LONG
Tom Peters’
Sustaining
!
EXCELLENCE
Jabil Circuit/Officers Meeting 2013
TradeWinds Resort/St. Pete Beach/02 May 2013
(slides @ tompeters.com/excellencenow.com)
“I am
often
asked …
“I am often asked by
would-be entrepreneurs
seeking escape from life
within huge corporate
structures, ‘How do I build
a small firm for myself?’
The answer seems
obvious …
Source: Paul Ormerod, Why Most Things Fail: Evolution, Extinction and Economics
“I am often asked by would-be entrepreneurs seeking escape from
life within huge corporate structures, ‘How do I build a small firm for
Buy a
very large
one and just
wait.”
myself?’ The answer seems obvious:
—Paul Ormerod, Why Most Things Fail:
Evolution, Extinction and Economics
“Mr. Foster and his McKinsey colleagues collected
detailed performance data stretching back
years for
1,000
found that
U.S. companies.
40
They
NONE
of
the long-term survivors managed to
outperform the market. Worse, the
longer companies had been in the
database, the worse they did.”
—Financial Times
“It’s just a
fact: Survivors
underperform.”
—Dick Foster
“Data drawn from the real world
attest to a fact that is beyond
Everything
in existence tends
to deteriorate.”
our control:
—Norberto Odebrecht, Education Through Work
Dick Kovacevich:
“You don’t
get better by
being bigger.
You get
Conrad Hilton,
at a gala
celebrating his
career …
Conrad Hilton, at a gala celebrating his
career, was called to the podium and
“What were the
most important
lessons you learned
in your long and
distinguished
career?” His answer …
asked,
“Remember
to tuck the
shower curtain
inside the
bathtub.”
You beat
yourself!
Sports:
is
“Execution
strategy.”
—Fred Malek
“Execution is
the job of the
business
leader.”
—Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
“Execution is a
systematic
process
of rigorously
discussing hows and whats,
tenaciously following through, and
ensuring accountability.”
—Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/ Execution:
The Discipline of Getting Things Done
(1) Sum of Projects =
Goal (“Vision”)
(2) Sum of Milestones =
Project
(3) Rapid Review +
Truth-telling =
Accountability/
Adjustment
“REALISM is
the heart of
execution.”
—Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/Execution:
The Discipline of Getting Things Done
“Costco figured out the
big, simple things
executed with
total fanaticism.”
and
—Charles Munger, Berkshire Hathaway
“The art of war does not
require complicated
maneuvers; the simplest are
the best and common sense is
fundamental. From which one
might wonder how it is
it
is because they try to
be clever.”
generals make blunders;
—Napoleon
EXCELLENCE
IN EXECUTION
= DEEPEST
“BLUE
OCEAN”
Really First
Things Before
First Things
If the regimental commander lost most of his
2nd lieutenants and 1st lieutenants and captains
If he
lost his sergeants it
would be a
catastrophe. The Army and the
and majors, it would be a tragedy.
Navy are fully aware that success on the
battlefield is dependent to an extraordinary
degree on its Sergeants and Chief Petty
Officers. Does industry have the same
awareness?
“People leave
managers not
companies.”
—Dave Wheeler
Suggested addition to your statement of Core
“We are obsessed with
developing a cadre of 1st line
managers that is second to
none—we understand that this
cadre per se is arguably one of
our top two or three most
important ‘Strategic Assets.’”
Values:
Really First
Things Before
First Things
XFX = #1*
*Cross-Functional eXcellence
Never
waste a
lunch!
% XF
lunches*
Measure! Monthly! Part of
*
evaluation! [The PAs Club.]
XFX/Typical Social Accelerators
1. EVERYONE’s [more or less] JOB #1: Make friends in other functions!
(Purposefully. Consistently. Measurably.)
2. “Do lunch” with people in other functions!! Frequently!! (Minimum
10% to 25% for everyone? Measured.)
3. Ask peers in other functions for references so you can become
conversant in their world. (It’s one helluva sign of ... GIVE-A-DAMNism.)
4. Religiously invite counterparts in other functions to your team
meetings. Ask them to present “cool stuff” from “their world” to your
group. (Useful. Mark of respect.)
5. PROACTIVELY SEEK EXAMPLES OF “TINY” ACTS OF
“XFX” TO ACKNOWLEDGE—PRIVATELY AND
PUBLICALLY. (Bosses: ONCE A DAY … make a short
call or visit or send an email of “Thanks” for some
sort of XFX gesture by your folks and some other
function’s folks.)
6. Present counterparts in other functions awards for service to your
group. Tiny awards at least weekly; and an “Annual All-Star
Supporters [from other groups] Banquet” modeled after superstar
salesperson banquets.
Present counterparts in other
functions recognition/awards for
service to your group: Tiny
awards at least weekly. An
“Annual All-Star Supporters
[from other groups] Banquet”
modeled after [and equivalent
to!] superstar salesperson
banquets.
XFX/: Typical Social Accelerators
16. Formal evaluations. Everyone, starting with the receptionist, should
have a significant XF rating component in their evaluation. (The “XFX
Performance” should be among the Top 3 items in all managers’
evaluations.)
17. Every functional unit should have strict and extensive
measures of “customer satisfaction” based on evaluations
from other functions of its usefulness and effectiveness
and value-added to the enterprise as a whole.
18. Demand XF experience for, especially, senior jobs. For example, the
U.S. military requires all would-be generals and admirals to have served
a full tour in a job whose only goals were cross-functional achievements.
19. “Deep dip.” Dive three levels down in the organization to fill a senior
role with some one who has been noticeably pro-active on adding value
via excellent cross-functional integration.
20. XFX is … PERSONAL … as well as about organizational effectiveness.
PXFX [Personal XFX] is arguably the #1 Accelerant to personal
success—in terms of organizational career, freelancer/Brand You, or as
entrepreneur.
21. Excellence! There is a “State of XF Excellence” per se. Talk it
up constantly. Pursue it. Aspire to nothing less.
Everyone,
starting with the
receptionist, should have a
significant XFX rating
component in their
evaluation. (The “XFX
Performance” should be
among the Top 3 items in all
managers’ evaluations.)
Formal evaluations.
ALL HAIL …
THOSE
WHO
HELP!
THEY ALL GOTTA SEE THE
ONE WHO SACRIFICED
TO HELP SOMEONE
GET IMMEDIATE FEEDBACKKUDOS. (PERHAPS MORE
RECOGNITION THAN THE
“PRINCIPAL” “DOER.”)
Suggested addition to your statement of Core
“We will not rest until
seamless cross-functional
integration/communication
has become our primary
source of value-added.
EXCELLENCE in crossfunctional integration shall
become a daily operational
passion for 100% of us.”
Values:
ONE
Act of XFX
Enhancement
every day!
Case
hundreds of
times better
here …
…
William Mayo, 1910, on the Clinic’s
Two Core Values:
Patient-centered care
Team medicine
(“medicine as a cooperative science”)
Source: Leonard Berry & Kent Seltman, “Orchestrating the Clues of Quality,” Chapter 7 from
Management Lessons From Mayo Clinic
hundreds of
times better here
“I am
[than
because of
the support system. It’s like
you are working in an
organism; you are not a
single cell when you are out
there practicing.”
in my prior hospital assignment]
—quote from Dr. Nina Schwenk, in
Chapter 3, “Practicing Team Medicine,” from Leonard Berry & Kent Seltman,
from Management Lessons From Mayo Clinic
WOW!!
Observed closely: The use of
or
“we”
“I”
during a
job interview.
Source: Leonard Berry & Kent Seltman, chapter 6, “Hiring for Values,”
Management Lessons From Mayo Clinic
Really First
Things Before
First Things
“The doctor
interrupts
after …*
*Source: Jerome Groopman, How Doctors Think
18 …
18 …
seconds!
[An obsession with] Listening is ... the ultimate mark
of
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
is
is
is
is
...
...
...
...
the heart and soul of Engagement.
the heart and soul of Kindness.
the heart and soul of Thoughtfulness.
the basis for true Collaboration.
the basis for true Partnership.
a Team Sport.
a Developable Individual Skill.* (*Though women
are far better at it than men.)
the basis for Community.
the bedrock of Joint Ventures that work.
the bedrock of Joint Ventures that grow.
the core of effective Cross-functional
Communication* (*Which is in turn Attribute #1 of
organization effectiveness.)
[cont.]
Respect
.
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
EXECUTION
the engine of superior
.
the key to making the Sale.
the key to Keeping the Customer’s Business.
Service.
the engine of Network development.
the engine of Network maintenance.
the engine of Network expansion.
Social Networking’s “secret weapon.”
Learning.
the sine qua non of Renewal.
the sine qua non of Creativity.
the sine qua non of Innovation.
the core of taking diverse opinions aboard.
Strategy.
Source #1 of “Value-added.”
Differentiator #1.
Profitable.* (*The “R.O.I.” from listening is higher than
from any other single activity.)
Listening is … the bedrock which underpins a Commitment to
EXCELLENCE!
If
you agree with the above, shouldn’t listening be ... a
Core Value?
If you agree with the above, shouldn’t listening be ...
perhaps Core Value #1?* (*“We are Effective Listeners—
we treat Listening EXCELLENCE as the Centerpiece of our
Commitment to Respect and Engagement and Community
and Growth.”)
If you agree, shouldn’t listening be
If you agree, shouldn’t listening be
#1?
If you agree, shouldn’t listening be
item” at every Meeting?
If you agree, shouldn’t listening be
se? (Listening = Strategy.)
If you agree, shouldn’t listening be
for in Hiring (for every job)?
... a Core Competence?
... Core Competence
... an explicit “agenda
... our Strategy—per
... the #1 skill we look
Listen = “Profession”
= Study = practice =
evaluation =
Enterprise value
Really First
Things Before
First Things
Whine all you
want, but
meetings
are what you
[boss] do!
#1
Meetings =
leadership
opportunity
Every meeting that
does not stir the imagination
and curiosity of attendees and
increase bonding and cooperation and engagement
and sense of worth and
motivate rapid action and
enhance enthusiasm is a
permanently lost opportunity.
Meeting:
Tom Peters’
Sustaining
!
EXCELLENCE
Jabil Circuit/Officers Meeting 2013
TradeWinds Resort/St. Pete Beach/02 May 2013
(slides @ tompeters.com/excellencenow.com)
“Business has to give people enriching,
or it's
simply not
worth doing.”
rewarding lives …
—Richard Branson
“You have to
treat your
employees like
customers.”
—Herb Kelleher,
upon being asked his “secret to success”
Source: Joe Nocera, NYT, “Parting Words of an Airline Pioneer,”
on the occasion of Herb Kelleher’s retirement after 37 years at Southwest
Airlines (SWA’s pilots union took out a full-page ad in USA Today
thanking HK for all he had done) ; across the way in Dallas, American
Airlines’ pilots were picketing AA’s Annual Meeting)
"When I hire
someone, that's
when I go to
work for
them.”
—John DiJulius, "What's the Secret to
Providing a World-class Customer Experience"
“Employees who
don't feel significant
rarely make
significant
contributions.”
—Mark Sanborn
“I didn’t have a ‘mission
statement’ at Burger King. I had
a dream. Very simple. It was
something like, ‘Burger King is
250,000 people, every one of
whom gives a shit.’ Every one.
Accounting. Systems.
Not just the drive through.
Everyone is ‘in the brand.’ That’s
what we’re talking about,
nothing less.” — Barry Gibbons
Amen!
“What creates trust,
in the end, is the
leader’s manifest
respect for
the followers.”
— Jim O’Toole, Leading Change
"If you want staff to
give great service,
give great service to
staff."
—Ari Weinzweig, Zingerman's
EMPLOYEES FIRST, CUSTOMERS SECOND:
Turning Conventional Management Upside Down
Vineet Nayar/CEO/HCL Technologies
“No matter what the
situation, [the great manager’s] first
response is always to think
about the individual
concerned and how things
can be arranged to help that
individual experience
success.”
—Marcus Buckingham,
The One Thing You Need to Know
Brand =
Talent.
Our Mission
To develop and manage talent;
to apply that talent,
throughout the world,
for the benefit of clients;
to do so in partnership;
to do so with profit.
WPP
“Leaders
‘do’ people.
Period.”
—Anon.
Oath of Office: Managers/Servant Leaders
Our goal is to serve our customers brilliantly and profitably over
the long haul.
Serving our customers brilliantly and profitably over the long
haul is a product of brilliantly serving, over the long haul, the
people who serve the customer.
Hence, our job as leaders—the alpha and the omega and
everything in between—is abetting the sustained growth and
success and engagement and enthusiasm and commitment to
Excellence of those, one at a time, who directly or indirectly
serve the ultimate customer.
We—leaders of every stripe—are in the “Human Growth and
Development and Success and Aspiration to Excellence
business.”
“We” [leaders] only grow when “they” [each and every one of our colleagues] are
growing.
“We” [leaders] only succeed when “they” [each and every one of our colleagues]
are succeeding.
“We” [leaders] only energetically march toward Excellence when
“they” [each and every one of our colleagues] are energetically marching
toward Excellence.
Period.
7 Steps to Sustaining Success
You take care of the people.
The people take care of the service.
The service takes care of the customer.
The customer takes care of the profit.
The profit takes care of the re-investment.
The re-investment takes care of the re-invention.
The re-invention takes care of the future.
(And at every step the only measure is EXCELLENCE.)
7 Steps to Sustaining Success
You take care of the people.
The people take care of the service.
The service takes care of the customer.
The customer takes care of the profit.
The profit takes care of the re-investment.
The re-investment takes care of the re-invention.
The re-invention takes care of the future.
(And at every step the only measure is EXCELLENCE.)
3 People
“The
ONE Question”: “In the last year [3 years, current job],
three
people
name the …
… whose growth you’ve
most contributed to. Please explain where they were at the
beginning of the year, where they are today, and where they are
heading in the next 12 months. Please explain … in painstaking
detail … your development strategy in each case. Please tell me
your biggest development disappointment—looking back, could you
or would you have done anything differently? Please tell me about
your greatest development triumph—and disaster—in the last five
years. What are the ‘three big things’ you’ve learned about helping
people grow along the way?”
2/year =
legacy.
Promotion Decisions
“life and
death
decisions”
Source: Peter Drucker, The Practice of Management
“A man should never
be promoted to a
managerial position if his
vision focuses on people’s
weaknesses rather than on
their strengths.” —Peter Drucker,
The Practice of Management
Andrew Carnegie’s Tombstone Inscription …
Here lies a man
Who knew how to enlist
In his service
Better men than himself.
Source: Peter Drucker, The Practice of Management
“The leaders of Great
Groups … love talent
… and know where to find
revel in …
the talent of
others.”
it. They …
—Warren Bennis & Patricia Ward
Biederman, Organizing Genius
From
sweaters to
people!*
Les Wexner:
*Limited Brands founder Les Wexner queried on astounding longterm success—said, in effect, it happened because he got
as excited about developing people as he had been about
predicting fashion trends in his early years
“Unremarkable” except
for RESULTS: Superb
people developer
(her/his folks invariably
amazed at what
they’ve accomplished!)
70 Cents
the
most important
aspect of business
and yet remains woefully
misunderstood.”
“In short, hiring is
Source: Wall Street Journal, 10.29.08,
review of Who: The A Method for Hiring,
Geoff Smart and Randy Street
“Development can help great
people be even better—but
if
I had a dollar to spend,
I’d spend 70 cents
getting the right person
in the door.”
—Paul Russell, Director, Leadership and
Development, Google
“When assessing candidates, the
first thing I looked for was energy
and enthusiasm for execution:
Does she talk about the thrill
of getting things done, the
obstacles overcome, the role
her people played —or does she
keep wandering back to strategy or
philosophy?”
—Larry Bossidy, Execution
“C-level”?
In the Army, 3-star
generals worry about
training. In most
businesses, it's a “ho
hum” mid-level staff
function.
Why is intensiveextensive training
obvious for the army &
navy & sports teams &
performing arts
groups—but not for
the average business?
I would hazard a guess
that most CEOs see IT
investments as a
“strategic necessity,”
but see training
expenses as “a
necessary evil.”
(1) Training merits
“C-level” status!
(2) Top trainers should
be paid a king’s
ransom—and be of
the same caliber as
top marketers or
researchers.
No company ever
Expended too much
thought/Effort/ $$$$
on training!*
*ESPECIALLY … small company
“training, TRAINING
and M-O-R-E
T-R-A-I-N-I-N-G”
—CINCPAC Nimitz to CNO King/actual emphasis in written communication
/1943/on #1 need for U.S. Navy in South Pacific
Heroism: Training
> Patriotism
“How to
throw $500,000
into the sea
in one easy
lesson!!”
TP:
< CAPEX
> PEOPLE!
Source: Container Store/Goal: increase average sale per shopper
The Memories
That Matter.
The Memories That Matter
The people you developed who went on to
stellar accomplishments inside or outside
the company.
The (no more than) two or three people you developed who went on to
create stellar institutions of their own.
The long shots (people with “a certain something”) you bet on who
surprised themselves—and your peers.
The people of all stripes who 2/5/10/20 years
later say “You made a difference in my life,”
“Your belief in me changed everything.”
The sort of/character of people you hired in general. (And the bad
apples you chucked out despite some stellar traits.)
A handful of projects (a half dozen at most) you doggedly pursued that
still make you smile and which fundamentally changed the way
things are done inside or outside the company/industry.
The supercharged camaraderie of a handful of Great Teams aiming to
“change the world.”
The Memories That Matter
Belly laughs at some of the stupid-insane things you and your mates
tried.
Less than a closet full of “I should have …”
A frighteningly consistent record of having
invariably said, “Go for it!”
Not intervening in the face of considerable loss—recognizing that to
develop top talent means tolerating failures and allowing the
person who screwed up to work their own way through and out of
their self-created mess.
Dealing with one or more crises with particular/memorable aplomb.
CIVILITY
Demanding …
… regardless of circumstances.
Turning around one or two or so truly dreadful situations—and
watching almost everyone involved rise to the occasion (often to
their own surprise) and acquire a renewed sense of purpose in the
process.
Leaving something behind of demonstrable-lasting worth. (On short as
well as long assignments.)
The Memories That Matter
Having almost always (99% of the time) put “Quality” and “Excellence”
ahead of “Quantity.” (At times an unpopular approach.)
A few “critical” instances where you stopped short and could have
“done more”—but to have done so would have compromised your and
your team’s character and integrity.
A sense of time well and honorably spent.
The expression of “simple” human kindness and consideration—no
matter how harried you may be/may have been.
Understood that your demeanor/expression of character always set
the tone—especially in difficult situations.
Never (rarely) let your external expression of enthusiasm/
determination flag—the rougher the times, the more your expressed
energy and bedrock optimism and sense of humor showed.
The respect of your peers.
A stoic unwillingness to badmouth others—even in private.
The Memories That Matter
An invariant creed: When something goes amiss, “The buck stops with
me”; when something goes right, it was their doing, not yours.
A Mandela-like “naïve” belief that others will
rise to the occasion if given the opportunity.
A reputation for eschewing the “trappings of power.” (Strong selfmanagement of tendencies toward arrogance or dismissiveness.)
Intense, even “driven” … but not to the point of being careless of others
in the process of forging ahead.
Willing time and again to be surprised by ways of doing things that are
inconsistent with your “certain hypotheses.”
Humility in the face of others, at every level,
who know more than you about “the way
things really are.”
Bit your tongue on a thousand occasions—and listened, really
really listened. (And been constantly delighted when, as a result, you
invariably learned something new and invariably increased your
connection with the speaker.)
The Memories That Matter
Unalloyed pleasure in being informed of the fallaciousness of your
beliefs by someone 15 years your junior and several rungs below you
on the hierarchical ladder.
Selflessness. (A sterling reputation as “a guy always willing to help out
with alacrity despite personal cost.”)
As thoughtful and respectful, or more so, toward thine “enemies” as
toward friends and supporters.
Always and relentlessly put at the top of your list/any
list being first and foremost “of service” to your
internal and external constituents. (Employees/Peers/
Customers/Vendors/Community.)
Treated the term “servant leadership” as holy writ. (And “preached”
“servant leadership” to others—new “non-managerial” hire or old
pro, age 18 or 48.)
The Memories That Matter
Created the sort of workplaces you’d like your kids to
inhabit. (Explicitly conscious of this “Would I want my
kids to work here?” litmus test.)
A “certifiable” “nut” about quality and safety and integrity. (More or
less regardless of any costs.)
A notable few circumstances where you resigned rather than
compromise your bedrock beliefs.
Perfectionism just short of the paralyzing variety.
A self- and relentlessly enforced group standard of
“EXCELLENCE-in-all-we-do”/“EXCELLENCE in our
behavior toward one another.”
Joe J. Jones
1942 – 2010
Net Worth
$21,543,672.48
Not.
Excellence1982: The Bedrock “Eight Basics”
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
A Bias for Action
Close to the Customer
Autonomy and Entrepreneurship
Productivity Through People
Hands On, Value-Driven
Stick to the Knitting
Simple Form, Lean Staff
Simultaneous Loose-Tight
Properties”
“Breakthrough” 82*
People!
Customers!
Action!
Values!
*In Search of Excellence
Hard is Soft.
Soft is Hard.
Hard
Soft
[numbers, plans]
[people/relationships]
is Soft.
is Hard.
“Why in the
World did you
go to Siberia?”
An emotional, vital,
innovative, joyful, creative,
entrepreneurial endeavor that elicits
maximum
Enterprise* (*at its best):
concerted human
potential in the
wholehearted pursuit of
EXCELLENCE in
service of others.**
**Employees, Customers, Suppliers, Communities, Owners, Temporary partners
Excellence
“At a party …
“At a party given by a billionaire
on Shelter Island, Kurt Vonnegut
informs his pal, Joseph Heller,
that their host, a hedge fund
manager, had made more money
in a single day than Heller had
earned from his wildly popular
novel Catch-22 over its whole
history. Heller responds …
“At a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island, Kurt Vonnegut
informs his pal, Joseph Heller … that their host, a hedge fund
manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had
earned from his wildly popular novel Catch-22 over its whole
‘Yes, but I
have something
he will never
have …
history. Heller responds …
Source: John Bogle, Enough. The Measures of Money, Business, and
Life (Bogle is founder of the Vanguard Mutual Fund Group)
At a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island, Kurt
Vonnegut informs his pal, Joseph Heller … that their
host, a hedge fund manager, had made more money in a
single day than Heller had earned from his wildly
popular novel Catch-22 over its whole history. Heller
responds … Yes, but I have something he will never have
…
enough.
Source: John Bogle, Enough. The Measures of Money, Business, and
Life (Bogle is founder of the Vanguard Mutual Fund Group)
“Too Much Cost, Not Enough Value”
“Too Much Speculation, Not Enough
Investment”
“Too Much Complexity, Not Enough Simplicity”
“Too Much Counting, Not Enough Trust”
“Too Much Business Conduct, Not Enough
Professional Conduct”
“Too Much Salesmanship, Not Enough
Stewardship”
“Too Much Focus on Things, Not Enough Focus
on Commitment”
“Too Many Twenty-first Century Values, Not
Enough Eighteenth-Century Values”
“Too Much ‘Success,’ Not Enough Character”
Source: Chapter titles from Jack Bogle, Enough.
In Search of Excellence /1982:
The Bedrock “Eight Basics”
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
A Bias for Action
Close to the Customer
Autonomy and Entrepreneurship
Productivity Through People
Hands On, Value-Driven
Stick to the Knitting
Simple Form, Lean Staff
Simultaneous Loose-Tight
Properties
READY.
FIRE!
AIM.
H. Ross Perot (vs “Aim! Aim! Aim!” /EDS vs GM/1985)
“Burt Rutan wasn’t a fighter jock; he was an engineer who
had been asked to figure out why the F-4 Phantom was flying
pilots into the ground in Vietnam. While his fellow engineers
attacked such tasks with calculators, Rutan insisted on
considering the problem in the air. A near-fatal flight not
only led to a critical F-4 modification, it also confirmed for
Rutan a notion he had held ever since he had built model
The way to make a
better aircraft wasn’t to sit
around perfecting a design, it was
to get something up in the air and
see what happens, then try to fix
whatever goes wrong.”
airplanes as a child.
—Eric Abrahamson & David Freedman, Chapter 8, “Messy Leadership,”
from A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder
/45
Lesson45:
WTTMSW
WHOEVER
TRIES
THE
MOST
STUFF
WINS
Better yet:
WTTMSTFW
WHOEVER
TRIES
THE
MOST
STUFF
THE
FASTEST
WINS
Better yet:
WTTMS(ASTMSU)TFW
WHOEVER
TRIES
THE
MOST
STUFF
(AND
SCREWS
THE
MOST
STUFF
UP)
THE
FASTEST
WINS
TRY IT
TRY IT.
Try
Try
Try
Try
Try
Try
Try
Try
Try
Try
Try
Try
Try
Try
Try
Try
Try
Try
Try
Try
Try
Try
It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
It.
“We made mistakes, of course. Most of them were
omissions we didn’t think of when we initially wrote the
software. We fixed them by doing it over and over, again
and again. We do the same today. While our competitors
are still sucking their thumbs trying to make the design
perfect, we’re already on prototype version
#5.
By
the time our rivals are ready with wires and screws, we
are on version
#10. It gets back
to planning versus acting: We
act from day one; others plan
how to plan—for months.”
—Bloomberg by Bloomberg
Culture of Prototyping
“Effective prototyping may
THE MOST
VALUABLE CORE
COMPETENCE an
be
innovative organization can
hope to have.” —Michael Schrage
“DEMO
OR DIE!”
Source: This was the approach championed by Nicholas Negroponte which vaulted his MIT
Media Lab to the forefront of IT-multimedia innovation. It was his successful alternative to the
traditional MIT-academic “publish or perish.” Negroponte’s rapid-prototyping version was
emblematic of the times and the pace and the enormity of the opportunity. ( NYTimes/0426.11)
DEMO.
NOW.
OR.
DIE.
“mean-timeto-prototype”
Source: Sony, via Michael Schrage
Whoever
Creates
The
Quickest
Prototypes
Wins
“You can’t be a serious
innovator unless and until
you are ready, willing and
able to seriously play.
‘Serious play’ is not an
oxymoron; it is the essence
of innovation.”
—Michael Schrage, Serious Play
“EXPERIMENT
FEARLESSLY”
Tactic #1
Source: BusinessWeek, “Type A Organization Strategies: How to Hit a Moving Target”—
“RELENTLESS TRIAL
AND ERROR”
Source: Wall Street Journal, cornerstone of effective approach to “rebalancing” company
portfolios in the face of changing and uncertain global economic conditions (11.08.10)
“FAIL.
FORWARD.
FAST.”
High Tech CEO, Pennsylvania
“No matter.
Try again.
Fail again.
Fail better.”
—Samuel Beckett
Read It
Richard Farson & Ralph Keyes:
Whoever Makes
the Most Mistakes
Wins: The Paradox
of Innovation
“The secret of fast
progress is
inefficiency, fast
and furious and
numerous failures.”
—Kevin Kelly
“FAIL FASTER.
SUCCEED
SOONER.”
David Kelley/IDEO
“REWARD
excellent failures.
PUNISH mediocre
successes.”
—Phil Daniels, Sydney exec
“It is not enough to
‘tolerate’ failure—
you must
‘celebrate’
failure.”
—Richard Farson (Whoever Makes the
Most Mistakes Wins)
“I used to play pretty serious chess. It’s
very easy for me—though I find it is
difficult for a lot of people—to recognize
that a lot of the things you do are
mistakes. One of the things very
important to becoming a good chess
player was losing a lot of games. You
get to the point that when you lose a
game, you don’t beat yourself up. You
try to learn from it. We try to encourage
that attitude. —Alan Trefler, CEO, Pegasystems
(in “Corner Office,” New York Times)
“In business, you reward
people for taking risks.
When it doesn’t work out
you promote them—because
they were willing to try new
things. If people tell me
they skied all day and never
fell down, I tell them to try
a different mountain.”
—Michael Bloomberg (BW/0625.07)
“YOU MISS
100%
OF
THE SHOTS YOU
NEVER TAKE.”
—Wayne Gretzky
The
Quality and Quantity and
Imaginativeness
of Innovation [and “R & D”
per se] … shall be the same
in all functions —e.g., in HR and
Iron Innovation Equality Law:
purchasing as much as in marketing or
product development.
“Skunkworks”*
“Skunk Camps”
“Skunks”
“Skunking”
*“Skunkworks” (my preference) or “Skunk Works” (Lockheed)
“Skunkworks”:
1 person for
3 months
“Never doubt that a
small group of
committed people
can change the
world. Indeed it is
the only thing that
ever has.”
—Margaret Mead
“the
solution”*
*“Innovation grants,” etc.
Source: Scott Bedbury
THE “PARALLEL
UNIVERSE”
AXIOM
“Venture”
fund: Gerstner/Amex,
Dow/Marriott, Grove/Intel,
DuPont/AI, Bedbury/
Starbucks, etc.
“Somewhere in your
organization, groups of people
are … already doing things
differently … and better. To
create lasting change, find
these areas of positive deviance
and fan the flames.”
—Richard Pascale & Jerry Sternin, “Your Company’s Secret
Change Agents,” HBR (The late Mr. Sternin was an incredibly
successful change agent in developing countries)
The Ultimate “Try
It” Strategy:
The Case for
Decentralization
Decentralization
vs Centralization
ALL
= “That’s
There Is” (from childrearing
101 to the Federalist Papers to Org.2012)
“Rose gardeners face a choice every spring. The long-term fate of a rose garden
depends on this decision. If you want to have the largest and most glorious roses of the
neighborhood, you will prune hard. This represents a policy of low tolerance and tight
control. You force the plant to make the maximum use of its available resources, by
Pruning hard is a
dangerous policy in an unpredictable environment. Thus, if
you are in a spot where you know nature may play tricks
on you, you may opt for a policy of high tolerance. You will
never have the biggest roses, but you have a muchenhanced chance of having roses every year. You will
achieve a gradual renewal of the plant. In short, tolerant
pruning achieves two ends: (1) It makes it easier to cope
with unexpected environmental changes. (2) It leads to a
continuous restructuring of the plant. The policy of
tolerance admittedly wastes resources—the extra buds
drain away nutrients from the main stem. But in an
unpredictable environment, this policy of tolerance makes
the rose healthier in the long run.” —Arie De Geus, The Living Company
putting them into the the rose’s ‘core business.’
“In short, tolerant pruning achieves
two ends: (1) It makes it easier to
cope with unexpected environmental
changes. (2) It leads to a continuous
restructuring of the plant. The policy
of tolerance admittedly wastes
resources—the extra buds drain away
nutrients from the main stem. But in
an unpredictable environment, this
policy of tolerance makes the rose
healthier in the long run.”
Resilience per se
should/must
become a
corporate value
and explicit part of
business strategy!
Lessons from the Bees!
“Since merger mania is now the rage, what
lessons can the bees teach us? A simple one:
Merging is not in nature. [Nature’s] process is
the exact opposite: one of growth,
fragmentation and dispersal. There is no
megalomania, no merging for merging’s sake.
The point is that unlike corporations, which just
get bigger, bee colonies know when the time
has come to split up into smaller colonies which
can grow value faster. What the bees are
telling us is that the corporate world has
got it all wrong.” —David Lascelles, Co-director of
The Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation [UK]
The True Logic* of Decentralization:
6 DIVISIONS = 6 “TRIES”
6 DIVISIONS = 6 DIFFERENT
LEADERS = 6 INDEPENDENT “TRIES”
= MAX PROBABILITY OF “WIN”
6 DIVISIONS = 6 VERY DIFFERENT
LEADERS = 6 VERY INDEPENDENT
“TRIES” = MAX PROBABILITY OF
“FAR OUT”/”3-SIGMA” “WIN”
*“Driver”: Law of Large #s
“‘Decentralization’
is not a piece of
paper. It’s not me.
It’s either in your
heart, or not.”
—Brian Joffe/BIDvest
Innovation Enemy
#1
I.C.D.
Inherent/Inevitable/
Immutable Centralist Drift
Note 1:
Note 2: Jim Burke’s 1-word vocabulary: “No.”
Public Enemy #1: I.C.D.
Immutable Centralist Drift
“Once a system grows sufficiently complex and
centralized, it doesn’t matter how badly our best and
brightest foul things up. Every crisis increases their
authority, because they seem to be the only ones who
But
their fixes tend to make the system
even more complex and centralized,
and more vulnerable to the next
national-security surprise, the
next natural disaster, the next
economic crisis.”
understand the system well enough to fix it.
—Ross Douthat/NYTimes
“I do not rule
Russia. Tenthousand clerks
do.”
—Czar Nicholas I
"Every great cause
begins as a movement,
becomes a business, &
eventually degenerates
into a racket." —Eric Hoffer
Help wanted:
I.C.D.
COPS
“Best practice” =
ZERO Standard
Deviation
MITTELSTAND* **
*“agile creatures darting between the legs of
the multinational monsters” (Bloomberg BusinessWeek, 10.10)
**E.g. Goldmann Produktion
THE RED
CARPET
STORE
(Joel Resnick/Flemington NJ)
Motueka, New Zealand
Coppins Sea
Anchors*
*PSA/Para-sea
anchors
Source: Kia Ora/Air New Zealand magazine
Basement Systems Inc.
Jim’s Mowing Canada
Jim’s Mowing UK
Jim’s Antennas
Jim’s Bookkeeping
Jim’s Building Maintenance
Jim’s Carpet Cleaning
Jim’s Car Cleaning
Jim’s Computer Services
Jim’s Dog Wash
Jim’s Driving School
Jim’s Fencing
Jim’s Floors
Jim’s Painting
Jim’s Paving
Jim’s Pergolas [gazebos]
Jim’s Pool Care
Jim’s Pressure Cleaning
Jim’s Roofing
Jim’s Security Doors
Jim’s Trees
Jim’s Window Cleaning
Jim’s Windscreens
Note: Download, free, Jim Penman’s book:
What Will They Franchise Next? The Story of Jim’s Group
Retail Superstars:
Inside the 25 Best
Independent Stores
in America
—by George Whalin
Jungle Jim’s International Market, Fairfield, Ohio: “An
adventure in
‘shoppertainment,’
as Jungle Jim’s
1,600
cheeses and, yes, 1,400 varieties of hot
sauce —not to mention 12,000 wines priced
from $8 to $8,000 a bottle; all this is brought to
you by 4,000 vendors. Customers come from every
calls it, begins in the parking lot and goes on to
corner of the globe.”
Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, Frankenmuth, Michigan,
98,000-square-foot “shop” features the
likes of 6,000 Christmas ornaments, 50,000
trims, and anything else you can name if it pertains to
pop 5,000:
Christmas.
Source: George Whalin, Retail Superstars
“Be the best.
It’s the only
market that’s
not crowded.”
From: Retail Superstars: Inside the 25 Best
Independent Stores in America, George Whalin
“You will become
like the five people
you associate with
the most—this can
be either a blessing
or a curse.”
—Billy Cox
“The Bottleneck …
“The Bottleneck is at the …
“Where are you likely to find people with
the least diversity of experience, the
largest investment in the past,
and the greatest reverence for
industry dogma …
Top of the
Bottle”
— Gary Hamel/Harvard Business Review
WE
ARE WHAT WE
EAT/WE ARE
THE COMPANY
WE KEEP
The “Hang Out Axiom I”:
The “We are what we eat”/
“We are who we hang out with”
Axiom: At its core, every (!!!)
relationship-partnership decision
(employee, vendor, customer, etc.,
etc.) is a strategic decision about:
“Innovate,
‘Yes’ or ‘No’ ”
Measure/Manage: Portfolio “Strangeness”/ “Quality”
1. Customers
2. Vendors
3. Out-sourcing Partners
4. Acquisitions
5. Purposeful “Theft”
6. Diversity/“d”iversity
7. Diversity/Crowd-sourcing
8. Diversity/Weird
9. Diversity/Curiosity
10. Benchmarks
11. Calendar
12. MBWA
13. Lunch/General
14. Lunch/Other functions
15. Location/Internal
16. Location/HQ
17. Top team
18. Board
“DON’T
BENCHMARK,
FUTUREMARK!”
Impetus: “The future is already here; it’s just
not evenly distributed” —William Gibson
“DON’T
BENCHMARK,
‘OTHER’ MARK!”
“The short road
to ruin is to
emulate the
methods of your
adversary.”
— Winston Churchill
EMPLOYEES:
“Are there
enough weird
people in the lab
these days?”
Source: V. Chmn., pharmaceutical house, to a lab director
“[CEO A.G.] Lafley has shifted P&G’s focus on
inventing all its own products to developing …
OTHERS’
INVENTIONS AT
LEAST HALF THE
TIME.
One successful
example, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, is based on a product
found in an Osaka market.” —Fortune
“Diverse groups of problem solvers—groups
of people with diverse tools—consistently
outperformed groups of the best and the
brightest. If I formed two groups, one
random (and therefore diverse) and one
consisting of the best individual performers,
the first group almost always did better. …
DIVERSITY TRUMPED
ABILITY.”
—Scott Page, The Difference:
How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups,
Firms, Schools, and Societies
Diversity … per se
… is a key …
maybe the key …
to effective and
innovative
decision making.
“Who’s the most
interesting person
you’ve met in the
last 90 days? How
do I get in touch
with them?”
—Fred Smith
Once a month on, say, a Friday, invite
somebody intriguing, in any field,
to have lunch with your gang.
“Freak
Fridays”
Call it:
Vanity Fair:
“What is your most marked
characteristic?”
Mike Bloomberg:
“Curiosity.”
CQ/Curiosity
Quotient*
*Hire for it in more or less 100% slots/Promote for it
“Do one thing
every day that
scares you.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt
“Normal” =
“0
for
800”
Alas: Education
[almost
invariably]
kills creativity
“Every child is
born an artist. The
trick is to remain
an artist.”
—Picasso
“It is nothing short of
a miracle that
modern methods of
instruction have not
yet entirely strangled
the holy curiosity of
inquiry.”
—Albert Einstein
“Human
creativity is
the ultimate
economic
resource.”
—Richard Florida,
The Rise of the Creative Class
Co-creation:
Gamechanger!
“The Billion-man
Research Team:
Companies offering
work to online
communities are
reaping the benefits of
‘crowdsourcing.’”
—Headline, FT
Rob McEwen/CEO/
Goldcorp Inc./
Red Lake
GOLD
Wikinomics: How Mass
Collaboration Changes Everything,
Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams
Source:
Forget>“Learn”
“The problem is never
how to get new,
innovative thoughts
into your mind, but
how to get the old
ones out.”
—Dee Hock
Forgetting >>
Learning
We need a
FORMAL …
“Forgetting
Strategy.”
MORE
MOORE
“Satisfaction”
To: “Success”
From:
“ ‘Results’ are
measured by the
success of all those
who have purchased
your product or
service” —Jan Gunnarsson & Olle Blohm,
The Welcoming Leader
IBM
“Lou, with all the
money I’ve spent
with you guys, why in
the hell hasn’t my
business been
transformed?”
M
IB
to
B
I
M
$55B*
*IBM Global Services/
“Systems integrator of choice”
Planetary Rainmaker-in-Chief!
“[CEO Sam] Palmisano’s
strategy is to expand tech’s
borders by pushing users—
and entire industries—toward
radically different business
models. The payoff for IBM would be
access to an ocean of revenue—Palmisano
estimates it at $500 billion a year —
that technology companies have never been
able to touch.” —Fortune
“You are headed
for commodity
hell if you don’t
have services.”
—Lou Gerstner, on IBM’s coming revolution (1997)
UPS
What Can
Brown Do
for You?
Source: ubiquitous UPS ad campaign
“Big Brown’s New Bag: UPS
Aims to Be the Traffic Manager
for Corporate America” —Headline/BW
“UPS wants to take over the
sweet spot in the endless loop
of goods, information and
capital that all the packages
[it moves] represent.” —ecompany.com
(E.g.,
UPS Logistics
manages the logistics of
4.5M
Ford vehicles, from 21 mfg. sites to 6,000 NA dealers)
“WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?”
“It’s all about solutions. We
talk with customers about
how to run better, stronger,
cheaper supply chains. We
have 1,000 engineers who
work with customers …”
—Bob Stoffel, UPS senior exec
“THE GIANT STALKING BIG OIL: HOW
SCHLUMBERGER IS
REWRITING THE RULES OF THE
ENERGY GAME.”: “IPM [Integrated
Project Management] strays from
[Schlumberger’s] traditional role
as a service provider and moves
deeper into areas once dominated
by the majors.”
Source: BusinessWeek cover story
“We’ll do
just about anything
an oilfield owner
would want, from
drilling to
production.”
IPM’s Chief:
A 2008 BusinessWeek cover story informed us that Schlumberger may well take
over the world: “THE GIANT STALKING BIG OIL: How Schlumberger Is Rewriting the
Rules of the Energy Game.” In short, Schlumberger knows how to create and run
oilfields, anywhere, from drilling to fullscale production to distribution. And the
nugget is hardcore, relatively small, technically accomplished, highly autonomous
teams. As China and Russia, among others, make their move in energy, state run
companies are eclipsing the major independents. (China’s state oil company just
surpassed Exxon in market value.) At the center of it all, abetting these
new players who are edging out the Exxons and BPs, the Kings of
Large-scale, Long-term Project Management wear Schlumberger
overalls. At the center of the center of the Schlumberger “empire” is a relatively
newly configured outfit, reminiscent of IBM’s Global Services and UPS’ integrated
logistics’ experts and even Best Buy’s now ubiquitous “Geek Squads.” The
Schlumberger version of IBM Global Services is simply called
IPM, for Integrated Project Management. It lives in a nondescript
building near Gatwick Airport, and its chief says it will do “just
about anything an oilfield owner would want, from drilling to
production.” That is, as BusinessWeek put it, “[IPM] strays from
[Schlumberger’s] traditional role as a service provider* and moves deeper into areas
once dominated by the majors.” (*My old pal was solo on remote offshore platforms
interpreting geophysical logs and the like.)
GE Enterprise Solutions*
GE Enterprise Solutions delivers high-impact, integrated
solutions that improve customers’ productivity and
profitability. Enterprise Solutions helps customers
compete and win in a changing global environment by
combining the power of GE’s intelligent technologies
with its multi-industry experience and expertise.
Enterprise Solutions comprises high-tech, high-growth
businesses including Sensing & Inspection Technologies,
Security, GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, and Digital
Energy. The business has 17,000 customer-focused
associates in more than 60 countries around the world.
*from GE.com
“Instant
Infrastructure: GE
Becomes a General
Store for Developing
Countries”
—headline/ NYT
boxes* to
“integrated
building systems”
UTC/Otis + UTC/Carrier:
*elevators, air conditioners
MasterCard
Advisors
LEAVE IT
TO BEAVER.
Trapper:
<$20
per beaver pelt.
Source: WSJ
WDCP/“WILDLIFE
DAMAGE-CONTROL
PROFESSIONAL”: $150
to “remove” “problem
beaver”; $750-$1,000
for flood-control piping …
so that beavers can stay.
Source: WSJ
Trapper =
Redneck
WDCP = PSF/
Professional Services
Provider
7X to 40X
for
“Solution”
[rather than “service transaction”]
LITTLE =
7X.
7:30A-8:00P.
F12A.
7:30AM = 7:15AM.
8:00PM = 8:15PM.
Don’t like it?
Don’t pay.
Source: Granite Rock Co.
Red light flashes=
-10%
BEGINS
(and ENDS)
It
in the …
Parking
lot*
*Disney
National “Brand”/
2-CENT
candy
Big carts =
Source: Wal*Mart
Bag sizes = New markets:
Source: PepsiCo
<TGW
and …
>TGR
[Things Gone WRONG-Things Gone RIGHT]
“EXPERIENCES ARE
AS DISTINCT FROM
SERVICES AS
SERVICES ARE
FROM GOODS.”
—Joe Pine & Jim Gilmore, The Experience Economy:
Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage
8%
Customers describing their service experience as
“superior”:
Companies describing
the service experience they provide as
“superior”:
80%
—Source: Bain & Company survey of 362 companies, reported in John DiJulius,
What's the Secret to Providing a World-class Customer Experience?
Acquire vs maintain*:
*Recession goal: Higher “market share” current customers
C
*Chief e
O*
Xperience Officer
(1) Amenable to rapid
experimentation/
failure “free” (PR, $$)
(2) Quick to implement/
Quick to Roll out
(3) Inexpensive to
implement/Roll out
(4) Huge multiplier
(5) An “Attitude”
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
Half-day/25 ideas
One week/5 experiments
One month/Select best 2
60-90 days/Roll out
“I’m always stopping by our
at least 25
a week. I’m also in other
stores—
places: Home Depot, Whole Foods,
Crate & Barrel. … I try to be
a sponge to pick up as much
as I can. …” —Howard Schultz
Source: Fortune, “Secrets of Greatness”
MBWA
Managing By Wandering Around/HP
50%
Un-scheduled
MBWA 4
four most
important
words in any
“The
organization are …
MBWA 8: Change the World With Four Words
“WHAT DO
YOU
THINK?”
Source: courtesy Dave Wheeler, posted at tompeters.com
MBWA 8
MBWA 8:
Change the World With EIGHT Words
What do you think?*
How can I help?**
*Dave Wheeler: “What are the four most important words in the boss’ lexicon?”
**Boss as CHRO/Chief Hurdle Removal Officer **********************************
MBWA 12
MBWA 12:
Change the World
With TWELVE Words
What do you think?*
How can I help?**
What have you learned?***
*Dave Wheeler: “What are the four most important words in the boss’ lexicon?”
**Boss as CHRO/Chief Hurdle Removal Officer **********************************
***What [new thing] have you learned [in the last 24 hours]? **********************
MBWA 16
MBWA 16:
Change the World With SIXTEEN Words
What do you think?*
How can I help?**
What have you learned?***
“Thank you!”****
“I’m sorry.”*****
*Dave Wheeler: “What are the four most important words in the boss’ lexicon?”
**Boss as CHRO/Chief Hurdle Removal Officer **********************************
***What [new thing] have you learned [in the last 24 hours]? **********************
****Recognition-Appreciation POWER! **********************************************
*****Accept responsibilities for your bloopers—large or small *************************
Tomorrow: How many
times will you “ask the
WDYT question”?
!!]
[Count ’em
[Practice makes better!] [This is a
STRATEGIC skill!]
You = Your
Calendar
You = Your
calendar*
*The calendar
NEVER
lies.
YOUR CALENDAR
KNOWS PRECISELY
WHAT YOU
REALLY CARE
ABOUT.
DO YOU
????
Don’t >
Do*
* “Don’ting” must be systematic >
WILLPOWER
“The one thing you
need to know about
sustained individual
success: Discover what
you don’t like doing and
STOP
doing it.”
—Marcus Buckingham, The One Thing You Need to Know
one
“If there is any
‘secret’
to effectiveness, it is
concentration. Effective
executives do first things first
and they do
one thing at a
time.”
…
—Peter Drucker
“It’s always
showtime.”
—David D’Alessandro, Career Warfare
“I am a
dispenser of
enthusiasm.”
—Ben Zander
“Nothing is so
contagious as
enthusiasm.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“A man without
a smiling face
must not open a
shop.”
—Chinese Proverb
Me first!
“To develop
others, start with
yourself.”
—Marshall Goldsmith
“Being aware of
yourself and how you
affect everyone around
you is what
distinguishes a superior
leader.” —Edie Seashore (Strategy +
Business #45)
“How can a high-level leader like _____ be so
out of touch with the truth about himself? It’s
In
fact, the higher up the
ladder a leader climbs,
the less accurate his selfassessment is likely to
be. The problem is an acute lack of feedback
more common than you would imagine.
[especially on people issues].”
—Daniel Goleman (et al.), The New Leaders
"Everyone thinks
of changing the
world, but no one
thinks of changing
himself"
—Leo Tolstoy
"You will never change
your life until you change
something you do daily.
The secret of your
success is found in your
daily routine." —John C. Maxwell
EXCELLENCE is not
an "aspiration.”
EXCELLENCE is …
THE NEXT FIVE
MINUTES.
EXCELLENCE is not an "aspiration."
EXCELLENCE is … THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
is your next conversation.
is your next meeting.
is shutting up and listening—really listening.
is your next customer contact.
is saying “Thank you” for something “small.”
is the next time you shoulder responsibility and apologize.
is waaay over-reacting to a screw-up.
is the flowers you brought to work today.
is lending a hand to an “outsider” who’s fallen behind schedule.
is bothering to learn the way folks in finance [or IS or HR] think.
is waaay “over”-preparing for a 3-minute presentation.
is turning “insignificant” tasks into models of … EXCELLENCE.
EXCELLENCE
is … THE
NEXT FIVE
MINUTES.
Or not.
“Courtesies of a small and
trivial character are the ones
which strike deepest in the
grateful and appreciating
heart.” —Henry Clay,
American Statesman (1777-1852)
"Let's not forget that small
emotions are the great
captains of our lives." –—Van Gogh
139,380 former
patients from 225 hospitals:
Press Ganey Assoc:
NONE
of THE top 15
factors determining Patient Satisfaction
referred to patient’s health outcome.
Instead: directly related to Staff
Interaction; directly correlated with
Employee Satisfaction
Source: Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
“There is a misconception that supportive interactions require more
staff or more time and are therefore more costly. Although labor
costs are a substantial part of any hospital budget, the interactions
themselves add nothing to the budget.
KINDNESS IS
FREE.
Listening to patients or answering
their questions costs nothing. It can be argued that negative
interactions—alienating patients, being non-responsive to
their needs or limiting their sense of control—can be very costly. …
Angry, frustrated or frightened patients may be combative,
withdrawn and less cooperative—requiring far
more time than it would have taken to interact with them initially in a
positive way.”
Source: Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin, Patrick
Charmel (Griffin Hospital/Derby CT; Planetree Alliance)
K=R=P
KINDNESS =
REPEAT
BUSINESS =
PROFIT.
Kindness … WORKS!
Kindness … PAYS!
/80*
*Post-interview “Thank you” notes
“Thank
You.”
"Appreciative words are
the most powerful force
for good on earth.”
—George W. Crane, physician, columnist
“The two most powerful
things in existence:
a kind word and a
thoughtful gesture.”
—Ken Langone, co-founder, Home Depot
“Acknowledge” …
perhaps the most
powerful word (and
idea) in the English
language—and
in the manager’s
tool kit!
“I regard apologizing as the
most magical, healing,
restorative gesture human
beings can make. It is the
centerpiece of my work with
executives who want to get
better.” —Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You
Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become
Even More Successful.
Relationships (of all varieties): THERE
ONCE WAS A TIME WHEN A
THREE-MINUTE
PHONE CALL WOULD
HAVE AVOIDED SETTING OFF THE
DOWNWARD SPIRAL THAT
RESULTED IN A COMPLETE
RUPTURE.*
*divorce, loss of a BILLION $$$ aircraft sale, etc., etc.
The completed “three-minute
call” often-usually-invariably
leads to a strengthening
of the relationship. It not only
acts as atonement but also
paves the path for a “better
than ever” trajectory. And
having taken the initiative per
se is worth its weight in …
THE PROBLEM IS
RARELY/NEVER THE
PROBLEM. THE
RESPONSE TO THE
PROBLEM INVARIABLY
ENDS UP BEING THE
REAL PROBLEM.*
*PERCEPTION IS ALL THERE IS!
COMEBACK
[BIG, QUICK RESPONSE]
>>
PERFECTION
Acquire vs. maintain:
5X*
*Hence: Service >> Sales (!!)
Hard is Soft.
Soft is Hard.
"SOFT SKILLS”
MASTERY =
EXCELLENCE IN
IMPLEMENTATION
Return On
Investment In
Relationships
R.O.I.R.
>>
R.O.I.
Wow
Zappos 10 Corporate Values
Deliver
“WOW!”
Embrace and drive change.
Create fun and a little weirdness.
Be adventurous, creative and open-minded.
Pursue growth and learning.
Build open and honest relationships with
communication.
Build a positive team and family spirit.
Do more with less.
Be passionate and determined.
Be humble.
Source: Delivering Happiness, Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com
through service.
“INSANELY GREAT”
Steve Jobs
“RADICALLY THRILLING”
BMW
“We are crazy. We should do
something when people say
If people
say something is
‘good’, it means
someone else is
already doing it.”
it is ‘crazy.’
—Hajime Mitarai, Canon
SKINNING
CATS
There is more
than one way to
skin a cat!*
REQUIRES
*Every project
(if you’re smart) an
outside look by one/some Seriously Weird Cat/s
—in pursuit of whacked-out options.
14,000
20,000
14,000/eBay
20,000/Amazon
30/Craigslist
“There’s no use trying,’ said
Alice. ‘One cannot believe
impossible things.’ ‘I daresay
you haven’t had much practice,’
said the Queen. ‘When I was
your age, I always did it for half
an hour a day. Why, sometimes
I’ve believed as many as six
impossible things before
breakfast.’” — Lewis Carroll
Where’s
your “Craig’s List
Every project:
[WOW!]
option”?
“We all agree your
theory is crazy. The
question, which
divides us, is
whether it is crazy
enough.”
—Niels Bohr, to Wolfgang Pauli
Kevin Roberts’ Credo
1. Ready. Fire! Aim.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
If it ain’t broke ... Break it!
Hire crazies.
Ask dumb questions.
Pursue failure.
Lead, follow ... or get out of the way!
Spread confusion.
Ditch your office.
Read odd stuff.
10.
AVOID MODERATION!
EXCELLENCE.
Always.
If not EXCELLENCE,
what?
If not EXCELLENCE
now, when?