MAGNET Strategy, Marketing and Sales Director and certified Scaling Up Coach Dave Sluka recently hosted renowned entrepreneur Verne Harnish at our Cleveland headquarters to share insights based on his years of experience in the innovation and growth arena. Harnish is the founder and CEO of Scaling Up, a global executive education and coaching company with over 260 partners on six continents, and the author of many best-selling books, including Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, The Greatest Business Decisions of All Times, and Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0.)

MAGNET staff representing OpEx, Executive Education, Marketing, and Business Development joined Harnish and key service providers, economic development partners, and clients utilizing the Scaling Up Performance Platform. The group had lunch and an in-depth conversation about the industry's current state, the biggest challenges ahead, and strategies for moving forward.

During the conversation, Harnish stressed the importance of defining the job that your product or service needs to do. Only then will you know how to innovate the product or service, which is a pillar of success. He also discussed the importance of having an effective pricing strategy to increase profitability through the use of a “good-better-best” approach to packaging a company’s products or services.

While labor shortages and slow adoption of industry 4.0 technologies are significant challenges, Harnish emphasized that finding regional partners and brand ambassadors will be a strong ally for manufacturers. If you make a list of 25 people you want to get on board with your organization, start working through your network to find any connections to the names on your list. It only takes one connection to spark a project, an idea, an organization.

The engaged group thoroughly enjoyed Harnish’s insight, openness and expertise.