The
PSF++
Solution*
Tom Peters/19 February 2015
*PSF/Professional Service Firm
THE WORK MATTERS
The Professional Service Firm50: Fifty Ways to
Transform Your “Department” into a Professional
Service Firm Whose Trademarks are Passion and
Innovation!
The Project50: Fifty Ways to Transform Every
“Task” into a Project That Matters!
The Brand You50: Fifty Ways to Transform
Yourself from an “Employee” into a Brand That
Shouts Distinction, Commitment, and Passion!
After a recent presentation at the Auckland Business School, I was asked a pointed question—and
flubbed the answer. I was asked if my emphasis on “people-development-first” amounted to keeping
unnecessary workers on the payroll. I said of course not—and stopped there. Whoops! That stopping
point (no “make work”) has in fact been my starting point since 1999, when I published a 3-book
series we called “The Work Matters”:
The Professional Service Firm50: Fifty Ways to Transform Your “Department” into a Professional
Service Firm Whose Trademarks are Passion and Innovation!
The Project50: Fifty Ways to Transform Every “Task” into a Project That Matters!
The Brand You50: Fifty Ways to Transform Yourself from an “Employee” into a Brand That Shouts
Distinction, Commitment, and Passion!
At about the same time (actually Y2K), I had outrageously written in a Time magazine cover story,
“I believe that ninety percent of white-collar jobs in the U.S. will be either destroyed or altered
beyond recognition in the next 10 to 15 years.”
That doesn’t look so outrageous today. E.g., consider this headline from the 11 NOV 2014 Telegraph
(UK), “Ten Million Jobs at Risk from Advancing Technology: Up to 35% of Britain’s jobs will be
eliminated by new computing and robotics technology over the next 20 years, say experts from
Deloitte and Oxford University.”
So the idea, then, in an oversimplified nutshell, is to avoid professional and organizational
extinction—and in fact pursue growth—by vaulting up the value added chain. Become a remarkable
“brand you” performing 100% value-added “wow projects” in an organizational unit transformed into
an innovative “professional service firm”—e.g., devoted to applying intellectual capital to the
organization’s products and services. (The overall “home” organization, per my model, seeks
differentiation by becoming a “collection of integrated professional service firms.”)
As you will see below, many are on this road. Consider this, for example, from a recent Economist
story: “Rolls-Royce now earns more from tasks such as managing clients’ overall procurement
strategies and maintaining aerospace engines it sells than it does from making them.”
There is more than one path to salvation in the face of exponential technology change—but
whatever the path, it will require in some form or other adding new “soft services” value—and
transforming oneself into a distinguishable (specialist/growth-obsessed/brand you) professional.
Or so I believe. (Wish I’d said all that in the first place.)
Destruction
“The root of our problem is
not
that we’re in a Great Recession
or a Great Stagnation, but rather
that we are in the early
Great
Restructuring
throes of a
.
Our technologies are racing ahead,
but our skills and organizations
are lagging behind.”
Source: Race AGAINST the Machine, Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee
“Ten Million Jobs at Risk from
Advancing Technology: Up to
35 percent of Britain's jobs
will be eliminated by new
computing and robotics
technology over the next 20
years, say experts [
”
University].
Deloitte/Oxford
—Headline,Telegraph (UK),
11 November 2014
“I believe that ninety
percent of white-collar
jobs in the U.S. will be
either destroyed or altered
beyond recognition in the
next 10 to 15 years.”
—Tom Peters (22 May 2000/cover/Time magazine)
Jobs—including high-pay white collar jobs—are
evaporating; and the evaporation rate will only
accelerate in the years ahead.
-1/+1/2
S&P 500
+1/-1*
*Every …
!
2 weeks
Source: Richard Foster (via Rita McGrath/HBR/12.26.13
“Mr. Foster and his McKinsey colleagues collected
detailed performance data stretching back
years for
1,000
found that
U.S. companies.
40
They
NONE
of
the long-term survivors managed to
outperform the market. Worse, the
longer companies had been in the
database, the worse they did.”
—Financial Times
Big companies have never had, on average,
sustaining success. This, too, is an accelerating
phenomenon. And, anything like “normal
employment growth” is, as “they” say, history.
The Magnificent
Monsters of
Motueka
(et al.)
The Future Is Small:
Why AIM Will Be the
World’s Best Market
Beyond the Credit
Boom—Gervais Williams,
superstar fund manager (FT /1217.14:
“Research shows that new and small
companies create almost all the new
private sector jobs and are
disproportionately innovative.”)
THE RED
CARPET
STORE
(Joel Resnick/Flemington NJ)
Emmys? Oscars? Name the big awards
ceremony—and these guys did the red carpets—
they “own” the market. As do the next two—dry
basements, giant sea anchors for the U.S. Navy
and its ilk.
I LOVE THESE GUYS!
“BE THE BEST.
IT’S THE ONLY
MARKET THAT’S
NOT CROWDED.”
From: Retail Superstars: Inside the 25 Best
Independent Stores in America, George Whalin
*Basement Systems Inc.
(Larry Janesky/Seymour CT)
*Dry Basement Science
(100,000++ copies!)
*1990: $0; 2003: $13M;
2010: $80,000,000
The Magicians of Motueka (PLUS)
!
W.A. Coppins Ltd.*
(Coppins Sea Anchors/
PSA/para sea anchors)
*Textiles, 1898; thrive on
“wicked problems”
U.S. Navy STLVAST (Small To Large Vehicle At Sea
Transfer); custom fabric from W. Wiggins Ltd./Wellington
(specialty nylon, “Dyneema,” from DSM/Netherlands)
—e.g.,
MITTELSTAND*
*“agile creatures darting between the
legs of the multinational monsters” (Bloomberg
BusinessWeek)
German economic success comes courtesy its
mid-sized “niche owners”—the Mittelstand.
Middle-sized
NicheMicro-niche
Dominators!
I love …
“Own” a niche through EXCELLENCE
(Writ large: Germany’s MITTELSTAND)
!
Specialized, agile providers of high value added
services and products are more and more
becoming an economy’s economic engine. The
big guys need to understand this—as do you
and I.
The (ENORMOUS)
“Services Added”
Opportunity
“You are headed
for commodity
hell if you don’t
have services.”
)
How do you hold onto jobs—or increase them in
the face of these staggering forces of
contraction? How do you survive—or thrive—in
general? One way, perhaps the best way, is to
pursue a “services added” growth strategy—
which happens to also be (more or less) “people
intensive.”
“Rolls-Royce now earns
more from tasks
such as managing clients’
overall procurement
strategies and maintaining
aerospace engines it sells
than it does from making
them.” —Economist
Engines—to engine and aircraft services.
Or, perhaps, aircraft services and, uh, engines
too?
(FYI: In my view, this, especially writ large, is
pretty damned extraordinary
!
)
M
IBM
IB
to
Rolls. And IBM: Machines (“M”) to business
systems (“B”). And a $50 billion++ services
business is born—perhaps the biggest “PSF”
(Professional Service Firm) in history.
Definitely the driver of future growth.
$55B*
*IBM Global Services/
“Systems integrator of choice”
Planetary Rainmaker-in-Chief!
“
CEO Sam Palmisano’s
strategy is to expand tech’s
borders by pushing users—and
entire industries—toward
radically different business
models. The payoff for IBM would be
[Former]
access to an ocean of revenue—Palmisano
estimates it at $500 billion a year—
that technology companies have never been
able to touch.” —Fortune
“Customer Satisfaction” to “Customer
“We’re getting better at
[Six Sigma quality improvement] every day. But
we really need to think about
the customer’s profitability:
Success”:
Are customers’ bottom
lines really benefiting
from what we provide
them?”
—Bob Nardelli, then chief of
GE Power Systems
Huge: “Customer
Satisfaction with
product/Service”
to
“CUSTOMER
SUCCESS”
PS
UPS
U
to
Growth driver flips: From packages (“P”) to
integrated logistics/supply chain services (“S”)
including physical delivery.
“UPS used to be a trucking company
Now it’s
a technology
company with
trucks.”
with technology.
—Forbes
“Big Brown’s New Bag: UPS Aims to
Be the Traffic Manager for
Corporate America” —Headline/BW
“UPS wants to take over the sweet
spot in the endless loop of goods,
information and capital that all the
packages [it moves] represent.” —ecompany.com
“It’s all about solutions. We work
with customers on creating and
running better, stronger, cheaper
supply chains.” —Bob Stoffel, UPS senior exec
“THE GIANT STALKING BIG OIL:
Schlumberger
How
Is Rewriting the Rules of the
Energy Game.”: “IPM [Integrated
Project Management] strays from
[Schlumberger’s] traditional role as
a service provider and moves
deeper into areas once dominated
by the majors.”
Source: BusinessWeek cover story, January 2008
“We’ll do
just about anything
an oilfield owner
would want, from
drilling to
production.”
IPM’s Chief:
Medtronic: An oceanic
shift from sophisticated
medical devices (which are to some
extent becoming commoditized) to taking
advantage of in-hospital
relationships to make
incursions into the
hospital services
management business.
I. LAN Installation Co.
II. Geek Squad.
(3% local market share)
(30% local market share with name change.)
III. Acquired by Best Buy.
IV. FLAGSHIP OF BEST BUY
WHOLESALE “SOLUTIONS”
STRATEGY MAKEOVER.
A small local service provider becomes the
engine of an enormous company.
IDEO’s Progression
Product Design
to
Product Design Training
to
Corporate Innovation/
Culture Training/Consulting
A peerless professional service firm does not sit
on its box of design awards—it dramatically
expands its service offerings. The “new stuff” is
now the dog that wags the tail.
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’”
(“Culture-Strategic change”)
Source: Jeff Thull, The Prime Solution: Close the Value Gap,
Increase Margins, and Win the Complex Sale
“The business of selling is not just about matching
viable solutions to the customers that require them.
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 our position in the market is
our attention to managing change and making change
stick in our customer’s organization.”
—Jeff Thull, The Prime Solution: Close the Value Gap, Increase Margins, and Win the Complex Sale
Nobody said it was easy!
Universal Value Added:
The
PSF
(or bust)
Solution
Yes, I pretty much believe “PSF” …
“OR BUST.”
The Professional Service Firm50: Fifty
Ways to Transform Your “Department”
into a Professional Service Firm Whose
Trademarks Are Passion and Innovation!
BFO 28: While on the topic of … WOW:
White collar work is by and large ticketed to fall prey to
artificial intelligence/eye-popping algorithms as well as
globalization. Stand there and take it on the chin?
NO.
My answer/1999 book/The Professional Service Firm 50:
CONVERT EVERY “DEPARTMENT”/ “UNIT” [AND
YOURSELF] INTO A FULL-FLEDGED …
“PSF”/PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FIRM …
EXCELLENCE &
WOW & ADDING SKYSCRAPING
VALUE TO THEIR/ YOUR CUSTOMERS’
WHOLLY DEDICATED TO …
[USUALLY INTERNAL CUSTOMERS] ACTIVITIES.
Why not?
There is no good reason not to proceed in this direction
within the fortnight!
“BFO”/Blinding Flash of the Obvious. I wrote a
presentation on my 40 “BFOs.” This was among
them.
Department Head/“Cost center”/“Overhead” to …
Managing
Partner,
HR
Inc.
(IS, R&D, etc.)
“Staff Departments” per se are … DOOMED.
Either gone or going. An (the?) answer: Value
Added Services.*
WHAT ELSE?
*Saves jobs. Adds jobs! Adds value per se. An
(the?) engine of growth.
WHITE-COLLAR SURVIVAL STRATEGY #1:
Department as Small-ish/Entrepreneurial
BUSINESS
E.g.: Training Inc., a 14person unit* in a 50-person HR
department in a $200M
business unit in a $3B
corporation—aiming for
Excellence & WOW!
*PSF/
Professional Service Firm (See my …
Professional Service Firm 50: Fifty Ways to Transform Your “Department” Into
A Professional Service Firm Whose Trademarks Are Passion and Innovation!)
A “sub-department” of a department now
becomes a full-fledged “PSF.”
(I see these folks as “Mittelstanders,” Middlesized Niche- /Micro-niche Dominators! E.g., The
Red Carpet Store of a certain type of training.
Remember: “Be the best, it’s the only market
that’s not crowded.”)
Date: September 2013
Location: Chicago
Client: 500 law-firm partners from a
single Firm
“Legal
practice becoming
commoditized”/ “big
Complaint:
clients cutting costs, bringing the
work inside,” “more and more
competitive bid situations”
Yup.
Lawyers, too.
PSF Transformation: Credit Department/Trek
Was
Is
Credit Dept
Financial Services
Hammer on dealers until
they pay.
Make dealers successful so
they CAN pay.
AR sold to 3rd party
commercial co.
Trek is the commercial financial
Company.
23 employees
12 employees
Oversee peak AR of $70M.
Oversee peak AR of $160M.
Identify risky dealers.
Identify opportunities.
Cost Center
Profit Center
No products
Products: Consulting, MC/Visa,
stored value of gift cards, gift card
peripherals, online payments
Source: John Burke/0330.06
Trek, the bike folks, adopt the “PSF Model.”
“Technology
Executive”
HCare CIO:
(workin’ in a hospital)
Full-scale,
Accountable (life or death)
Member-Partner of XYZ
Hospital’s Senior
Healing-Services Team
Or/to:
(who happens to be a techie)
Fleet Manager
Rolling Stock Cost
Minimization Officer
vs/or
Chief of Fleet Lifetime
Value Maximization
Strategic Supply-chain Executive
Customer Experience Director
(via drivers, etc.)
Are you/your “departmental”
gang the …
“Principal
Engine of
Value Added”
Big Idea:
“Corporation” as
MEGA“PSF”
PSF/Professional Service Firm/Beliefs
PROFESSION: CALLING/PASSION TO MAKE A
DIFFERENCE/EXCELLENCE (ALWAYS)
POINT OF VIEW: KNOW EXACTLY WHAT WE
STAND FOR/“DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE”
CLIENT: ENDURING, TEST-THE-LIMIT
RELATIONSHIP/“TRUSTED ADVISOR”
SOLUTION: ROCK HIS-HER WORLD/
“WOW”/IMPLEMENTED “CULTURE CHANGE”/
>>> “SATISFACTION”
The PSF35: The Work & The Legacy
1.
CRYSTAL CLEAR POINT OF VIEW
(Every 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.
15.
(“Teach a man to fish …”)
17.
The Final Exam: DID WE MAKE A DRAMATIC,
LASTING, GAME-CHANGING DIFFERENCE?
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.
Every “PSF”
must have a
formal &
formidable R&D
budget. PERIOD.
Universal Value Added:
Wow
Projects
The
Solution
(or bust)
The Project50: Fifty Ways to
Transform Every “Task” into
a Project That Matters!
The WOW Project 50
YOU/PSF =
WOW PROJECT
PORTFOLIO
The PSF is a collection of projects. The rockin’
rollin’ value addin’ PSF is a collection of …
WOW Projects
!
The WOW Project 50
CREATE
1. REFRAME: NEVER ... EVER! ... ACCEPT A PROJECT/ASSIGNMENT AS
GIVEN!
2. TRANSLATE YOUR DAILY EXPERIENCES INTO COOL STUFF TO DO.
2A. Become a Benchmarking Fanatic: LOOK at every-small-thing-thathappens-to-you as a Golden Learning Opportunity.
3. Improve your vocabulary! Learn to love “WOW!” Use “the word.”
WOW!
4. There are no “small” projects: IN EVERY “LITTLE” FORM OR
PROCEDURE, IN EVERY “LITTLE” PROBLEM THERE USUALLY
LURKS A B-I-G PROJECT!
4A. CONVERT today's annoying “chore” into a WOW! Project. THE B-I-G
IDEA: THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A “GIVEN.”
5. Put on the brakes! DON’T BETRAY WOW!
6. LOVE MAKES THE WORLD GO ’ROUND!
7. Will it—the project, our baby—be beautiful? Yes ... BEAUTIFUL!
8. Design-Is-It. I.e.: One of the single most powerful forces in the whole
bloody universe.
9. IS THE PROJECT REVOLUTIONARY? (ARE YOU SURE?)
Source: The Project50: Fifty Ways to Transform Every “Task” into a Project That Matters!
The WOW Project 50
10. Is the Web factored into the project? In a b-i-g way?
11. Impact. Henry James asked this, as his ultimate question, of an
artist's work: “Was it worth doing?”
11A. Made Anybody(s) Angry Lately?
12. RAVING FANS!
12A. Women-as-Raving Fans. Women take to products/services—and,
thence, “project deliverables”—for (very) different reasons than men.
13. Pirates-on-the-high-seas. “We” are on a Mission/Crusade. We plan to
upset the applecart (conventional wisdom) Big Time ... and Make a
Damn Difference.
14. If you can (hint: you can!), create a “place.” That Is ... Pirates Need
Ships at Sea and Caves on Land. (“Safe Houses” in Spy-speak.)
15. Put it in your resume. NOW! PICTURE YOURSELF CROSSING THE
FINISH LINE.
16. THINK RAINBOW!
17. THINK ... OR RETHINK ... OR REFRAME ... YOUR CONCEPT ... INTO A
“BUSINESS PLAN.”
18. Think/obsess ... D-E-A-D-L-I-N-E. Be ridiculously/absurdly/insanely
demanding of yourself/your little band of renegades.
The WOW Project 50
19. Find a Wise Friend. WOW Projects Ain’t Easy! They Stretch You, Stress
You, and Often Vex You. And the Organization.
20. FIND—AND THEN NURTURE—A FEW (VERY FEW) COCONSPIRATORS.
20A. Find at least one user/co-conspirator. NOW. Think user from the start.
21. Consider carrying around a little card that reads:
WOW!
BEAUTIFUL!
REVOLUTIONARY!
IMPACT!
RAVING FANS!
EXCELLENCE!
SELL
22. Be S-U-C-C-I-N-C-T. Describe your project (its benefits and its WOW!)
in T-H-R-E-E minutes.
22A. METAPHOR TIME! The “pitch”—and every aspect of the project—
works best if there is a compelling theme/image/hook that makes the whole
thing cohere, resonate, and vibrate with life.
23. SALES MEANS SELLING ... EVERYONE!
24. Hey: WOW Project Life = Sales. Right? So ... WORK CONSCIOUSLY ON
BUZZ. GET VISIBLE AND STAY VISIBLE.
25. Do your “Community Work.” Start to Expand the Network! ASAP.
The WOW Project 50
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
Last is as good as first. If they support you ... they are your friends.
Preach to the choir! Never forget your friends!
Don't try to convert your enemies. Don’t waste time on them.
CREATE AN A-TEAM ADVISORY BOARD.
Become a Master Bootstrapper. You heard it here first: Too much
initial money ... kills!
31. Think B-E-T-A! As in ... Beta Site(s). You need customer-partners ...
as safe-haven testing grounds for rough prototypes.
IMPLEMENT
32. CHUNK! CHUNK! CHUNK! We’ve gotta break “it”—our project, now
on the move—down into tidbit/do-it-today/do-it-in-the-next-fourhours pieces.
33. Live ... Eat ... Sleep ... Breathe: Prototype! I.e.: BECOME AN
UNABASHED PROTOTYPING FANATIC.
33A. Teach prototyping. Prototyping is a “corporate culture” issue. I.e.:
Work to create a Culture of Prototyping.
34. PLAY! FIND PLAYMATES!
35. Scrunch the Feedback Loops!
36. BLOW IT UP! PLAY ... AND DESTRUCTION ... ARE HANDMAIDENS.
The WOW Project 50
37. Keep recruiting! Iron Law: WOW Projects Call for WOW! People.
Never stop recruiting!
37A. WANTED: COURT JESTER.
38. Make a B-I-G binder! This is the Project Bible. It's the Master
Document ... the macro-map.
39. List mania. Ye shall make lists ... and the lists shall make ye
omniscient. (No joke.)
40. Think (live/sleep/eat/breathe) Timeline/ Milestones.
40A. WANTED: MS. LAST TWO PERCENT!
41. Master the 15-Minute Meeting. You can change (or at least organize)
the world in 15 minutes!
42. C-E-L-E-B-R-A-T-E!
42A. CELEBRATE FAILURES!
43. Station break! The keynote here is action. Exactly right! But: Don't
allow the action fanaticism to steer you off course re
WOW!/Beauty/Revolution/Impact!/Raving Fans.
44. A Project Has an Identity. It’s Alive. PROJECT = LIFE ... SPIRIT ...
PERSONALITY.
The WOW Project 50
45. Cast the Net a Little/Lot Farther Afield.
46. It's the U-S-E-R, stupid! Never lose sight of the user community.
47. Concoct a B.M.P./Buzz-Management Program. Marketing is
Implementation.
EXIT
48. SELL OUT! It's been “us” against “them” ... and one heck of a
ride. But now the time has come to dance with the suits ... if we
really want full impact.
48A. Recruit a Mr. Follow-up ... Who Is as Passionate as You Are!
(And L-O-V-E-S Administration.)
49. SEED YOUR FREAKS INTO THE MAINSTREAM ... WHERE THEY
CAN BECOME MUTANT VIRUSES FOR YOUR (QUIRKY) POINT OF
VIEW!
50. Write up the project history. Throw a Grand Celebratory Bash!
Creative
Destruction
“We are in no danger of
running out of new
combinations try. Even
if technology froze today, we have more
possible ways of configuring the
different applications, machines, tasks,
and distribution channels to create new
processes and products than we could
ever exhaust.” —Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, Race
Against the Machine: How the Digital Revolution Is Accelerating Innovation,
Driving Productivity and Irreversibly Transforming Employment and the Economy
I believe it. Plenty of stuff to do.
(For the imaginative.)
Universal Value Added:
The
Brand
You
Solution
(or bust)
Success.2015 = Mega-value adding PSF =
Brand Yous
(100%
entrepreneurs) executing WOW Projects.
I believe it.
Fact: There is plenty of stuff to do.
human
beings are
entrepreneurs. When we
Muhammad Yunus:
“All
were in the caves we were all self-employed . .
. 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.”
—Muhammad Yunus,
Nobel Laureate/The News Hour/PBS/1122.2006
“For Marx, the path to social betterment was
through collective resistance of the proletariat to
the economic injustices of the capitalist system
that produced such misshapenness and
fragmentation. For Emerson, the key was to
jolt individuals into realizing the untapped
power of energy, knowledge and creativity
of which all people, at least in principle,
are capable. He too hated all systems of
human oppression; but his central project,
and the basis of his legacy, was to unchain
individual minds.” —Lawrence Buell, Emerson
“If there is nothing
very special about your
work … no matter how hard
you apply yourself you won’t
get noticed, and that
increasingly means you won’t
get paid much either.”
—Michael Goldhaber, Wired
HAROLD H. HESITANT
B.A. M.S. Ph.D.
1965-2015
HE WANTED TO DO SOME
REALLY COOL STUFF
BUT …
HIS BOSS WOULDN’T
LET HIM!
Distinct
or …
Extinct.
The Brand You50: Fifty Ways to
Transform Yourself from an “Employee”
into a Brand That Shouts Distinction,
Commitment, and Passion!
Final Exam Questions
Re Your Job/Talent/Qualifications
1. Can someone overseas do
it cheaper?
2. Can a computer do it
faster?
3. Is what you’re selling in
demand in an age of
abundance?
Source: Dan Pink
New Work Survival Kit 2012+++++
1. Mastery! (Best/Absurdly Good at Something!)
2. “Manage” to Legacy. (All Work = “Memorable”/“Braggable” WOW
Projects!)
3. “USP”/Unique Selling Proposition (R.POV8: Remarkable Point of
View … captured in 8 or less words).
4. Networking Obsession (from vertical/hierarchy/“suck up” loyalty
to horizontal/“colleague”/“mate” loyalty).
5. Entrepreneurial Instinct (A sleepless … Eye for Opportunity!
E.g.: Small Opportunity for Independent Action beats faceless part of
Monster Project).
6. CEO/Leader/Businessperson/Closer. (CEO, Me Inc. Period! 24/7!)
7. Mistress of Improv (Play a dozen parts simultaneously, from
Chief Strategist to Chief Toilet Scrubber).
8. Sense of Humor (A willingness to Screw Up, Shrug & Move On).
9. Comfortable with Your Skin. (Bring “interesting you” to work!)
10. Intense Appetite for Technology. (E.g.: Are you a “leading edge
user” of Social Media?)
11. Embrace “Marketing” (Your own CSO/Chief Storytelling Officer).
12. Obsessed with Renewal (Your own CLO/Chief Learning Officer).
13. Execution Excellence! (Show up early! Leave late! Sweat the details!)
14. EXCELLENCE. PERIOD. (What else?)
A professional …
**ability to work
unsupervised
**ability to certify the
completion of a job
**ability to behave with
integrity at all times
Source: Subroto Bagchi, The Professional: Defining the New Standard of Excellence at Work
Personal “Brand Equity” Evaluation
– My current Project is challenging me in these
ways …
– New things I’ve learned in the last 90 days
include …
– I am known for (2 to 3 things); next year at this
time I’ll also be known for (1 more thing).
– My public “recognition program”
consists of …
– Substantial additions to my Network in the last
90 days include …
– MY RESUME IS
DIFFERENT
DISCERNIBLY
FROM LAST YEAR’S
AT THIS TIME AS FOLLOWS …
"The illiterate of the
21st Century will not
be those who cannot
read or write, but
those who cannot
learn, unlearn and
relearn."
—Alvin Toffler
“My ancestors were printers
in Amsterdam from 1510 or
so until 1750, and
during
that entire time they
didn’t have to learn
anything new.”
—Peter Drucker,
Business 2.0
“You must realize that how you invest your human
capital matters as much as how you invest your
financial capital. Its rate of return determines your
Take a job for what it
teaches you, not for what it pays.
Instead of a potential employer
asking, ‘Where do you see yourself in
5 years?’ you’ll ask, ‘If I invest my
mental assets with you for 5 years,
how much will they appreciate? How
much will my portfolio of career
options grow?’ ” —Stan Davis & Christopher Meyer,
future options.
futureWEALTH
Brand Equity DEPRECIATION:
Rate: 15%?, 25%?
Therefore: Formal
“Investment
Strategy”/
F.R.I.P.*
*FORMAL Renewal Investment Plan
A tour of
duty in
finance!
Addenda:
Gotta learn the numbers. Gotta have pals in the
finance department.
“This is the true joy of Life, the
being used for a purpose
recognized by yourself as a
mighty one … the being a force
of Nature instead of a feverish,
selfish little clod of ailments
and grievances complaining that
the world will not devote itself
to making you happy.”
—G.B. Shaw, Man and Superman
!
Bingo
THE WORK MATTERS
The Professional Service Firm50: Fifty Ways to
Transform Your “Department” into a Professional
Service Firm Whose Trademarks are Passion and
Innovation!
The Project50: Fifty Ways to Transform Every
“Task” into a Project That Matters!
The Brand You50: Fifty Ways to Transform
Yourself from an “Employee” into a Brand That
Shouts Distinction, Commitment, and Passion!
“BE THE BEST.
IT’S THE ONLY
MARKET THAT’S
NOT CROWDED.”
From: Retail Superstars: Inside the 25 Best
Independent Stores in America, George Whalin