Tom Peters’
EXCELLENCE.
ALWAYS.
Fortune Small Business Summit
Atlanta/21 October 2008
To appreciate
this presentation [and ensure
that it is not a mess], you need
Microsoft fonts:
NOTE:
“Showcard Gothic,”
“Ravie,” “Chiller”
and “Verdana”
“Insanely
great”
“You do not merely want to
be the best of the best. You
want to be
considered the
only ones who do
what you do.”
—Jerry Garcia
Built to Last
vs
Built to
Change/Rock
the World
Slides at …
tompeters.com
“I [will] not accept the
explanation of a recession
negatively effecting the
[new] business. There are
still people traveling. We just
have to get them to stay in
our hotel.”
—Horst Schulze, former president of RitzCarlton, on his new luxury hotel chain, Capella, from Prestige (06.08)
“R.I.P. Good
Times.” “Treat
every dollar you
spend as if it were
your last.”
—Sequoia Capital,
presentation to entrepreneurs it backs, October 2008
“We’re heading for tough
times. I made the decision
to go very deep, very quickly
so we won’t have to do it
again. It looks like we’re
having a record month, but I
can’t stick my head in the
sand.” —Iggy Fanio, CEO, AdBrite (FT, 10.20, p1,
“Optimism Fades as Silicon Valley Suffers Job Losses”)
Prelude
“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 40
years for 1,000 U.S. companies. They
found that
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
You don’t
get better
by being
bigger. You
Dick Kovacevich:
“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
#4 Japan
#2T USA
#2T China
#4 Japan
#3 USA
#2 China
#1 Germany
Reason!!!
Mittelstand
Goldmann
Produktions
(11/50%/$5M/”dip and coat,” expensive pigments
vs “through coloring,” fades Bekro Chemie)
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
*Basement Systems Inc.
*Larry Janesky
*Dry Basement Science
(115,000!)
*1990: $0; 2003: $13M;
2007:
$62,000,000
The Present
“Tom let me tell you the
definition of a good lending
officer. After church on
Sunday, on the way home
with his family, he takes a
little detour to drive by the
factory he just lent money to.
Doesn’t go in or any such
thing, just drives by and
takes a look.”
MBWA
“We Have Met the Enemy …
Thank
you,
Howard …
Internal
organizational
excellence =
Deepest “Blue
Ocean”
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
Yes: Dilution, other
control and shareowning issues.
Yes: Scale-as-power.
Yes: Market share.
No: People.
No: Product.
No: Value to customer.
Yes: People.
Yes: Product.
Yes: Value to customer.
No: Dilution, other
control and shareowning issues.
No: Scale-as-power.
No: Market share.
Thank you ,
Herb, Hal,
Robert, Siberia
and Peter …
“You have to
treat your
employees like
customers.”
—Herb Kelleher,
complete answer, upon being asked his “secrets 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 the Annual Meeting)
The Customer Comes
Second: Put Your
People First and
Watch ’Em Kick Butt
—Hal Rosenbluth and Diane McFerrin Peters (no relation—be delighted if she was)
“The role of the Director is to create a
space where the actors and
become more
than they’ve ever been
before, more than
they’ve dreamed of
being.”
actresses can
—Robert Altman, Oscar acceptance speech
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 service of
others.**
**Employees, Customers, Suppliers, Communities, Owners, Temporary partners
… no less than
Cathedrals
in which the full and
awesome power of the
Imagination and Spirit and
native Entrepreneurial flair
of diverse individuals is
unleashed in passionate
pursuit of … Excellence.
Thank you Ben
& Norm, Ike,
Nelson &
Delaware/Woody …
Give
good
tea!
“Allied commands depend
on mutual confidence
[and this confidence]
is gained, above all
through the development
of friendships.”
—General D.D. Eisenhower,
Armchair General * (05.08)
*“Perhaps his most outstanding ability [at West Point] was
the ease with which he made friends and earned the trust
of fellow cadets who came from widely varied backgrounds;
it was a quality that would pay great dividends during his
future coalition command.”
“eighty percent
of success is
showing up.”
—Woody Allen
Thank you Ben
& Norm, Ike, Nelson ,
and
Dave …
Delaware/Woody
“The four most important
words in any
organization
‘What do
you think?’ ”
are …
Source: courtesy Dave Wheeler, posted at
tompeters.com, source of original unknown (0609.08)
$2.3 trillion
“The West spent …
on foreign aid over the last five decades and
still has not managed to get twelve-cent
medicines to children to prevent half of all
malaria deaths. The West spent $2.3 trillion
and still not managed to get three dollars to
each new mother to prevent five million child
But I and
other
L(+21)
= many
L(-21)
deaths. …
like-minded people keep
trying, not to abandon aid to
the poor, but to make sure it
reaches them.”
$2.3 trillion
“The West spent …
on foreign aid over the last five decades and
still has not managed to get twelve-cent
medicines to children to prevent half of all
malaria deaths. The West spent $2.3 trillion
and still not managed to get three dollars to
each new mother to prevent five million child
Leadership(21A.D.)
=
deaths. … But I and many other
Leadership(21B.C.)
like-minded people keep
trying, not to abandon aid to
the poor, but to make sure it
reaches them.”
1913:
1960:
1980:
2000:
2007:
32%*
26%
22%
27%
26%
Source: “The Future of American Power,”
Fareed Zakaria, Foreign Affairs, vol 87, no. 3
*U.S. share of world output
Thank
you , Dick
(& Dan) …
“We have a
‘strategic plan.’
It’s called doing
things.”
— Herb Kelleher
“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
“Reward
excellent failures.
Punish mediocre
successes.”
Phil Daniels, Sydney exec
Try it. Try it. Try it
ry it. Try it. Screw
up. Try it. Try it. Try
t. Try it. Try it. Try
t. Try it. Screw it up
t. Try it. Try it. try
Thank
you ,
Peter …
Nudge.
Sway.
K.I.S.S.
90K in U.S.A. ICUs on any
given day; 178 steps/day
in ICU.
50%
stays result
in “serious complication”
Source: Atul Gawande, “The Checklist” (New Yorker, 1210.07)
**Peter Pronovost,
Johns Hopkins, 2001
**Checklist, line infections
**1/3rd at least one error when he started
**Nurses/permission to stop procedure
if doc, other not following checklist
**In 1 year, 10-day line-infection rate:
11% to …
0%
Source: Atul Gawande, “The Checklist” (New Yorker, 1210.07)
“Everything matters”
-80%
Source:
Nudge, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein ,
X =XFX*
*Excellence = Cross-functional Excellence
The “XF-50”: 50 Ways to
Enhance Cross-Functional
Effectiveness and Deliver
Speed, “Service Excellence”
and “Value-added
Customer ‘Solutions’”*
*Entire “XF-50” List is an Appendix to the LONG version of
this presentation, posted at tompeters.com
????
% XF
lunches*
*Measure!
Thank you ,
Anthelme
Brillat-Savarin
and Ludwig
Feuerbach …*
*”You are what you eat”
1.1/40
We are the
company
we keep
Measure “Strangeness”/Portfolio Quality
Staff
Consultants
Vendors
Out-sourcing Partners (#, Quality)
Innovation Alliance Partners
Customers
Competitors (who we “benchmark” against)
Strategic Initiatives
Product Portfolio (LineEx v. Leap)
IS/IT Projects
HQ Location
Lunch Mates
Language
Board
“[CEO A.G.] Lafley has shifted P&G’s
focus on inventing all its own
products to developing others’
at least
half the time. One
inventions
successful example Mr. Clean Magic
Eraser, based on a product found in
an Osaka market.”
Source: Fortune, 12.18.06
“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
The “Hang Out Axiom”: At
its core, every (!!!)
relationship-partnership
decision (employee,
vendor, customer, etc)
is a strategic decision
about:
“Innovate,
‘Yes’ or ‘No’ ”
Thank
you , Conrad
& Fred …
Conrad Hilton, at a gala
celebrating his life,
was asked, “What was the
most important lesson
you’ve learned in your long
and distinguished career?”
His immediate answer …
Conrad Hilton, at a gala celebrating his life,
was asked, “What was the most important lesson you’ve learned
in your long and distinguished career?”
His immediate answer:
“remember
to tuck the
shower curtain
inside the
bathtub”
“Execution is
strategy.”
—Fred Malek
“almost inhuman
disinterestedness in
… strategy” —Josiah Bunting
on
U.S. Grant (from Ulysses S. Grant)
“This [adolescent] incident [of getting from point A to point B] is notable
not only because it underlines Grant’s fearless horsemanship and his
determination, but also it is the first known example of a very important
Grant had an
extreme, almost phobic
dislike of turning back
and retracing his steps.
peculiarity of his character:
If he
set out for somewhere, he would get there somehow, whatever the
difficulties that lay in his way. This idiosyncrasy would turn out to be one
the factors that made him such a formidable general. Grant would always,
always press on—turning back was not an option for him.”
—Michael Korda, Ulysses Grant
EXECUTION.
DECENTRALIZATION.
ACCOUTABILITY.
6:15A.M.
“‘Decentralization’
is not a piece of
paper. It’s not me.
It’s either in your
heart, or not.”
—Brian Joffe/BIDvest
30%
MH: 80%
CF:
(no salesfolk)
(salesfolk)
SECDEF Bob Gates:
Walter Reed/Army
Sec’y; Nucs/USAF
Sec’y & COS
Response to “most important
contribution”: “I focused this
discipline on People and Power;
on Values, Structure, and
Constitution; and above all,
on responsibilities—that is,
focused the Discipline of
Management on management as
a truly liberal art.” (18 January 1999)
Thank
you , 7-11…
“How to flush
$500,000 down
the toilet in one
easy lesson!!”
TP:
< CAPEX
> People!
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
Brand =
Talent.
#1/100
“Best Companies to
Work for”/2005
Wegmans
#1 cause of
Dis-satisfaction?
2/year =
legacy.
The Dream Manager
—Matthew Kelly
“An organization can only become the-best-version-ofitself to the extent that the people who drive that
organization are striving to become better-versions-ofthemselves.” “A company’s purpose is to become thebest-version-of-itself. The question is: What is an
employee’s purpose? Most would say, ‘to help the
company achieve its purpose’—but they would be wrong.
That is certainly part of the employee’s role, but an
employee’s primary purpose is to become the-bestversion-of-himself or –herself. … When a company
forgets that it exists to serve customers, it quickly goes
Our employees are our
first customers, and our most
important customers.”
out of business.
“Leaders
‘SERVE’
people.
Period.”
—inspired by Robert Greenleaf
Thank you ,
Marshall et
al. …
“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
more common than you would imagine. In fact,
the higher up the ladder a leader climbs, the less
accurate his self-assessment is likely to be. The
problem is an acute lack of feedback [especially
on people issues].”
—Daniel Goleman (et al.), The New Leaders
Habit #1/Winning Too Much: “Winning too much is easily the
most common behavioral problem I observe in successful
people. [My italics.] There’s a fine line between winning when it
Winning too much
underlies nearly every other behavioral
problem.” “If we argue too much, it’s because we want our
counts and when no one’s counting. …
view to prevail over everyone else (i.e. it’s all about winning).”
“If we’re guilty of putting down other people, It’s our stealthy
way of positioning them beneath us (again, winning).” “If we
ignore people, again it’s about winning—by making them fade
away.”
Habit #2/Adding Too Much Value: “Good idea, but …” “The
problem is you may have improved the content by 5%, but
you’ve reduced my commitment to executing it by 50%,
because you’ve taken away my ownership of the idea.”
Habit #3: Passing Judgment
Habit #4: Making Destructive Comments
Etc.
Source: Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How
Successful People Become Even More Successful. (“The Twenty Habits That Hold
You Back From the Top”)
“You must
be
the change you
wish to see in the
world.”
Gandhi
You = Your
calendar*
*Calendars
never lie
“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
Relationships
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.
(of all varieties)
:
THE PROBLEM IS
RARELY/NEVER THE
PROBLEM. THE
RESPONSE TO THE
PROBLEM INVARIABLY
ENDS UP BEING THE
REAL PROBLEM.* **
*Watergate, M Stewart, BR
**And: PERCEPTION IS ALL THERE IS!
“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
Thank
you,
Heather …
“Forget China,
India and the
Internet: Economic
Growth Is Driven
by
Women.”
—Headline,
Economist, April 15, 2006, Leader, page 14
“Women are
the majority
market”
—Fara Warner/The Power of the Purse
most significant
variable in every
“The
sales situation is the
gender
of the buyer, and
more importantly, how the
salesperson communicates
to the buyer’s gender.”
—Jeffery Tobias Halter, Selling to Men, Selling to Women
The Perfect Answer
Jill and Jack buy
slacks in black…
Cases! Cases! Cases!
McDonald’s (“mom-centered” to “majority consumer”; not
via kids)
Home Depot (“Do it [everything!] Herself”)
P&G (more than “house cleaner”)
DeBeers (“right-hand rings”/$4B)
AXA Financial
Kodak (women = “emotional centers of the household”)
Nike (> jock endorsements; new def sports; majority consumer)
Avon
Bratz (young girls want “friends,” not a blond stereotype)
Source: Fara Warner/The Power of the Purse
“Goldman Sachs in Tokyo has
developed an index of 115
companies poised to benefit from
women’s increased purchasing
power; over the past decade the
value of shares in Goldman’s
basket has risen by 96%, against
the Tokyo stockmarket’s rise
of 13%.” —Economist, April 15
“AS LEADERS,
WOMEN
RULE:
New Studies find that
female managers outshine their male
counterparts in almost every measure”
TITLE/ Special Report/ BusinessWeek
“The growth and
success of womenowned businesses is
one of the most
profound changes
taking place in the
business world
today.” —
Margaret Heffernan, How She Does It
10 UNASSAILABLE REASONS WOMEN RULE
Women make [all] the financial decisions.
Women control [all] the wealth.
Women [substantially] outlive men.
Women start most of the new businesses.
Women’s work force participation rates have
soared worldwide.
Women are closing in on “same pay for same
job.”
Women are penetrating senior ranks rapidly
[even if the pace is slow for the corner
office per se].
Women’s leadership strengths are exceptionally well
aligned with new organizational effectiveness
imperatives.
Women are better salespersons than men.
Women buy [almost] everything—commercial
as well as consumer goods.
So what exactly is the point of men?
“One thing is certain: Women’s rise to power, which is
linked to the increase in wealth per capita, is happening
in all domains and at all levels of society. Women are no
longer content to provide efficient labor or to be
consumers with rising budgets and more autonomy to
spend. … This is just the beginning. The phenomenon
will only grow as girls prove to be more successful than
For a number of
observers, we have already
entered the age of
‘womenomics,’ the economy as
thought out and practiced
by a woman.” —Aude Zieseniss de Thuin, Financial
boys in the school system.
Times, 10.03.2006
Thank you,
Bill …
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“People turning 50
more
than half of
today have
their adult life
ahead of them.”
—Bill Novelli,
50+: Igniting a Revolution to Reinvent America
2000-2010 Stats
18-44: -1%
55+: +21%
(55-64:
+47%)
44-65:
“New
Customer
Majority” *
*45% larger than 18-43; 60% larger by 2010
Source: Ageless Marketing, David Wolfe & Robert Snyder
“Baby-boomer
Women: The
Sweetest of
Sweet Spots for
Marketers”
—David Wolfe and Robert
Snyder, Ageless Marketing
We are the Aussies & Kiwis & Americans & Canadians.
We are the Western Europeans & Japanese. We are the
fastest growing, the biggest, the wealthiest, the
boldest, the most (yes) ambitious, the most
experimental & exploratory, the most different, the
most indulgent, the most difficult & demanding, the
most service & experience obsessed, the most
vigorous, (the least vigorous,) the most health
conscious, the most female, the most profoundly
important commercial market in the history of the
we will be the
Center of your universe
for the next twenty-five
years. We have arrived!
world—and
“You do not merely want to
be the best of the best. You
want to be
considered the
only ones who do
what you do.”
—Jerry Garcia
Thank
you,
Singapore
and Steve …
2-cent
candy
<TGW
vs.
>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
Experience: “Rebel Lifestyle!”
“What we sell is the
ability for a 43year-old accountant
to dress in black
leather, ride through
small towns and have
people be afraid
of him.”
Harley exec, quoted in Results-Based Leadership
“You know a
design is good
when you want
to lick it.”
—Steve Jobs
Source: Design: Intelligence Made Visible,
Stephen Bayley & Terence Conran
Hypothesis:
DESIGN is
the principal
difference
between love
and hate!*
*Not “like” and “dislike”
Thank
you, Lou …
“M” = $0
IB :
$55B*
M
*Also HP-EDS
And the “M” Stands for … ?
“Systems
Integrator of choice.”/BW
Gerstner’s IBM:
(“Lou, help us turn ‘all this’ into that long-promised ‘revolution.’ ” )
IBM Global Services*
Services Corp.):
$55B
(*Integrated Systems
“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, January 2008
“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)
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
I. LAN Installation Co.
II. Geek Squad.
(3%)
(30%.)
III. Acquired by Best Buy.
IV. Flagship of Best Buy
Wholesale “Solutions”
Strategy Makeover.
Huge: Customer
Satisfaction
versus
Customer
Success
Department Head
to …
Managing
Partner,
IS Inc.
[HR, R&D, etc.]
Answer:
Are you the …
“Principal
Engine of
Value Added”
*E.g.: Your R&D budget as robust as the New Products team?
Thank you,
Eleanor, Kevin,
Sheik
Mohammad and
Lord Horatio …
“Do one thing
every day
that scares
you.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt
Kevin Roberts’ Credo
1. Ready. Fire! Aim.
2. If it ain’t broke ... Break it!
3. Hire crazies.
4. Ask dumb questions.
5. Pursue failure.
6. Lead, follow ... or get out of the way!
7. Spread confusion.
8. Ditch your office.
9. Read odd stuff.
10.
Avoid moderation!
Does your
project
portfolio
“have
a dubai”?
“[other]
admirals more
frightened of
losing than
anxious to win”
On NELSON:
Thank
you , Mike
& Bill …
The greatest danger
for most of us
is not that our aim is
too high
and we miss it,
but that it is
too low
and we reach it.
Michelangelo
"Life is not a journey to the
grave with the intention of
arriving safely in one pretty
and well preserved piece, but
to skid across the line
broadside, thoroughly used
up, worn out, leaking oil,
shouting ‘GERONIMO!’ ”
—Bill McKenna, professional motorcycle racer
(Cycle magazine 02.1982)
Geron-imo!
Thank you ,
Nassim Nicholas
Taleb …
The Black Swan
44: Tactical
Rules for
Survival (and
success) in
Looney times
Black Swan Tactical Rules
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
K.I.S.S.
Hammer on the basics.
Focus on us, not the competition.
Puzzle-solving: How to turn this
into an opportunity.
MBWA/X.
MBWA/I.
MBWA/Vendors.
Waaaaay over-communicate!!!!!!
(With everyone—start with your
banker.)
Black Swan Tactical Rules
9. All work is team work.
10. Transparency.
11. Work the phones.
12. Perception of fairness.
13. Share the pain.
14. Decency!!!!!!!
15. Grace!!
16. “Thank you.”
17. Control your impatience—
no temper tantrums.
18. Constant attitude checks—you.
Black Swan Tactical Rules
19. Dress for success.
20. Avoid burnout/you, the team,
the entire organization.
21. Re-emphasize the company
values-philosophy. (Now,
more than ever.)
22. Quality!!!!!! (Now, more than ever.)
23. No corner cutting. (Now, more
than ever.)
24. Constant reviews/War room.
25. Celebration of small wins.
Black Swan Tactical Rules
26. People First/HR is King.
27. Help people with personal
financial management.
28. Be generous to those who are
let go—e.g. healthcare benefits.
29. Don’t over-analyze.
30. Don’t under-analyze.
31. Cuts all at once—if possible.
32. Cuts explained in great detail.
33. Quantitative calendar
management—focus on “to don’ts.”
Black Swan Tactical Rules
34. Increase customer-service
training.
35. In general, minimize training cuts.
36. Be(very)ware R&D cuts; R&D
quick pay SWAT teams.
37. Beware such things as sales
travel cuts, ad cuts.
38. “Across the board” = Dumb.
39. Is this a time to over-invest if
cash is at hand? (E.g., distressed
innovative start-ups?
Black Swan Tactical Rules
40. Stealth work on the likes of
XF communication.
41. This could last a long time—
LT prep is necessary now.
42. Prepare/Be prepared for more
Black Swans.
43.
Excellence. (Now,
more than ever.)
(44. Remember all this in
peacetime—Chuck Knight’s
legacy.)