so simple yet so powerful. I haven’t articulated it this way, but Mike does a nice job of explaining the importance of adaptability but also how it can be exhausting at the same time. Read on for more simple yet powerful nuggets you can carry forward in your role as a leader.
This is next gen content on leadership. I am excited to see the messages in this book land in the world and see the positive impact proliferate.
This book opened my eyes to quite a few different concepts. I love learning new and different ways to think. Take the time to read it and I promise you will walk away with value.
