The 7 core principles of effective organizations.

 Tattoo these on your forehead and run your business like a well-oiled machine:

• Data culture

Data is the new oil, and culture eats strategy for breakfast.

Combine the two, and build a high-performance culture around trust, accountability and data-driven decisions.

Make hitting numbers a game for your teams.

• Clear direction

Have a clear long-term plan and know your next steps.

Build a change story of how you'll get there, and back it up with data. Tell it on every occasion.

When everyone knows the overall direction and their direct contribution, noise turns into focus.

• Process-oriented

Separate repetitive and creative work, and have a clearly mapped primary process.

Standardize or automate as much as possible, so creative energy goes to the few tasks that make a difference.

Don't try to improve what's not consistent.

• Big goals, small steps

Plan action against strategy in 90-day sprints and keep the pace high.

Remember: 3 tasks done well beats 15 done 70%.

• Be 1% better every day

As your organization scales, upgrade tools & processes before they slow your growth.

Center improvement around employee & customer experience.

Work on the business, not just in the business.

• Optimize free cash flow

Cash is king, easy to measure, and everyone understands it.

A focus on cash aligns processes and departments, and gives you fuel for your growth.

Economic downturn or not, earned cash hits differently.

• Right people, right seats

Your life depends on recruiting the right talent for the right positions - act like it.

Make the organizational design match the core values, industry & growth phase.

A single A-player in the right role outperforms a mediocre department.

Stop looking for shortcuts.

Do the right things right, and never look back:

1. Data culture

2. Clear direction

3. Process-oriented

4. Big goals, small steps

5. Be 1% better every day

6. Optimize free cash flow

7. Right people, right seats