EXCELLENCE. Always.
If not EXCELLENCE, what?
If not EXCELLENCE now, when?
EXCELLENCE is not an "aspiration."
EXCELLENCE is not a "journey."
EXCELLENCE is the next five minutes.
Organizations exist to SERVE. Period.
Leaders exist to SERVE. Period.
SERVICE is a beautiful word.
SERVICE is character, community, commitment.
(And profit.)
SERVICE is a beautiful word.
SERVICE is not "Wow."
SERVICE is not "raving fans.“
SERVICE is not "a great experience."
Service is "just" that—SERVICE.
To appreciate
this presentation [and ensure
that it is not a mess], you need
Microsoft fonts:
NOTE:
“Showcard Gothic,”
“Ravie,” “Chiller”
and “Verdana”
Slides at …
tompeters.com
Problem #1.
Opportunity #1.
Slide #1.
XFX = #1
The Strategic Importance of XFX
(Cross-functional eXcellence)
I intend to start using this as a “stand alone”
1st slide. I believe that in most any organization
of, say, more than a dozen people, the #1 issue
is “cross-functional communicationintegration.” It is both “Problem #1” and
“Opportunity #1.” From intelligence pattern
recognition to order execution to innovation,
our INTERNAL barriers, not our competitors’
cleverness, are the principal impediment to
effectiveness. I suspect we all agree with that.
But is it—AND IT RARELY IS—literally seen as
“SO1”—Strategic Opportunity #1? (Please do
me the honor of thinking about this.)
#1
cause of
employee
Dis-satisfaction?
Employee retention & satisfaction:
Overwhelmingly
, based on the
first-line
manager!
Source: Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman, First, Break All
the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
The “3H
Theory of
Everything”
Conrad Hilton, at a gala
celebrating his career,
was asked …
All you need to know …
All you need to know …
Hilton
Howard
Herb
All you need to know …
Hilton
Howard
Herb
Conrad Hilton, at a gala
celebrating his career,
“What was the
most important lesson
you’ve learned in you
long and distinguished
career?” His immediate
was asked,
answer …
“remember
to tuck the
shower curtain
inside the
bathtub”
is
“Execution
strategy.”
—Fred Malek
“In real life, strategy
is actually very
straightforward. Pick
a general direction
and implement
like hell”
—Jack Welch
“On the face of it,
shareholder value is the
dumbest idea in the world.
Shareholder value is a
result, not a strategy. …
Your main constituencies
are your employees, your
customers and your
products.” —Jack Welch, FT, 0313.09, page 1
“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 generals make
blunders; it is because they
try to be clever.” —Napoleon
Internal
organizational
excellence =
Deepest “Blue
Ocean”
The Score
Takes Care
of Itself
—Bill Walsh, SF49ers Hall of Fame football coach
“I do not rule
Russia. Tenthousand clerks
do.”
—Czar Nicholas I
All you need to know …
Hilton
Howard
Herb
Sunday “Drive By”: The CEO of a very successful mid-sized
bank, in the Mid-west, attended a seminar of mine in
Northern California in the mid-80s—but I remember the
following as if it were yesterday. I’ve forgotten the specific
context, but I recall him saying to me, pretty much word
“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.”
for word,
All you need to know …
Hilton
Howard
Herb
“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 the Annual Meeting)
The Customer
Comes Second
—Hal Rosenbluth and Diane McFerrin Peters* (*no relation)
“We are a
‘Life Success’
Company.”
Dave Liniger, founder, RE/MAX
“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
All you need to know …
Hilton
Howard
Herb
3H: Hilton, Howard, Herb
**Sweat the details!
**Stay in touch!
**It’s all about the people!
All you need to know …
Hilton
Howard
Herb
Hsieh
Zappos 10 Corporate Values
Deliver “WOW!” through service.
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
4H: Hilton, Howard, Herb, Hsieh
**Sweat the details!
**Stay in touch!
**It’s all about the people!
**Wow!
Leader’s oath
of office
Definition of a boss/supervisor/
Cannot Do
the Work That
Needs to Be Done
leader:
‘do’
“Leaders
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.
Servant Leadership/Robert Greenleaf
1. Do those served grow as
persons?
2. Do they, while being served,
become healthier wiser, freer,
more autonomous, more likely
themselves to become servants?
Framework 2010*
Excellence = People first, second, third. And fourth.
(And fifth and sixth and seventh.)
Excellence = People first, second, third. And fourth.
(And fifth and sixth and seventh.)
Excellence = People first, second, third. And fourth.
(And fifth and sixth and seventh.)
Excellence = People first, second, third. And fourth.
(And fifth and sixth and seventh.)
Excellence = People first, second, third. And fourth.
(And fifth and sixth and seventh.)
Excellence = People first, second, third. And fourth.
(And fifth and sixth and seventh.)
Excellence = People first, second, third. And fourth.
(And fifth and sixth and seventh.)
Excellence = People first, second, third. And fourth.
(And fifth and sixth and seventh.)
*Courtesy Tom Peters/The Un-revolutionary
Leadership
is a sacred
trust.*
*President, classroom teacher, CEO, shop foreman
Excellence.
Service.
Period.
EXCELLENCE. Always.
If not EXCELLENCE, what?
If not EXCELLENCE now, when?
EXCELLENCE is not an "aspiration."
EXCELLENCE is not a "journey."
EXCELLENCE is the next five minutes.
Organizations exist to SERVE. Period.
Leaders exist to SERVE. Period.
SERVICE is a beautiful word.
SERVICE is character, community, commitment.
(And profit.)
SERVICE is a beautiful word.
SERVICE is not "Wow."
SERVICE is not "raving fans.“
SERVICE is not "a great experience."
Service is "just" that—SERVICE.
Non-Excellence.
“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: Jack Bogle, Enough! (chapter titles)
“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.’” — John Bogle, Enough. The Measures of
Money, Business, and Life (Bogle is founder of the Vanguard
Mutual Fund Group)
Five Or Less
Words To
The Wise
EXCELLENCE/Five Or Less Words To The Wise
4 most important words: “What do you think?” (Dave Wheeler @
tompeters.com: “Most important 4
words in an organization.”)
4 most important words: “How can I help?” (Boss as CHRO/
Chief Hurdle Removal Officer)
2 most important words: “Thank you!” (Appreciation/
Recognition)
2 most important words: “All yours.” (“Hands-off” delegation/
Respect/Trust)
3 most important words: “I’m going out.” (MBWA/Managing By
Wandering Around/In touch!)
2 most important words: “I’m sorry.” (Power of unconditional
apology = Stunning! Marshall
Goldsmith: #1 exec issue)
5 most important words: “Did you tell the customer?” (Overcommunicate)
2 most important words: “She says …” (“She” is the customer!)
EXCELLENCE/Five Or Less Words To The Wise
2 most important words: “Yes ma’am.” (Women are more often
than not the best managers.)
2 most important words: “Try it!” (My only “for sure” in 44 years:
Herb Kelleher: “We have a strategic
plan, it’s called doing things.”/Bill
Parcells: “Blame no one. Expect
nothing. Do something.”)
3 most important words: “Try it again!” (My only “for sure” 44
years: MOST TRIES WINS.)
2 most important words: “Good try!” (CELEBRATE “good
failures.” Richard Farson/book:
Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes
Wins. Samuel Beckett: “Fail. Fail again.
Fail better.”)
3 most important words: “At your service.” (Organizations exist
to serve. Period. Leaders live to serve.
Period.)
4 most important words: “How are we doing?” (To customers,
regularly.)
4 most important words: “How was Mary’s recital?” (Know your
employees’ kids.)
2 most important words: “Let’s party!” (Celebrate “small wins” at
the drop of a hat.)
EXCELLENCE/Five Or Less Words To The Wise
1 most important word: “No.” (“To don’ts” > “To dos”)
1 most important word: “Yes.” (Hey, give it a shot/Anon. quote:
“The best answer is always, ‘What the
hell.’”/Wayne Gretzky: “You miss
100% of the shots you don’t take.”)
2 most important words: “Lunch today?” (“Social stuff” = Secret
to problem/opportunity #1:/XFX/
cross-functional Excellence.)
4 most important words: “Thank Dick in accounting.” (Readily
acknowledge help from other
functions.)
2 most important words: “After you.” (Courtesy rules.)
3 most important words: “Thanks for coming.” (Civility. E.g., boss
acknowledges employee coming to
her/his office.)
2 most important words: “Great smile!” (Note & acknowledge
good attitude.)
1 most important word: “Wow!” (The gold standard … for
everything.)
1 most important word: “EXCELLENT!” (The … ONLY …
acceptable standard/aspiration.)
More than one
route forward
There is more
than one way to
skin a cat!*
*Every project REQUIRES (if you’re smart) an outside
look by one/some Seriously Weird Cat/s—in pursuit of
a whacked-out option. To consider
14,000
20,000
14,000
20,000
14,000/eBay
20,000/Amazon
30/Craigslist
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
“Insanely Great”
Steve Jobs
“Radically thrilling”
BMW
“Let us create such
a building that
future generations
will take us for
lunatics.”
—the church hierarchs at Seville
“We are crazy. We should do
something when people say it is
If people say
something is ‘good’, it
means someone else
is already doing it.”
‘crazy.’
—Hajime Mitarai, Canon
“You do not merely want to be
You
want to be
considered the
only ones who
do what you
do.”
the best of the best.
—Jerry Garcia
F.Y.I.
“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 …
“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
You don’t
get better
by being
bigger. You
Dick Kovacevich:
“Mr. Foster and his McKinsey colleagues
collected detailed performance data stretching
back
40 years for 1,000
They found that
U.S. companies.
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
“ ‘Good management’ was the
most powerful reason [leading
firms] failed to stay atop their
industries. Precisely because these firms
listened to their customers, invested aggressively
in technologies that would provide their customers
more and better products of the sort they wanted,
and because they carefully studied market trends
and systematically allocated investment capital to
innovations that promised the best returns, they
lost their positions of leadership.”
—Clayton Christensen, The Innovator’s Dilemma
“The more successful
a company, the flatter
its forgetting curve.”
— Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad
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
“It is generally much easier to
organization
kill an
than change it
substantially.”
—Kevin Kelly, Out of Control
“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
Tom Peters’
Excellence.
Always.
MASTER
23 August 2010
Part
ONE
Little =
*Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister
“Design is everything.
Everything is design.”
“We are all designers.”
Inspiration: The Power of Design: A Force for
Transforming Everything, Richard Farson
Big carts =
Source: Walmart
Bag sizes = New markets:
Source: PepsiCo
BEGINS
(and ENDS)
It
in the …
parking
lot*
*Disney
7X.
7:30A-8:00P.
F12A.
7:30AM = 7:15AM.
8:00PM = 8:15PM.
“No” = 2*
*Yes Bank
The Commerce Bank Model
“every computer at commerce bank has a
special red key on it that
says, ‘found something stupid that we are doing
that interferes with our ability to service the
customer? Tell us about it, and if we agree, we
will give you $50.’”
Source: Fans! Not customers. How Commerce Bank Created a Supergrowth Business in a No-growth Industry, Vernon Hill & Bob Andelman
2,000,000
Don’t like it?
Don’t pay.
Source: Granite Rock Co.
(1) LAN Installation Co. (3%)
“Geek Squad” (30%)
(2)
(3) Best Buy contracts
(4) Best Buy purchases
(5) Best Buy’s
“brand promise”
Source: Best Buy (Circuit City: fire senior, hire junior)
“Paint it
white!”
— On Hashem Akbari’s [Lawrence Berkeley National lab] powerful program
to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions; using conservative
reduce 44 billion tons of CO2
assumptions, it could
emissions by cooling buildings, roads, entire cities (The Guardian, 0116.09)
Industrial and Residential Buildings
39%
*Electricity: 68%
*Total energy:
*Carbon dioxide emissions:
40%
30%
*Non-industrial landfill: 40%
*Raw materials:
Source: U.S. Green Building Council (from Green Building A to Z, Jerry Yudelson)
see green =
recover
20% faster
Socks =
10,000*
*Deep Vein Thrombosis/UK
“Broken windows”: Clean
the streets, fix the
broken windows, ticket
the open-beer-can
holders, etc, etc
= Sense of order
= Crime way down
Little =
“Power
Freaks” Move
Things
Around!
6.5
feet Away =
6.5 feet Away =
-63%
“Seconds”*
*Plate size, etc, first serving dish
Round
= 2X/allx
>100 feet =
100 miles
Geologists +
Geophysicists +
A little bit of love =
Oil
XFX = #1* **
*Cross-functional eXcellence
**Execution, Innovation, Speed
“Everything matters”
-80%
Source: Nudge, Richard Thaler and Cass
Sunstein, etching of fly in the urinal
reduces “spillage” by 80%, Schiphol Airport
(1) Amenable to rapid
experimentation/failure “free”
(No bad “PR,” No $$)
(2) Quick to implement/Quick to
Roll out
(3) Inexpensive to implement/
Roll out
(4) Huge multiplier
(5) An “Attitude”
(6) Does not by and large require a
“power position” from which to
launch experiments.
<TGW
and …
>TGR
[Things Gone WRONG-Things Gone RIGHT]
2-cent
candy
“May I
clean your
glasses,
sir?”*
*Kingfisher Air
Griffin:
Music in the parking
lot; professional musicians in
the lobby (7/week, 3-4hrs/day) ;
5 pianos
volunteers (120-140 hrs arts &
entertainment per month).
Source: Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
;
none!
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
P.S. directly related to Staff Interaction
P.P.S. 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.” —Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton,
Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
“Kindness
is free.”
“Courtesies of a small and
trivial character are the
ones which strike
deepest in the grateful
and appreciating heart.”
—Henry Clay
“We don’t take people
to the elevator—we
take them down to the
street.
—David Ogilvy
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)
:
“Be kind, for
everyone you meet
is fighting a great
battle.”
—Philo of Alexandria
The Manager’s Book
of Decencies: How
Small /gestures
Build Great
Companies.
—Steve Harrison, Adecco
The Manager’s Book of Decencies:
How Small gestures Build Great
Companies. —Steve Harrison, Adecco
Servant Leadership
—Robert Greenleaf
One: The Art and Practice of
Conscious Leadership —Lance Secretan,
founder of Manpower, Inc. (“What would happen if we
looked at a customer and saw the face of God in them?”)
“What would happen if we looked at a
customer and saw the face of God in
them? To most people it sounds like a
lofty idea. But if you see the face of
God in a flower, why wouldn’t you see
it in the face of a customer? If we
treated customers and honored the
God within them—if we loved them—
we would not need a ‘quality
program.’” —Lance Secretan, founder of Manpower, Inc., and most
recently author of One: The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership
Respect.
Decency.
Wee Gestures.
Success …
Consult everyone
on everything
“Thank you” note
carpet bombing
Source: Roger Rosenblatt, Rules for Aging
The “krp
Theory of
Everything”
K=R=P
Kindness = Repeat business = Profit.
K = R = P/Kindness = Repeat business = Profit/Kindness:
Kind
Thoughtful.
Decent.
Caring.
Attentive.
Engaged.
Listens well/obsessively.
Appreciative.
Open.
Visible.
Honest.
Responsive.
On time all the time.
Apologizes with dispatch for screwups.
“Over”-reacts to screwups of any magnitude.
“Professional” in all dealings.
Optimistic.
Understand that kindness to staff breeds kindness to others/outsiders.
Applies throughout the “supply chain.”
Applies to 100% of customer’s staff.
Explicit part of values statement.
Basis for evaluation of 100% of our staff.
“One kind word can
warm three winter
months.”
– Japanese Proverb
“Three things in human
life are important. The
first is to be kind. The
second is to be kind.
And the third is to
be kind.” —Henry James
“The deepest
principle of human
nature is the
craving to be
appreciated.”
—William James
(in Timeless Wisdom, compiled by Gary Fenchuk)
K=R=P
Kindness = Repeat business = Profit.
Equations/Expanded:
X=S=P
eXcellence = Satisfied customers = Profit
X + K = R = P+
eXcellence + Kindness = Repeat business = Profit+
X + K + W = R + N = P++
eXcellence + Kindness + Wow = Repeat business + New business = Profits++
“Perception
is all
there is”
Comeback
[big, quick response]
>>
Perfection
Acquire vs maintain*:
Higher “market share”
current customers
*Recession goal:
THE PROBLEM IS
RARELY/NEVER THE
PROBLEM. THE
RESPONSE TO THE
PROBLEM INVARIABLY
ENDS UP BEING THE
REAL PROBLEM.*
*PERCEPTION IS ALL THERE IS!
Potlatch.
Clinton
Cornwallis
Yorktown
Edward VII
“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
“The [Starbucks] Fix” Is on …
“We have
identified a ‘third
place.’
And I really believe
that sets us apart. The third place is
that place that’s not work or home. It’s
the place our customers come for
refuge.” —Nancy Orsolini, District Manager
Source: Container Store/increase average sale per shopper
Q: “Why did you buy
Jordan’s Furniture?”
A: “Jordan’s is
It’s all
showmanship.”
spectacular.
Source: Warren Buffet interview/Boston Sunday Globe/12.05.04
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
Up,
Up,
Up,
Up
the Value-added Ladder.
The Value-added Ladder
Services
Goods
Raw Materials
The Value-added Ladder
Scintillating
EXPERIENCES
Services
Goods
Raw Materials
Beyond the “Transaction”/ “Satisfaction” Mentality
“Good hotel”/ “Happy guest”/
“Exceeded Expectations”
vs.
“Great Vacation”/
“Great Conference”/
“Operation Personal
Renewal”
C
*Chief e
O*
Xperience Officer
Hire a
theater director,
as a consultant
or FTE!
First Step (?!):
“Most executives have
no idea how to add value
to a market in the
metaphysical world. But
that is what the market will cry
out for in the future. There is no
lack of ‘physical’ products to
choose between.”
Jesper Kunde, Unique Now ... or Never [on the
excellence of Nokia, Nike, Lego, Virgin et al.]
Words!
— Magician of Magical Moments
— Maestro of Moments of Truth
— Recruiter of Raving Fans
— Impresario of First Impressions
— Wizard of WOW
— Captain of Brilliant Comebacks
— Director of Electronic Customer Experiences
— Conductor of Customer Intimacy
— King of Customer Community
— Queen of Customer Retention
— CEO of Ownership Experience
— Managing Director of After-sales Experience
“ … focus on
‘engagement,’ not
‘experience’ …”
Caution:
—Martin Buber, I and Thou, 1927
(from Steve Yastrow, We)
“A man
without a
smiling face
must not open
a shop.”
—Chinese Proverb
Planetree:
A Radical Model for New
Healthcare/Healing/
Wellness Excellence
The 9 Planetree Practices
1. The Importance of Human Interaction
2. Informing and Empowering Diverse Populations: Consumer
Health Libraries and Patient Information
3. Healing Partnerships: The importance of Including
Friends and Family
4. Nutrition: The Nurturing Aspect of Food
5. Spirituality: Inner Resources for Healing
6. Human Touch: The Essentials of Communicating
Caring Through Massage
7. Healing Arts: Nutrition for the Soul
8. Integrating Complementary and Alternative Practices
into Conventional Care
9. Healing Environments: Architecture and Design
Conducive to Health
Source: Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
The Patient-Family Experience
“Patients are stripped of control, their clothes are
taken away, they have little say over their schedule,
and they are deliberately separated from their family
and friends. Healthcare professionals control all of the
information about their patients’ bodies and access to
the people who can answer questions and connect them
with helpful resources. Families are treated more as
intruders than loved ones.” Putting Patients First
—
Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
,
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
PS directly related to Staff Interaction
PS 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.” —Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton,
Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
Care Partner Programs
(IDs, discount meals, etc.)
Unrestricted visits (“Most Planetree hospitals
have eliminated visiting restrictions altogether.”) (ER at one
hospital “has a policy of never separating the patient from the
family, and there is no limitation on how many family members
may be present.”)
Collaborative Care Conferences
Clinical Guidelines Discussions
Family Spaces
Pet Visits (POP: Patients’ Own Pets)
Source: Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
Griffin:
Music in the parking
lot; professional musicians in
the lobby (7/week, 3-4hrs/day) ;
5 pianos ;
volunteers (120-140 hrs arts &
entertainment per month).
Source: Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
“Planetree Look”
Woods and natural materials
Indirect lighting
Homelike settings
Goals: Welcome patients, friends and
family … Value humans over technology ..
Enable patients to participate in their care
… Provide flexibility to personalize the
care of each patient … Encourage
caregivers to be responsive to patients …
Foster a connection to nature and beauty
Source: Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
Access to nurses station:
“Happen to”
vs
“Happen with”
Source: Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
Conclusion:
Caring/Growth
“Experience”
“It was the goal of
Planetree to help
patients not only get
well faster but also to
stay well longer.”
—Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton,
Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
(Planetree Alliance/Griffin Hospital)
Care!/Love!/Spirit!
Self-Control!
Connect!/learn!/
involve!/Engage!
Understanding!/Growth!
De-stress!/heal!
Whole patient & family
& friends!
be well!/stay well!
“Planetree is about
human beings
caring for other
human beings.”
—Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin,
Patrick Charmel (“Ladies and gentlemen serving
ladies and gentlemen”—4S credo)
f.y.i.
Griffin Hospital/Derby CT (Planetree Alliance “HQ”) Results:
Financially successful.
Expanding programsphysically. Growing market
share. Only hospital in “100
Best Cos to Work for”—
7 consecutive years,
currently #6.
—“Five-Star Hospitals,” Joe Flower,
strategy+business (#42)
All Equal Except …
“At Sony we assume that all products of
our competitors have basically the same
technology, price, performance and
Design is the only thing
that differentiates one
product from another in the
marketplace.” —Norio Ohga
features.
“Design is treated like a
religion at BMW.” —Fortune
“We don’t have a good language to talk
about this kind of thing. In most people’s
vocabularies, design means veneer. … But
to me, nothing could be further from the
Design is
the fundamental
soul of a man-made
creation.”
meaning of design.
—Steve Jobs
“You know a
design is good
when you want
to lick it.”
—Steve Jobs
Source: Design: Intelligence Made Visible,
Stephen Bayley & Terence Conran
“With its carefully conceived mix of colors and textures,
Starbucks
aromas and music,
is more
indicative of our era than the iMac. It is to the Age of
Aesthetics what McDonald’s was to the Age of
Convenience or Ford was to the Age of Mass
Production—the touchstone success story, the exemplar
‘Every
Starbucks store is carefully designed
to enhance the quality of everything
the customers see, touch, hear,
smell or taste,’ writes CEO Howard Schultz.”
of … the aesthetic imperative. …
-—Virginia Postrel, The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic
Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture and Consciousness
Hypothesis:
DESIGN is
the principal
difference
between love
and hate!
All Time
No.1
(TP)
Ziplocs
THE
DESIGNER OF MY
KRUPPS/ CUISINART
COFFEE-MAKER.
Major Reward!
Wanted:
“Business people
don’t need to
‘understand
designers better.’
Businesspeople need
to be designers.”
—Roger Martin/Dean/Rotman Management School/
University of Toronto
“The ‘surplus society’ has a surplus of
companies, employing
similar
similar
similar
similar
similar
people, with
educational backgrounds, coming up with
similar
similar
ideas, producing
with
prices and
things,
quality.”
—Kjell Nordström and Jonas Ridderstråle, Funky Business
Not optional …
O*
C
*Chief
Design
Officer
“Design is everything.
Everything is design.”
“We are all designers.”
Inspiration: The Power of Design: A Force for
Transforming Everything, Richard Farson
“Business people
don’t need to
‘understand
designers better.’
Businesspeople need
to be designers.”
—Roger Martin/Dean/Rotman Management School/
University of Toronto
Message (?????):
cannot
Men
design for women’s
needs.
Back to the
future: “beyond”
micro-marketing
“Forget China, India
and the Internet:
Economic Growth Is
Driven by
Women.”
Source: Headline, Economist
“We Did
It!”
–Economist cover, Jan 02.2010, as
“Women’s
economic empowerment is arguably the
biggest social change of our times.”
women surpass 50% in U.S. workforce/
“All signs point to a new era of
women in charge—socially,
economically and politically.”
—Alex Beam, “Women Rule,” International Herald/Jan 15
“A Tradition Falls and Women
Rise: A Changing Germany
Seeks to Blend Family, Careers
and Schooling” —p.1, International Herald /Jan 18
“What do growth, expansion and
prosperity have in common? In French
grammar they are feminine and when
it comes to facts and figures they are
feminine as well. Forget China, India
and even new technologies – for the
past 10 years the number one vector
for global growth has been women.”
Source: “Women Are Drivers of Global Growth,”
Aude Zieseniss de Thuin, founder and president of the
Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society (FT)
“Since 1970, women have held two out of
three new jobs. According to The Economist,
which compiled studies from a number of
research firms, the arrival of this new
workforce has done more to encourage
global growth than increases in capital
investment and improvements in
productivity. ‘Over the last 10 years the
increase in women [in the workplace] in
developed countries has made more of a
contribution to global growth than China
has,’ concludes the British weekly.”
Source: “Women Are Drivers of Global Growth,”
Aude Zieseniss de Thuin, founder and president of the
Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society (FT)
“The increased number of women in the
working population compensates for the
negative demographic effects of an ageing
population and lower birth rates. The same
trend is now also visible in emerging
countries. South-east Asia’s economic
success is due primarily to women, who
hold two-thirds of the jobs in the export
industry, the region’s most dynamic
sector.”
Source: “Women Are Drivers of Global Growth,” Aude
Zieseniss de Thuin, founder and president of the Women’s
Forum for the Economy and Society (FT)
“One thing is certain: women’s rise in 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 labour or to be consumers with
rising budgets and more autonomy to spend. They are
increasingly becoming directors, managers and
entrepreneurs. Some studies have even shown a correlation
between the presence of women in managerial positions
and a company’s financial results.
“This is just the beginning. The phenomenon will only grow
as girls prove to be more successful than boys in the school
system and enroll in higher numbers in universities. For a
number of observers, we have already entered the age of
‘womenomics,’ the economy as thought out and practised by
women. Those Chinese who desire that their only child be
male may soon realise that a daughter could be a better
investment. Bosses know full well that a team of both men
and women is more creative and efficient than one
comprised of only men.
Source: “Women Are Drivers of Global Growth,” Aude Zieseniss de Thuin,
founder and president of the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society (FT)
“One thing is certain: women’s rise in
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. They are
increasingly becoming directors,
managers and entrepreneurs. …”
Source: “Women Are Drivers of Global Growth,”
Aude Zieseniss de Thuin, founder and president of the
Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society (FT)
“This is just the beginning. The phenomenon
will only grow as girls prove to be more
successful than boys in the school system and
enroll in higher numbers in universities. For a
number of observers, we have already entered
the age of “womenomics”, the economy as
thought out and practised by women. Those
Chinese who desire that their only child be
male may soon realise that a daughter could
be a better investment. Bosses know full well
that a team of both men and women is more
creative and efficient than one comprised of
only men.”
Source: “Women Are Drivers of Global Growth,”
Aude Zieseniss de Thuin, founder and president of the
Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society (FT)
“Tipping Point”?
“All signs point to a new era of women
in charge—socially, economically and
politically.” —Alex Beam, “Women Rule,” International
Herald/Jan 15.2010
“A Tradition Falls and Women Rise: A
Changing Germany Seeks to Blend
Family, Careers and Schooling” —p.1,
International Herald /Jan 18.2010
“We Did It!” –Economist cover (Jan 02.2010)
as women surpass 50% in U.S. workforce/“Women’s
economic empowerment is arguably the biggest social
change of our times.”
“Tipping Point”/2010?
“All signs point to a new era of women in
charge—socially, economically and politically.”
—Alex Beam, “Women Rule,” International Herald/Jan 15.2010
“A Tradition Falls and Women Rise: A Changing
Germany Seeks to Blend Family, Careers and
Schooling” —p.1, International Herald /Jan 18.2010
“Meet the lipstick entrepreneurs
Trendspotters are forecasting huge gains for
women in business over the next decade. We
meet the new band of sisters doing it for
themselves” —Headline, Sunday Times (UK), January 3.2010
“We Did It!”
–Economist cover (Jan 02.2010)
as women surpass 50% in U.S. workforce/“Women’s economic
empowerment is arguably the biggest social change of our times.”
“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, Women’s
boys in the school system.
Forum for the Economy and Society
“Since 1970, women
have held two
out of every
three new jobs
created.”
—FT, 10.03.2006
“Women are
the majority
market”
—Fara Warner/The Power of the Purse
W>
2X (C + I)*
*“Women now drive the global economy. Globally, they control about
$20 trillion in consumer spending, and that figure could climb as high as
$28 trillion in the next five years. Their $13 trillion in total yearly earnings
could reach $18 trillion in the same period. In aggregate, women represent a
growth market bigger than China and India combined—more than twice as big in
fact. Given those numbers, it would be foolish to ignore or underestimate the
female consumer. And yet many companies do just that—even ones that are
confidant that they have a winning strategy when it comes to women. Consider
Dell’s …” —Michael Silverstein and Kate Sayre, “The Female Economy,” HBR, 09.09
“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
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
“Women don’t buy
They
join them.”
brands.
EVEolution
2.6 vs.
Age 3
days, baby
girls 2X eye
contact.
“People powered”:
Source: Martha Barletta, Marketing to Women
“Women speak and hear a language
of connection and intimacy, and men
speak and hear a language of status and
independence. Men communicate to
obtain information, establish their status,
and show independence. Women
communicate to create relationships,
encourage interaction, and
exchange feelings.”
—Judy Rosener, America’s Competitive Secret
94%
of loans to …
women*
*Microlending; “Banker to the poor”; Grameen Bank;
Muhammad Yunus; 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner
“CEMEX realized that women
are the key drivers of savings
in [Mexican] families. … They are
entrepreneurial in nature, and they actively
participate in the tanda system [neighborhood groups who
pool money and save any that’s left over]. Regardless of
whether they are homemakers or outside-the-home
workers, they are responsible for any savings in the
family. Patrimonio Hoy [Private Property Today, a CEMEX
program to aid the poor in building homes] discovered that
70% of the women who saved were saving money in
the tanda system to construct homes for their
families. The men in the society consider their job
done if they bring in their paycheck at the end of the
day.” —C.K. Prahalad, from The Fortune at the Bottom of
the Pyramid, on
Lorenzo Zambrano and CEMEX, the
Mexican company that’s the world’s #3 cement maker
Lesson: For projects involving children or health or education or
community development or sustainable small-business
growth (most projects), women are by far the most reliable
and most central and most indirectly powerful local
players in even the most chauvinist settings—their
characteristic process of “implementation by indirection”
means “life or death” to sustainable project success;
moreover, the expanding concentric circles of women’s
traditional networking processes is by far the best way to
“scale up”/expand a program. (Men should not even try
to understand what is taking place. Among other things,
this networking indirection-largely invisible process will
seemingly “take forever” by most men’s “action now,
skip steps” S.O.P.—and then, from out of the blue,
following an eternity of rambling discussions-on-top-oframbling-discussions, you will wake up one fine morning
and discover that the thing is done that everything has
fallen in place “overnight” and that ownership is nearly
universal. Concomitant imperative; most of your (as an
outsider) staff should be women, alas, most likely not
visibly “in charge.”
For projects involving children or
health or education or community
development or sustainable
small-business growth (most
women
projects),
are by
far the most reliable and most
central and most indirectly
powerful local players even in the
most chauvinist settings.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“People turning 50
more
than half of
today have
their adult life
ahead of them.”
—Bill Novelli,
50+: Igniting a Revolution to Reinvent America
55+ > 55-*
*“[55-plus] are more active in online finance,
shopping and entertainment than those under 55?”
—Forrester Research. (USA Today, 8 January 2009)
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
“Fifty-four years of age has been
the highest cutoff point for any
marketing initiative I’ve ever
been involved in. Which is pretty
weird when you consider age 50
is right about when people who
have worked all their lives start
to have some money to spend.” —
Marti Barletta, PrimeTime Women
“One particularly puzzling category of youthobsession is the highly coveted target of men
18-34, and it’s always referred to as ‘highly
coveted category.’ Marketers have been
distracted by men age 18-34 because they are
getting harder to reach. So what? Who wants
to reach them? Beyond fast food and beer, they
don’t buy much of anything. … The theory is
that if you ‘get them while they’re young,
What
nonsense!”
they’re yours for life.’
—Marti Barletta, PrimeTime Women
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
“Marketers attempts at reaching
those over 50 have been miserably
No market’s
motivations and
needs are so
poorly understood.”
unsuccessful.
—Peter Francese, founding publisher, American Demographics
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”]
Up,
Up,
Up,
Up
the Value-added Ladder.
$50B+*
*IBM Global Services/
“Systems integrator of choice”
Planetary Rainmaker-in-Chief!
“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
“We want to be
the air traffic
controllers of
electrons.”
Bob Nardelli, GE Power Systems
California Closets: “a
whole-life upgrade, not
just a tidy bedroom.”
—WSJ/0329.07, “Why the ContainerStore Guy Wants to Be Your Therapist”
“Big Brown’s New Bag: UPS
Traffic
Manager for
Corporate
America”
Aims to Be the
—Headline/BW/2004
MasterCard
Advisors
“ ‘Architecture’ is
becoming a
commodity. Winners
will be ‘Turnkey
Facilities
Management’
providers.”
SMPS Exec
(1) LAN Installation Co. (3%)
“Geek Squad” (30%)
(2)
(3) Best Buy contracts
(4) Best Buy purchases
(5) Best Buy’s
“brand promise”
Source: Best Buy (Circuit City: fire senior, hire junior)
I. LAN Installation Co.
II. Geek Squad.
(3%)
(30%.)
III. Acquired by BestBuy.
IV. Flagship of BestBuy
Wholesale “Solutions”
Strategy Makeover.
Huge: Customer
Satisfaction
versus
Customer
Success
“Customer Satisfaction” to “Customer
Success”
“We’re getting better at [Six Sigma]
every day. But we really need to think
about the customer’s profitability.
Are customers’ bottom
lines really benefiting from
what we provide them?”
Bob Nardelli, GE Power Systems
“ ‘Results’ are
measured by the
success of all those
who have purchased
your product or
service” —Jan Gunnarsson & Olle Blohm, The
Welcoming Leader
“He had done nothing to sell me on his
business, yet he had given me the most
Because
his sole concern had
been my welfare and the
success of my business.”
powerful sales pitch of my life.
—Jim Penman, on learning how to sell (What Will
They Franchise Next? The Story of Jim’s Group)
Era #1/Obvious Value: “Our ‘it’ works, is
delivered on time” (“Close”)
Era #2/Augmented Value: “How our ‘it’
can add value—a ‘useful it’ ” (“Solve”)
Era #3/Complex Value Networks: “How our
‘system’ can change you and deliver
‘business advantage’ ” (“CultureStrategic change”)
Source: Jeff Thull, The Prime Solution: Close the Value Gap,
Increase Margins, and Win the Complex Sale
The Value-added Ladder/ OPPORTUNITY-SEEKING
Customer Success/
Gamechanging
Solutions
Scintillating Experiences
Services
Goods
Raw Materials
“The business of selling is not just about matching viable
It’s
equally about managing the
change process the customer
will need to go through to
implement the solution and
achieve the value promised by
the solution. One of the key differentiators of
solutions to the customers that require them.
our position in the market is our attention to managing change
and making change stick in our customers’ organization.”*
(*E.g.: CRM failure rate/Gartner: 70%)
—Jeff Thull, The Prime Solution: Close the Value Gap,
Increase Margins, and Win the Complex Sale
The Value-added Ladder/ OPPORTUNITY-SEEKING
Implemented
Gamechanging
Solutions
Scintillating Experiences
Services
Goods
Raw Materials
Part
TWO
1977
MBWA
Managing By Wandering Around/HP
1982
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”
ExIn*: 1982-2002/Forbes.com
$85,000
EI: $10,000 yields $140,050
DJIA: $10,000 yields
*Forbes/Excellence Index /Basket of 32 publicly traded stocks
“Breakthrough” 82*
People!
Customers!
Action!
Values!
*In Search of Excellence
Synonyms
Purity
Transcendence
Virtue
Elegance
Majesty
Antonyms
Mediocrity
Enthusiasm.
Emotion. Excellence. Energy.
Excitement. Service. Growth.
Creativity. Imagination.
Vitality. Joy. Surprise.
Independence. Spirit.
Community. Limitless human
potential. Diversity.
Profit. Innovation. Design.
Quality. Entrepreneurialism.
The Peters Principles:
Wow!
Hard Is Soft
Soft Is Hard
Hard Is Soft (Plans, #s)
Soft Is Hard (people,
customers, values,
relationships)
“The 7-S Model”
Strategy
Structure
Systems
Style
Skills
Staff
Super-ordinate goal
“The 7-S Model”
“Hard Ss”
(Strategy, Structure, Systems)
“Soft SS”
(Style, Skills, Staff, Super-ordinate goal)
“The 7-S Model”
Strategy
Structure
Systems
Style (Corporate “Culture,” “The way
we do things around here”)
Skills (“Distinctive Competence/s)
Staff (People-Talent)
Super-ordinate goal (Vision,
Core Values)
“If I could have chosen not to tackle the IBM culture head-on, I
probably wouldn’t have. My bias coming in was toward strategy,
analysis and measurement. In comparison, changing the
attitude and behaviors of hundreds of thousands of people is
[Yet] I came to see in
my time at IBM that culture
isn’t just one aspect of the
very, very hard.
game —it is the
game.”
—Lou Gerstner,
Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance
“… it is
the
game.”
“In the end, management
doesn’t change culture.
Management
invites
the workforce itself to
change the culture.”
—Lou Gerstner
-fold!
“culture of cover-up
that pervades healthcare”
“Patient Safety Event Registry” …
“looking for systemic solutions, not seeking
to fix blame on individuals except in the
Ken Kizer/VA 1997:
most egregious cases. The good news was a
thirty-fold
increase
in the number of medical
mistakes and adverse events that got reported.”
“National Center for Patient Safety Ann Arbor”
Internal
organizational
excellence =
Deepest “Blue
Ocean”
Internal
organizational
excellence =
“Brand inside”
B(I) > B(O)
“Get the strategy
right, the rest will
take care of itself.”
MP:
“Get the people , the
culture and execution
right—then the strategy
will take care of itself.”
TP:
ExIn*: 1982-2002/Forbes.com
DJIA: $10,000 yields $85,000
EI: $10,000 yields $140,050
*Excellence Index/Basket of 32 publicly traded stocks
2007
Siberia
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
Cause
Space
(worthy of commitment)
(room for/encouragement
for initiative)
Decency
(respect, humane)
Cause
Space
(worthy of commitment)
(room for/encouragement
for initiative-adventures)
Decency
(respect, grace,
integrity, humane)
service
(worthy of our clients’ & extended
family’s continuing custom)
excellence
(period)
Cause
Space
Decency
service
(worthy of commitment)
(room for/encouragement for initiative-adventures)
(respect, grace, integrity, humane)
(worthy of our clients’ & extended
family’s continuing custom)
excellence
servant leadership
(period)
Cause
Space
Decency
service
excellence
servant leadership
2007
Sydney
Organizations exist
to serve. Period.
Leaders live to
serve. Period.
“Leaders
‘SERVE’
people.
Period.”
In the spirit of Robert
Greenleaf, The Servant Leader
Servant Leadership/Robert Greenleaf
1. Do those served grow as
persons?
2. Do they, while being served,
become healthier wiser, freer,
more autonomous, more likely
themselves to become servants?
“The path to a
hostmanship culture
paradoxically does not go through the guest. In fact it wouldn’t
be totally wrong to say that the guest has nothing to do with it.
True hostmanship leaders focus on their employees. What drives
exceptionalism is finding the right people and getting them to
love their work and see it as a passion. ... The guest comes into
the picture only when you are ready to ask, ‘Would you prefer to
stay at a hotel where the staff love their work or where
management has made customers its highest priority?’”
“We went through the hotel and made a ... ‘consideration
Instead of redoing bathrooms,
dining rooms, and guest rooms, we gave
employees new uniforms, bought flowers
and fruit, and changed colors. Our focus was
renovation.’
totally on the staff. They were the ones we wanted to make
happy. We wanted them to wake up every morning excited about
a new day at work.”
Source: Jan Gunnarsson and Olle Blohm, Hostmanship: The Art of Making People Feel Welcome.
… 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.
“We are a
‘Life Success’
Company.”
Dave Liniger, founder, RE/MAX
“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
“Managing winds up being
the management of the
allocation of resources
against tasks. Leadership
My
definition of a leader
is someone who
helps people
succeed.”
focuses on people.
—Carol Bartz, Yahoo!
“Business has to give people enriching,
or it's
simply not
worth
doing.”
rewarding lives …
—Richard Branson
“I have always
believed that the
purpose of the
corporation is to be
a blessing to the
employees.”
—Boyd Clarke
“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
Organizing Genius / Warren Bennis
and Patricia Ward Biederman
“Groups become great only when
everyone in them, leaders and
members alike, is free to do his or
her absolute best.”
“The best thing a leader can do for a
Great Group is to allow its
members to discover their
greatness.”
Leadership’s Mt Everest/Mt Excellence
“free to do his or her
absolute best” …
“allow its members to
discover their
greatness.”
The Dream Manager
—Matthew Kelly
“An organization can only become the-best-version-of-itself to
the extent that the people who drive that organization are
striving to become better-versions-of-themselves.” “A
company’s purpose is to become the-best-version-of-itself. The
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
question is:
company forgets that it exists to serve customers, it quickly
Our employees are our first
customers, and our most important customers.”
goes out of business.
Words!
“Stretch” “Encourage”
“Empower”
vs.
“Dreams come true”
“Life Success Co.”
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
Wegmans
Luiza Helena,
Magazine
Luiza*
*Wegmans
“How to throw
$500,000 into
the sea in one
easy lesson!!”
TP:
< CAPEX
> People!
Source: Container Store/increase average sale per shopper
#1.
Strategic.
Priority.
Period.
“Development can help great
but if
I had a dollar to
spend, I’d spend 70
cents getting the
right person in the
door.” —
people be even better—
Paul Russell, Director, Leadership &
Development, Google
the
most important
aspect of
business and yet
“In short, hiring is
remains woefully
misunderstood.”
Source: Wall Street Journal, 10.29.08,
review of Who: The A Method for Hiring,
Geoff Smart and Randy Street
“I can’t tell you how many times we
passed up hotshots for guys we
thought were better people, and
watched our guys do a lot better than
the big names, not just in the
classroom, but on the field—and,
naturally, after they graduated, too.
Again and again, the blue chips faded
out, and our little up-and-comers
clawed their way to all-conference
and All-America teams.” —Bo Schembechler
(and John Bacon), “Recruit for Character,”
Bo’s Lasting Lessons
“Character is more crucial now
than ever, because in times of
great uncertainty past
performance is no indicator of
future performance. Experience
falls away and all you’re left
with is character.” —David Rothkopf,
founder of a firm that helps chief executives manage
risks
2/year =
legacy.
“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.”
#1
cause of
employee
Dis-satisfaction?
Employee retention & satisfaction:
Overwhelmingly
based on the
first-line
manager!
Source: Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman, First, Break All
the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
Capital Asset I
**Selecting and training and
mentoring one’s pool of frontline managers can be a “Core
Competence” of surpassing
strategic importance.
**Put under a microscope every
attribute of the cradle-tograve process of building the
capability of our cadre of
front-line managers.
Capital Asset II
I am sure you “spend time”
on this. My question: Is it an
OBSESSION
…
…worthy of the impact it has
on enterprise performance?
53 = 53* **
*No “bit players”
**6B+ = 6B+
“AS LEADERS,
WOMEN
RULE:
New Studies find that
female managers outshine their male
counterparts in almost every measure”
TITLE/ Special Report/ BusinessWeek
Women’s Strengths Match New
Economy Imperatives: Link [rather than rank]
workers; favor interactive-collaborative leadership
style [empowerment beats top-down decision
making]; sustain fruitful collaborations; comfortable
with sharing information; see redistribution of power
as victory, not surrender; favor multi-dimensional
feedback; value technical & interpersonal skills,
individual & group contributions equally; readily
accept ambiguity; honor intuition as well as
pure “rationality”; inherently flexible; appreciate
cultural diversity. —Judy B. Rosener,
America’s Competitive Secret: Women Managers
Lawrence A. Pfaff & Assoc.
— 2 Years, 941 mgrs (672M, 269F);
360º feedback
— Women: better in 20 of 20
categories; 15 of 20 with statistical
significance, incl. decisiveness,
planning, setting stds.)
— “Men are not rated significantly
higher by any of the raters in any
of the areas measured.” (LP)
“Forget China, India
and the Internet:
Economic Growth Is
Driven by
Women.”
Source: Headline, Economist
“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, Women’s
boys in the school system.
Forum for the Economy and Society
Part
THREE
Skip the map
“Mapping your
competitive
position”
or …
The “Have
you …” 50
1. Have you in the
last 10 days …
visited a customer?
2. Have you called a
customer … TODAY?
1. Have you in the last 10 days … visited a
customer?
2. Have you called a customer … TODAY?
3. Have you in the last 60-90 days … had a seminar in which several folks from the
customer’s operation (different levels, different functions, different divisions) interacted,
via facilitator, with various of your folks?
4. Have you thanked a front-line employee for a
small act of helpfulness … in the last three days?
5. Have you thanked a front-line employee for a small act of helpfulness … in the
last three hours?
6. Have you thanked a frontline employee for carrying around a great attitude … today?
7. Have you in the last week recognized—publicly—one of your folks for a small act of
cross-functional co-operation?
8. Have you in the last week recognized—publicly—one of “their” folks (another function)
for a small act of cross-functional co-operation?
9. Have you invited in the last month a leader of another function to your weekly team
priorities meeting?
10. Have you personally in the last week-month called-visited an internal or external
customer to sort out, inquire, or apologize for some little or big thing that went awry? (No
reason for doing so? If true—in your mind—then you’re more out of touch than I dared
imagine.)
11. Have you in the last two days had a chat with someone (a couple of levels down?) about specific deadlines
concerning a project’s next steps?
12. Have you in the last two days had a chat with someone (a couple of levels down?) about specific deadlines
concerning a project’s next steps … and what specifically you can do to remove a hurdle? (“Ninety percent of
what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get things done.”—Peter “His eminence”
Drucker.)
13. Have you celebrated in the last week a “small” (or large!) milestone reached? (I.e., are you a milestone
fanatic?)
14. Have you in the last week or month revised some estimate in the “wrong” direction and apologized for making
a lousy estimate? (Somehow you must publicly reward the telling of difficult truths.)
15. Have you installed in your tenure a very
comprehensive customer satisfaction scheme
for all internal customers? (With major consequences for hitting or missing
the mark.)
16. Have you in the last six months had a week-long, visible, very intensive visit-“tour” of external customers?
17. Have you in the last 60 days called an abrupt halt to a meeting and “ordered” everyone to get out of the office,
and “into the field” and in the next eight hours, after asking those involved, fixed (f-i-x-e-d!) a nagging “small”
problem through practical action?
18. Have you in the last week had a rather thorough discussion of a “cool design thing” someone has come
across—away from your industry or function—at a Web site, in a product or its packaging?
19. Have you in the last two weeks had an informal meeting—at least an hour long—with a frontline employee to
discuss things we do right, things we do wrong, what it would take to meet your mid- to long-term aspirations?
20. Have you had in the last 60 days had a general meeting to discuss “things we do wrong” … that we can fix in
the next fourteen days?
21. Have you had in the last year a one-day, intense offsite with each (?) of your
internal customers—followed by a big celebration of “things gone right”?
22. Have you in the last week pushed someone to do some family thing that you fear
might be overwhelmed by deadline pressure?
23. Have you learned the names of the children of everyone who reports to you? (If
not, you have six months to fix it.)
24. Have you taken in the last month an interesting-weird outsider to lunch?
25. Have you in the last month invited an interesting-weird outsider to sit in on an
important meeting?
26. Have you in the last three days discussed something interesting, beyond your
industry, that you ran across in a meeting, reading, etc?
27. Have you in the last 24 hours injected into a meeting “I ran across this
interesting idea in [strange place]”?
28. Have you in the last two weeks asked someone to report on something, anything
that constitutes an act of brilliant service rendered in a “trivial” situation—
restaurant, car wash, etc? (And then discussed the relevance to your work.)
29. Have you in the last 30 days examined in detail (hour
by hour) your calendar to evaluate the degree “time
actually spent” mirrors your “espoused priorities”?
(And repeated this exercise with everyone on team.)
30. Have you in the last two months had a presentation to the group by a “weird”
outsider?
31. Have you in the last two months had a presentation to the group by a customer,
internal customer, vendor featuring “working folks” 3 or 4 levels down in the vendor
organization?
32. Have you in the last two months had a presentation to the group of a cool,
beyond-our-industry ideas by two of your folks?
33. Have you at every meeting today (and forever more) re-directed the conversation
to the practicalities of implementation concerning some issue before the group?
34. Have you at every meeting today (and forever more) had an end-of-meeting
discussion on “action items to be dealt with in the next 4, 48 hours? (And then made
this list public—and followed up in 48 hours.) And made sure everyone has at least
one such item.)
35. Have you had a discussion in the last six months about what it would take to get
recognition in local-national poll of “best places to work”?
36. Have you in the last month approved a cool-different training course for one
of your folks?
Have you in the last month taught a front-line
training course?
37.
38. Have you in the last week discussed the idea of Excellence? (What it means, how
to get there.)
39. Have you in the last week discussed the idea of “Wow”? (What it means, how
to inject it into an ongoing “routine” project.)
40. Have you in the last 45 days assessed some major process in terms of the
details of the “experience,” as well as results, it provides to its external or internal
customers?
41. Have you in the last month had one of your folks attend a meeting you were supposed to go
to which gives them unusual exposure to senior folks?
42. Have you in the last 60 (30?) days sat with a trusted friend or “coach” to discuss your
“management style”—and its long- and short-term impact on the group?
43. Have you in the last three days considered a professional
relationship that was a little rocky and made a call to the person
involved to discuss issues and smooth the waters? (Taking the
“blame,” fully deserved or not, for letting the thing-issue fester.)
44. Have you in the last … two hours … stopped by someone’s (two-levels “down") officeworkspace for 5 minutes to ask “What do you think?” about an issue that arose at a more or
less just completed meeting? (And then stuck around for 10 or so minutes to listen—and
visibly taken notes.)
45. Have you … in the last day … looked around you to assess whether the diversity pretty
accurately maps the diversity of the market being served? (And …)
46. Have you in the last day at some meeting gone out of your way to make sure that a normally
reticent person was engaged in a conversation—and then thanked him or her, perhaps
privately, for their contribution?
47. Have you during your tenure instituted very public (visible) presentations of performance?
48. Have you in the last four months had a session specifically aimed at checking on the
“corporate culture” and the degree we are true to it—with all presentations by relatively junior
folks, including front-line folks? (And with a determined effort to keep the conversation
restricted to “real world” “small” cases—not theory.)
49. Have you in the last six months talked about the Internal Brand Promise?
50. Have you in the last year had a full-day off site to talk about individual (and group)
aspirations?
the Heart of
Business Strategy:
48 Things That
Matter
We usually think of business strategy
as some sort of aspirational market
positioning statement. Doubtless
that’s part of it. But I believe that
the number one “strategic strength”
is excellence in execution and
systemic relationships (i.e., with
everyone we come in contact with).
Hence I offer the following 48 pieces
of advice in creating a winning
“strategy” that is inherently
sustainable.
“Thank you.” Minimum several times a day.
Measure it.
“Thank you” to everyone even peripherally
involved in some activity—especially those
“deep in the hierarchy.”
Smile. Work on it.
Apologize. Even if “they” are “mostly” to
blame.
Jump all over those who play the “blame
game.”
Hire enthusiasm.
Low enthusiasm. No hire. Any job.
Hire optimists. Everywhere. (“Positive
outlook on life,” not mindless optimism.)
Hiring: Would you like to go to lunch with
him-her. 100% of jobs.
Hire for good manners.
Do not reject “trouble makers”—that is those
who are uncomfortable with the status quo.
Expose all would-be hires to something
unexpected-weird. Observe their reaction.
Overwhelm response to even the smallest
screwups.
Become a student of all you will meet with.
Big time.
Hang out with interesting new people.
Measure it.
Lunch with folks in other functions. Measure it.
Listen. Hear. Become a serious student
of listening-hearing.
Work on everyone’s listening skills. Practice.
Become a student of information extractioninterviewing.
Become a student of presentation giving.
Formal. Short and spontaneous.
Incredible care in 1st line supervisor selection.
World’s best training for 1st line supervisors.
Construct small leadership opportunities for
junior people within days of starting on the
job.
Insane care in all promotion decisions.
Promote “people people” for all managerial
jobs. Finance-logistics-R&D as much as,
say, sales.
Hire-promote for demonstrated curiosity.
Check their past commitment to continuous
learning.
Small “d” diversity. Rich mixes for any and
all teams.
Hire women. Roughly 50% women on exec
team.
Exec team “looks like” customer population,
actual and desired.
Focus on creating products for and selling
to women.
Focus on creating products for and selling
to boomers-geezers.
Work on first and last impressions.
Walls display tomorrow’s aspirations, not
yesterday’s accomplishments.
Simplify systems. Constantly.
Insist that almost all material be covered by a
1-page summary. Absolutely no longer.
Practice decency.
Add “We are thoughtful in all we do” to
corporate values list. Number 1 force for
customer loyalty, employee satisfaction.
Make some form of employee growth (for all)
a formal part of values set. Above
customer satisfaction. Steal from RE/MAX:
“We are a life success company.”
Flowers.
Celebrate “small wins.” Often. Perhaps a
“small win of the day.”
Manage your calendar religiously: Does it
accurately reflect your espoused priorities?
Use a “calendar friend” who’s not very
friendly to help you with this.
Review your calendar: Work assiduously and
mercilessly on your “To don’ts.”—stuff
that distracts.
Bosses, especially near the top: Formally
cultivate one advisor whose role is to tell you
the truth.
Commit to Excellence.
Talk up Excellence.
Put “Excellence in all we do” in the values set.
Measure everyone on demonstrated
commitment to Excellence.
the recession 44
Forty-four “Secrets”
and “clever Strategies”
For dealing with the
Recession of 2008-XXXX
I am constantly asked for
'secrets'
“strategies/
for
surviving the recession.” I try
to appear wise and informed—
and parade original,
sophisticated thoughts. But if
you want to know what’s
really going through my
head, see the list that follows.
44 “Secrets” and “Clever Strategies” For
Dealing with the Recession of 2007+
You come earlier.
You leave later.
You work harder.
You may well work for less; and, if so, you
adapt to the untoward circumstances with a
smile—even if it kills you inside.
You volunteer to do more.
You dig deep and always bring a good attitude
to work.
You fake it if your good attitude flags.
You literally practice your "game face" in the
mirror in the morning, and in the loo
mid-morning.
You give new meaning to the idea and intensive
practice of “visible management.”
44 “Secrets” and “Clever Strategies” For
Dealing with the Recession of 2008-XXXX
You take better than usual care of yourself and
encourage others to do the same—physical
well-being determines mental well-being and
response to stress.
You shrug off shit that flows downhill in your
direction—buy a shovel or a “pre-worn”
raincoat on eBay.
You try to forget about “the good old days”—
nostalgia is self-destructive.
You buck yourself up with the thought that
“this too shall pass”—but then remind yourself
that it might not pass any time soon, and so
you re-dedicate yourself to making the
absolute best of what you have now.
44 “Secrets” and “Clever Strategies” For
Dealing with the Recession of 2008-XXXX
You work the phones and then work the
phones some more—and stay in touch with
positively everyone.
You frequently invent breaks from routine,
including “weird” ones—“changeups” prevent
wallowing and bring a fresh perspective.
You eschew all forms of personal excess.
You simplify.
You sweat the details as never before.
You sweat the details as never before.
You sweat the details as never before.
You raise to the sky and maintain at all
costs the Standards of Excellence by which
you unfailingly evaluate your own performance.
You are maniacal when it comes to responding
to even the slightest screwup.
44 “Secrets” and “Clever Strategies” For
Dealing with the Recession of 2008-XXXX
You find ways to be around young people and
to keep young people around—they are less
likely to be members of the “sky is falling”
school.
You learn new tricks of your trade.
You remind yourself that this is not just
something to be “gotten through”—it is the
Final Exam of character.
You network like a demon.
You network inside the company—get to know
more of the folks who “do the real work.”
You network outside the company—get to
know more of the folks who “do the real
work” in vendor-customer outfits.
44 “Secrets” and “Clever Strategies” For
Dealing with the Recession of 2008-XXXX
You thank others by the truckload if good
things happen—and take the heat yourself if
bad things happen.
You behave kindly, but you don't sugarcoat or
hide the truth--humans are startlingly
resilient and rumors are the real killers.
You treat small successes as if they were
Superbowl victories—and celebrate and
commend accordingly.
You shrug off the losses (ignoring what's going
on in your tummy), and get back on the
horse and immediately try again.
You avoid negative people to the extent you
can—pollution kills.
You eventually read the gloom-sprayers the
riot act.
44 “Secrets” and “Clever Strategies” For
Dealing with the Recession of 2008-XXXX
You give new meaning to the word "thoughtful.“
You don’t put limits on the flowers budget—
“bright and colorful” works marvels.
You redouble, re-triple your efforts to "walk in
your customer's shoes." (Especially if the
shoes smell.)
You mind your manners—and accept others’
lack of manners in the face of their strains.
You are kind to all mankind.
You keep your shoes shined.
You leave the blame game at the office door.
You call out the congenital politicians in no
uncertain terms.
You become a paragon of personal accountability.
And then you pray.
Part
FOUR
“The doctor
interrupts
after …*
*Source: Jerome Groopman, How Doctors Think
seconds
[An obsession with] Listening is ... the ultimate mark
of Respect.
Listening is ... the heart and soul of Engagement.
Listening is ... the heart and soul of Kindness.
Listening is ... the heart and soul of Thoughtfulness.
Listening is ... the basis for true Collaboration.
Listening is ... the basis for true Partnership.
Listening is ... a Team Sport.
Listening is ... a Developable Individual Skill.* (*Though women
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
is
is
is
is
...
...
...
...
are far better at it than men.)
the basis for Community.
the bedrock of Joint Ventures that work.
the bedrock of Joint Ventures that last.
the core of effective Cross-functional
Communication* (*Which is in turn Attribute #1 of
organizational effectiveness.)
[cont.]
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
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
the engine of superior EXECUTION.
the key to making the Sale.
the key to Keeping the Customer’s Business.
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
If you agree, shouldn’t listening
#1?
If you agree, shouldn’t listening
item” at every Meeting?
If you agree, shouldn’t listening
se? (Listening = Strategy.)
If you agree, shouldn’t listening
for in Hiring (for every job)?
be ... a Core Competence?
be ... Core Competence
be ... an explicit “agenda
be ... our Strategy—per
be ... the #1 skill we look
If you agree, shouldn’t listening be ... the #1 attribute
we examine in our Evaluations?
If you agree, shouldn’t listening be ... the #1 skill we
look for in Promotion decisions?
If you agree, shouldn’t listening be ... the #1 Training
priority at every stage of everyone’s career—from Day
#1 to Day LAST?
If you agree, what are you going to do about it ... in the
next 30 MINUTES?
If you agree, what are you going to do about it ... at your
NEXT meeting?
If you agree, what are you going to do about it ... by the
end of the DAY?
If you agree, what are you going to do about it ... in the
next 30 DAYS?
If you agree, what are you going to do about it ... in the
next 12 MONTHS?
“You can make more
friends in two months by
becoming interested in
other people than you can
in two years by trying to
get other people interested
in you.” —Dale Carnegie
“It was much later that I realized
Dad’s secret. He gained respect by
giving it. He talked and listened to
the fourth-grade kids in Spring Valley
who shined shoes the same way he
talked and listened to a bishop or a
He was
seriously interested in
who you were and what
you had to say.”
college president.
—Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Respect
“I believe that you
can get everything
in life you want if you
will just help enough
other people get what
they want.” —Zig Ziglar
*Listening is of the
utmost … strategic
importance!
*Listening is a proper …
core value !
*Listening is … trainable
!
*Listening is a … profession
!
*Listening is a …
profession!
Listen = “Profession”
= Study = practice =
evaluation =
Enterprise value
Listen = Profession = Study = practice = evaluation =
Enterprise value: "We
listen intently to
and fully engage
all with whom
we work."
“if you don’t
listen, you don’t
sell anything.”
—Carolyn Marland
Questioning,
the art [and
“profession”] of.
Sales >
Marketing
“Everybody
lives by selling
something.”
—Robert Louis Stevenson
four most
important
words in any
“The
organization are …
The four most important words in any organization
are …
“What do
you
think?”
Source: courtesy Dave Wheeler, posted at tompeters.com
Tomorrow: How
many times will you
“ask the WDYT
question”?
[Count!]
[Practice
makes better!] [This is a
STRATEGIC skill!]
From Enemy/Reluctant User
to Champion/Savior/Owner:
“one line
of code!” Axiom
The
“I believe that you
can get everything
in life you want if you
will just help enough
other people get what
they want.” —Zig Ziglar
“The deepest
human need is
the … need to be
appreciated.”
—William James
“Marion … glanced at the raised hands and
enjoyed the interest in her work. She … gazed at
her former postdoc, her rebellious child with her
hand raised. ‘What do you need now?’ she asked
herself. Strange, she’d never posed the question
that way before. She’d always considered what
her postdoc demanded, what she did or did not
deserve. What did she need? That was the
puzzle, but as was so often the case, framing the
question properly went a long way. What did she
need? In that calm, clear, nearly joyous moment
after her talk, the answer began to come to
Marion. Ah, yes, of course, she thought with
some surprise. And she called on Robin.”
—Allegra Goodman, Intuition
(italics added)
Context: In Intuition, a stunning novel about the politics of science by Allegra Goodman,
“Marion” (see slide) is the head of department where some powerful research is being
conducted. Among many other things, near the end of the book, correctly or not, one of the
post-docs becomes a whistle blower—and creates a godawful mess. As I said, the allegations
may or may not have been warranted, but in a flash (read the slide) the psychological problem
which led to the post-doc’s meltdown becomes clear, after years, to super-logical, demanding
boss Marion. The play here is subtle. This may do nothing for you, but I carry the quote on the
slide around with me. In my case, it is-was a bombshell upon 3rd or 4th reading, and its
strength only grows—I’ve probably read it, no kidding, 50 times now.
Interpretation: Obviously (but not obviously to blunt Marion for years), the post-doc
“simply” needed recognition. And I think there is an enormous message here. A lot of bosses
are Marions. And a lot of employees are kin to our post-doc. Of course, you may just think I’m
nuts about this one wee paragraph. Fair enough.
“Thank you” lingers on:
10
years
Tomorrow: How many
times will you mange to
blurt out, “Thank you”?
[Count ’em!]
[Practice
makes better!* *The engineer from
Manchester.]] [This is a STRATEGIC skill!]
*appreciation is of the
utmost … strategic
importance!
*appreciation is a proper …
core value !
*appreciation is … trainable
!
*appreciation is a … profession
!
And the answer is ….
otis
Helen Keller.
Mother Teresa.
“I long to accomplish a
great and noble task, but it
is my chief duty to
accomplish humble tasks
as though they were great
and noble.” —Helen Keller
“We do no great
things, only small
things with great
love.”
—Mother Teresa
#52
“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
pause
“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.
*effective “Repair”/Apology is of the
utmost … strategic
importance!
*effective repair is a proper …
core value !
*effective repair is …
trainable !
*effective repair is a …
profession !
“One of the secrets of
a long and fruitful life
is to forgive everybody
of everything every
night right before
going to bed.” —Bernard Baruch
#53
“We are
thoughtful
in all we do.”
Thoughtfulness is key to customer retention.
Thoughtfulness is key to employee recruitment
and satisfaction.
Thoughtfulness is key to brand perception.
Thoughtfulness is key to your ability to look in
the mirror —and tell your kids about your job.
“Thoughtfulness is free.”
Thoughtfulness is key to speeding things up—
it reduces friction.
Thoughtfulness is key to transparency and even
cost containment—it abets rather than stifles
truth-telling.
*Thoughtfulness is of the
utmost … strategic
importance!
*thoughtfulness is a proper …
core value !
*Thoughtfulness is … trainable
!
*Thoughtfulness is a … profession
!
“Courtesies of a small and
trivial character are the
ones which strike
deepest in the grateful
and appreciating heart.”
—Henry Clay
The Real World’s “Little” Rule Book
Ben/tea
Norm/tea
DDE/make friends
WFBuckley/make friends-help friends
Gust/Suck down
Charlie/poker pal-BOF
Eddie VII/dance-flatter-mingle-learn the language
Vlad/birthday party of outgroup guy’s wife
CIO/finance network
ERP installer/consult-“one line of code”
GE Energy/make friends risk assessment
GWB/check the invitation list
GHWB/T-notes
Hank/60 calls
MarkM/5K-5M
Delaware/show up
Oppy/snub Lewis Strauss
NM/smile
-$4.3T/tin ear
tp.com/Big 4-What do you think?
Women/genes
Banker/after church
Total Bloody Mess/Can they pay back the loan?
#54
FLOWER
POWER
#55
Five Or Less
Words To
The Wise
EXCELLENCE/Five Or Less Words To The Wise
4 most important words: “What do you think?” (Dave Wheeler @
tompeters.com: “Most important 4
words in an organization.”)
4 most important words: “How can I help?” (Boss as CHRO/
Chief Hurdle Removal Officer)
2 most important words: “Thank you!” (Appreciation/
Recognition)
2 most important words: “All yours.” (“Hands-off” delegation/
Respect/Trust)
3 most important words: “I’m going out.” (MBWA/Managing By
Wandering Around/In touch!)
2 most important words: “I’m sorry.” (Power of unconditional
apology = Stunning! Marshall
Goldsmith: #1 exec issue)
5 most important words: “Did you tell the customer?” (Overcommunicate)
2 most important words: “She says …” (“She” is the customer!)
EXCELLENCE/Five Or Less Words To The Wise
2 most important words: “Yes ma’am.” (Women are more often
than not the best managers.)
2 most important words: “Try it!” (My only “for sure” in 44 years:
Herb Kelleher: “We have a strategic
plan, it’s called doing things.”/Bill
Parcells: “Blame no one. Expect
nothing. Do something.”)
3 most important words: “Try it again!” (My only “for sure” 44
years: MOST TRIES WINS.)
2 most important words: “Good try!” (CELEBRATE “good
failures.” Richard Farson/book:
Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes
Wins. Samuel Beckett: “Fail. Fail again.
Fail better.”)
3 most important words: “At your service.” (Organizations exist
to serve. Period. Leaders live to serve.
Period.)
4 most important words: “How are we doing?” (To customers,
regularly.)
4 most important words: “How was Mary’s recital?” (Know your
employees’ kids.)
2 most important words: “Let’s party!” (Celebrate “small wins” at
the drop of a hat.)
EXCELLENCE/Five Or Less Words To The Wise
1 most important word: “No.” (“To don’ts” > “To dos”)
1 most important word: “Yes.” (Hey, give it a shot/Anon. quote:
“The best answer is always, ‘What the
hell.’”/Wayne Gretzky: “You miss
100% of the shots you don’t take.”)
2 most important words: “Lunch today?” (“Social stuff” = Secret
to problem/opportunity #1:/XFX/
cross-functional Excellence.)
4 most important words: “Thank Dick in accounting.” (Readily
acknowledge help from other
functions.)
2 most important words: “After you.” (Courtesy rules.)
3 most important words: “Thanks for coming.” (Civility. E.g., boss
acknowledges employee coming to
her/his office.)
2 most important words: “Great smile!” (Note & acknowledge
good attitude.)
1 most important word: “Wow!” (The gold standard … for
everything.)
1 most important word: “EXCELLENT!” (The … ONLY …
acceptable standard/aspiration.)
#56
problem #1.
Opportunity #1.
X =XFX*
*Excellence = Cross-functional Excellence
Never
waste a
lunch!
????
% XF
lunches*
*Measure! Monthly! Part of evaluation! [The PA’s
Club.]
Lunch
> SAP/
Oracle
(Way) Underutilized Lever
Space!
Space!
Space!
Space!
Geologists +
Geophysicists +
A little bit of love =
Oil
“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
“Suck down for
success!” * ** *** **** ****
*“He [Gust Avrakotos] had become something of
a legend with these people who manned the
underbelly of the Agency [CIA],” from Charlie
Wilson’s War
**Getting to know “the risk guys” [GE Power]
***“Spend less time with your customer!”
C(I) > C(E)
****
*****The ATT systems sales exec
R.O.I.R.
Return On
Investment In
Relationships
“Keep a short
enemies list. One
enemy can do more
damage than the
good done by a
hundred friends.”
—Bill Walsh (from The Score Takes Care of Itself)
C(I) > C(E)
Lunch
Kudos
Learning/ Presence/Presentations
Facetime C(E)
Transparency
Awards
Co-locate/Geologists-Geophysicists
Time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Motherhood (“If don’t take credit …)
Staff C.Sat./Unicredit
The “XF-50”: 50 Ways to
Enhance Cross-Functional
Effectiveness and Deliver
Speed, “Service Excellence”
and “Value-added Customer
‘Solutions’”
1. It’s our organization to make work—or not. It’s not “them,” the outside
world that’s the problem. The enemy is us. Period.
2. Friction-free! Dump 90% of “middle managers”—most are advertent or
inadvertent “power freaks.” We are all—every one of us—in the Friction
Removal Business, one moment at a time, now and forevermore.
3. No “stovepipes”! “Stove-piping,” “Silo-ing” is an Automatic Firing
Offense. Period. No appeals. (Within the limits of civility, somewhat
“public” firings are not out of the question—that is, make one and all
aware why the axe fell.)
4. Everything on the Web. This helps. A lot. (“Everything” = Big word.)
5. Open access. All available to all. Transparency, beyond a level that’s
“sensible,” is a de facto imperative in a Burn-the-Silos strategy.
6. Project managers rule!! Project managers running XF (cross-functional)
projects are the Elite of the organization, and seen as such and treated as
such. (The likes of construction companies have practiced this more or
less forever.)
7. “Value-added Proposition” = Application of integrated resources. (From
the entire supply-chain.) To deliver on our emergent business raison
d'être, and compete with the likes of our Chinese and Indian brethren, we
must co-operate with anybody and everybody “24/7.” IBM, UPS and many,
many others are selling far more than a product or service that works—
the new “it” is pure and simple a product of XF co-operation; “the product
is the co-operation” is not much of a stretch.
8. “XF work” is the direct work of leaders!
9. “Integrated solutions” = Our “Culture.” (Therefore: XF = Our culture.)
10. Partner with “best-in-class” only. Their pursuit of Excellence helps us
get beyond petty bickering. An all-star team has little time for anything
other than delivering on the (big) Client promise.
11. All functions are created equal! All functions contribute equally! All =
All.
12. All functions are “PSFs,” Professional Service Firms. “Professionalism”
is the watchword—and true Professionalism rise above turf wars. You are
your projects, your legacy is your projects—and the legacy will be skimpy
indeed unless you pass, with flying colors, the “works well with others”
exam!
13. We are all in sales! We all (a-l-l) “sell” those Integrated Client Solutions.
Good salespeople don’t blame others for screwups—the Clint doesn’t care.
Good salespeople are “quarterbacks” who make the system work-deliver.
14. We all invest in “wiring” the Client organization—we develop
comprehensive relationships in every part (function, level) of the Client’s
organization. We pay special attention to the so-called “lower levels,” short
on glamour, long on the ability to make things happen at the “coalface.”
15. We all “live the Brand”—which is Delivery of Matchless Integrated
Solutions which transform the Client’s organization. To “live the brand” is
to become a raving fan of XF cooperation.
16. We use the word “partner” until we want to barf! (Words matter! A lot!)
17. We use the word “team” until we want to barf. (Words matter! A lot!)
18. We use the word “us” until we want to barf. (Words matter! A lot!)
19. We obsessively seek Inclusion—and abhor exclusion. We want more
people from more places (internal, external—the whole “supply chain”)
aboard in order to maximize systemic benefits.
20. Buttons & Badges matter—we work relentlessly at team (XF team)
identity and solidarity. (“Corny”? Get over it.)
21. All (almost all) rewards are team rewards.
22. We keep base pay rather low—and give whopping bonuses for excellent
team delivery of “seriously cool” cross-functional Client benefits.
23. WE NEVER BLAME OTHER PARTS OF THE ORGANIZATION FOR
SCREWUPS.
24. WE TAKE THE HEAT—THE WHOLE TEAM. (For anything and
everything.) (Losing, like winning, is a team affair.)
25. “BLAMING” IS AN AUTOMATIC FIRING OFFENSE.
26. “Women rule.” Women are simply better at the XF communications
stuff—less power obsessed, less hierarchically inclined, more group-team
oriented.
27. Every member of our team is an honored contributor. “XF project
Excellence” is an “all hands” affair.
28. We are our XF Teams! XF project teams are how we get things done.
29. “Wow Projects” rule, large or small—Wow projects demand by
definition XF Excellence.
30. We routinely attempt to unearth and then reward “small gestures” of
XF co-operation.
31. We invite Functional Bigwigs to our XF project team reviews.
32. We insist on Client team participation—from all functions of the Client
organization.
33. An “Open talent market” helps make the projects “silo-free.” People
want in on the project because of the opportunity to do something
memorable—no one will tolerate delays based on traditional functional
squabbling.
34. Flat! Flat = Flattened Silos. Flat = Excellence based on XF project
outcomes, not power-hoarding within functional boundaries.
35. New “C-level”? We more or less need a “C-level” job titled Chief
Bullshit Removal Officer. That is, some kind of formal watchdog whose
role in life is to make cross-functionality work, and I.D. those who don’t
get with the program.
36. Huge (H-U-G-E) co-operation bonuses. Senior team members who
conspicuously shine in the “working together” bit are rewarded Big Time.
(A million bucks in one case I know—and a non-cooperating very senior
was sacked.)
37. Get physical!! “Co-location” is the most powerful “culture changer.
Physical X-functional proximity is almost a guarantee (yup!) of
remarkably improved co-operation—to aid this one needs flexible
workspaces that can be mobilized for a team in a flash.
38. Ad hoc. To improve the new “X-functional Culture,” little XF teams
should be formed on the spot to deal with an urgent issue—they may
live for but ten days, but it helps the XF habit, making it normal to be
“working the XF way.”
39. “Deep dip.” Dive three levels down in the organization to fill a
senior role with some one who has been pro-active on the XF
dimension.
40. Formal evaluations. Everyone, starting with the receptionist, should
have an important XF rating component in their evaluation.
41. Demand XF experience for, especially, senior jobs. The military
requires all would-be generals and admirals to have served a full tour in
a job whose only goals were cross-functional. Great idea!
42. Early project “management” experience. Within days, literally, of
coming aboard folks should be “running” some bit of a project,
working with folks from other functions—hence, “all this” becomes as
natural as breathing.
43. “Get ’em out with the customer.” Rarely does the accountant or
bench scientist call one the customer. Reverse that. Give everyone
more or less regular “customer-facing experiences.” One learns
quickly that the customer is not interested in our in-house turf battles!
44. Put “it” on the–every agenda. XF “issues to be resolved” should be
on every agenda—morning project team review, weekly exec team
meeting, etc. A “next step” within 24 hours (4?) ought to be part of the
resolution.
45. XF “honest broker” or ombudsman. The ombudsman examines XF
“friction events” and acts as Conflict Resolution Counselor. (Perhaps a
formal conflict resolution agreement?)
46. Lock it in! XF co-operation, central to any value-added mission,
should be an explicit part of the “Vision Statement.”
47. Promotions. Every promotion, no exceptions, should put XF
Excellence in the top 5 (3?) evaluation criteria.
48. Pick partners based on their “co-operation proclivity.” Everyone must
be on board if “this thing” is going to work; hence every vendor, among
others, should be formally evaluated on their commitment to XF
transparency—e.g., can we access anyone at any level in any function of
their organization without bureaucratic barriers?
49. Fire vendors who don’t “get it”—more than “get it,” welcome “it” with
open arms.”
50. Jaw. Jaw. Jaw. Talk XF cooperation-value-added at every opportunity.
Become a relentless bore!
51. Excellence! There is a state of XF Excellence per se. Talk about it.
Pursue it. Aspire to nothing less.
#57
Attending to the
“Last 98%”: The New
“Management
Science,” or “Hard”
Is “Soft,” “Soft”
Is “Hard”
S = ƒ( ___ )
Success Is a
Function of …
S = ƒ(#&DR; -2L, -3L, 4L; I&E)
Number and depth of relationships 2, 3, and 4 levels down,
inside and outside the organization
S = ƒ(SD>SU)
Sucking down is more important than sucking up—the idea is to have
the entire organization working for you.
S = ƒ(#non-FF, #non-FL)
Number of friends, number of lunches with people not in my function
S = ƒ(#FF)
Number of friends in the finance function-organization
S = ƒ(OF)
Oddball friends
S = ƒ(PDL)
Purposeful, deep listening—this is very hard
S = ƒ(#PK“W”P)
S = ƒ( #PK“L”P)
# of people you know in the “wrong” places
# people you know in “low” places
S = ƒ(#EODD3MC)
Number of end-of-the-day difficult (you’d rather avoid) “3-minutecalls” that
soothe raw feelings, mend fences, etc
S = ƒ(UFP, UFK, OAPS)
Unsolicited favors performed, UFs involving co-workers’ kids, overt acts
politeness-solicitude toward co-workers’ spouses, parents, etc.
S = ƒ(#TN)
Number of thank you notes sent
S = ƒ(A#C, PTS/“OLC”, SAPA)
Absolute # of consultations, perception of being taken seriously (Responsible for
“one line of code”), small acts of public appreciation
S = ƒ(SU)
Showing up (Woody Allen, Delaware’s ridiculous influence on the
U.S. Constitution)
S = ƒ(#&DR; -2L, -3L, 4L, I&E)
Success is a function of: Number and depth of relationships
2, 3, and 4 levels down inside and outside the organization
S = ƒ(SD>SU)
Sucking down is more important than sucking up—the idea is
to have the [your] entire organization working for you.
S = ƒ(#non-FF, #non-FL)
Number of friends not in my function
S = ƒ(#XFL/m)
Number of lunches with colleagues in other
functions per month
S = ƒ(#FF)
Number of friends in the finance organization
Loser:
“He’s such a
suck-up!”
Winner:
“He’s such a
suck-down.”
S =ƒ(#PK“W”P)
S = ƒ(#PK“L”P)
# of people you know in the “wrong” places
# people you know in “low” places
???????
“Success doesn’t depend on the number of
people you know; it depends on the number
of people you know in
high places!”
or
“Success doesn’t depend on the number of
people you know; it depends on the number
of people you know in
low
places!”
It helps to know people in …
high
places!”
It helps
more
to know people in …
low
places!”
450/8
Lisbon/New Biz:
Weeks
to …
Minutes
(!!!!)
“One bank is currently
claiming to … ‘leverage its global
footprint to provide effective financial
solutions for its customers by providing
a gateway to diverse markets.’”
—Charles Handy
“I assume that it is just
saying that it is there to
‘help its customers
wherever they are’.”
—Charles Handy
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)
**Docs, nurses make own
checklists on whatever
process-procedure they choose
**Within weeks, average stay in
ICU down
50%
Source: Atul Gawande, “The Checklist” (New Yorker, 1210.07)
Beauty.
Grace.
Clarity.
Simplicity.
First Steps: “Beauty Contest”!
1. Select one form/document:
invoice, airbill, sick leave policy,
customer returns claim form.
2. Rate the selected doc on a scale of
1 to 10 [1 = Bureaucratica
Obscuranta/Sucks; 10 = Work of
Art] on four dimensions:
Beauty. Grace.
Clarity. Simplicity.
3. Re-invent!
4. Repeat, with a new selection,
every 15 working days.
The Commerce Bank Model
“every computer at commerce bank has a
special red key on it that
says, ‘found something stupid that we are doing
that interferes with our ability to service the
customer? Tell us about it, and if we agree, we
will give you $50.’”
Source: Fans! Not customers. How Commerce Bank
Created a Super-growth Business in a No-growth
Industry, Vernon Hill & Bob Andelman
CGRO*
*CGRO/Chief Grunge Removal Officer
(CDC/Chief of De-complexification)
(CAO/Chief Anti-systems Officer)
(CBSD/Chief BS Destruction Officer)
3M’s Innovation
Crisis: How Six Sigma
Almost Smothered
Its Idea Culture
Source: Title/Cover Story, BW, 0611.07 (“What’s remarkable is
how fast a culture can be torn apart,” 3M lead scientist; “In
an innovation economy, [6 Sigma] is no longer a cure all”/BW)
“Rikyu was watching his son Sho-an as he
swept and watered the garden path. ‘Not clean
enough,’ said Rikyu, when Sho-an had finished
his task, and bade him try again. After a weary
hour, the son turned to Rikyu: ‘Father, there is
nothing more to be done. The steps have been
washed for the third time, the stone planters
and the trees are well sprinkled with water,
moss and lichens are shining with a fresh
verdure; not a twig, not a leaf have I left on the
ground.’ ‘Young fool,’ chided the tea-master,
‘that is not the way a garden path should be
swept.’ Saying this, Rikyu stepped into the
garden, shook a tree and scattered over the
garden gold and crimson leaves, scraps of the
brocade of autumn! What Rikyu demanded was
not cleanliness alone, but the beautiful and the
natural also.” —Kakuzo Okakura, The Book of Tea
“What Rikyu
demanded was not
cleanliness alone,
but the beautiful
and the natural
also.”
—Kakuzo Okakura, The Book of Tea
Part
FIVE
ry it. Try it. Try it
ry it. Try it. Screw i
p. Try it. Try it. Try
Try it. Try it. Try i
ry it. Screw it up. it
ry it. Try it. try it
What makes
God laugh?
People
making
plans!
"Life is what
happens while
you're busy
making other
plans.”
—John Lennon
“We have a
‘strategic plan.’
It’s called doing
things.”
— Herb Kelleher
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
“This is so simple it sounds stupid, but it is amazing
how few oil people really understand that
you only find
oil if you drill
wells.
You may think you’re finding it
when you’re drawing maps and
studying logs, but you have to drill.”
Source: The Hunters, by John Masters, Canadian O & G wildcatter
“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
“Experiment
fearlessly”
Source: BusinessWeek, Type A Organization Strategies/
“How to Hit a Moving Target”—Tactic #1
Success =
Relentless
bumbling
"I think it is very important
for you to do two things:
act on your temporary
conviction as if it was a
real conviction; and when
you realize that you are
wrong, correct course very
quickly.” —Andy Grove
“We ground
up more pig
brains!”
READY.
FIRE!
“We are in a
brawl with no rules.”
Paul Allaire/Xerox:
TP:
“There’s
[literally]
only one
Screw
Around Vigorously!
possible answer …
BLAME NOBODY.
EXPECT NOTHING.
DO SOMETHING.
Source: Locker room sign posted by football coach Bill Parcells
#61
Culture of Prototyping
“Effective prototyping may
the most
valuable core
competence an
be
innovative organization can
hope to have.” —Michael Schrage
Think about It!?
Innovation =
Reaction to the
Prototype
Source: Michael Schrage
“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
“Learn not to
be careful.”
—Photographer Diane Arbus
to her students (Careful = The sidelines, from
Harriet Rubin in The Princessa)
#62
“Fail .
Forward.
Fast.”
High Tech CEO, Pennsylvania
“Fail . Fail
again. Fail
better.”
—Samuel Beckett
Sam’s
Secret
#1!
Read This!
Richard Farson & Ralph Keyes:
Whoever Makes
the Most Mistakes
Wins: The Paradox
of Innovation
“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)
“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)
“It is not enough to
‘tolerate’ failure—
you must
‘celebrate’
failure.”
—Richard Farson (Whoever Makes the
Most Mistakes Wins)
“Reward
excellent failures.
Punish mediocre
successes.”
Phil Daniels, Sydney exec
We learn from our
failures. Period.* Failure
to acknowledge failure
is a fatal disease.
Treating failure like a
disease is a fatal disease.
*Doctors, soldiers, pilots, musicians, etc.
“The secret of fast
progress is
inefficiency, fast
and furious and
numerous failures.”
—Kevin Kelly
“Natural selection is death. ...
Without huge amounts of
death, organisms do not
change over time. ... Death
is the mother of structure. ...
It took four billion years of
death ... to invent the human
mind ...” — The Cobra Event
“The Silicon Valley of
today is built less atop
the spires of earlier
triumphs than upon the
rubble of earlier
debacles.”—Newsweek/ Paul Saffo
#63
1/4,000
“You miss
100% of
the shots you
never take.”
—Wayne Gretzky
#64
“Human
creativity is
the ultimate
economic
resource.”
—Richard Florida,
The Rise of the Creative Class
“It is nothing short of
a miracle that
modern methods of
instruction have not
yet entirely strangled
the holy curiosity of
inquiry.”
—Albert Einstein
“The key question isn’t ‘What fosters
creativity?’ But it is why in God’s name isn’t
everyone creative? Where was the human
potential lost? How was it crippled? I think
therefore a good question might be not
why do people create? But why do people
not create or innovate? We have got to
abandon that sense of amazement in the
face of creativity, as if it were a miracle if
anybody created anything.”
—Abe Maslow
“Every child is
born an artist.
The trick is to
remain an
artist.” —Picasso
“No man ever
became great
except through
many and great
mistakes.”
—William Gladstone
“I have missed more than 9,000
shots in my career. I have lost
almost 300 games. On 26 occasions
I have been entrusted to take the
game winning shot—and missed.
And I have failed over and over and
over again in my life. And that is
why I succeed.” —Michael Jordan
Muhammad Yunus:
“All human beings
are entrepreneurs. When we
were in the caves we were all selfemployed . . . finding our food, feeding
ourselves. That’s where human history
began . . . As civilization came we
suppressed it. We became labor
because they stamped us, ‘You are
labor.’ We forgot that we are
entrepreneurs.”
Source: Muhammad Yunus/The News Hour—PBS/1122.2006
#65
The Limits of “Systems Thinking”:
Surprise,
Transformation &
Excellence
Through
Spontaneous
Discovery
The Limits of “Systems Thinking”:
Surprise, Transformation & Excellence
Through Spontaneous Discovery (1 of 2)
This summer was the summer of brush clearing.
And, it turned out, much more.
It started as simple exercise. After a day or two, scratches from head to toe,
and enjoyment, I set myself a goal of clearing a little space to get a better view
of one of the farm ponds. That revealed something else … to my surprise.
At a casual dinner, I sat next to a landscaper, and we got to talking about our
farm and my skills with clipper, saw, etc. In particular, she suggested that I do
some clearing around a few of our big boulders. Intrigued, I set about clearing,
on our main trail, around a couple of said boulders. I was again amazed at the
result.
That in turn led to attacking some dense brush and brambles around some
barely visible rocks that had always intrigued me—which led to “finding,” in
effect, a great place for a more or less “Zen garden,” as we’ve taken to calling
it.
Which led to … more and more. And more.
(Especially a rock wall, a hundred or so yards long, that is a massive wonder—
next year I’ll move up the hill behind it—I can already begin to imagine what
I’ll discover, though my hunch will be mostly “wrong,” and end up leading me
somewhere else.)
The Limits of “Systems Thinking”:
Surprise, Transformation & Excellence
Through Spontaneous Discovery (2 of 2)
To make a long story short:
I now have a new hobby, and maybe, ye gads, my life’s work for years to
come. This winter I’ll do a little, but I also plan to read up on outdoor spaces,
Zen gardens, etc; visit some rock gardens—spaces close by or amidst my
travels; and, indeed, concoct a more or less plan (rough sketches) for next
spring’s activities—though I’m sure that what I do will move forward mostly by
what I discover as I move forward. (what discovers itself may actually be a
better way to put it—there’s a “hidden hand” here.) As I’m beginning to see it,
this is at least a 10-year project—maybe even a multi-generation project.
I proceeded by trial and error and instinct, and each experiment led
to/suggested another experiment (or 2 or 10) and to a greater understanding
of potential—the “plan,” though there was none, made itself. And it was far, far
better (more ambitious, more interesting, more satisfying) than I would have
imagined. In fact, the result to date bears little or no relationship to what I
was thinking about at the start—a trivial self-designed chore may become the
engine of my next decade; the “brushcutting project” is now leading Susan and
I to view our entire property, and what it might represent, in a new light.
I was able to do much more than I’d dreamed—overall, and project by project.
“Systems thinking”? It would have killed the whole thing.
Is “everything connected to every thin else”? Well, duh. But I had no idea how
everything was connected to everything else until I began (thank you, Michael
Schrage) “serious play.”
I proceeded by trial and error and instinct,
and each experiment led to/suggested
another experiment (or 2 or 10) and to a
greater understanding of potential—the
“plan,” though there was none, made itself.
And it was far, far better (more ambitious,
more interesting, more satisfying) than I
would have imagined. In fact, the result to
date bears little or no relationship to what I
was thinking about at the start—a trivial
self-designed chore may become the engine
of my next decade; the “brushcutting project”
is now leading Susan and I to view our
entire property, and what it might becomerepresent, in a new light.
Note (more of the same): Last year I got a pacemaker for Christmas
(13 December, actually); the #1 no-no is using a chain saw. (The
magnetic field is fearsome.) Taking that warning a step farther, I
decided to do this project entirely with hand tools. Of course that
means more exercise—a good thing. But the “great wonder,” again
unexpected, is that the resultant slowness and quiet is the de facto
engine of my entire spontaneous discovery process.
Note: Some of you will have discovered my implicit debt to the
economist-of-freedom, F.A. Hayek. His stunningly clear view of
market capitalism as a “spontaneous discovery process” is my
intellectual bedrock, my “context” for three decades in Silicon
Valley, and now even for my recreational pursuits (which are, as
noted, becoming so much more than that).
“How do I know what I think until I see what I say.”
—C.K. Chesterton
“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
“This is so simple it sounds stupid, but it is amazing how few
oil people really understand that you only find oil if you drill
wells. You may think you’re finding it when you’re drawing
maps and studying logs, but you have to drill.” —The Hunters, by
John Masters, Canadian Oil & Gas wildcatter
“Experiment fearlessly”
—BusinessWeek, in a Special Report, on the
premier innovation strategy of the best innovators
“The secret of fast progress is inefficiency, fast and furious
and numerous failures.” —Kevin Kelly, founding editor, Wired
#66
“SkunkWorks”/ “ParallelUniverse”
“the
solution”
Source: Scott Bedbury (Others: 3M, Google, Shell, NAVFAC)
Build a “School on top of
a school”/ContinuingExec Ed (The Parallel
Universe Strategy)
The
“Sri Lanka
Stratagem”
Forward, march:
#67
Where to look for “Playmates”:
F.F.F.F.
(Find a Fellow Freak Faraway)
Playmate!*
Playpen!
Prototype!
*Can be Client, supplier … as well as Insider
Demos!
Heroes!
Stories!
“A key – perhaps
the key – to
leadership is the
effective
communication
of a story.”
—Howard Gardner,
Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership
“Storytelling
is the core
of culture.”
—Branded Nation: The Marketing of Megachurch,
College Inc., and Museumworld, James Twitchell
Best
story
wins!
“Never doubt that a
small group of
committed people
can change the
world. Indeed it is
the only thing that
ever has.”
—Margaret Mead
#68
Find ’em!
“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
“Some people look for
things that went wrong
and try to fix them. I
look for things that
went right, and try to
build off them.”
—Bob Stone (Mr ReGo)
“Never doubt that a
small group of
committed people
can change the
world. Indeed it is
the only thing that
ever has.”
—Margaret Mead
#69
We are the
company
we keep
“You will become
like the five people
you associate with
the most—this can
be either a blessing
or a curse.”
—Billy Cox
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’
inventions at
least half the
time.
One successful
example, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, based on a product found in
an Osaka market.” —Fortune
The “We are what we eat”
axiom: At its core, every (!!!)
relationship-partnership decision
(employee, vendor, customer, etc) is
a strategic decision about:
“Innovate,
‘Yes’ or ‘No’ ”
Repeat: WE ARE WHO
WE HANG OUT WITH.
(There's an incipient
scorecard on this ...
EVERY DAY.)
The “We are what we eat”
“Hang out with
‘cool’ and thou shalT
become more cool.
Hang out with ‘dull’
and thou shalT
become more dull.
Period.”
Axiom II:
“Don’t
benchmark,
futuremark!”
Impetus: “The future is already here; it’s just
not evenly distributed” —William Gibson
“To grow, companies
need to break out of a
vicious cycle of
competitive
benchmarking and
imitation.”
—W. Chan Kim & Renée
Mauborgne, “Think for Yourself —
Stop Copying a Rival,” Financial Times
“Companies have
defined so much
‘best practice’
that they are now
more or less
identical.”
—Jesper Kunde, Unique Now ... or Never
“Future-defining
customers may account for
only 2% to 3% of your total,
CUSTOMERS:
but they represent a
crucial window on the
future.”
Adrian Slywotzky, Mercer Consultants
“How do dominant companies
lose their position? Two-
thirds of the time,
they pick the wrong
competitor to worry
about.”
—Don Listwin, CEO,
Openwave Systems/WSJ
“Who’s the most
interesting person
you’ve met in the
last 90 days? How
do I get in touch
with them?”
—Fred Smith
“Freak
Fridays”
—once a
month invite somebody interesting, in any field, to have
lunch with your gang
“Normal” =
“o for 800”
"The reasonable man adapts
himself to the world. The
unreasonable one persists in
trying to adapt the world to
himself. Therefore, all
progress depends upon the
unreasonable man.” —GB Shaw,
Man and Superman: The Revolutionists' Handbook.
“The
Bottleneck …
“The
Bottleneck Is at
the Top of the Bottle”
“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:
At the top!”
— Gary Hamel/Harvard Business Review
“d”iversity
“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
Can you pass the …
“Squint
test”?
“What is your most
marked characteristic?”
Vanity Fair:
Mike Bloomberg:
“Curiosity.”
“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!
“The Billion-man
Research Team:
Companies offering
work to online
communities are
reaping the benefits of
‘crowdsourcing.’”
—Headline, FT, 0110.07
Rob McEwen/CEO/
Goldcorp Inc./
Red Lake
gold
Wikinomics: How Mass
Collaboration Changes Everything,
Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams
Source:
All You Need to Know
About “Sources of
Innovation” …
All You Need to Know About
“Sources of Innovation”:
Angry
people!
[angry with the
status quo]
F(Anger/Passion)
>>>> f(Pushback
from Threatened
Fat-cats &
Bureau-crats)
Iron Innovation Equality Law:
The quality and
quantity and
imaginativeness
of innovation shall be
the same in all
functions —e.g., in HR and
purchasing as much as in marketing or
product development.*
*This is …
Strategic!
Innovation Index: How many
of your Top 5 Strategic
Initiatives/Key Projects score
8 or higher [out of 10] on a
“Weird”/ “Profound”/
“Wow”/“Game- changer”
Scale?
Inno16
The INNO16: Innovation’s “Sixteen Imperatives”
(1) Try it.
(“1/40”: “Whoever tries the most stuff wins.”)
(“R.F.A.”/Ready. Fire. Aim.)
(2) Celebrate failure.
“Whoever makes the most mistakes wins.”
“Fail. Fail again. Fail better.”
“Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.”
(3) Decentralize. (Organic growth bias.)
(4) Parallel Universe.
1% “play money”
Internal VC fund
“Skunkworks”
(5) “We are what we eat”: We are who we spend
time with.”
(6) “d”iversity. (Every dimension.)
(7) Co-invent with (all) outsiders. (Exploit electronic
communities.)
The INNO16: Innovation’s “Sixteen Imperatives” (Cont.)
(8) “Strategic” Listening = Core competence.
(9) Hire and promote 100% innovators.
Innovator’s characteristic = Angry.
CEO=Innovation “bias.” (“You must be …”/Gandhi)
(10) XFX/Cross-functional Excellence!! (#1?)
(11) Chief Complexity/Systems Destruction
Officer.
(12) R&D Equality.
All functions equal. (VA centerpiece./All staff VA-meisters.)
(13) Top quartile R&D spending (So, too, our
partners.)
(14) All projects
(Must have something new.) (“WOW
standard.”)
(15) Fun! (Enjoy breaking the rules.)
(16) All businesses!!
De-central-iza-tion!
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
“Best practice” =
ZERO Standard
Deviation
“‘Decentralization’
is not a piece of
paper. It’s not me.
It’s either in your
heart, or not.”
—Brian Joffe/BIDvest
Enemy
#1
I.C.D.
Inherent/Inevitable/
Immutable Centralist Drift
Note 1:
Note 2: Jim Burke’s 1-word vocabulary: “No.”
“If if feels
painful and
scary—that’s
real delegation”
—Caspian Woods, small biz owner
“Ninety percent of what
we call ‘management’
consists of making it
difficult for people to
get things done.”
– Peter Drucker
Can’t Live Without ’em,
Can’t live With ’em
Office A, Executive Row:
C.I.O.
C.S.D.O./
Chief Systems
Destruction Officer
Office B (Across the hall):
*
(007 License)
*Chief of Anti-matter; Deputy Chief, Grunge Removal
Section; Chief, Crap Accretion Police; Chief, Office of
Bullshit Detection; K.I.S.S. Kops
volcanic
struggle!
“Centralization” vs.
“Decentralization” =
Everything
Institute of Public Administration, last question …
Centralization vs Decentralization = EVERYTHING
(Business, government, child-rearing)
Jefferson vs Hamilton (D.C. vs “states rights”)
Nelson, Grant: simple-clear-brief orders, then lots of leeway
Ike (and CEO Koppers): plan like hell and burn the plan (literally)
Ceaselessly talk through the values, then enormous space within
Bossidy: 2-page strategy (pre-Welch, strategy doc was budget doc)
Katrina: USCG (“history of trusting their captains”) vs US Navy
Rommel on Americans in North Africa
No autonomy, no resilience (Yunus: “We’re all entrepreneurs”)
CIO; across the hall anti-CIO (Mr Build, Mr Destroy)
Drucker: “Ninety percent …”
ICD/Inherent Centralist Drift
Gary Hamel and “sell by”
“Anthropological analysis,” McKinsey
Degree of staff diversification is also Cent. vs De-cent
issue (homogeneity grows over time)
Jim Burke: “No.” (Watson: “never do a System 360 today”)
Norberto Odebrecht and 2nd Law Thermodynamics (Foster’s data)
Sloan: Dynamic approach, never get it right
TP: dynamic approach, never get it right, lean “big time” toward
decentralization, open warfare on “necessary” systems
Ex-ecu-tion!
“In real life, strategy
is actually very
straightforward. Pick
a general direction
and implement
like hell”
—Jack Welch
“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
“Costco figured out
the big, simple things
and executed with
total fanaticism.”
—Charles Munger, Berkshire Hathaway
“almost inhuman
disinterestedness in
… strategy” —Josiah Bunting
on
U.S. Grant (from Ulysses S. Grant)
U. S. Grant
*No interest in grand strategy.
*Do the thing until it is done.
*Do not over complicate.
*Do the next thing.
*Pleasure in perseverance per se.
*Not ask for help or advice.
*Not complain of difficulties or ask for
more time or resources
McClellan: delay; plead for more forces
Grant: “When do I start? What I want
is to advance.”
Source: Josiah Bunting, Ulysses S. Grant
Excellence in
Execution =
Deepest “Blue
Ocean”
Ac-counta-bil-ity!
“GE has set a standard
of candor. … There is no
puffery. … There isn’t
an ounce of denial in
the place.”
—Kevin Sharer, CEO Amgen,
on the “GE mystique” (Fortune)
30%
MH: 80%
CF:
(no salesfolk)
(salesfolk)
6:15A.M.
DECENTRALIZATION.
EXECUTION.
ACCOUTABILITY.
6:15A.M.
Part
SIX
“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 …
“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
They found that
U.S. companies.
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
“Forbes100” from 1917 to 1987
: 39
members of
the Class of ’17 were alive in ’87; 18 in ’87
F100; 18 F100 “survivors” significantly
underperformed the market;
just
2 (2%), GE & Kodak,
outperformed the market from
1917 to 1987.
S&P 500 from 1957 to 1997:
’97;
74 members of the Class of ’57 were alive in
12 (2.4%) of 500 outperformed the market from 1957 to 1997.
Source: Dick Foster & Sarah Kaplan, Creative Destruction:
Why Companies That Are Built to Last Underperform the Market
“It’s just a fact:
Survivors
underperform.”
—Dick Foster
You don’t
get better
by being
bigger. You
Dick Kovacevich:
“The difficulties … arise from the inherent conflict
between the need to control existing operations and
the need to create the kind of environment that will
permit new ideas to flourish—and old ones to die a
timely death. … We
believe that most
corporations will find it impossible to
match or outperform the market without
abandoning the assumption of
continuity. … The current apocalypse—the
transition from a state of continuity to state of
discontinuity—has the same suddenness [as the
trauma that beset civilization in 1000 A.D.]”
Richard Foster & Sarah Kaplan, “Creative Destruction” (The McKinsey Quarterly)
“ ‘Good management’ was the
most powerful reason [leading
firms] failed to stay atop their
industries. Precisely because these firms
listened to their customers, invested aggressively
in technologies that would provide their customers
more and better products of the sort they wanted,
and because they carefully studied market trends
and systematically allocated investment capital to
innovations that promised the best returns, they
lost their positions of leadership.”
—Clayton Christensen, The Innovator’s Dilemma
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
“The more successful
a company, the flatter
its forgetting curve.”
— Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad
“A pattern emphasized in the case
studies in this book is the degree to
which powerful competitors not
only resist innovative threats,
but actually resist all efforts to
understand them, preferring to
further their positions in older
products. This results in a surge of
productivity and performance that
may take the old technology to
unheard of heights. But in most cases
this is a sign of impending death.”
—Jim Utterback, Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation
“It is generally much easier to
organization
kill an
than change it
substantially.”
—Kevin Kelly, Out of Control
“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
“When asked to name just one big
merger that had lived up to
expectations, Leon Cooperman,
former cochairman of Goldman Sachs’
Investment Policy Committee,
I’m sure there are
success stories out
there, but at this
moment I draw a blank.”
answered:
—Mark Sirower, The Synergy Trap
“Not a single company that
qualified as having made a
sustained transformation
ignited its leap with a big
acquisition or merger. Moreover,
comparison companies—those that failed to make a
leap or, if they did, failed to sustain it—often tried to
make themselves great with a
big acquisition or merger. They failed to grasp the
simple truth that while you can buy
your way to growth, you cannot buy your way to
greatness.” —Jim Collins/Time/2004
“MERGERS: Why Most Big
Deals Don’t Pay Off. A
BusinessWeek analysis
shows that 61% of buyers
destroyed shareholder
wealth.” —BusinessWeek
“Mergers and acquisitions get the headlines, but studies
show they often end up destroying shareholder value
instead of creating it. That’s one reason why organic
growth is so prized by corporations and investors. In fact,
if you compare the stock performance of a new index of
23 companies that are masters of organic growth to the
S&P500, the Organic Growth Index beat the S&P500
handily, 31% vs. 22% over the year ending January 2004.
And looking further back at a five-year period ending in
2002, the OGI walloped the S&P500, 25% vs. 3%.”
—Fortune.com/06.03.2004 (The OGI includes Wal*Mart, Sysco,
Harley-Davidson, Bed, Bath & Beyond, NVR)
“Almost every personal friend I have in the world
works on Wall Street. You can buy and sell the
same company six times and everybody makes
but I’m not sure
we’re actually
innovating. … Our challenge is to
money,
take nanotechnology into the future, to do
personalized medicine …” —Jeff Immelt/2005
“Don’t ever use that word
‘synergy.’ It’s a
hideous
word.
The only thing that works is
natural law. Given enough
time, natural relationships
will develop between our
businesses.” —Barry Diller, responding to a
student question, address at the Harvard Business School
(from Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There)
Did one of ’em ever turn to
the other and say: “Wow I
wonder what unimaginable
new tools, otherwise not
possible, will be quickly
brought forth for our
customers because of
this deal?”
Did one of ’em ever turn to
the other and say: “Wow, I
wonder what unimaginable
new tools, otherwise not
possible, will be brought
forth for my daughter
Alice, age 17, because
of this deal?”
“Not long ago, I heard one
studio chief utter the
unthinkable: ‘What would
happen if I made a movie I
actually looked forward
to seeing?’ ”
—Peter Bart, Editor in Chief,
Variety; former Paramount exec, “Hollywood’s Model Doesn’t
Produce Art, or Much Profit” (NYT/0721.06)
There’s “A”
and then
there’s “A.”
Winning the Merger Game
Is
Possible
--Lots of deals
--Little deals
--Friendly deals
--Stay close to core competence
--Strategy is easy to understand
Source: “The Mega-merger Mouse Trap”/Wall Street Journal/02.17.2004 /
David Harding & Sam Rovit, Bain & Co./re Comcast-Disney
No: People.
No: Product.
No: Value to customer.
Yes: Dilution, other
control and shareowning issues.
Yes: Scale-as-power.
Yes: Market share.
Yes: People.
Yes: Product.
Yes: Value to customer.
No: Dilution, other
control and shareowning issues.
No: Scale-as-power.
No: Market share.
“On the face of it,
shareholder value is the
dumbest idea in the world.
Shareholder value is a
result, not a strategy. …
Your main constituencies
are your employees, your
customers and your
products.” —Jack Welch, FT, 0313.09, page 1
“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: Jack Bogle, Enough! (chapter titles)
“To me business isn’t about
wearing suits or pleasing
stockholders. It’s about
being true to yourself,
your ideas and focusing on
the essentials.” —Richard Branson
#4 Japan
#3 USA
#2 China
#1 Germany
Reason!!!
Mittelstand
Jim’s
Group
Jim Penman/
Jim’s Group
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
Jim’s Group: Jim Penman.*
1984: Jim’s Mowing. 2006: Jim’s Group.
2,600 franchisees (Australia, NZ, UK).
Cleaning. Dog washing. Handyman.
Fencing. Paving. Pool care. Etc.
“People first.” Private. Small staff. Franchisees
can leave at will. 0-1 complaint per year is
norm; cut bad ones quickly.
*Ph.D. cross-cultural anthropology; mowing on the side
Source: MT/Management Today (Australia), Jan-Feb 2006
Basement
Systems
Inc.
*Basement Systems Inc.
*Larry Janesky
*Dry Basement Science
(115,000!)
*1990: $0; 2003: $13M;
2007:
$62,000,000
The Red
Carpet
Store
Joel Resnick/Flemington NJ
(referenced in Fame Junkies)
etc.
PRSX/ Paragon
Railcar
Salvage*
*Salvaged railcars into bridges, etc.
*Lived in same town all adult life
*First generation that’s wealthy/
no parental support
*“Don’t look like millionaires, don’t
dress like millionaires, don’t eat like
millionaires, don’t act like millionaires”
*“Many of the types of businesses [they] are in could be
classified as ‘dull-normal.’ [They] are welding contractors,
auctioneers, scrap-metal dealers, lessors of portable toilets,
dry cleaners, re-builders of diesel engines, paving
contractors …”
Source: The Millionaire Next Door, Thomas Stanley & William Danko
Small Giants:
Companies That
Choose To Be
Great Instead
Of Big
—by Bo Burlingham
Small Giants/Bo Burlingham
"First, I could see that, unlike most entrepreneurs,
their founders and leaders had recognized the full
range of choices they had about the type of company
they would create."
"Second, the leaders had overcome the enormous
pressures on successful companies to take paths they
had not chosen and did not necessarily want to follow."
"Third, each company had an extraordinarily intimate
relationship with the local city, town, or county in
which it did business -- a relationship that went well
beyond the usual concept of `giving back.'"
"Fourth, they cultivated exceptionally intimate
relationships with customers and suppliers, based on
personal contact, one-on-one interaction, and mutual
commitment to delivering on promises."
Small Giants/Bo Burlingham
"Fifth, the companies also had what struck me as
unusually intimate workplaces."
"Sixth, I was impressed by the variety of corporate
structures and modes of governance that these
companies had come up with."
"Finally, I noticed the passion that the leaders brought
to what the company did. They loved the subject
matter, whether it be music, safety lighting, food,
special effects, constant torque hinges, beer, records
storage, construction, dining, or fashion."
Retail Superstars:
Inside the 25 Best
Independent Stores
in America
—by George Whalin
Jungle Jim’s International
Market/“shoppertainment”
Abt Electronics
Zabar’s
Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland
Ron Jon Surf Shop.
Junkman’s Daughter
Smoky Mountain Knife Works
Hartville Hardware
Source: Retail Superstars: Inside the 25 Best
Independent Stores in America, George Whalin
WallopWalmart16*
*Or: Why it’s so ABSURDLY EASY
to BEAT a GIANT Company
The “Small Guys” Guide: Wallop Wal*Mart16
*Niche-aimed. (Never, ever “all things for all people,” a “miniWal*Mart.)
*Never attack the monsters head
business and lukewarm customers.)
on! (Instead steal niche
*“Dramatically
Different”
(La Difference ... within our community, our
industry regionally, etc … is as obvious as the end of one’s nose!) (THIS IS
WHERE MOST MIDGETS COME UP SHORT.)
*Compete on value/experience/intimacy, not price. (You
ain’t gonna beat the behemoths on cost-price in 9.99 out of 10 cases.)
*Emotional bond with Clients,
ON EMOTION/CONNECTION!!)
Vendors. (BEAT THE BIGGIES
“This is an essay about what it takes to create and sell something remarkable. It is a
plea for originality, passion, guts and daring. You can’t be remarkable by following
someone else who’s remarkable. One way to figure out a theory is to look at what’s
working in the real world and determine what the successes have in common. But
what could the Four Seasons and Motel 6 possibly have in common? Or NeimanMarcus and Wal*Mart? Or Nokia (bringing out new hardware every 30 days or so) and
Nintendo (marketing the same Game Boy 14 years in a row)? It’s like trying to drive
The thing that all
these companies have in
common is that they have
nothing in common.
looking in the rearview mirror.
They are outliers. They’re
on the fringes. Superfast or superslow. Very exclusive or very cheap. Extremely big
or extremely small. The reason it’s so hard to follow the leader is this: The leader is
the leader precisely because he did something remarkable. And that remarkable
thing is now taken—so it’s no longer remarkable when you decide to do it.”
—Seth Godin, Fast Company
The “Small Guys” Guide: Wallop Wal*Mart16
*Hands-on, emotional leadership. (“We are a great &
cool & intimate & joyful & dramatically different team working to
transform our Clients lives via Consistently Incredible
Experiences!”)
*A community
out of it!)
star! (“Sell” local-ness per se. Sell the hell
*An
incredible experience, from the first to last
moment—and then in the follow-up! (“These guys
are cool! They ‘get’ me! They love me!”)
*DESIGN DRIVEN! (“Design” is a premier weapon-inpursuit-of-the sublime for small-ish enterprises, including the
professional services.)
The “Small Guys” Guide: Wallop Wal*Mart16
*Employer of choice. (A very cool, well-paid
place to work/learning and growth experience in at
least the short term … marked by notably progressive
policies.) (THIS IS EMINENTLY DO-ABLE!!)
*Sophisticated
use of information
technology. (Small-“ish” is no excuse for “small
aims”/execution in IS/IT!)
*Web-power! (The Web can make very small very
big … if the product-service is super-cool and one
purposefully masters buzz/viral marketing.)
*Innovative! (Must keep renewing and expanding
and revising and re-imagining “the promise” to
employees, the customer, the community.)
The “Small Guys” Guide: Wallop Wal*Mart16
*Brand-Lovemark* (*Kevin Roberts) Maniacs!
(“Branding” is not just for big folks with big budgets. And modest
size is actually a Big Advantage in becoming a local-regionalniche “lovemark.”)
*Focus
*
on women-as-clients. (Most don’t. How stupid.)
Excellence!
(A small player … per me …
has no right or reason to exist unless they are in Relentless
Pursuit of Excellence. One earns the right—one damn day and
client experience at a time!—to beat the Big Guys in your chosen
niche!)
The Small*Mart
Revolution: How
Local Businesses
Are Beating Local
Competition
—Michael Shuman
“All Strategy Is Local:
True competitive advantages
are harder to find and maintain
than people realize. The
Focus:
odds are best in
tightly drawn markets,
not big, sprawling
ones”
—Title/ Bruce Greenwald & Judd Kahn/HBR09.05
Muhammad Yunus:
“All human beings
are entrepreneurs. When we
were in the caves we were all selfemployed . . . finding our food, feeding
ourselves. That’s where human history
began . . . As civilization came we
suppressed it. We became labor
because they stamped us, ‘You are
labor.’ We forgot that we are
entrepreneurs.”
Source: Muhammad Yunus/The News Hour—PBS/1122.2006
Conscious
measurement
Innovation Index: How many
of your Top 5 Strategic
Initiatives/Key Projects score
8 or higher [out of 10] on a
“Weird”/ “Profound”/
“Wow”/“Game- changer”
Scale?
“gurugate”: The
Gurus’ fixation with
“the wrong stuff”*
*Not “they,” but “us.”
Over-rated:
Big companies!
Public companies!
“Cool” industries!
Stability (“Built to last”)!
Famous CEOs!
Men!
Under-rated:
*SMEs!
*Private companies!
*“Dull” industries!
*Productive churn:
Built to Rock the
World!
*Laudable CEOs!
*Women!
Part
SEVEN
#1 Truthteller …
You = Your
calendar*
*Calendars
never
lie
“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.”
— Richard Haass, The Power to Persuade
“Dennis, you need a …
‘To-don’t ’
List !”
Don’t >
Do*
* “Don’t-ing,” 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
John Sawhill/Major Strategic
“What areas should
the Conservancy focus on
and more important—
Initiative:
what activities
should we stop
doing?”
Source: Bill Birchard, Nature’s Keepers: The Remarkable Story of How The Nature
Conservancy Became the Largest Environmental Organization in the World
#89
“You must
be
the change you
wish to see in the
world.”
Gandhi
“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
“To change minds
effectively, leaders make
particular use of two
stories that
they tell and the lives
tools: the
that they lead.”
Changing Minds
—Howard Gardner,
#90
“Nothing is so
contagious as
enthusiasm.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“I am a
dispenser of
enthusiasm.”
—Ben Zander
“[Ronald
Reagan] radiated an
almost
transcendent
happiness.”
Half-full Cups:
—Lou Cannon
“Swimmers and colleagues remember a man
of almost boundless energy and passion,
pointing to his preternatural cheerfulness at
6A.M. practices. —Stanford magazine, on Richard Quick,
women’s swimming coach (13 NCAA championships,
the Olympic teams he coached won 59 medals)
“He’d look you in the eye and tell you that you
could do it. He was so genuine and passionate
that you’d start to believe it yourself.”
—Jessica Foschi, All American and NCAA champion
“Mandela, a model host [in his prison hospital room] smiled grandly,
put [Justice Minister Kobie] Coetzee at his ease, and almost
immediately, to their quietly contained surprise, prisoner and jailer
[It had mostly] to
do with body language, with the impact
Mandela’s manner had on people he met.
First there was his erect posture. Then
there was the way he shook hands. The
effect was both regal and intimidating,
were it not for Mandela’s warm gaze and
his big, easy smile. … Coetzee was surprised by
found themselves chatting amiably. …
Mandela’s willingness to talk in Afrikaans, his knowledge of Afrikaans
history.” Coetzee: “He was a born leader. And he was affable. He was
obviously well liked by the hospital staff and yet he was respected even
though they knew he was a prisoner.”
Source: John Carlin, Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela
and the Game that Made a Nation. (Mandela meets surreptitiously with
justice minister after decades in prison—and turns on the charm)
“Ultimately the smile was symbolic
of how Mandela molded himself. At
every stage of his life he decided
who he wanted to be and created
the appearance—and then the
reality—of that person. He became
who he wanted to be.” —from “Look the
Part” (Mandela’s Way: Fifteen Lessons on Life,
Love, and Courage, by Richard Stengel)
“In the election in 1994, his smile was
the campaign. That smiling iconic
campaign poster—on billboards, on
highways, on street lamps, at tea shops
and fruit stalls. It told black voters that
he would be their champion and white
voters that he would be their protector.
It was the smile of the proverb ‘tout
comprendre, c’est tout pardoner’—to
understand is to forgive all. It was
political Prozac for a nervous
electorate.”
From “See the Good in Others,” Mandela’s Way:
Fifteen Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage, by Richard Stengel
“Ultimately the smile was symbolic
of how Mandela molded himself. At
every stage of his life he decided
who he wanted to be and created
the appearance—and then the
reality—of that person. He became
who he wanted to be.”
From “See the Good in Others,” Mandela’s Way:
Fifteen Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage, by Richard Stengel
“Some call it a blind spot, others
naïveté, but Mandela sees almost
everyone as virtuous until proven
otherwise. He starts with an
assumption you are dealing with him in
good faith. He believes that, just as
pretending to be brave can lead to acts
of real bravery, seeing the good in
other people improves the chances that
they will reveal their better selves.”
From “See the Good in Others,” Mandela’s Way:
Fifteen Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage, by Richard Stengel
“Mandela sees the good in others both because it is in his
nature and in his interest. At times that has meant being
blindsided, but he has always been willing to take that
risk. And it is a risk. … Mandela goes out on a limb and
makes himself vulnerable by trusting others. … We rarely
equate risk with trying to see what is decent, honest, and
good in the people in our daily lives. ... ‘People will feel I
see too much good in people, and I’ve tried to adjust
because whether it is so or not, it is something I think is
profitable. It’s a good thing to assume, to act on the basis
that others are men of integrity and honor, because you
need to attract integrity and honor. I believe in that.’”
From “See the Good in Others,” Mandela’s Way:
Fifteen Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage, by Richard Stengel
“Mandela … consciously chose to err on the side of
generosity. By behaving honorably, even to people who
may not deserve it, he believes you can influence them
to behave more honorably than they otherwise would.
This sometimes proved to be a useful tactic, particularly
after he was released from prison, when his open,
trusting attitude made him appear to be a man who
could rise above bitterness. When he urged South
Africans to ‘forget the past,’ most of them believed that
he had. This had a double effect: It made whites trust
Mandela more and it made them feel more generous
toward the people they had so recently oppressed.”
From “See the Good in Others,” Mandela’s Way:
Fifteen Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage, by Richard Stengel
Smiling begets a warmer environment. (
Thanking begets an environment of
mutual appreciation.
Enthusiasm begets enthusiasm.
Love begets love.
Energy begets energy.
Wow begets Wow.
Optimism begets Optimism.
Honesty begets honesty.
Caring begets caring.
Listening begets engagement.
__________ begets _____________
“It’s always
showtime.”
—David D’Alessandro, Career Warfare
“eighty percent
of success is
showing up.”
—Woody Allen
Give
good
tea!
“In the same bitter winter of 1776 that Gen. George Washington led his beleaguered troops
across the Delaware River to safety, Benjamin Franklin sailed across the Atlantic to Paris to
engage in an equally crucial campaign, this one diplomatic. A lot depended on the bespectacled
and decidedly unfashionable 70-year-old as he entered the world’s fashion capitol sporting a
Franklin’s miracle was that armed
only with his canny personal charm and reputation as a
scientist and philosopher, he was able to cajole a wary
French government into lending the fledgling American
nation an enormous fortune. … The enduring image of Franklin in Paris tends
simple brown suit and a fur cap. …
to be that of a flirtatious old man, too busy visiting the city’s fashionable salons to pursue affairs
When Adams joined Franklin in
Paris in 1779, he was scandalized by the late hours and
French lifestyle his colleague had adopted, says [Stacy
Schiff, in A Great Improvisation] Adams was clueless that
it was through the dropped hints and seemingly offhand
remarks at these salons that so much of French diplomacy
was conducted. … Like the Beatles arriving in America, Franklin aroused a fervor—his
of state as rigorously as John Adams.
face appeared on prints, teacups and chamber pots. The extraordinary popularity served
Franklin’s diplomatic purposes splendidly. Not even King Louis XVI could ignore the enthusiasm
that had won over both the nobility and the bourgeoisie. …”
Source: “In Paris, Taking the Salons By Storm: How the Canny Ben Franklin Talked
the French into Forming a Crucial Alliance,” U.S. News & World Report, 0707.08
Make
friends!
“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
“The capacity to develop close and
enduring relationships is the mark of
a leader. Unfortunately, many leaders
of major companies believe their job
is to create the strategy, organization
structure and organizational
processes—then they just delegate
the work to be done, remaining aloof
from the people doing
the work.” —Bill George, Authentic Leadership
The Real World’s “Little” Rule Book
Ben/tea
Norm/tea
DDE/make friends
WFBuckley/make friends-help friends
Gust/Suck down
Charlie/poker pal-BOF
Eddie VII/dance-flatter-mingle-learn the language
Vlad/birthday party of outgroup guy’s wife
CIO/finance network
ERP installer/consult-“one line of code”
GE Energy/make friends risk assessment
GWB/check the invitation list
GHWB/T-notes
Hank/60 calls
MarkM/5K-5M
Delaware/show up
Oppy/snub Lewis Strauss
NM/smile
-$4.3T/tin ear
tp.com/Big 4-What do you think?
Women/genes
Banker/after church
Total Bloody Mess/Can they pay back the loan?
#92
“Some call it a blind spot, others
naïveté, but Mandela sees almost
everyone as virtuous until proven
otherwise. He starts with an
assumption you are dealing with him
in good faith. He believes that, just
as pretending to be brave can lead
to acts of real bravery, seeing the
good in other people improves the
chances that they will reveal their
better selves.” —from “See the Good in Others”
(Mandela’s Way: Fifteen Lessons on Life, Love, and Courage, by
Richard Stengel)
“Keep a short
enemies list. One
enemy can do more
damage than the
good done by a
hundred friends.”
—Bill Walsh (from The Score Takes Care of Itself)
#93
The “19 Es” of EXCELLENCE
Enthusiasm! (Be an irresistible force of nature! Be fire! Light fires!)
Exuberance! (Vibrate—cause earthquakes!)
Execution! (Do it! Now! Get it done! Barriers are baloney! Excuses are
for wimps! Accountability is gospel! Adhere to coach Bill Parcells’
doctrine: “Blame nobody!! Expect nothing!! Do something!!”)
Empowerment! (Respect! Appreciation! Ask until you’re blue in the face,
“What do you think?” Then: Listen! Liberate! 100.00% innovators!)
Edginess! (Perpetually dance at the frontier and a little, or a lot, beyond.)
Enraged! (Maintain a permanent state of mortal combat with the
status-quo!)
Engaged! (Addicted to MBWA/Managing By Wandering Around. In touch.
Always.)
Electronic! (Partner with the whole wide world 60/60/24/7 via all manner
of
electronic community building and entanglement. Crowdsourcing
wins!)
Encompassing! (Relentlessly pursue diversity of every flavor! Diversity
per se generates big returns!) (Seeking superb leaders: Women rule!)
Emotion! (The alpha! The omega! The essence of leadership! The
essence of sales! The essence of design! The essence of life itself!
Acknowledge it! Use it!)
The “19 Es” of EXCELLENCE
Empathy! (Connect! Connect! Connect! Click with others’ reality and
aspirations! “Walk in the other person’s shoes”—until the soles
have holes!)
Ears! (Effective listening in every encounter: Strategic Advantage No. 1!
Believe it!)
Experience! (Life is theater! It’s always showtime! Make every contact
a “Wow” ! Standard: “Insanely Great”/Steve Jobs; “Radically
Thrilling”/BMW.)
Eliminate! (Keep it simple!! Furiously battle hyper-complexity and
gobbledygook!!)
Errorprone!
(Ready! Fire! Aim! Try a lot of stuff, make a lot of booboos.
CELEBRATE the booboos! Try more stuff, make more booboos! He
who makes the most mistakes wins! Fail! Forward! Fast!)
Evenhanded! (Straight as an arrow! Fair to a fault! Honest as Abe!)
Expectations! (Michelangelo: “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
hit it.”)
Eudaimonia! (The essence of Aristotelian philosophy: True happiness is
pursuit of the highest of human moral purpose. Be of service!
Always!)
EXCELLENCE! (The only standard! Never an exception! Start NOW!
No excuses!)
PXEX =
People.
eXecution.
Error.
eXcellence.
“Excellence …
can be obtained if you:
... care more than others think
is wise;
... risk more than others think
is safe;
... dream more than others think
is practical;
... expect more than others think
is possible.”
Source: Anon. (Posted @ tompeters.com by K.Sriram, November 27, 2006 1:17 AM)
The EXCELLENCE 15
People 1st/ “‘Cathedral’ for human development”
Best 1st-line managers
Quality of relationships (Internal/External)
Try it!
Try it again!
Passion!/Energy!/Wow!
Unstinting commitment to innovation by ALL
Excellence at “Plan B”/Adaptability
Fanatic about execution
XFX/Cross-functional eXcellence
Integrity/Decency/Thoughtfulness/Character
LX/Listening eXcellence
Commitment to SERVICE
Commitment to EXCELLENCE
Servant leadership
The end
Tom Peters’
EXCELLENCE.
ALWAYS.
Leadership.
Muscat/03 August 2010
Excellence:
The
Leadership
50
bedrock.
1. Leaders …
serve.
Organizations
exist to serve.
Period.
Leaders live to
serve. Period.
The Basic
Mechanism.
2. Leadership Is a
Mutual
Discovery
Process.
…
Organizing Genius / Warren Bennis
and Patricia Ward Biederman
“Groups become great only when
everyone in them, leaders and
members alike, is free to do his or
her absolute best.”
“The best thing a leader can do for a
Great Group is to allow its
members to discover their
greatness.”
Leaders’ “Mt Everest Test”
“free to do his or her
absolute best” …
“allow its members to
discover their
greatness.”
The
Leadership
Types.
3. Great Leaders on White Horses Are
Great Talent
Developers (Type I
Leadership) are the Bedrock
Important – but
of Organizations that Perform Over
the Long Haul.
Whoops:
Jack
didn’t have
a vision!
4. But There Are Times
When the “visionary”
“Type” (Type II
Leadership) Matters!
“A leader is a
dealer in
hope.”
—Napoleon
5. Find the
“Businesspeople”!
(Type III Leadership)
I.P.M.
(Inspired
Profit Mechanic)
6. All Organizations
Need … the Golden
Leadership
Triangle.
The Golden Leadership Triangle:
(1) Talent Fanatic …
(2) Visionary …
(3) Inspired Profit
Mechanic.
7. Leadership Mantra #1:
IT ALL DEPENDS!
Renaissance Men
are … a snare,
a myth,
a delusion!
8. The Leader Is
Rarely/Never the
Best Performer.
The
Leadership
Dance.
9. Leaders …
SHOW UP!
“A body can
pretend to care,
but they can’t
pretend to be
there.”
— Texas Bix Bender
10. Leaders …
LOVE the
MESS!
“If things seem
under control,
you’re just not
going fast
enough.”
—Mario Andretti
11. Leaders
“We have a
‘strategic’
plan. It’s
called doing
things.”
— Herb Kelleher
12. Leaders
Re
-do.
“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
13. BUT … Leaders
Know
When to
Wait.
Tex Schramm:
The
“too hard”
box!
14. Leaders Are …
Optimists.
Hackneyed but none the less
LEADERS SEE
CUPS AS “HALF
FULL.”
true:
“[Ronald
Reagan] radiated an
almost
transcendent
happiness.”
Half-full Cups:
—Lou Cannon
15. Leaders
FOCUS!
“Dennis, you need a …
‘To-don’t ’
List !”
16. Leaders … Send
V-E-R-Y Clear
Signals
About
What’s Important!
“Really Important
Stuff”: Roger’s
Rule of Three!
Danger:
S.I.O.
(Strategic Initiative Overload)
If It Ain’t
Broke …
Break It.
17. Leaders …
FORGET!/
Leaders …
DESTROY!
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
“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
18. BUT … Leaders
Have to Deliver, So They
Worry About “Throwing
the Baby Out with the
Bathwater.”
“Damned If You
Do, Damned If You
Don’t, Just Plain
Damned.”
Subtitle in the chapter, “Own Up to the Great Paradox: Success Is
the Product of Deep Grooves/ Deep Grooves Destroy Adaptivity,”
Liberation Management (1992)
19. Leaders …
HONOR THE
USURPERS.
Saviors-in-Waiting
Disgruntled Customers
Upstart Competitors
Rogue Employees
Fringe Suppliers
Source: Wayne Burkan, Wide Angle Vision
20. Leaders Make
[Lots of]
Mistakes – and
MAKE NO BONES
ABOUT IT!
“Fail faster.
Succeed
sooner.”
—David Kelley/IDEO
“Fail . Fail
again. Fail
better.”
—Samuel Beckett
“No man ever
became great
except through
many and great
mistakes.”
—William Gladstone (from
Timeless Wisdom, compiled by Gary Fenchuk)
21. Leaders Make …
BIG MISTAKES!
“Reward
excellent
failures. Punish
mediocre
successes.”
—Phil Daniels
Create.
22. Leaders Know that THERE’S
MORE TO LIFE THAN “LINE
EXTENSIONS.” Leaders Love to …
CREATE NEW
MARKETS.
“Acquisitions are about
buying market share. Our
challenge is to
create markets.
There is a big difference.”
—Peter Job, CEO, Reuters
23. Leaders … Make
Their Mark /
Do Stuff
That Matters
Leaders …
“I never, ever thought of
myself as a businessman.
I was interested in
creating things
I would be
proud of.” —Richard Branson
24. Leaders Push Their
W-a-y
Up the Valueadded Chain.
Organizations …
“Every project we undertake starts with
‘How can
we do what has
never been done
before?’”
the same question:
—Stuart Hornery, Lend Lease
25. Leaders Push Past
Service “Transactions”
to … Scintillating
Experiences.
“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
26. Leaders
LOVE the
New Technology!
Power Tools
For Power
Strategies
27. Needed? Type IV
Leadership:
Technology
Dreamer-True
Believer
The Golden Leadership
Quadrangle: (1) Talent
Fanatic … (2) Visionary …
(3) Inspired Profit
Mechanic …
(4) Technology DreamerTrue Believer.
Talent.
28. Leaders …
DO TALENT!
Brand =
Talent.
29. When It Comes
TALENT
to
…
Leaders Always Go
Berserk!
From “1, 2 or you’re out” [JW]
to …
“Best Talent in
each industry segment to
build best proprietary
intangibles” [EM]
Source: Ed Michaels, War for Talent
30. Leaders Listen.
Leaders
Consult.
Passion.
31. Leaders …
“Sell”
PASSION!
“Create a
‘cause,’ not a
‘business.’ ”
Gary Hamel:
32. Leaders Know:
ENTHUSIASM
BEGETS
ENTHUSIASM!
“Nothing is so
contagious as
enthusiasm.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Swimmers and colleagues remember a man
of almost boundless energy and passion,
pointing to his preternatural cheerfulness at
6A.M. practices.”
—Stanford magazine, on Richard Quick,
women’s swimming coach (13 NCAA championships,
the Olympic teams he coached won 59 medals)
“He’d look you in the eye and tell you that you
could do it. He was so genuine and passionate
that you’d start to believe it yourself.”
—Jessica Foschi, All American and NCAA champion
33. Leaders Are …
in a Hurry
“We don’t sell insurance
We sell
speed.”
anymore.
Peter Lewis, Progressive
“Metabolic
Management”
34. Leaders
Focus on the
SOFT STUFF!
“Hard” is
“soft.”
“Soft” Is
“hard.”
Message: Leadership is
all about love! [Passion,
Enthusiasms, Appetite for
Life, Engagement,
Commitment, Great Causes &
Determination to Make a
Damn Difference, Shared
Adventures, Bizarre Failures,
Growth, Insatiable Appetite
for Change.]
The “Job” of
Leading.
35. Leaders Know It’s
ALL SALES ALL
THE TIME.
If you don’t
LOVE
SALES … find
another life. (Don’t pretend
you’re a “leader.”)
36. Leaders
LOVE
“POLITICS.”
If you don’t LOVE
POLITICS … find
another life.
(Don’t pretend
you’re a “leader.”)
All success is a
Matter of
implementation.
All implementation is
a matter of politics.
37. But … Leaders Also
Break a Lot
of China.
Characteristics of the “Also rans”*
“Minimize risk”
“Respect the chain of
command”
“Support the boss”
“Make budget”
*Fortune, “Most Admired Global Corporations”
38. Leaders
Give …
RESPECT!
“It was much later that I realized Dad’s
secret. He gained respect by giving it. He
talked and listened to the fourth-grade kids
in Spring Valley who shined shoes the same
way he talked and listened to a bishop or a
He was
seriously interested in
who you were and
what you had to say.”
college president.
Source: Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Respect
Amen!
“What creates trust, in
the end, is the leader’s
manifest respect for
the followers.” — Jim O’Toole,
Leading Change
39. Leaders Say
“Thank
You.”
“The deepest human
need to
be appreciated.”
need is the
William James
FLOWER
POWER
40. Leaders
Are …
Curious.
The Three Most Important Letters …
WHY?
41. Leadership Is
a…
Performance.
“It is necessary for the
President to be the
No. 1
actor.”
nation’s
FDR
42. Leaders … Are
The Brand
“You must
be
the change you
wish to see in the
world.”
Gandhi
“It’s always
showtime.”
—David D’Alessandro, Career Warfare
43. Leaders …
GREAT
STORY!
Have a
“A key – perhaps the key –
to leadership is
the effective
communication
of a story.”
Howard Gardner
Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership
Leader Job 1
Paint
Portraits of
Excellence!
Introspection.
44.
Leaders …
Enjoy
Leading.
“Tom, you
left out one
thing …”
45. Leaders
LAUGH!
46. Leaders …
KNOW
THEMSELVES.
Individuals (would-be leaders)
cannot engage in a
liberating mutual discovery
process unless they are
comfortable with their
own skin. (“Leaders” who are not
comfortable with themselves become petty
control freaks.)
Questions: What do others think of you? [Are you sure?] What
do you think of you? [Are you sure?] What is your impact on
others? [Are you sure?] What is your impact on others? [Are
you sure?] What is your impact on others? [Are you sure?]
What are the “little things” you (perhaps unconsciously) do that
cause people to shrivel—or blossom? [Are you sure?] What do
you want? [Are you sure?] Are you aware of your changing
moods? [Are you sure?] How fragile is your ego? [Are you sure?]
Do you have a true confidant? [Are you sure?] Do you perform brief
or not-so-brief self-assessments? Do you talk too much? [Are you
sure?] Do you know how to listen? [Are you sure?] Do you
listen? [Are you sure?] What is your style of “hashing things
out”? Are you perceived as (a) arrogant, (b) abrasive (c) attentive,
(d) genuinely interested in people, (e) etc? [Are you sure?] Are
you flexible? Have you changed your mind about anything important
in a while? Are you comfortable-uncomfortable with folks on the
front line? Do you think you’re “in touch with the pulse of
things around here”? [Are You Sure?] Are you too
emotional/intuitive? Are you too unemotional/rational? Do you
spend much time with people who are new to you? [Do you think
questions like this are “so much BS”?]
47. But …
Leaders have
MENTORS.
Upon having the
Leadership Mantle placed
upon one’s head, he/she
never
shall
hear
the unvarnished truth
again!*
(*Therefore, she/he needs one faithful compatriot
to lay it on with no jelly.)
The End
Game.
48. Leaders
are …
RELENTLESS.
“Success seems to be
largely a matter
of hanging on
after others have
let go.”
—William Feather, author
49. Leaders
???:
“Leadership is the
PROCESS of ENGAGING
PEOPLE in CREATING a
LEGACY of
EXCELLENCE.”
“LEADERS NEED TO
BE THE ROCK OF
GIBRALTAR ON
ROLLER BLADES.”
50. Leaders Free
the Lunatic
Within!
“You can’t behave
in a calm, rational
manner. You’ve got
to be out there on
the lunatic fringe.”
— Jack Welch
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!
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
51. Leaders
Relentlessly Pursue …
Excellence
“Excellence can be obtained if you:
... care more than others think
is wise;
... risk more than others think
is safe;
... dream more than others think
is practical;
... expect more than others think
is possible.”
Source: Anon. (Posted @ tompeters.com by
K.Sriram, November 27, 2006 1:17 AM)
Excellence Is a
Universal
Striving.
If Not
Excellence,
What?