Ascending in August 2026 - Game of the Month to strengthen RYD Growth Habits
Theme: Strengthening Gear 3 Consciousness for Business Mastery 

Dear peaceful warriors on our shared good to great journey to raise human consciousness from Fear to Love by leading ourselves from Fear to Love using Business as our playground,

In July, we strengthened our Gear 1 Consciousness (Agility of Mind) for Personal Mastery by doing Daily / Weekly Creation daily.

It is time to complete Joyful July and start Ascending in August, to strengthen ourselves in Gear 3 Consciousness (Communicating Powerfully in the World of Others) for Business Mastery, in our forever journey from Gear 1 to Gear 5 in upwards spirals of growth, evolution and transformation.

We are playing a game to strengthen Gear 3 Consciousness for Business Mastery in August because we have our EXPAND Event - Nurturing Indian Giants with Verne - in August, and the book of the month is also - Start to Scale by Verne.

Reflect and respond to the following questions to complete Joyful July 2026 and start Ascending in August from 3-Aug-26:

Q1. What outcomes got created as I played the game of Joyful July?
Q2. What is the status of the action I had committed to take as an outcome of the reflection on the June game?
Q3. What are my learnings and insights from playing the game in July and by taking the committed actions?
Q4. What action am I committed to take as an outcome of my learnings?
Q5. How am I feeling as I complete Joyful July to start the game of Ascending in August?

After the above reflection, let's join the August game to continue strengthening ourselves across our 3 growth levers to joyously lead ourselves, our health, our kids, our relationships, our people and our businesses from good to great, realize our dreams and have it all with ease and grace; while having lots of fun and adventure together along the way.

Greatness is an outcome of consistency of our Daily Growth Habits.

If we want to lead ourselves from good to great, the structure of success lies in doing our Daily Growth Habits with consistency.

If we want to lead our children from good to great, the structure of success lies in coaching them to do their Daily Growth Habits with consistency.

If we want to lead our businesses from good to great, the structure of success lies in coaching our people to do Daily Business Excellence Growth Habits with consistency.

Daily Morning Huddle is a foundational Daily Business Excellence Growth Habit. It enables the creation and strengthening of a Cohesive, Nurturing, Deep-Learning, Continuously-Improving, Super-Performing Culture. Only with such a culture, can we build Fortune Global 100, Fortune Global 500, Forbes Global 2000 businesses while Having It All.

Daily Morning Huddle Business Excellence Growth Habit is key to creating a culture which is:
1. Cohesive - Share Good News (Personal / Professional) with each other - How are you feeling and what is your Good News?
2. Nurturing - Read the Foundation (Purpose, Values, BHAG) daily together in the Daily Morning Huddle as a shared Prayer of Gratitude - What is our shared Purpose, Values and Big Hairy Audacious Goal?
3. Deep Learning - The Business Team read the same Book of the Month and share insights daily in the listening of each other - What is your learning from reading the Book of the Month in the last 24 hours? 
4. Continuously Improving - Every team member shares a 2-Second improvement implemented in the last 24 hours captured through a phone camera - before and after the improvement. The most significant improvements are shared in the huddle. - What is your 2-Second improvement in the last 24 hours? 
5. Super Performing - What's your #1 thing to complete in the next 24 hours?, Where are you on your metrics?, What are your Stucks, Questions and is there any support you need to accomplish your Priorities?

​Our August game - Ascending in August - is designed to strengthen us in Gear 3 Consciousness by playing the game of the month on the playground of our business for Business Mastery. The game gifts us with DLCM positive impact.

Here's how we will play Ascending in August to strengthen ourselves in Business Mastery as a way to warm ourselves for our EXPAND Event with Verne (Nurturing Indian Giants):

1. The first step is to choose the track you are playing at - Starter, Champion, Mastery.

Starter Track: Daily Huddle with our L1 with 3 Questions, and cascade this Daily Huddle structure to the last level of leadership so that each team member is in a Daily Huddle.
Q1. What's your #1 thing to complete in the next 24 hours?
​Q2. Where are you on your metrics?
Q3. What are your Stucks, Questions and is there any support you need to accomplish your Priorities?

Champion Track: Daily Huddle with our L1 with 5 Questions, and cascade this Daily Huddle structure to the last level of leadership so that each team member is in a Daily Huddle.
Q1. How are you feeling and what is your Good News?
Q2. What is your learning from reading the Book of the Month in the last 24 hours? (The Book of the Month for August 2026 is Start to Scale by Verne Harnish)
Q3. What's your #1 thing to complete in the next 24 hours?
​Q4. Where are you on your metrics?
Q5. What are your Stucks, Questions and is there any support you need to accomplish your Priorities?

Mastery Track: Daily Huddle with our L1 with 7 Questions, and cascade this Daily Huddle structure to the last level of leadership so that each team member is in a Daily Huddle.
Q1. How are you feeling and what is your Good News?
Q2. What is our shared Purpose, Values and Big Hairy Audacious Goal? - Reading the Foundation (Purpose, Values, BHAG) daily together as a shared Prayer of Gratitude. What emerged for you today as we read our foundation?
Q3. What is your learning from reading the Book of the Month in the last 24 hours? (The Book of the Month for August 2026 is Start to Scale by Verne Harnish)
Q4. What is your 2-Second improvement in the last 24 hours? (Everyone captures their improvement through a phone camera - before and after the improvement - and uploads in a shared area). The most significant improvements are shared.
Q5. What's your #1 thing to complete in the next 24 hours?
​Q6. Where are you on your metrics?
Q7. What are your Stucks, Questions and is there any support you need to accomplish your Priorities?

2. Update your Daily Status in - RYD Growth Habits Group - using the following format to hold space for each one in our community to do their growth habits. It is in giving that we receive.


Ascending in August
Date: dd-Aug-yy Monday

Number of Team Members who have adopted Daily Huddle: x
Total number of Team Members: y
%age adoption: (x/y)*100

Leadership Depth:
1. ....
​.
.

Craft Mastery: 
1. ...
.
.

Business Excellence:
1. Daily Huddle (Starter / Champion / Mastery) Track: <share status of implementation, eg: x out y team members have adopted Daily BE Growth Habit>
.
.

You can include additional habits for Leadership Depth, Craft Mastery and Business Excellence for your own self to design your Growth Habits Game for the month. That is your choice. The August game is to enrol all our team members to adopt the Ascending in August BE Growth Habit of Daily Huddle.

You will self-track, and the winners will be declared based on your self-tracking. Your coaches will support you to track correctly.

Winners are those who have the highest %age adoption and highest number of team members adopting Daily Huddle.

The fun is in playing the game; and growth is in getting back every time we fall off, with joy for being on our good to great journey and with love for our own self.

The game begins on 3-Aug-26.

Let's keep being Love moment to moment (LD), keep being a Student moment to moment (CM), keep being a Space for Massive Positive Impact moment to moment (BE), to joyously lead ourselves, our health, our kids, our relationships, our people and our businesses from good to great, realize our dreams and have it all with ease and grace; while having lots of fun and adventure together along the way.

Loving you,
j.

Our Community's big hairy audacious goal by 2047 is to be the world’s best Transformation Ecosystem for Businesses; nurturing sixty Indian Businesses to be Fortune Global 100, three hundred Indian Businesses to be Fortune Global 500 and twelve hundred Indian Businesses to be Forbes Global 2000 as Businesses we lead, nurture and coach become Spaces of Grace for people to joyously lead themselves, their health, their kids, their relationships, their team members and their business from good to great, realize their dreams and have it all with ease and grace; supporting India to be the world's most developed, beautiful, greenest nation with her citizens happiest, healthiest and the most prosperous; creating a Brave New World of love, peace and joy.

I am happy and grateful that Verne Harnish is a Business Excellence mentor for our community to support us ​in our journey to fulfil on our big hairy audacious goal, and for his commitment to come to India year on year to lead Scaling-up Masterclasses for our community to strengthen our community's knowledge and understanding of the Scaling-up Methodology for successful implementation ensuring:

1. More Positive Impact in the world with
2x Cash Flow
3x Industry Average Profitability
10x Valuation

2. More Time for us to Have It All
Reduce by 80% time it takes to manage the business

3. More Ease, Grace and Fun
Support to speed the process and take the load off the leadership team

​The Scaling Up methodology, created by Verne, has scaled 102,000+ organisations, contributing to 12 million plus people across 6 Continents.

Verne is also the founder of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), with over 18,000 members worldwide. He founded and chaired for fifteen years EO’s premiere CEO program held at MIT, a program in which he still teaches today.

Click this link for more about Verne and Scaling-up.

I am delighted to welcome you to our RYD Community EXPAND Event in August 2026 – Nurturing Indian Giants, as part of which Verne will be leading a 2-day in-person Scaling-up Masterclass in Mumbai. The event is designed for the Businesses on the RYD Good to Great journey for leadership, culture and business transformation supporting them to create greater positive impact in the world. More number of leaders in a business learn and understand about Scaling-up, faster the business will be able to implement the scaling-up methodology with ease and grace to make a much bigger difference to its people - employees, customers and all other stake-holders.

The pre-work to warm-up for this immersive learning experience is to read one of two  below books, word by word and understand the concepts deeply before 23-Aug-26, knowing that you are reading to implement the methodology in your business / business function:

Start to Scale: Secrets to Starting and Scaling any Size Organization by Verne Harnish.
or
Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It... and Why the Rest Don't by Verne Harnish

Read the Kindle version of the book, if the physical delivery is taking time. Reading the book along with your leadership team before the event will ensure your and your team's participation progresses you to implementation of the Scaling-up methodology immediately after the event. 

The event is designed with seven 90-minute segments with Verne teaching the concept for 30 minutes, followed by the business teams having a socratic discussion on the concept and the way to implement it in their business to deepen their learnings, followed by QnA with Verne for the next 30 minutes of the segment.

If you have read the book, read it again with the humility of a student because what differentiates amateurs and professionals is that professionals play for mastery by learning the fundamentals again and again.

Join us for this expansive, immersive learning experience along with our 3 best friends on the good to great journey - Joy of Learning, Humility of a Student, Speed of Learning to Action

Preeti Singh is our Program Manager for the Event. In case of any support needed regarding the event or booking a room at the hotel at a preferential rate, please reach out to her at 9899793015 and she will be happy to go out of her way to make your participation easeful and hugely value-creating. Anju Chowla from the RYD Leadership Team is responsible for the event and can be reached at [email protected]

The investment for the 2-day Masterclass with Verne on 25-Aug-26 Tuesday and 26-Aug-26 Wednesday which includes one 90-minute deep-dive on Making AI Happen in India by Lalit Yagnik is as follows:
1. RYD Coachees and their leaders (number based on the program): Investment by RYD
2. Additional leaders from the businesses on the RYD Good to Great journey: ₹ 35,000/- + GST per participant
3. RYD Graduates: ₹ 67,500/- + GST per participant
4. Non-RYD Participants: ₹ 1,00,000/- + GST per participant

Detailed schedule for this immersive learning experience is given below, along with the form to be filled by 10-Aug-26 to register yourself for the event. Participation confirmation is based on availability.

Let's keep learning, implementing and contributing to joyously lead ourselves, our health, our kids, our relationships, our team members and our businesses from good to great, realize our dreams and have it all with ease and grace; while having lots of fun and adventure together along the way.

Love and Light,
j.

 Venue: Taj Lands End, Mumbai

24-Aug-26 Monday 4:57 pm to 6:57 pm IST
RYD Community EXPAND Event: Take-off
Participants: RYD Members

24-Aug-26 Monday 6:57 pm to 8:27 pm IST
Connect with Verne over Dinner
Participants: RYD Members

25-Aug-26 Tuesday 7:43 am to 5:03 pm IST 
Scaling Up Masterclass with Verne - Day 1
Participants: Business Owners, CEOs and their leadership teams 

25-Aug-26 Tuesday 5:27 pm to 7:27 pm IST
Recommendation: Business Owners and CEOs can use this time for a Team Get-Together to strengthen team connection and cohesion. To make this time with their team most effective, a format would be provided. The venue is to be booked by the business team.​ 

26-Aug-26 Wednesday 7:43 am to 5:03 pm IST 
Scaling Up Masterclass with Verne - Day 2
Includes a 90-minute deep-dive on Making AI Happen in India with Lalit Yagnik, RYD Chief AI Officer and Resident AI Mentor for member businesses
Participants: Business Owners, CEOs and their leadership teams 

26-Aug-26 Wednesday 5:17 pm to 5:47 pm IST
Connect over a Bite
Participants: All RYD Members

26-Aug-26 Wednesday 5:47 pm to 6:47 pm IST
Reflection and Integration
Participants: All RYD Members

26-Aug-26 Wednesday 6:57 pm to 7:57 pm IST
In conversation with Verne
Participants: RYD Coachees who have a one-on-one with Verne on the next day, and their #2

27-Aug-26 Thursday 7:43 am to 5:33 pm IST 
45-min one-on-one with Verne 
Participants: RYD Coachees who have opted for a one-on-one with Verne, along with their #2
1-hour one-on-one with Lalit
​Participants: RYD Coachees who have opted for a one-on-one with Lalit, along with their #2

Please fill the below registration form to register yourself for the event.

Looking forward to seeing you in person.

Download the RYD Business Excellence Scoreboard to colour code it to give you a live status of where you are on your journey to lead, nurture and coach your business from good to great.

Our shared Big Hairy Audacious Goal 2047 is to be the world’s best Transformation Ecosystem for Businesses; nurturing 60 Indian Businesses to be Fortune Global 100, 300 Indian Businesses to be Fortune Global 500 and 1200 Indian Businesses to be Forbes Global 2000 as Businesses we lead, nurture and coach become Spaces of Grace for people to joyously lead themselves and their business from good to great, realize their dreams and have it all with ease and grace; supporting India to be the world's most developed, beautiful, greenest nation with her citizens happiest, healthiest and the most prosperous; creating a Brave New World of love, peace and joy.

This is the third year of welcoming Verne to India for our community. The first year was in 2023. We didn't have enough funds to bring him to the country on our own at that time. So, we hosted a partner event with other Scaling Up coaches in the country. In 2025, we leaped across the chasm and hosted him exclusively for our community. 

Why Verne? And, why Verne again and again and again? 

Because Verne Harnish is a master of Scaling Up and the only way we can achieve our shared BHAG is by learning from masters around the world to become masters ourselves inside of our commitment to live our shared Values, fulfil our shared Purpose and achieve our shared BHAG. Mastery is achieved by learning and practising again and again and again, ad infinitum with humility, sincerity and commitment to a cause much bigger than ourselves.

​Investing in Verne is an investment in our coachees. Verne may be way beyond our means but we want to do things not by looking at what capacity we have today but at what future we want to build. 

Last year, our intention was to take Scaling Up to L1 leaders of our coachees and with that commitment, we created a room of 100 without knowing if that room will fill up. We had 100 participants in the room.

This year, our intention is to take Scaling Up deeper into the businesses we are coaching and bring L2 leaders in our in-person shared Learning Space. For us to progress towards becoming Fortune Global 100, Fortune Global 500, Forbes Global 2000 businesses, it is not enough that our coachees learn, grow and contribute. We need every leader in their businesses to learn, grow and contribute to joyously lead themselves, their health, their kids, their relationships, their team members and their business from good to great. That is when we will exponentially scale transformation with ease, grace and velocity. 

Therefore, a room for 200 participants has been booked at Taj Lands End, Mumbai. Do a Talent Assessment of your L2 Leaders and bring your L2 Leaders, who you believe are your A players and potential A players, to the Scaling Up event so that leadership transformation, culture transformation and business transformation gathers greater momentum in your organization by going beyond your L1.

This year is a build-up over previous events based on our learnings, as it is with every deep-dive. Here are the highlights of the design of the August 2026 in-person RYD Community EXPAND Event: Nurturing Indian Giants with Verne.

1. Implementation over Information: There will be 7 segments with Verne of 90 minutes each. Each 90-minute segment will have 30 minutes of teaching of a Scaling Up concept by Verne, 30 minutes of Socratic Discussion by the business team on how to implement the concept in the context of their business, followed by 30 minutes of Q&A with Verne. RYD Coachees will be given a coaching template to successfully lead the Socratic Discussions for their business teams as part of the event. 

2. Industry Mentor: We are exploring inviting an Indian Industry Mentor for the 8th segment, to give us inspiration from the playing field. Leadership Depth requires greater day-on-day inspiration and action. Therefore this year, instead of bringing a Leadership Depth mentor for the 8th segment as we did with Saras last year, we are playing to bring in an Industry Mentor.

3. Strengthening Team Cohesiveness: Business Teams are together on account of the EXPAND Event. An evening has been left free for the RYD Coachees to use that time to strengthen team cohesiveness. A template to successfully create this would also be given to the coachees.

4. Building a Learning Culture: A super-performing culture is when people are committed learners. A game will be created on 7-Jul-26 to engage participating L1s and L2s along with the RYD Coachees in reading or re-reading Start to Scale or Scaling Up. In steady state, not too far away, we will create all people in the businesses we are leading, nurturing and coaching to become avid readers because readers are leaders. If our people become avid readers, not only businesses scale with ease, grace and velocity; our country will become the world's most developed, beautiful, greenest nation by just that fact alone because of the ripple effect of that in their families. RYD Book Clubs will become business-specific, apart from being at the level of RYD Circle of Love.

5. One-on-Ones with Verne: We have engaged Verne for one additional day this time to have 45-minute one-on-ones with our coachees and their #2 for them to pick the best brain in the world on Scaling Up. There are a few slots left. These are paid slots @ Rs 1 Lakh + GST.

6. Enrolling and Engaging L2 Leaders on the Good to Great journey: We have space for our coachees to bring their L2 leaders to accelerate Scaling Up implementation in their business. The best investment we can make is to invest in our people. The more we invest in their training and development, the more A players we will create. Let's create more A players in our organisations by investing in our people. Most RYD programs have a certain number of your leaders already paid for. Additional leaders from your business can participate @ Rs 35,000 + GST. 

7. Structured RYD deep-dive reflection and integration: RYD Circle of Love integrations are structured unlike last time, with the intention to create greater positive impact per minute of our time together.

8. RYD Publishing House: In Stage 5 of our Craft Mastery journey, the growth habit is to write and publish a book to make a massive difference through our learnings. Our coachees will write and publish books to be a Space for Massive Positive Impact enabling our country to be the lighthouse of knowledge and wisdom for humanity’s evolution from Fear to Love, creating a Brave New World of Love, Peace and Joy. RYD Publishing House will be birthed at the Event to enable the Craft Mastery journey of our coachees with the publishing of the first book - Awaken to Your Greatness.

9. Integrating AI with our Business Strategy: The post-work from our Meet the Mentor EXPAND Event on Leveraging AI for increasing the Positive Impact of our Businesses with Lalit Yagnik was to deeply understand AI and integrate AI with our Business Strategy to make a much bigger difference to our people and our customers. We have a couple of slots available with Lalit Yagnik at the event for those who want to integrate AI with their strategy this year. We are extremely lucky and immensely privileged to have Lalit as our mentor in the world where there is more hype than true understanding of what AI is and how it can be implemented. His rich experience, depth of understanding of both AI and business, and his willingness to work more deeply with each of our businesses makes him critical to our success in achieving our BHAG.

The event is being planned, as last time, to be green in alignment with our value of Reverence for all of life. 

Here's the detailed program flow for your reflection:

Day 1: 24-Aug-26 Monday
8:17 am to 4:17 pm IST
RYD CCE EXPAND Event. Focus: Business Excellence
Theme: Training RYD Coaches to Nurture Indian Giants 
Tribe: Socratians (RYD Coaches)

4:57 pm to 6:57 pm IST
RYD Journey Shares: Around the RYD Campfire of Unconditional Love and Acceptance for a Transformative Experience
Journey Shares: Sid, Swapnali
Participants: All RYD Tribes

6:57 pm to 8:27 pm IST - Connect with Verne over Dinner
Participants: All RYD Tribes

Day 2: 25-Aug-26 Tuesday
7:43 am to 5:03 pm IST 
Scaling Up Masterclass with Verne - Day 1
Participants: All RYD Tribes and their L1, L2 Leaders

5:27 pm to 7:27 pm IST
Recommendation: Strengthening Team Cohesiveness. RYD Coachees use this time to strengthen team connection and cohesiveness. They would be provided with a template for success.

Day 3: 26-Aug-26 Wednesday
7:43 am to 5:03 pm IST 
Scaling Up Masterclass with Verne - Day 2
One deep-dive on Making AI Happen
Participants: All RYD Tribes and their L1, L2 Leaders

5:17 pm to 5:47 pm IST
Connect over Early Dinner
Participants: All RYD Tribes

5:47 pm to 6:47 pm IST
Reflection and Integration
Participants: All RYD Tribes

6:57 pm to 8:27 pm IST
In conversation with Verne
Participants: RYD Coachees who have a one-on-one with Verne, and their #2

Day 4: 27-Aug-26 Thursday
7:43 am to 5:33 pm IST 
45-min one-on-one with Verne 
Participants: RYD Coachees who have a one-on-one with Verne, and their #2

5:33 pm to 6:33 pm IST 
Reflection, Integration and Completion of the Event over Dinner
Participants: Verne and j

We are co-learners, co-creators and co-travellers on our shared journey from good to great to achieve our BHAG and fulfil on our Purpose through Leadership Depth, Craft Mastery and Business Excellence. In that spirit, I invite you to co-create the event by filling in the form below.
​
Let's keep being Love moment to moment (LD), keep being a Student moment to moment (CM), keep being a Space for Massive Positive Impact moment to moment (BE), to joyously lead ourselves, our health, our kids, our relationships, our team members and our businesses from good to great, realize our dreams and have it all with ease and grace; while having lots of fun and adventure together along the way.

Loving you,
j.

Thank you for your commitment to lead your business from good to great 💜

​This commitment had you participate and engage fully in today's Business Excellence deep-dive. In doing so, you have helped all of us progress towards our shared Big Hairy Audacious Goal 2047: to nurture Fortune Global 100, Fortune Global 500 and Forbes Global 2000 businesses from our land; enabling our country to be the world's most developed, beautiful, greenest nation, with her citizens happiest, healthiest and the most prosperous; creating a Brave New World of love, peace and joy.

Responding to the reflection questions below will support you to concretise, deepen and integrate your learnings. Your inputs will also help us make your next deep-dive even more valuable to you.

Let's keep learning, implementing and massively contributing, to joyously progress on our good to great journey with ease, grace and velocity.
​
Love and Light,
j.

Supporting Articles:
1. Meeting Cadence for leading your Business from Good to Great
2. RYD Business Excellence Journey Take-off - Preparation
​3. RYD Business Excellence Implementation Plan
​4. How to discover Top 5 Priorities to lead your Business from Good to Great

Top 5 Priorities Workbook for download and co-creation with the leadership team

If the dream is to build a great business, then let's stand on the shoulders of giants and expand the body of human knowledge to make a much bigger difference to not only our people, our customers, our business partners but also all of humanity. Just like Newton did. He did not re-discover what the scientists before him had discovered.. He learnt from them and built on top of that. That's what Masters do. They learn with the humility of a student from masters before them, bringing along with them the joy of learning and commitment to contribute through their life; bringing in a fresh set of eyes and an empty-slate mind. 

Verne has integrated the work of the business thought leaders to create Scaling-up to tell us 'What to Do' to build a great business. Shannon, his best student, learnt from him and built on top of that to create Metronomics giving us a step-by-step guide on 'How to implement' the enormous mass of knowledge of Scaling-up; elegantly supplemented with her own deep study of masters of business excellence, hands-on experience of being a business builder and then a business coach.

Jim Collins' research tells us that all businesses that cut-over from good to great had a Level 5 leader at the helm of the business at the point of the transition of the business from good to great. We call them Gear 5 leaders in RYD.

We are an integration space, bringing in the best learnings from the best to support us in living our shared values and achieving our shared big hairy audacious goal of nurturing great businesses from our land. This is a milestone on our journey to fulfil on our shared Purpose to raise human consciousness from Fear to Love, supporting people to Have It All, one business at a time.

In RYD, we have a methodology to support our coachees to raise their consciousness, one gear at a time, to become Gear 5 leaders. That is our secret sauce - developing Gear 5 Leaders nurturing Fortune Global 100, Fortune Global 500 and Forbes Global 2000 businesses from our land, who implement the best thought leadership in business excellence through the integration provided by Verne and Shannon.

The above presentation is a quarter by quarter implementation plan for Business Excellence - sourced in Verne's and Shannon's teachings - to nurture a great business by implementing 7 systems:
1. Nurturing Culture System
2. Cohesive Team System
3. People Excellence System
4. Winning Strategy System
5. Aligned Execution System
6. Healthy Cashflow System
7. Coach Cascade System

The Meeting Cadence is the container inside of which all the above systems get implemented, one meeting at a time - Daily Huddle, Weekly Meeting, Monthly Meeting, Monthly Town Hall, Quarterly Meeting, Annual Meeting. These meetings are components of the Cohesive Team System. The cohesiveness and psychological safety built through the predictability of the meeting cadence, and the agenda the way it is designed by Shannon, built on top of Verne, enables the implementation of the entire Business Excellence framework.

​I resonate deeply with Shannon's insight that a meeting is only effective if the participants have done prework to be fully warmed-up for a meeting and take back postwork from a meeting to take the actions that emerge. This progresses them and the business forward on the good to great journey, one meeting at a time.

Here's the reflection, as created by Shannon, to be completed by the participants before the Business Excellence 2-day Kick-off Meeting - RYD Business Excellence Take-off Meeting Preparation

Once all team members complete the reflection, the RYD Coach will share the consolidated reflection worksheet for the CEO and the leadership team members to read everyone's responses for greater understanding and appreciation about each other and about the business as a warm-up to the kick-off.

Leaders with the highest level of Leadership Depth (Gear 5), developing themselves to reach the highest level of Craft Mastery (Stage 5) by learning to become a global thought leader in their domain can nurture their businesses from good to great (Mountain 5) with joyous ease and grace; while Having It All.

Let's keep learning, implementing and making a massive difference to joyously lead ourselves, our health, our kids, our relationships, our team members and our businesses from good to great, realize our dreams and have it all with ease and grace; while having lots of fun and adventure together along the way.

Loving you,
j.

Good-to-Great Meeting Cadence is designed not only to progress us on the hard-edge systems — Winning Strategy, Aligned Execution and Healthy Cashflow Systems — but also to strengthen the soft-edge systems of the organisation — Nurturing Culture, People Excellence Cohesive Team and Coach Cascade Systems. Each meeting in the cadence has its own agenda to fulfil on these objectives.

Meetings are the key to saving team members' time, keeping the team focused, consciously developing cohesiveness and healthy discussions, keeping the culture alive and well, and ensuring that whatever plan is created is focused on and achieved.

There are 7 meetings in the Cadence as follows. The agenda for each meeting is given in the above presentation, along with the duration of the meeting and required participants:

1. Daily Connect
2. Weekly Strategy Execution Meeting
3. Monthly Meeting
4. Monthly Townhall Meeting
5. Quarterly Planning Meeting
6. Annual Strategy Planning Meeting
7. CEO Email Update — Though this is not a meeting, it is a very powerful communication tool to strengthen the organisational culture.

In order to have an effective and efficient meeting, all team members must prepare beforehand — every time. Each meeting has a standing agenda, which makes it possible for all attendees to prepare effectively beforehand. The meetings are effective because the strategic execution plan is developed and agreed upon with the team.

The agenda is set up to strengthen the seven systems of the RYD Business Good to Great Framework in every meeting:

1. Nurturing Culture System
2. Cohesive Team System
3. People Excellence System
4. Winning Strategy System
5. Aligned Execution System
6. Healthy Cashflow System
7. Coach Cascade System

The standing agendas ensure the Cultural and Cohesive Systems are covered in Good News, the People Excellence System and Healthy Cashflow System are covered in the Metrics section, and the Priorities keep a clear focus on the plan and accountability in play. The Dynamic section is where the team members will continue to hone their cohesiveness by sharing stucks, asking for help, or offering help. The discipline of the standing agendas ensures continuous development as a super-performing team by activating the RYD Business Good to Great Framework. The meeting rhythm and the standing agendas are not a recommendation but a must for the good to great journey — of the business, of the leaders and of the CEO.

At the end of each meeting — weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual — the best practice is for the leadership team to agree on 3 Key Messages from the meeting. It is important that the leadership team shares the same messages about the key events, meetings and learnings at the same time with their teams. This will keep the team together and excited as we move forward with the plan to implement RYD Business Good to Great Framework. The messages shared by each leader with their teams must be the same. This ensures all team members have the same information at the same time. It also ensures that the leaders are starting the practice of cascading messages from meetings to their teams.

One Phrase Close ensures before we close a meeting that we check in with each team member. Ask each team member in turn, "From your gut, how do you feel right now in 5 words or less?" It is a chance to check in with each leader and find out exactly where they are, after having been through the meeting.

The discipline of the meeting cadence provides a structure of success for the 7 systems to be implemented. The first step in implementing RYD Business Good to Great Framework is to schedule the meeting cadence and follow it with discipline.

To win the gold medal in the Olympics of Business requires us to bring the discipline worthy of an Olympian on this journey. Our best friends on the bad to good journey, which is a dance to the tune of mediocrity, are stress, long hours and fire-fighting. Our best friends on the good to great journey are — joy of learning, humility of a student and commitment to contribute. It is a joyously fulfilling journey making the discipline required worthwhile, supporting us to lead ourselves, our health, our kids, our relationships, our people and our businesses from good to great, realize our dreams and have it all with ease and grace; while having lots of fun and adventure together along the way.
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Loving you,
j.
Source: Metronomics by Shannon Byrne Susko