The Passion Imperative:
50
The Leadership
Tom Peters/American Express/
06.08.2004/San Francisco
Slides at …
tompeters.com
Biases
Strategy Systems Passion Execution
Porter
50
20
15
15
Drucker
35
30
15
20
Bennis
25
20
30
25
Peters
15
20
35
30
Successful Businesses’ Dozen Truths: TP’s 30-Year Perspective
1. Insanely Great & Quirky Talent.
2. Disrespect for Tradition.
3. Totally Passionate (to the Point of Irrationality) Belief in What
We Are Here to Do.
4. Utter Disbelief at the BS that Marks “Normal Industry Behavior.”
5. A Maniacal Bias for Execution … and Utter Contempt
for Those Who Don’t “Get It.”
6. Speed Demons.
7. Up or Out. (Meritocracy Is Thy Name. Sycophancy Is Thy Scourge.)
8. Passionate Hatred of Bureaucracy.
9. Willingness to Lead the Customer … and Take the Heat Associated
Therewith. (Mantra: Satan Invented Focus Groups to Derail True
Believers.)
10. “Reward Excellent Failures. Punish Mediocre Successes.”
11. Courage to Stand Alone on One’s Record of Accomplishment
Against All the Forces of Conventional Wisdom.
12. A Crystal Clear Understanding of the power of a Good Story
(Brand Power).
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!
Sir Richard’s Rules:
Follow your passions.
Keep it simple.
Get the best people to help you.
Re-create yourself.
Play.
Source: Fortune/10.03
The Passion Imperative:
The Leadership
50
“Uncertainty is the only
thing to be sure of.” —Anthony Muh,
head of investment in Asia, Citigroup Asset Management
“If you don’t like change,
you’re going to like
irrelevance even less.” —General Eric
Shinseki, Chief of Staff,
U. S. Army
Mount Madness v.2004
Perfect Storm
X
Corporate Mal-adaptivity
The Perfect Storm
Jobs
Technology
Globalization
War, Warfighting & Security
“14 MILLION
service jobs are in
danger of being
shipped overseas” —
The Dobbs Report/USN&WR/11.03/re new UCB
study
Jeff Immelt: 75% of “admin, back
room, finance” “digitalized” in
years.
Source: BW (01.28.02)
“The world has arrived at a rare strategic
inflection point where nearly half its
population—living in China, India and Russia—
have been integrated into the global market
economy, many of them highly educated
workers, who can do just about any job in the
We’re talking about
three billion people.” —Craig
world.
Barrett/Intel/01.08.2004
“This is a dangerous world and
it is going to become more dangerous.”
“We may not be
interested in chaos but
chaos is interested
in us.”
Source: Robert Cooper, The Breaking of Nations:
Order and Chaos in the Twenty-first Century
Mount Madness v.2004
Perfect Storm
X
Corporate Mal-adaptivity
Forbes100 from 1917 to 1987: 39
members of the Class of ’17 were alive
in ’87; 18 in ’87 F100; 18 F100
“survivors” underperformed the market
by 20%; just 2 (2%), GE & Kodak,
outperformed the market 1917 to 1987.
S&P 500 from 1957 to 1997: 74 members of the Class of ’57 were
alive in ’97; 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
Mount Madness v.2004
Perfect Storm
X
Corporate Mal-adaptivity
The Basic
Premise.
1. Leadership Is a …
Mutual
Discovery
Process.
“Ninety percent of what
we call ‘management’
consists of making it
difficult for people to get
things done.” – P.D.
“I don’t
know.”
Quests!
Leaders-Mentors-Teachers Do Not “Transform People”!
Instead leaders-mentors-teachers (1) provide a
context which is marked by (2) access to a luxuriant
portfolio of meaningful opportunities (projects) which
(3) allow people to fully (and safely, mostly—caveat: “they”
don’t engage unless they’re “mad about something”) express
their innate curiosity and (4) engage in a vigorous
discovery voyage (alone and in small teams, assisted by an
extensive self-constructed network) by which those people
(5) go to-create places they (and their mentors-teachersleaders) had never dreamed existed—and then the
leaders-mentors-teachers (6) applaud like hell, stage
“photo-ops,” and ring the church bells
100 times to commemorate the bravery of their
“followers’ ” explorations!
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.”
The
Leadership
Types.
2. Great Leaders on Snorting
Steeds Are Important – but
Great Talent
Developers (Type I
Leadership) are the Bedrock
of Organizations that Perform Over
the Long Haul.
Whoops: Jack
didn’t have a vision!
T.A.:
3. But Then Again, There
Are Times When This
“Cult of Personality”
(Type II Leadership) Stuff
Actually Works!
“A leader is a
dealer in
hope.”
Napoleon
(+TP’s writing room pics)
4. Find the
“Businesspeople”!
(Type III Leadership)
I.P.M.
(Inspired Profit
Mechanic)
5. All Organizations
Need the Golden
Leadership
Triangle.
The Golden Leadership
Triangle: (1) Talent
Fanatic-Mentor … (2)
Creator-Visionary … (3)
Inspired Profit Mechanic.
6. Leadership Mantra
#1: IT
ALL
DEPENDS!
Renaissance Men
are … a snare, a
myth, a delusion!
7. The Leader Is
Rarely/Never the
Best Performer.
33 Division Titles. 26
League Pennants. 14
World Series: Earl Weaver—0.
Tom Kelly—0. Jim Leyland—0.
Walter Alston—1AB. Tony
LaRussa—132 games, 6 seasons.
Tommy Lasorda—P, 26 games.
Sparky Anderson—1 season.
The
Leadership
Dance.
8. Leaders …
SHOW UP!
9. Leaders …
LOVE the
MESS!
“I’m not comfortable
unless
I’m uncomfortable.”
—Jay
Chiat
10. Leaders
“We have a
‘strategic’ plan.
It’s called doing
things.”
— Herb Kelleher
The Kotler Doctrine:
1965-1980: R.A.F.
(Ready.Aim.Fire.)
1980-1995: R.F.A.
(Ready.Fire!Aim.)
1995-????: F.F.F.
(Fire!Fire!Fire!)
11. Leaders
Re
-do.
“If Microsoft is good at anything, it’s
avoiding the trap of worrying about
criticism. Microsoft fails constantly.
They’re eviscerated in public for lousy
products. Yet they persist, through
version after version, until they get
something good enough. Then they
leverage the power they’ve gained in
other markets to enforce their standard.”
Seth Godin, Zooming
12. BUT … Leaders
Know When to
Wait.
Tex Schramm:
The
“too hard”
box!
13. Leaders Are …
Optimists.
Hackneyed but none the less
LEADERS SEE
CUPS AS “HALF
FULL.”
true:
“[Ronald
Reagan] radiated an
almost transcendent
happiness.”
Half-full Cups:
Lou Cannon, George (08.2000)
14. BUT …
Leaders Are
Realists/Leaders
Win Through
LOGISTICS!
The “Gus
Imperative”!
15. Leaders …
DELIVER!
“It is no use saying ‘We
are doing our best.’You
have got to succeed in
doing what is
necessary.” —WSC
“When assessing candidates, the first
thing I looked for was energy and
enthusiasm for execution. Does she
talk about the thrill of getting things
done, the obstacles overcome, the role
her people played—or does she keep
wandering back to strategy or
philosophy?” —Larry Bossidy,
Honeywell/AlliedSignal, in Execution
16. Leaders
FOCUS!
“To
Don’t ”
List
“I used to have a rule for myself
that at any point in time I wanted to
have in mind — as it so happens,
also in writing, on a little card I
carried around with me — the three
big things I was trying to get done.
Three. Not two. Not four. Not five.
Not ten. Three.”
— Richard Haass, The Power to Persuade
17. Leaders …
Set CLEAR
DESIGN SPECS.
Danger:
S.I.O.
(Strategic
Initiative Overload)
1@T: (1) Neutron
JackWorld/
Jack. (Banish bureaucracy.) (2) “1, 2
or out” Jack. (Lead or leave.) (3)
“Workout” Jack. (Empowerment,
GE style.) (4) 6-Sigma Jack. (5)
Internet Jack. (Throughout)
TALENT JACK!
18. Leaders …
Send V-E-R-Y
Clear Signals About
Design Specs!
Ridin’ with Roger: “What
have
you done to
DRAMATICALLY
IMPROVE quality in the
last 90 days?”
If It Ain’t Broke
… Break It.
19. Leaders …
FORGET!/
Leaders …
DESTROY!
Forget>“Learn”
“The problem is never how
to get new, innovative
thoughts into your mind,
but how to get the old
ones out.”
Dee Hock
20. BUT … Leaders
Have to Deliver, So They
Worry About “Throwing
the Baby Out with the
Bathwater.”
“Damned If You
Do, Damned If You
Don’t, Just Plain
Damned.”
Subtitle in the chapter, “Own Up to the Great Paradox: Success
Is the Product of Deep Grooves/ Deep Grooves Destroy
Adaptivity,” Liberation Management (1992)
Therefore …
Leadership = Art
Therefore …
MBA = Useless
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
21. Leaders …
HONOR THE
USURPERS.
Saviors-in-Waiting
Disgruntled Customers
Upstart Competitors
Rogue Employees
Fringe Suppliers
Wayne Burkan, Wide Angle Vision
22. Leaders Make
[Lotsa] Mistakes
– and MAKE NO
BONES ABOUT IT!
“Sam is not
afraid to
fail.”
23. Leaders Make …
BIG MISTAKES!
“Reward
excellent
failures. Punish
mediocre successes.”
Phil Daniels, Sydney exec (and, de facto, Jack)
Create.
24. Leaders Know that
THERE’S MORE TO LIFE
THAN “LINE EXTENSIONS.”
Leaders Love to CREATE NEW
MARKETS.
No one ever made it
into the Business Hall
of Fame on a record of
“line extensions.”
“Acquisitions are about
buying market share. Our
challenge is to
create markets.
There is a big difference.”
Peter Job, CEO, Reuters
25. Leaders … Make
Their Mark /
Leaders … Do Stuff
That Matters
“Management has a lot to do
with answers. Leadership is a
function of questions. And the
first question for a leader
always is: ‘Who do we intend
to be?’ Not ‘What are we going
to do?’ but ‘Who do we intend to
be?’” —Max De Pree, Herman Miller
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’?”
26. Leaders Push Their
W-a-y Up the
Value-added/
Intellectual Capital
Chain
Organizations
Experience: “Rebel Lifestyle!”
“What we sell is the ability for
a 43-year-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
WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?
“The sun is setting on the Information Society—even before we
have fully adjusted to its demands as individuals and as
companies. We have lived as hunters and as farmers, we have
worked in factories and now we live in an information-based
society whose icon is the computer. We
stand facing the
fifth kind of society: the Dream Society. … The
Dream Society is emerging this very instant—the shape of the
future is visible today. Right now is the time for decisions—
before the major portion of consumer purchases are made for
emotional, nonmaterialistic reasons. Future products will have to
appeal to our hearts, not to our heads. Now is the time to add
emotional value to products and services.” —Rolf Jensen/The Dream
Society:How the Coming Shift from Information to Imagination Will Transform Your
Business
27. Leaders
LOVE the
New Technology!
square feet
28. Needed? Type IV
Leadership:
Technology
Dreamer-True
Believer
The Golden Leadership
Quadrangle: (1) Talent
Fanatic-Mentor …
(2) Creator-Visionary …
(3) Inspired Profit Mechanic
… (4) Technology DreamerTrue Believer
Talent.
29. When It Comes to
TALENT …
Leaders Always Swing
for the Fences!
Talent’s Big7 Rules
1. Talent = 25/8/53.
2. Some people are better than
other people. Some people are a
helluva lot better than other people.
3. Women are the best leaders for the New
Economy
4. Think “Roster”
5. Think “V.C.”
6. Talent is what leaders do.
7. Talent = Brand
30. Leaders Don’t
Create “Followers”:
THEY CREATE
LEADERS!
“I start with the
premise that the
function of leadership
is to produce more
leaders, not more
followers.”—Ralph Nader
31. Leaders “Win
Followers Over”
WHAT AN IDIOT: “Instead
of employees being in the driver’s
seat, now we’re in the driver’s
seat.”
“Coaching
is winning
players over.”
PJ:
“I didn’t have a ‘mission statement’ at
Burger King. I had a dream. Very
simple. It was something like, ‘Burger
King is 250,000 people, every one of
whom gives a shit.’ Every one.
Accounting. Systems. Not just the
drive through. Everyone is ‘in the
brand.’ That’s what we’re talking
about, nothing less.”
— Barry Gibbons
Passion.
32. Leaders …
Out Their
PASSION!
“Create a
‘cause,’ not a
‘business.’ ”
G.H.:
Aside
Jim & Tom.
Joined at the
hip.
Not.
Good to Great: Fannie Mae …
Kroger … Walgreens … Philip
Morris … Pitney Bowes … Abbott
… Kimberly-Clark … Wells Fargo
SET
THE AGENDA.
Great Companies …
(Period.)
AGENDA SETTERS: “Set the Table”/
Pioneers/ Questors/ Adventurers
US Steel … Ford … Macy’s … Sears … Litton
Industries … ITT … The Gap … Limited …
CitiGroup … American Express … American
Express …Wal*Mart … P&G … 3M … Intel …
IBM … Apple … Nokia … Cisco … Dell …
MCI … Sun … Oracle … Microsoft …
Enron … Schwab … GE … Southwest …
Laker … People Express … Ogilvy …
Chiat/Day … Virgin … eBay … Amazon …
Sony … BMW … CNN …
Huh?
“Humility: The Surprise Factor in
Leadership … bosses with Gungho Qualities and Charisma May Be
Out of Fashion” —Headline/FT/
re JCollins/10.03 (TP: scribble: “Nelson, Wellington,
Montgomery, Disraeli, Churchill, Thatcher”)
Wellington
Nelson
Disraeli
Churchill
Montgomery
Thatcher
Huh?
“Quiet, workmanlike, stoic
leaders bring about the big
transformations.”--JC
“Humble” Pastels?
T. Paine/P. Henry/A. Hamilton/T. Jefferson/B. Franklin
A. Lincoln/U.S. Grant/W.T. Sherman
TR/FDR/LBJ/RR/JFK
Patton/Monty/Halsey
M.L. King/C. de Gaulle/M. Gandhi/W. Churchill
Picasso/Mozart/Copernicus/Newton/Einstein/Djarassi/Watson
H. Clinton/G. Steinem/I. Gandhi/G. Meir/M. Thatcher
E. Shockley/A. Grove/J. Welch/L. Gerstner/L. Ellison/B. Gates/
S. Jobs/S. McNealy/T. Turner/R. Murdoch/W. Wriston
A. Carnegie/J.P. Morgan/H. Ford/S. Honda/J.D. Rockefeller/
T.A. Edison
Rummy/Norm/Henry/Wolfie
Elizabeth Cady Stanton/Susan B. Anthony/Martha Cary
Thomas/Carrie Chapman Catt/Alice Paul/Anna Elizabeth
Dickinson/Arabella Babb Mansfield/Margaret Sanger
“intrepid, unprincipled,
reckless, predatory, with
boundless ambition,
civilized in externals but
a savage at heart.”
Herman Melville on JPJ:
“intrepid, unprincipled,
reckless, predatory, with
boundless ambition,
civilized in externals but a
savage at heart.” —from Evan
Thomas, John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father
of the American Navy
“In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias
they had warfare, terror, murder,
bloodshed—and produced
Michelangelo, da Vinci and the
Renaissance. In Switzerland they had
brotherly love, 500 years of democracy
and peace, and what did they
produce—the cuckoo clock.”
Orson Welles, as Harry Lime, in The Third Man
33. Leaders Know:
ENTHUSIASM
BEGETS
ENTHUSIASM!
BZ: “I am a …
Dispenser of
Enthusiasm!”
“You can’t behave
in a calm, rational
manner. You’ve got
to be out there on
the lunatic fringe.”
— Jack Welch
34. Leaders Are …
in a Hurry
The Urgency
Factor: LEADERS
… have a distorted
sense of time. (E.g.:
Rummy thinks he asked months ago … it was
the day before yesterday.)
35. Leaders
Focus on the
SOFT STUFF!
“Soft” Is
“Hard”
- ISOE
Message: Leadership is
all about love! [Passion,
Enthusiasms, Appetite for Life,
Engagement, Commitment, Great
Causes & Determination to Make a
Damn Difference, Shared Adventures,
Bizarre Failures, Growth, Insatiable
Appetite for Change.] [Otherwise, why bother?
Just read Dilbert. TP’s final words: CYNICISM SUCKS.]
The “Job” of
Leading.
36.
Leaders Know It’s
ALL SALES ALL
THE TIME.
If you don’t LOVE
SALES … find
another life. (Don’t pretend
TP:
you’re a “leader.”) (See TP’s
The Project50.)
37. Leaders
LOVE
“POLITICS.”
If you don’t LOVE
POLITICS … find
another life. (Don’t pretend
TP:
you’re a “leader.”)
38.
But … Leaders Also
Break a Lot of
China
If you’re not
pissing people off,
you’re not making
a difference!
39. Leaders
Give …
RESPECT!
“It was much later that I realized Dad’s
secret. He gained respect by giving it. He
talked and listened to the fourth-grade kids
in Spring Valley who shined shoes the
same way he talked and listened to a
bishop or a college president. He
was
seriously interested in who you
were and what you had to say.”
Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Respect
“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
40. Leaders Say
“Thank
You.”
“The two most powerful things
a kind
word and a
thoughtful
gesture.”
in existence:
Ken Langone, CEO, Invemed Associates [from Ronna
Lichtenberg, It’s Not Business, It’s Personal]
“We look for ...
“... listening, caring,
smiling, saying ‘Thank
you,’ being warm.”
— Colleen Barrett, President, Southwest Airlines
41. Leaders
Are …
Curious.
The Three Most Important
Letters …
42. Leadership
Is a …
Performance.
“It is necessary for the
President to be the
No. 1
actor.”
nation’s
FDR
“You can’t lead a
cavalry charge if
you think you
look funny on a
horse.” —John Peers, President, Logical
Machine Corporation
43.
Leaders …
Are
The Brand
“You must be
the change you
wish to see in the
world.”
Gandhi
44. Leaders …
GREAT
STORY!
Have a
“A key – perhaps the key –
to leadership is
the effective
communication
of a story.”
Howard Gardner
Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership
Introspection.
45. Leaders …
Enjoy Leading.
“Warren, I know you
want to ‘be’
president. But do
you want to ‘do’
president?”
46. Leaders …
KNOW
THEMSELVES.
Individuals (would-be leaders)
cannot engage in a
liberating mutual discovery
process unless they are
comfortable with their
own skin. (“Leaders” who are not
comfortable with themselves become petty
control freaks.)
47. But … Leaders
have
MENTORS.
Upon
having the Leadership
Mantle placed upon thine
head, thou shalt never
hear the unvarnished
truth again!*
The Gospel According to TP:
(*Therefore, thy needs one faithful
compatriot to lay it on with no jelly.)
48. Leaders …
Take Breaks.
Zombie!
Zombie!
Zombie!
Zombie!
The End
Game.
49. Leaders
???:
“Leadership is the
PROCESS of
ENGAGING PEOPLE in
CREATING a LEGACY
of EXCELLENCE.”
“Hire smart – go
bonkers – have grace –
make mistakes – love
technology – start all
over again.”
“LEADERS NEED TO
BE THE ROCK OF
GIBRALTAR ON
ROLLER BLADES”
50. Leaders Know
WHEN TO
LEAVE!
T. J. Peters
1942 – 2--HE WOULDA DONE SOME
REALLY COOL STUFF
BUT …
HIS BOSS WOULDN’T
LET HIM!
T. J. Peters
1942 – 2---
HE WAS A PLAYER!
“If you ask me what I
have come to do in
this world, I who am
an artist, I will reply:
I am here to live my
life out loud.” — Émile Zola