A Bias for
Action*
Tom Peters/10.16.2005
*Basic #1/In Search of Excellence
“We have a
‘strategic’ plan.
It’s called doing
things.”
— Herb Kelleher
Frank Purdue (“You damn well better be right.” )
Herb Kelleher (“We have a ‘strategic plan,’ it’s called doing
things.”)
Roger Milliken (Action item/Milestone/Due
date/Accountability/Consequences fanaticism)
Bob Nardelli (Bulldog!) (7am!)
Andy Pearson (the “missing 95 percent”/Op reviews/Deep dive)
Bill Creech (Billboards/ “fly bys”/Squadron-spirit)
Sam (Secret #1)
Lee Scott (96-hour re-merchandising) (TP/CGA: “You’re
problem isn’t that they’re bigger; it’s that
they’re better.” )
Sam’s
Secret #1!
Michael Dell (NMNBS)
Fred Smith (NMNBS)
Earl Weaver
Jerry Rice
Roger Enrico (Rule of 3) (Leadership development)
Pat Carrigan (5 X 25 = 125 years)
Dennis Littky (LBI)
Dick Anderson (Build it!) vs Dan (Report it—“tangible”/
“palpable”) (“Can Do!”) (WWII—working stiffs)
George Patton (“A good plan executed right now tops a
perfect plan executed next week.”)
Horatio Nelson!
John Boyd! (O.O.D.A. Loops) (Disorientation! Fly
into the ground.)
Dennis Diflorio (Commerce Bank; 7-7-7)
The Nelson Baker’s Dozen
1. SIMPLE-CLEAR SCHEME (“PLAN”) (NOT WILDLY IMAGINATIVE) (Patton: “A good
plan executed with vigor right now tops a ‘perfect’ plan executed next week.”)
2. Soaring/bold/clear/unequivocal/worthy/noble/inspiring
“Goal”/“mission”/“purpose”/“quest”
3. “Conversation”: ENGAGEMENT OF ALL LEADERS
4. LEEWAY FOR LEADERS: Select the Best/Dip Deep/Initiative demanded/
Accountability swift/Micromanagement absent
5. Led by “LOVE” (Lambert), not “AUTHORITY” (IDENTIFY WITH SAILORS!)
6. INSTINCT/SEIZE THE MOMENT/“IMPETUOSITY” (Boyd’s “OODA Loops”:
React more quickly than opponent, destroy his “world view”)
7. VIGOR! (Zander: leader as “Dispenser of Enthusiasm”)
8. Peerless Basic Skills/Mastery of Craft (Seamanship)
9. Workaholic! (“Duty” first, second, and third)
10. LEAD BY CONFIDENT & DETERMINED & CONTINUOUS & VISIBLE EXAMPLE (In
Harm’s Way) (Gandhi: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”/
Giuliani: Show up!)
11. Genius (“Transform the world to conform to their ideas,” “Triumph over rules”)
(Gandhi, Lee-Singapore) , not Greatness (“Make the most of their world”)
12. Luck! (Right time, right place; survivor) (“Lucky Eagle” vs “Bold Eagle”)
13. Others principal shortcoming: “ADMIRALS MORE FRIGHTENED OF LOSING
THAN ANXIOUS TO WIN”
Source: Andrew Lambert, Nelson: Britannia’s God of War
“Maneuverists”
BOYD: The Fighter Pilot Who
Changed the Art of War (Robert Coram)
He who has the
quickest O.O.D.A.
Loops* wins!
*Observe. Orient. Decide. Act. / Col. John Boyd
OODA Loop/Boyd Cycle
“Unraveling the competition”/ Quick
Transients/ Quick Tempo (NOT JUST
SPEED!)/ Agility/ “So quick it is
disconcerting” (adversary over-reacts or
under-reacts)/ “Winners used tactics that
caused the enemy to unravel before the
fight” (NEVER HEAD TO HEAD)
BOYD: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed
the Art of War (Robert Coram)
“Blitzkrieg is far more than lightning
thrusts that most people think of
when they hear the term; rather it was
all about high operational tempo
and the rapid exploitation of
opportunity.” / “Arrange the mind of the
enemy”—T.E. Lawrence/“Float like a
butterfly, sting like a bee”—Ali
BOYD: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed
the Art of War (Robert Coram)
F86 vs. MiG/Korea/10:1
Bubble canopy (360 degree view)
Full hydraulic controls (“The F86 driver
could go from one maneuver to another
faster than the MiG driver”)
MiG: “faster in raw acceleration and
F86: “quicker in
changing maneuvers”
turning ability.”
BOYD: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War (Robert Coram)
“It is not the strongest
of the species that
survives, nor the most
intelligent, but the
one most responsive
to change.” —Charles Darwin
“To Be
somebody or to
Do something”
BOYD: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War (Robert Coram)
“If your boss demands
loyalty, give him
integrity. But if he
demands integrity,
give him loyalty.”
—BOYD: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed
the Art of War (Robert Coram)
Peter Lewis (“We sell speed.”)
Dick Brown (“intense candor”)
Meg Whitman (“Strategy meetings two times a week”)
Mark McCormack (5,000mil-5min)
Richard Haass (“I used to have a rule for myself that
at any point in time I wanted to have in mind — as
it so happens, also in writing, on a little card I carried
around with me—the three big things I was trying to
get done. Three. Not two. Not four. Not five.
Not ten. Three.”) (SIO)
John Masters (You must drill.)
Nobel/Medicine (They ground up more pig brains!)
5,000
miles for a 5
min. meeting!
Mark McCormack:
John Masters: “This is so simple it
sounds stupid, but it is amazing
how few oil people really
you only
find oil if you drill
wells. You may think you’re
understand that
finding it when you’re drawing
maps and studying logs, but
you have to drill.” (Canadian Hunter)
Wilf Corrigan (LSI … “and then we’d send him to Taipei …”)
Dennis Donovan ($21M)
Guy Kawasaki (25 X 4 = 100 per year)
Nathan Myrvold (10,000X)
Ed Michaels ($25M-$80M/2 yrs)
Oticon (“scoreboard” in the lunchroom)
GE (1 of 100)
3M
HP (old)
“1, 2, 3 … Bullshit”
Re-do Rapidly (Microsoft)
Norio Ogha (Fast prototyping/IDEO/
MSchrage: Prototyping = #1)
“If Microsoft is good at anything, it’s
avoiding the trap of worrying about
criticism. Microsoft fails constantly. They’re
eviscerated in public for lousy products.
Yet they persist, through version
after version, until they get something
good enough. Then they leverage the
power they’ve gained in other markets
to enforce their standard.”
Seth Godin, Zooming
“Fail faster.
Succeed
sooner.”
David Kelley/IDEO
Fail.
Forward.
Fast.
–High-tech Exec
Larry Bossidy (CANDOR!) (Promises made & kept.
Consequences.)
LB (Ex as Core Competence #1 All key systems designed
around Execution)
LB (religion of “action items”)
Larry Bossidy & Ram
Charan/Execution: The
Discipline of Getting
Things Done
“I saw that leaders placed too much
emphasis on what some call highlevel strategy, on intellectualizing
and philosophizing, and not
enough on implementation. People
would agree on a project or
initiative, and then nothing would
come of it.” —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
“Execution is
the job of the
business
leader.”
—Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
(“Leaders
‘do’ people.
Period.” )
—TP
The Leader’s Seven Essential Behaviors
*Know your people and your business
*Insist on realism
*Set clear goals and priorities
*Follow through
*Reward the doers
*Expand people’s capabilities
*Know yourself
Source: Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/ Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
“Realism is
the heart of
execution.”
—Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/ Execution:
The Discipline of Getting Things Done
“robust
dialogue”
—Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
“The person who is a little less conceptual but
is absolutely determined to succeed will usually
find the right people and get them together to
achieve objectives. I’m not knocking education or
looking for dumb people. But if you have to choose
between someone with a staggering IQ and an elite
education who’s gliding along, and someone with a
lower IQ but who is absolutely determined to succeed,
you’ll always do better with the second person.”
—Larry Bossidy (Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done)
Duct Tape Rules!
“Andrew Higgins, who built
landing craft in WWII, refused to
hire graduates of engineering
schools. He believed that they only teach you
what you can’t do in engineering school. He
started off with 20 employees, and by the middle
of the war had 30,000 working for him. He turned
out 20,000 landing craft. D.D. Eisenhower told
me, ‘Andrew Higgins won the war for us. He did
it without engineers.’ ” —Stephen Ambrose/Fast Company
Ye gads: “Thomas
Stanley has not
only found no correlation
between success in school and an
ability to accumulate wealth,
he’s actually found a negative
correlation. ‘It seems that school-related
evaluations are poor predictors of economic success,’ Stanley
concluded. What did predict success was a willingness to take
risks. Yet the success-failure standards of most schools
penalized risk takers. Most educational systems reward those
who play it safe. As a result, those who do well in school find it
hard to take risks later on.”
Richard Farson & Ralph Keyes, Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins
RHWjr-TP (#1: Bias for Action) (#1 = MBWA!) (ISOE-Daniel;
“Managing Our Way to Economic Decline”/HBR) (XX)
TP (1st GSB dissertation on Implementation) (B>A vs A>B)
TP (My lucky breaks: Dan, Xerox)
TP (35 years: Decentralization. Accountability.)
TP (MTD—Master of Talent Development; W/MwGTDw/oC—
Woman/Man Who Gets Things Done without Certificate;
MMM—Master of Metabolic Management; DE—Doctor
of Enthusiasm)
Importance of Success Factors by Various“Gurus”/
Estimates (Unreliable) by Tom Peters
Strategy Systems Passion Execution
Porter
50%
20
15
15
Drucker
35%
30
15
20
Bennis
25%
20
30
25
Peters
15%
25
25
35
“too
much talk,
too little do”
TP on BigCo sin #1:
Importance of Success Factors by Various“Gurus”/
Estimates (Unreliable) by Tom Peters
Strategy Systems People Passion
Porter
50%
20
20
10
Drucker
30%
35
20
15
Bennis
25%
20
30
25
Peters
15%
20
35
30
600,000/engineering degrees/2004/China
350,000/engineering degrees/2004/India
70,000/engineering degrees/2004/U.S.A.
Source: “Rising Above the Gathering Storm”/
National Academies of Science/Presidential report/October 2005
MBWA
“The first and greatest
imperative of
command is to be
present in person. Those
who impose risk must be
seen to share it.”
—John Keegan, The Mask of Command
A man approached JP Morgan, held up an envelope, and said,
“Sir, in my hand I hold a guaranteed formula for success, which I
will gladly sell you for $25,000.”
“Sir,” JP Morgan replied, “I do not know what is in the envelope,
however if you show me, and I like it, I give you my word as a
gentleman that I will pay you what you ask.”
The man agreed to the terms, and handed over the envelope.
JP Morgan opened it, and extracted a single sheet of paper.
He gave it one look, a mere glance, then handed the piece of
paper back to the gent.
And paid him the
agreed-upon $25,000 …
1. Every morning, write a
list of the things that
need to be done that day.
2. Do them.
Source: Hugh MacLeod/tompeters.com/NPR
Do
them!
“In classical times when
Cicero had finished
speaking, the people said,
‘How well he spoke,’ but when
Demosthenes had finished
speaking, they said,
us march.’”
‘Let
—Adlai Stevenson
Let us
march
“I don’t know
if ‘it’ is possible.’
I do know it’s
‘necessary.’”
TP/Chile: