Punchline …
The last
word:
There is
no last
word.
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
Tom Peters’ X25*
EXCELLENCE.
ALWAYS.
Miller Agency/0316.2007
*In Search of Excellence 1982-2007
Slides at …
tompeters.com*
*Also see “LONG”
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
EXCELLENCE.
ASPIRATION.
“Why in the
world did
you go to
Siberia?”
Synonyms
Purity
Transcendence
Virtue
Elegance
Majesty
Antonyms
Mediocrity
The Peters
Principles: Enthusiasm.
Emotion. Excellence. Energy.
Excitement. Service. Growth.
Creativity. Imagination. Vitality.
Joy. Surprise. Independence.
Spirit. Community. Limitless
human potential. Diversity. Profit.
Innovation. Design. Quality.
Entrepreneurialism. Wow.
EXCELLENCE.
INNOVATE.
OR. DIE.
We become
who we hang
out 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
“Normal” =
“o for 800”
“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
“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
We become
who we hang
out with 2
Whacky
WikiWo
rldWow
“The Billion-man
Research Team:
Companies offering
work to online
communities are
reaping the benefits of
‘crowdsourcing.’”
—Headline, FT, 0110.07
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
Screw.
things.
Sam’s
Secret
#1!
“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
EXCELLENCE.
4/40.
De-central-iza-tion!
“If it feels painful
and scary—that’s
real delegation.”
—Caspian Woods, small biz owner
“Best practice” =
ZERO Standard
Deviation =
Whaddawaste
Ex-ecu-tion!
“Execution is
the job of the
business
leader.”
—Larry Bossidy & Ram
Charan/ Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
“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)
6:15A.M.
DECENTRALIZATION/
everything.
EXECUTION/98.
ACCOUNTABILITY.
6:15A.M.
Up,
Up,
Up,
Up
the Value-added Ladder.
The Value-added Ladder/ OPPORTUNITY-SEEKING
Gamechanging
Solutions
Services
Goods
Raw Materials
“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
The Value-added Ladder/ MEMORABLE CONNECTION
Spellbinding
Experiences
Gamechanging Solutions
Services
Goods
Raw Materials
EXCELLENCE.
DRAMATIC.
DIFFERENCE.
DOABLE.
“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
7X. 730A800P.
F12A.*
*’93-’03/10
yr annual return: CB: 29%; WM: 17%;
HD: 16%. Mkt Cap: 48% p.a.
Jim’s
Group
Jim Penman/“Empire Builders”/MT /
Jan/Feb 2006/Australia
EXCELLENCE.
NO EXCUSES.
WallopWal*Mart16*
*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
Furniture vs. Dreams
“We do not sell ‘furniture’ at Domain.
We sell dreams. This
is accomplished by addressing the
half-formed needs in our customers’
heads. By uncovering these needs,
we, in essence, fill in the blanks. We
convert ‘needs’ into ‘dreams.’
Sales are the inevitable
result.”
— Judy George, Domain Home Fashions
The Value-added Ladder/ EMOTION
Dreams Come True
Spellbinding Experiences
Gamechanging Solutions
Services
Goods
Raw Materials
Kevin Roberts:
Lovemarks!
Top 10 “Tattoo Brands”*
Harley .… 18.9%
Disney .... 14.8
Coke …. 7.7
Google .... 6.6
Pepsi .... 6.1
Rolex …. 5.6
Nike …. 4.6
Adidas …. 3.1
Absolut …. 2.6
Nintendo …. 1.5
*BRANDsense: Build Powerful Brands through Touch,
Taste, Smell, Sight, and Sound, Martin Lindstrom
Up,
Up,
Up,
Up
the Value-added Ladder.
The Value-added Ladder/ ECSTASY
Lovemark
Dreams Come True
Spellbinding Experiences
Services
Goods
Raw Materials
women.
BOOMERS.
GEEZERS.
women
BOOMERS
“Forget China,
India and the
Internet: Economic
Growth Is Driven
by
Women.”
—Headline,
Economist, April 15, 2006, Leader, page 14
“Women are
the majority
market”
—Fara Warner/The Power of the Purse
10 UNASSAILABLE REASONS WOMEN RULE
Women make [all] the financial decisions.
Women control [all] the wealth.
Women [substantially] outlive men.
Women start most of the new businesses.
Women’s work force participation rates have
soared worldwide. [2 of 3]
Women are closing in on “same pay for same
job.”
Women are penetrating senior ranks rapidly
[even if the pace is slow for the corner
office per se].
Women’s leadership strengths are exceptionally well
aligned with new organizational effectiveness &
value-added imperatives.
Women are better salespersons than men.
Women buy [almost] everything—commercial
as well as consumer goods.
So what exactly is … the point of men?
“AS LEADERS,
WOMEN
RULE:
New Studies find that
female managers outshine their male
counterparts in almost every measure”
TITLE/ Special Report/ BusinessWeek
women
BOOMERS
GEEZERS
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“People turning 50
more
than half of
today have
their adult life ahead
of them.”
—Bill Novelli, 50+: Igniting a
Revolution to Reinvent America
“Little Stuff”
(plus): The
True “Basics”
Tom Peters/03.14.2007
Thank
You!
FLOWER
POWER
“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.
“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?
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
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.
“WHY NOT
JUST TELL
THE TRUTH?”
—Raymond Carver
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 deepest
human need is
the need to be
appreciated.”
William James
THE ONE THING
YOU NEED TO
KNOW
(Marcus Buckingham)
“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
EXCELLENCE.
BEDROCK.
TALENT.
Hire very
good
people!
“We believe companies can increase their market cap
50 percent in 3 years. Steve Macadam at Georgia-
changed 20 of his
40 box plant managers
to put more talented,
higher paid managers in
charge. He increased profitability from
Pacific …
$25
million to
$80
million in
—Ed Michaels, War for Talent
2
years.”
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
PARC’s Bob Taylor:
“Connoisseur
of Talent”
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!
Brand =
Talent.
EXCELLENCE.
BEDROCK.
TALENT.
LEADERSHIP.
The “9Ps.”
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Potent.
Positive.
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Potent.
Positive.
“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)
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Potent.
Positive.
“Nothing is so
contagious as
enthusiasm.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
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
“In the end, management
doesn’t change culture.
Management
invites
the workforce itself to
change the culture.”
—Lou Gerstner
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
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.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Potent.
Positive.
“The First step in a
‘dramatic’
‘organizational change
program’ is obvious—
dramatic personal
change!” —RG
“A man
without a
smiling face
must not open
a shop.”
—Chinese Proverb
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Potent.
Positive.
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.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Potent.
Positive.
‘do’
“Leaders
people.
Period.”
—Anon.
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Potent.
Positive.
"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.
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
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
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
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!