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LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner Shares How to Effectively Scale a Business in a New LinkedIn Learning Course

We’re living in a time where great ideas quickly become companies and entrepreneurs quickly find themselves leaders. The best of those companies grow into the brands we all admire, but the journey from startup to market leader is not for the faint of heart, and for those who have succeeded, there are many more who have failed.

Anyone building a business from the ground up, taking the helm of an existing organization, or dreaming of doing both, can benefit from the experience of others who have done it. Starting this week, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner’s first ever LinkedIn Learning course launches. Jeff joined LinkedIn in December 2008, and under his leadership, LinkedIn has grown its membership from 33 million to more than 467 million, increased its annual revenue from $78 million to $3.7 billion, and gone from 338 employees to more than 10,000 full-time employees in more than 30 offices around the world.

His first course, On Establishing a Culture and Plan for Scaling, focuses on how to establish a culture within an organization and how to effectively plan for scaling. This course, which was originally filmed during an interview with Reid Hoffman at Stanford University, is now available for free to all learners.

In this 45 minute course, Jeff describes what it was like to join LinkedIn, his initial observations and how he dedicated his first hundred days to getting to know the people and the product. Rather than develop a stringent 100 day plan, he used this time to listen and to learn from the people who knew the company best. He describes this period of listening as invaluable in helping him to shape and define a vision and mission for the business that embraced the collective personality of the organization and its aspirations.

This definitive vision and mission also enabled Jeff to incite excitement and establish a stronger sense of culture among employees. He describes aspiration as being a critical component of company culture and because LinkedIn employees’ collective aspirations helped drive the company mission and vision, the culture and defining values of the company were then widely embraced.

His thoughts on leadership, coaching, and hiring and retaining top talent are also integral parts of the principles he puts forth for establishing a culture and a plan for scaling. It remains clear, however, that these components are all built on the foundation created from his listen-first approach.

We believe learning this kind of real-world expertise from industry leaders shouldn’t be relegated solely to those with access to an Ivy League education. And that’s why we’re so excited to unveil Jeff’s LinkedIn Learning course, providing you with the unique opportunity to learn directly from one of the best leaders in the business.

Take a peek, free of charge, on LinkedIn Learning.