LONG
Tom Peters’ X25*
EXCELLENCE.
ALWAYS.
MilSOFT/Ankara/07 May 2007
*In Search of Excellence 1982-2007
New Zealand 2007
Ho hum: 2+ weeks in New Zealand …
Pfizer
Ford
Gap
Chrysler
Yahoo
microsoft
wal*mart
???
???
“It is not the
strongest of the
species that survives,
nor the most
intelligent, but the
one most responsive
to change.”
—Charles Darwin
Punchline …
The last
word:
There is
no “last
word.”
EXCELLENCE????
“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
“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 is generally much easier to
organization
kill an
than change it
substantially.”
—Kevin Kelly, Out of Control
EXCELLENCE.
CIRCA 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”
Hard Is Soft
Soft Is Hard
Hard Is Soft (#s)
Soft Is Hard (people)
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
EXCELLENCE.
ASPIRATION.
Why in the
World did you
go to Siberia?
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!
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
“Business is
about
power.”
—Joanne Lipman,
on
Portfolio
“Business is about … solutions
& experiences that surprise
and amaze and stick in
customers’ minds*—which are
created and delivered by a
committed, energetic team
from within & outside the
organization.”—Tom Peters
*Apple, Whole Foods, Cirque du Soleil, Virgin,
Commerce Bank, Google, Basement Systems Inc., Ford (circa
1917), IBM (circa 1970), Wannamaker’s (circa 1880)
“Make sure your top team
includes top talent in design,
engineering and
manufacturing, because that’s
only
to
build cars people want
to buy. Hot styling sells
your
priority—
them and quality keeps them
sold.” —Lee Iacocca, Where Have All the Leaders Gone?
EXCELLENCE.
ASPIRATION.
UNIVERSAL.
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
Basement
Systems inc/
seymour ct
*Basement Systems Inc.
*Larry Janesky
*Dry Basement Science (115,000!)
*1993: $0; 2003: $12M;
2006:
$50,000,000+
EXCELLENCE.
REVENUE.
MATTERS.
MOST.
“Analysts … preferred cost cutting, as long as
they could see two or three years of EPS growth. I preached revenue
and the analysts’ eyes would glaze over. Now revenue is ‘in’ because
They
said, ‘Oh my gosh, you
need revenues to grow
earnings over time.’
Well, Duh!”
so many got caught, and earnings went to hell.
—Dick Kovacevich, Wells Fargo
C
*Chief
O*
Revenue
Officer
“Everyone
lives by
selling
something.”
.
– Robert Louis Stevenson
EXCELLENCE.
INNOVATE.
OR.
DIE.
EXCELLENCE.
INNOVATION.
THE REAL STORY.
Tom Peters/03.29.2007
What makes
God laugh?
People
making
plans!
The Mess
Is The
Message!
Period!
The Mess Is the Message! Period!
An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution
of the United States —Charles Beard (1913)
The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World
Smaller and the World Economy Bigger —Marc Levinson
Tube: The Invention of Television —David & Marshall Fisher
Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse,
and the Race to Electrify the World —Jill Jonnes
The Soul of a New Machine —Tracy Kidder
Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA —Brenda Maddox
The Blitzkrieg Myth —John Mosier
First-level
Scientific
Success:
Beyond Brains
First-level Scientific Success
The smartest guy
in the room wins”
Or …
First-level Scientific Success
Fanaticism
Persistence-Dogged Tenacity
Patience (long haul/decades)-Impatience (in a hurry/”do it yesterday”)
Passion
Energy
Relentlessness (Grant-ian)
Enthusiasm
Driven (nuts!)
(Brutal?) Competitiveness
Entrepreneurial
Pragmatic (R.F!A.)
Scrounge (“gets” the logistics-infrastructure bit)
Master of Politics (internal-external)
Tactical Genius
Pursuit of (Oceanic) Excellence!
High EQ/Skillful in Attracting + Keeping Talent/Magnetic
Prolific (“ground up more pig brains”)
Egocentric
Sense of History-Destiny
Futuristic-In the Moment
Mono-dimensional (“Work-life balance”? Ha!)
Exceptionally Intelligent
Exceptionally Clever (methodological shortcuts/methodological genius)
Luck
EXCELLENCE.
INNOVATE.
OR.
DIE.
More than $$$$
R&D
spending,
last 25 years?
BIG???
You don’t
get better
by being
bigger. You
Dick Kovacevich:
“Despite a decade of
banking mergers, there is no
evidence that big banks are
any more efficient or
profitable than their smaller
rivals.” —Financial Times, 0329, on
possible Barclays-ABN Amro merger (“When it
comes to asking the stock market whether
bigger banks are better, the current answer is a
resounding ‘no.” —Citigroup analysis, 2006)
“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
“Schrempp is one of the last
dinosaurs of Germany Inc.
He represents a strategy
of acquiring assets and
building empires that just
didn’t work.” —Arndt Ellinghorst/
analyst/Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein
Spinoffs
systematically
perform better than IPOs … track
record, profits … “freed from
the confines of the parent
… more entrepreneurial,
more nimble”
—Jerry Knight/ Washington Post/ 08.05
“Acquisitions are about
buying market share. Our
challenge is to
create markets.
There is a big difference.”
—Peter Job, former CEO, Reuters
There’s “A”
and then
there’s “A.”
InnoTacs
We become
who we
associate
with 1
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
“Portfol-io
Thinking”
The “Hang Out Axiom”: At
its core, every (!!!)
relationship-partnership
decision (employee,
vendor, customer, etc)
is a strategic decision
about:
“Innovate,
‘Yes’ or ‘No’ ”
Why Do I love Freaks?
(1) Because when Anything Interesting happens … it was
a freak who did it. (Period.)
(2) Freaks are fun. (Freaks are also a pain.) (Freaks are
never boring.)
(3) We need freaks. Especially in freaky times. (Hint:
These are freaky times, for you & me & the CIA & the
Army & Avon.)
(4) A critical mass of freaks-in-our-midst
automatically make us-who-are-not-so-freaky at least
somewhat more freaky. (Which is a Good Thing in freaky
times—see immediately above.)
(5) Freaks are the only (ONLY) ones who succeed—as in,
make it into the history books.
(6) Freaks keep us from falling into ruts. (If we listen to
them.) (We seldom listen to them.) (Which is why most
organizations are in ruts. Make that chasms.)
“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
Characteristics of the “Also rans”*
“Minimize risk”
“Respect the chain of
command”
“Support the boss”
“Make budget”
*Fortune, article on “Most Admired Global Corporations”
“Normal” =
“o for 800”
Innovation’s Saviors-in-Waiting
Disgruntled Customers
Off-the-Scope Competitors
Rogue Employees
Fringe Suppliers
Wayne Burkan, Wide Angle Vision: Beat the Competition by Focusing on
Fringe Competitors, Lost Customers, and Rogue Employees
We become
who we
associate
with 1A
The “Jay
Team” *
*Allen Puckett’s
“University of Weird”
Tp “yields”
:
Thinkers/
“Thinkers Tank”
(
DARPA) … not
“Strategic
Planners”
(a little)
e.g.
We become
who we
associate
with 2
“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
“Don’t
benchmark …
futuremark!”
Impetus: “The future is already here; it’s just
not evenly distributed” —William Gibson
We become
who we
associate
with 3
Whacky
WikiWo
rldWow
Wikinomics:
How Mass
Collaboration
Changes
Everything
—Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams
“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
Source: Wikinomics: How Mass
Collaboration Changes Everything,
Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams
“There’s a fundamental
shift in power happening.
Everywhere, people are
getting together and,
using the Internet,
disrupting whatever
activities they’re involved
in.” —Pierre Omidyar, founder, eBay
Find ’em!
Innovation
“Tool”/“Source” # 1:
Angry
Person/
People
A fury that
the future was always
being hijacked by people
with smaller ideas —by his
“What drove Trippe?
first partners who did not want to expand airmail
routes; by nations that protected flag carriers with
subsidies; by the elitists who regarded flight, like
luxury liners, as a privilege that could only be
enjoyed by the few; by the cartel operators who
rigged prices. The democratization he effected was
as real as Henry Ford’s.” —Harold Evans on Juan Trippe, the
PanAm boss who brought the B747 to life (WSJ/02.24.2005)
send ’em on
a quest!
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.”
“Never doubt that a
small group of
committed people
can change the
world. Indeed it is
the only thing that
ever has.”
—Margaret Mead
send ’em on
a quest!
Where to look for “Playmates”:
F.F.F.F.
(Find a Fellow Freak Faraway)
The
“Sri Lanka
Stratagem”
Forward, march:
Playmate!*
Playpen!
Prototype!
*Can be Client, supplier … as well as Insider
Demos!
Heroes!
Stories!
Concoct a
Parallel
universe!
“SkunkWorks”/ “ParallelUniverse”
“the
solution”
Source: Scott Bedbury (Others: 3M, Google, Shell, NAVFAC)
SkunkWorks/
“Skunks” (!!!)
“Venture”
fund: Gerstner/Amex,
Dow/Marriott, Grove/Intel,
Bedbury/Starbucks
“[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, 12.18.06
“Parallel
Universe” …
China!!!!!!!
Speed/
Tempo/
o.o.d.a.
loops
He who has the
quickest “O.O.D.A.
Loops”* wins!
*Observe. Orient. Decide. Act. /Col. John Boyd
“Blitzkrieg is far more than lightning thrusts that most
people think of when they hear the term; rather it was all
about high operational tempo and the rapid
exploitation of opportunity.” —Robert Coram, Boyd
“Re-arrange the mind of
the enemy”
“Float like a butterfly,
sting like a bee”
—T.E. Lawrence
—Ali
BOYD: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed
the Art of War (Robert Coram)
Try it. Try it. Try it
ry it. Try it. Screw
up. Try it. Try it. Try
t. Try it. Try it. Try
t. Try it. Screw it up
t. Try it. Try it. try
“We have a
‘strategic plan.’
It’s called doing
things.”
— Herb Kelleher
“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: BW0821.06, Type A Organization Strategies/
“How to Hit a Moving Target”—Tactic #1
SERIOUS
PLAY
“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
Think about It!?
Innovation =
Reaction to the
Prototype
Source: Michael Schrage
Culture of Prototyping
“Effective prototyping may
the most
valuable core
competence an
be
innovative organization can
hope to have.” —Michael Schrage
“Learn not to
be careful.”
—Photographer Diane Arbus
to her students (Careful = The sidelines, from
Harriet Rubin in The Princessa)
Screw.
things.
“FAIL, FAIL
AGAIN. FAIL
BETTER.”
—Samuel Beckett
“Fail .
Forward.
Fast.”
High Tech CEO, Pennsylvania
“Fail faster.
Succeed Sooner.”
David Kelley/IDEO
“Reward
excellent failures.
Punish mediocre
successes.”
Phil Daniels, Sydney exec
try.
Miss.
READY.
FIRE!
No try.
No deal.
“You miss
100% of the
shots you
never take.”
—Wayne Gretzky
“Intelligent people
can always come up
with intelligent
reasons to do
nothing.”
—Scott Simon
“Recently I asked three corporate
executives what decisions they had made
in the last year that would not have been
made were it not for their corporate plans.
All had difficulty identifying one such
decision. Since all of the plans are marked
‘secret’ or ‘confidential,’ I asked them
how their competitors might benefit
from possession of their plans. Each
answered with embarrassment that
their competitors would not
benefit.” —Russell Ackoff (from Henry Mintzberg,
The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning)
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?
personal
Buy a
Mirror!
Step #1:
Inno64:
Innovation
Strategies
& Tactics
EXCELLENCE.
4/40.
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
“If if feels
painful and
scary—that’s
real delegation”
—Caspian Woods, small biz owner
Decentralization
vs Centralization
= “That’s All
There Is” (from childrearing
101 to the Federalist Papers to Org.2007)
Ex-ecu-tion!
“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
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)
“Monkeys
can’t live in
midair!”
—Bob Townsend
6:15A.M.
DECENTRALIZATION.
EXECUTION.
ACCOUTABILITY.
6:15A.M.
Excellence: The SE22:
ORIGINS OF
SUSTAINABLE
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
SE22/Origins of Sustainable Entrepreneurship
1. Genetically disposed to Innovations that upset apple carts (3M, Apple,
FedEx, Virgin, BMW, Sony, Nike, Schwab, Starbucks, Oracle, Sun,
Fox, Stanford University, MIT)
2. Perpetually determined to outdo oneself, even to
the detriment of today’s $$$ winners (Apple, Cirque du Soleil, Nokia, FedEx)
3. Treat History as the Enemy (GE)
4. Love the Great Leap/Enjoy the Hunt (Apple, Oracle, Intel, Nokia, Sony)
5. Use “Strategic Thrust Overlays” to Attack Monster Problems (Sysco,
GSK, GE, Microsoft)
6. Establish a “Be on the COOL Team” Ethos. (Most PSFs, Microsoft)
7. Encourage Vigorous Dissent/Genetically “Noisy” (Intel, Apple,
Microsoft, CitiGroup, PepsiCo)
8.
“Culturally” as well as
organizationally Decentralized
(GE, J&J, Omnicom)
9. Multi-entrepreneurship/Many Independent-minded Stars (GE, PepsiCo)
SE22/Origins of Sustainable Entrepreneurship
10. Keep decentralizing—tireless in pursuit of wiping out
Centralizing Tendencies (J&J, Virgin)
11. Scour the world for Ingenious Alliance Partners—
especially exciting start-ups (Pfizer)
12. Acquire for Innovation, not Market Share (Cisco, GE)
13. Don’t overdo “pursuit of synergy” (GE, J&J, Time Warner)
14. Execution/Action Bias: Just do it … don’t obsess on
how it “fits the business model.” (3M, J & J)
15. Find and Encourage and Promote Strong-willed/
Hyper-smart/Independent people (GE, PepsiCo, Microsoft)
16. Support Internal Entrepreneurs (3M, Microsoft)
17. Ferret out Talent anywhere/“No limits” approach to
retaining top talent (Virgin, GE, PepsiCo)
SE22/Origins of Sustainable Entrepreneurship
18. Unmistakable Results & Accountability focus from
the get-go to the grave (GE, New York Yankees, PepsiCo)
19. Up
or Out (GE, McKinsey, big consultancies and law
firms and ad agencies and movie studios in general)
20. Competitive to a fault! (GE, New York Yankees, News
Corp/Fox, PepsiCo)
21. “Bi-polar” Top Team, with “Unglued” Innovator #1,
powerful Control Freak #2 (Oracle, Virgin) (Watch out when
#2 is missing: Enron)
22. Masters of Loose-Tight/Hard-nosed about a very few
Core Values, Open-minded about everything else
(Virgin)
EXCELLENCE.
VALUE ADDED.
UP THE LADDER.
EXCELLENCE.
VALUE-ADDED LADDER I.
SOLVE IT.
“Big Brown’s New Bag: UPS
Traffic
Manager for
Corporate
America”
Aims to Be the
—Headline/BW/2004
The Value-added Ladder/Stuff & TRANSACTIONS
Services
Goods
Raw Materials
The Value-added Ladder/ OPPORTUNITY-SEEKING
Customer Success/
Gamechanging
Solutions
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
“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)
The Value-added Ladder/ OPPORTUNITY-SEEKING
Implemented
Gamechanging
Solutions
Services
Goods
Raw Materials
EXCELLENCE.
SOLVE IT.
NO OPTION.
PSF. (PSF++)
“ ‘Disintermediation’ is overrated. Those who fear
disintermediation-outsourcing should in fact be
afraid of irrelevance; ‘outsourcing’ is just another
you’ve
become irrelevant to
your customers.”
way of saying that …
—John Battelle/Point/Advertising Age/07.05
Department Head
to …
Managing
Partner,
IS Inc.
[HR, R&D, etc.]
Core Mechanism:
“Game-changing Solutions”
PSF
(Professional Service Firm “model”/The Organizing Principle)
+
Brand You
(“Distinct” or “Extinct”/The Talent)
+
Wow! Projects
(“Different” vs “Better”/The Work)
The “PSF35”:
Thirty-Five
Professional Service Firm
Marks of Excellence
The PSF35: The Work & The Legacy
1.
CRYSTAL CLEAR POINT OF VIEW
(E very Practice Group: “If you can’t explain your position in eight
words or less, you don’t have a position”—Seth Godin)
2. DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE (“We are the only ones who do what
we do”—Jerry Garcia)
3. Stretch Is Routine (“Never bite off less than you can chew”—anon.)
4. Eye-Appetite for Game-changer Projects (Excellence at Assembling
“Best Team”—Fast)
5. “Playful” Clients (Adventurous folks who unfailingly Aim to Change
the World)
6. Small “Uneconomic” Clients with Big Aims
7. Life Is Too Short to Work with Jerks (Fire lousy clients)
8. OBSESSED WITH LEGACY (Practice Group and Individual: “Dent the
Universe”—Steve Jobs)
9. Fire-on-the-spot Anyone Who Says, “Law/Architecture/Consulting/
I-banking/ Accounting/PR/Etc. has become a ‘commodity’ ”
10. Consistent with #9 above … DO NOT SHY AWAY FROM THE
WORD (IDEA) “RADICAL”
The PSF35: The Client Experience
11. Always team with client: “full partners in
achieving memorable results” (Wanted: “Chimeras
of Moonstruck Minds”!)
12. We will seek assistance Anywhere to assemble the Best-inPlanet Team for the Project
13. Client Team Members routinely declare that working with us
was “the Peak Experience of my Career”
14. The job’s not done until implementation is
“100.00% complete” (Those who don’t “get it” must go)
IMPLEMENTATION IS NOT COMPLETE UNTIL
THE CLIENT HAS EXPERIENCED “CULTURE
CHANGE”
16. IMPLEMENTATION IS NOT COMPLETE UNTIL
SIGNIFICANT “TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER HAS
TAKEN PLACE-ROOT (“Teach a man to fish …”)
17. The Final Exam: DID WE MAKE A DRAMATIC,
LASTING, GAME-CHANGING DIFFERENCE?
15.
The PSF35: The People & The Leadership
18. TALENT FANATICS (“Best-Coolest place to work”) (PERIOD)
19. EYE FOR THE PECULIAR (Hiring: Go beyond “same old,
same old”)
20. Early Opportunities (vs. “Wait your turn”)
21. Up or Out (Based on “Legacy”/Mentoring as much as
“Billings”/“Rainmaking”)
22. Slide the Old Aside/Make Room for Youth (Find oldsters
new roles?)
23. TALENT IS OBSESSED WITH RENEWAL FROM DAY #1 TO
DAY #“R” [R = Retirement]
24. Office/Practice Leaders Evaluated Primarily on
Mentoring-Team Building Skills
25. A “PROPRIETARY” TALENT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS (GE)
26. Team Leadership Skills Valued Early
27. Partner with B.I.W. [Best In World] Outsiders as Needed
and to Infuse Different Views
The PSF35: The Firm & The Brand
28. EAT-SLEEP-BREATHE-OOZE
is my message”—Gandhi)
INTEGRITY (“My life
29. Excellence+ in EXECUTION … 100.00% of the Time
30. “Drop everything”/“Swarm” to Support a Harried-On
The Verge Team
31. SPEND
ON R&D LIKE A TECH FIRM.
32. A PROPRIETARY METHODOLOGY (FBR, McKinsey,
Chiat Day, IDEO, old EDS)
33. BRAND
MANIACS (Organize Around a Point of View Worth
BROADCASTING)
34. PASSION!
35.
ENTHUSIASM!
EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.
Big Idea:
“Corporation” as
Mega-“PSF”
(Professional Service
Firm*)
* “Virtual” Collection of Entrepreneurially-minded
Professionals (“Talent”/“Roster”) Creating/Applying
Intellectual Capital (“Work Product”)
Core Mechanism:
“Game-changing Solutions”
Brand You(S)
(“Distinct” or “Extinct”/The Talent)
+
Wow! Project(s)
(“Different” vs “Better”/The Work)
=
PSF(S)
(Professional Service Firm “model”/The Organizing Principle)
=
“Corporation” as
“Mega-PSF”
EXCELLENCE.
VALUE-ADDED LADDER II.
EXPERIENCE IT.
“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
Up,
Up,
Up,
Up
the Value-added Ladder.
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
Best
story
wins!
The Value-added Ladder/ MEMORABLE CONNECTION
Spellbinding
Experiences
Gamechanging Solutions
Services
Goods
Raw Materials
EXCELLENCE.
SOUL II.
THE STORY.
“Little Stuff”
(plus): The
True “Basics”
Thank
You!
“Courtesies of a small and
trivial character are the
ones which strike
deepest in the grateful
and appreciating heart.”
—Henry Clay
Jim Jeffords
oversight!
The …
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.
Conrad Hilton, at a big celebration of his
life, on “the most important lesson you’ve
learned in you long and distinguished
career”:
“remember
to tuck the shower
curtain inside
the bathtub”
“Leaders
‘SERVE’
people.
Period.”
—Anon.
Cause
Space
(worthy of commitment)
(room for/encouragement
for initiative)
Decency
(respect,
humane)
“If you don’t
listen,
you don’t sell
anything.”
—Carolyn Marland/Managing Director/Guardian Group
“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)
“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
“Sorry, I’ve got to go—the
HR people get on me if I
don’t go do my ‘shake handschat up’ duty”
—president, large
division of large company in the _______
industry
THE PROBLEM
IS RARELY THE
PROBLEM.
THE PROBLEM IS
RARELY/NEVER THE
PROBLEM. THE
RESPONSE
TO THE
PROBLEM INVARIABLY
ENDS UP BEING THE
REAL PROBLEM.*
*RMN, M Stewart, WJC, “Scooter” Libby
OFTEN AS
NOT/MORE OFTEN
THAN NOT THE
UNDERLYING
PROBLEM IS NOT
MUCH OF A
PROBLEM.
PERCEPTION
IS ALL THERE
IS. PERIOD.*
*From Whole Foods to IBM to the corner deli
Relationships
THERE
ONCE WAS A TIME WHEN A
(of all varieties):
THREE-MINUTE
PHONE CALL WOULD
HAVE AVOIDED SETTING OFF
THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL
THAT RESULTED IN A
COMPLETE RUPTURE.
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.
Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Respect
“The [Union senior] officers rode past the
Confederates smugly without any sign
of recognition except by one. ‘When
General Grant reached the line of
ragged, filthy, bloody, despairing
prisoners strung out on each side of
the bridge, he lifted his hat and held it
over his head until he passed the last
man of that living funeral cortege. He
was the only officer in that whole train
who recognized us as being on the
face of the earth.’*”
*quote within a quote from diary of a Confederate soldier
“Don’t
belittle!”
—OD Consultant
“Be kind, for
everyone you meet
is fighting a great
battle.”
—Philo of Alexandria
“Ph.D. in leadership. Short
course: Make a short list of
all things done to you that
you abhorred. Don’t do them
to others. Ever. Make
another list of things done to
you that you loved. Do them
to others. Always.” — Dee Hock
R.O.I.R.
Rules!
THE ONE THING
YOU NEED TO
KNOW
(Marcus Buckingham)
“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
“The key difference between checkers and
chess is that in checkers the pieces all move
the same way, whereas in chess all the pieces
Discover what
is unique about each
person and capitalize
on it.”
move differently. …
—Marcus Buckingham, The One Thing You Need to Know
“The mediocre manager believes that most
things are learnable and therefore that the
essence of management is to identify ach
person’s weaker areas and eradicate them.
The great manager believes the opposite.
He believes that the most influential
qualities of a person are innate and
therefore that the essence of management
is to deploy these innate qualities as
effectively as possible and so drive
performance.” —Marcus Buckingham, The One Thing
You Need to Know
“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
SWEET SPOT:
SEEKING THE
DISCOMFORT
ZONE.
“Do one thing
every day
that scares
you.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt
“Every time we come to a
comfort zone, we will find a way
out.” “No Cloning.” “‘Reinvent
the brand’ with each new show.”
“A typical day at the office for
me begins by asking, ‘What
is impossible that I
am going to do
today?’”
—Daniel Lamarre, president,
Cirque du Soleil
“Little Stuff”
(the end)
EXCELLENCE.
INDIVIDUAL.
BRAND YOU.
Distinct
…
… or
Extinct
New Work SurvivalKit.2007
1. MASTERY! (Best/Absurdly Good at Something!)
2. “Manage” to Legacy (All Work = “Memorable”/“Braggable” WOW Projects!)
3. A “USP”/UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION 4. Rolodex Obsession
(From vertical/hierarchy/“suck up” loyalty to
horizontal/“colleague”/“mate” loyalty)
5. ENTREPRENEURIAL INSTINCT (A sleepless … Eye for Opportunity!
6.CEO/LEADER/BUSINESSPERSON/CLOSER (CEO, Me Inc. 24/7!)
7. Master of Improv (Play a dozen parts simultaneously, from
Chief Strategist to Chief Toilet Scrubber)
8. Sense of Humor (A willingness to Screw Up & Move On)
9. Comfortable with Your Skin (Bring “interesting you” to work!)
10. Intense Appetite for Technology (E.g.: How Cool-Active is your
Web site? Do you Blog?)
11. EMBRACE “MARKETING” (Your own CSO/Chief Storytelling Officer)
12. PASSION FOR RENEWAL (Your own CLO/Chief Learning Officer)
13. EXECUTION EXCELLENCE! (Show up on time! Leave last!)
R.D.A.
Rate: 15%?, 25%?
Therefore: Formal “Investment
Strategy”/
R.I.P.*
*Renewal Investment Plan
Core Mechanism:
“Game-changing Solutions”
PSF
(Professional Service Firm “model”/The Organizing Principle)
+
Brand You
(“Distinct” or “Extinct”/The Talent)
+
Wow! Projects
(“Different” vs “Better”/The Work)
“The only thing you
have power over is to
get good at what you
do. That’s all there
is; there ain’t no
more!”
—Sally Field
“All of our artistic and religious traditions
take equally great pains to inform us that
we must never mistake a
good career for good
work. Life is a creative, intimate,
unpredictable conversation if it is nothing
else—and our life and our work are both
the result of the way we hold that
passionate conversation.” —David Whyte, Crossing
the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity
“To Be
somebody or to
Do something”
BOYD: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War (Robert Coram)
Getting Things Done:
Power &
The
Implementation34.
Getting to WOW
Through Mastery of …
The Sales25.
Presentation
Excellence: The
PresX56
The Interviewing
Excellence:
The IntX31
supreme
skills
(m.i.a.)
Talk.
Listen.
EXCELLENCE.
BEDROCK.
TALENT.
Hire very
good
people!
“We believe companies can increase their market cap
50 percent in 3 years. Steve Macadam at Georgia-
Pacific …
changed
20 of his
40 box plant managers
to put more talented,
higher paid managers in
charge. He increased profitability from
$25
million to
$80
million in
—Ed Michaels, War for Talent
2
years.”
C
O*
*Chief talent acquisition Officer
EMPHASIZE
THE “SOFT
SKILLS.”
A Few Lessons from the Arts
Each hired and developed and evaluated in unique ways
(23 contributors = 23 unique contributions = 23 pathways =
23 personalities = 23 sets of motivators)
Attitude/Enthusiasm/Energy paramount
Re-lent-less!
“Practice is cool” (G Leonard/Mastery)
Team and individual
Aspire to EXCELLENCE = Obvious
Ex-e-cu-tion
Talent = Brand = Duh
“The Project” rules
Emotional language
Bit players. No.
B.I.W. (everything)
Delta events = Delta rosters (incl leader/s)
SO YOU’RE A
“PEOPLE
PERSON”?
PROVE IT.
“The leaders of Great Groups
love talent and know
where to find it. They
revel in the talent
of others.”
—Warren Bennis &
Patricia Ward Biederman, Organizing Genius
SO YOU’RE A
“PEOPLE
PERSON”?
PROVE IT.
A review of Jack and Suzy Welch’s Winning claims there are but
two key differentiators that set GE “culture” apart from the herd:
First: Separating financial forecasting and performance
measurement. Performance measurement based, as it usually is, on budgeting
leads to an epidemic of gaming the system. GE’s performance measurement is
divorced from budgeting—and instead reflects how you do relative to your past
performance and relative to competitors’ performance; i.e., it’s about how you
actually do in the context of what happened in the real world, not as compared to a
gamed-abstract plan developed last year.
Putting HR on
a par with finance
and marketing.
Second:
SO YOU’RE A
“PEOPLE
PERSON”?
PROVE IT.
< CAPEX
> People!
LIVE FOR
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
Brand =
Talent.
EVP/IBP = Remarkable
challenge, rapid professional
growth, respect, satisfaction,
fun, stunning opportunity,
exceptional reward, amazing
peer group, full membership in
Club Adventure, maximized
future employability
Source: Ed Michaels, The War for Talent; TP
“I have always
believed that the
purpose of the
corporation is to be
a blessing to the
employees.”
—Boyd Clarke
EXCELLENCE.
AWOL: THE
SCHOOLS
FIASCO.
“Every time I pass a
jailhouse or a
school, I feel sorry
for the people
inside.” —Jimmy Breslin,
on “summer school” in NYC [“If they haven’t
learned in the winter, what are they going to remember from
days when they should be swimming?”]
“The main crisis
in school today is
irrelevance.”
—Daniel Pink,
Free Agent Nation
“My wife and I went to a [kindergarten] parent-teacher conference
and were informed that our budding refrigerator artist, Christopher,
would be receiving a grade of Unsatisfactory in art. We were
shocked. How could any child—let alone our child—receive a poor
His teacher
informed us that he had
refused to color within the
lines, which was a state
requirement for
demonstrating ‘grade-level
motor skills.’ ”
grade in art at such a young age?
—Jordan Ayan, AHA!
“In
our dreams people yield
themselves with perfect
docility to our molding
hands. … The task is simple. We will
J. D. Rockefeller’s General Education Board (1915):
organize children and teach them in a perfect
way the things their fathers and mothers are
doing in an imperfect way.”
John Taylor Gatto, A Different Kind of Teacher
Ye gads: “Thomas Stanley has not only found
no correlation between success in school and
an ability to accumulate wealth, he’s actually
found a negative correlation. ‘It seems that
school-related evaluations are poor
predictors of economic success,’ Stanley
concluded. What did predict success was a
willingness to take risks. Yet the successfailure standards of most schools penalized
risk takers. Most educational systems reward
those who play it safe. As a result, those who
do well in school find it hard to take risks
later on.”
—Richard Farson & Ralph Keyes,
Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins
“The
Creative
Age is a wideopen game.”
—Richard Florida, The Rise of the Creative Class
15 “Leading” Biz Schools
Design/Core: 0
Design/Elective: 1
Creativity/Core: 0
Creativity/Elective: 4
Innovation/Core: 0
Innovation/Elective: 6
Source: DMI/Summer 2002/Research by Thomas Lockwood
EXCELLENCE.
BEDROCK.
LEADERSHIP.
“12 Ps.”
Tom Peters/04.18.2007
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
pissed off.
Playful.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Peculiar.
Potent.
Positive.
st
“21 -century
Leadership” =
Bunkum
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
pissed off.
Playful.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Peculiar.
Potent.
Positive.
“Management has a lot to do with
answers. Leadership is a function of
questions. And the first question for a
‘Who do
we intend to
be?’ Not ‘What are we going to
leader always is:
do?’ but ‘Who do we intend to be?’”
—Max De Pree, Herman Miller
“People want to be part of
something larger than
themselves. They want to be
part of something they’re
really proud of, that they’ll
fight for, sacrifice for ,
trust.”
—Howard Schultz, Starbucks (IBD/09.05)
“If you want to build
a ship, don’t gather
people together to collect
wood ,and don’t assign
them tasks and work,
but instead teach them
to long for the sea.”
—Antoine de Saint-Exupery (The Little Prince)
“A leader is
a dealer in
hope.”
—Napoleon
(+TP’s writing room pics)
Ah, kids: “What is your vision for
the future?” “What have you
accomplished since your first book?”
“Close your eyes and imagine me
immediately doing something about
what you’ve just said. What would it
be?” “Do you feel you have an
obligation to ‘Make the world a
better place’?”
Leader Job One
Paint
Portraits of
Excellence!
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
pissed off.
Playful.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Peculiar.
Potent.
Positive.
“Nothing is so
contagious as
enthusiasm.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Whenever anything is
being accomplished, I
have learned, it is being
done by a monomaniac
with a mission.”
—Peter Drucker
“A man
without a
smiling face
must not open
a shop.”
—Chinese Proverb
EX-UBERANCE!
Exuberance: The Passion for Life, by Kay Redfield Jamison+
“The Greeks bequeathed to us one of the
most beautiful words in our language—the
word ‘enthusiasm’—en theos—a god within.
The grandeur of human actions is measured
by the inspiration from which they spring.
Happy is he who bears a god within, and
who obeys it.”—Louis Pasteur
“Exuberance is, at its quick, contagious. As
it spreads pell-mell through a group,
exuberance excites, it delights, and it
dispels tension. It alerts the group to
change and possibility.”
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
pissed off.
Playful.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Peculiar.
Potent.
Positive.
“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.”
“In the end, management
doesn’t change culture.
Management
invites
the workforce itself to
change the culture.”
—Lou Gerstner
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
pissed off.
Playful.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Potent.
Positive.
MBWA*
*5,000 miles for a 5-minute face-to
-face meeting (courtesy superagent Mark McCormick)
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
pissed off.
Playful.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Peculiar.
Potent.
Positive.
“You must
be
the change you
wish to see in the
world.”
Gandhi
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”?]
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
pissed off.
Playful.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Peculiar.
Potent.
Positive.
What I Learned
HWBjr: Excellence, Accountability, Initiative,
K.I.S.S., Leader Love
Dick: Empowerment, Entrepreneurship,
Challenge, Execution (Project > Paper),
Accountability, MBWA, K.I.S.S., Fanatic
Customer-centrism (Customer>Command,
Marines>Regiment),
Leader Love, Output, “Do”>“Be”
Nameless: “Tangible” vs “Palpable”
(Bureaucracy, Control, Tight Leashes,
Command-centric, Demoralization, Paper >
Project, Product = Paper, K.I.C.S.)
What I Learned
Ben: Decency, Soft Power, Fanatic Customercentrism (“Do”>“Be”)
Walter: Fanatic Mission-centrism, Soft Power,
Relationship-management, Execution,
Accountability, Early to Bed …
Bob: Pos>Neg/Recognition, K.I.S.S., The Way of
the Demo (Execution), Hero-building, Missioncentrism, “Do”>“Be”
Bill: De-centralization, Recognition, Supportstaff Centrism, Measurement (K.I.S.S.), Soft
Power (Paint ’n Pride), Rapid Culture Change
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
pissed off.
Playful.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Peculiar.
Potent.
Positive.
Pissed Off* **
*As in “I’m pissed off and I’m not gonna take it any more …”
**Innovation Stems from Irritation
(Re-imagining Results from Rage)
Innovation:
mad. Start Doing
something
about it. Now.
Get
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
pissed off.
Playful.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Peculiar.
Potent.
Positive.
SERIOUS
PLAY
“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
READY.
FIRE!
“You miss
100% of the
shots you
never take.”
—Wayne Gretzky
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
pissed off.
Playful.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Peculiar.
Potent.
Positive.
“This [adolescent] incident [of getting from point A to point B] is notable
not only because it underlines Grant’s fearless horsemanship and his
determination, but also it is the first known example of a very important
Grant had an
extreme, almost phobic
dislike of turning back
and retracing his steps.
peculiarity of his character:
If he
set out for somewhere, he would get there somehow, whatever the
difficulties that lay in his way. This idiosyncrasy would turn out to be one
the factors that made him such a formidable general. Grant would always,
always press on—turning back was not an option for him.”
—Michael Korda, Ulysses Grant
Relentless: “One of
my superstitions had always been
when I started to go anywhere or
not to
turn back , or stop,
to do anything,
until the thing intended was
accomplished.” —Grant
“Success seems to be
largely a matter
of hanging on
after others have
let go.”
—William Feather, author
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
pissed off.
Playful.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Peculiar.
Potent.
Positive.
‘do’
“Leaders
people.
Period.”
—Anon.
PARC’s Bob Taylor:
“Connoisseur
of Talent”
“Leaders
‘SERVE’
people.
Period.”
—Anon.
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?
< CAPEX
> People!
A review of Jack and Suzy Welch’s Winning claims there are but
two key differentiators that set GE “culture” apart from the herd:
First: Separating financial forecasting and performance
measurement. Performance measurement based, as it usually is, on budgeting
leads to an epidemic of gaming the system. GE’s performance measurement is
divorced from budgeting—and instead reflects how you do relative to your past
performance and relative to competitors’ performance; i.e., it’s about how you
actually do in the context of what happened in the real world, not as compared to a
gamed-abstract plan developed last year.
Putting HR on
a par with finance
and marketing.
Second:
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
pissed off.
Playful.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Peculiar.
Potent.
Positive.
We become
who we hang
out with
“Normal” =
“o for 800”
“Diverse groups of problem solvers—
groups of people with diverse tools—
consistently outperformed groups of the
best and the brightest. If I formed two
groups, one random (and therefore
diverse) and one consisting of the best
individual performers, the first group
almost always did better. …
Diversity trumped
ability.”
—Scott Page, The Difference: How
the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups,
Firms, Schools, and Societies Diversity
The “Hang Out Axiom”: At
its core, every (!!!)
relationship-partnership
decision (employee,
vendor, customer, etc)
is a strategic decision
about:
“Innovate,
‘Yes’ or ‘No’ ”
Keep
Austin
Weird
“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
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
pissed off.
Playful.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Peculiar.
Potent.
Positive.
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
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 Re-imagineer’s Credo: Pity the Poor Brown*
Technicolor Times
demand …
Technicolor Leaders and Boards who recruit …
Technicolor People who are then sent on …
Technicolor Quests to execute …
Technicolor (WOW!) Projects in partnership with …
Technicolor Customers and …
Technicolor Suppliers all in pursuit of …
Technicolor Goals and Aspirations fit for …
Technicolor Times.
*WSC
"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.
“Never doubt that a small
group of committed
people can change the
world. Indeed it is
the only thing that
ever has.” —Margaret Mead
eliot + 7
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
pissed off.
Playful.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Peculiar.
Potent.
Positive.
“[other]
admirals more
frightened of
losing than
anxious to win”
On NELSON:
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
pissed off.
Playful.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Peculiar.
Potent.
Positive.
“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)
"Life is not a journey to the
grave with the intention of
arriving safely in one pretty
and well preserved piece, but
to skid across the line
broadside, thoroughly used
up, worn out, leaking oil,
shouting ‘GERONIMO!’ ”
—Bill McKenna, professional motorcycle racer
(Cycle magazine 02.1982)
Geron-imo!