Tom Peters’
Excellence.
Always.
Manchester/02 September 2009
To appreciate
this presentation [and ensure that
it is not a mess], you need
Microsoft fonts:
NOTE:
“Showcard Gothic,”
“Ravie,” “Chiller”
and “Verdana”
Slides
[incl. “LONG”]
at …
tompeters.com
“The doctor
interrupts
after …*
*Source: Jerome Groupman, How Doctors Think
Listen = “Profession” =
Study = practice =
evaluation =
Enterprise value
Listen = Profession = Study = practice = evaluation =
Enterprise value: "We
listen intently to and
fully engage all with
whom we work."
The four most important words in any organization
“What do
you think?”
are …
Source: courtesy Dave Wheeler, posted at tompeters.com
Tomorrow: How many
times will you “ask the
question”?
[Count!]
[Practice makes
better!] [This is a STRATEGIC skill!]
“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
He was seriously
interested in who you were and
what you had to say.”
president.
Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Respect
“The deepest human
need is the need to
be appreciated.”
—William James
Enterprise value:
Appreciation!
“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)
Conrad Hilton, at a gala
celebrating his career,
was asked, “What was the
most important lesson you’ve
learned in you long and
distinguished career?”
His immediate answer …
“remember
to tuck the
shower curtain
inside the
bathtub”
“Execution
is
strategy.”
—Fred Malek
“To me business isn’t about
wearing suits or pleasing
stockholders. It’s about being
true to yourself, your ideas and
focusing on the essentials.”
—Richard Branson
Listen!
Engage!
Respect!
APPRECIATE!
Inspire!
Sweat the details!
Execute!
Excellence!
Bonus:
New Delhi
“The ONE Question”: “In the last year [3 years, current job], name
the …
three people
… whose
growth you’ve most contributed to. Please explain where they were
at the beginning of the year, where they are today, and where they
are heading in the next 12 months. Please explain your development
strategy in each case. Please tell me your biggest development
disappointment—looking back, could you or would you have done
anything differently? Please tell me about your greatest
development triumph—and disaster—in the last ten years. What
are the ‘three big things’ you’ve learned about helping people
grow along the way.”
1977
Palo Alto
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”
“Breakthrough” 82*
People!
Customers!
Action!
Values!
*In Search of Excellence
Hard Is Soft
Soft Is Hard
Hard Is Soft (Plans, #s)
Soft Is Hard (people,
customers, values,
relationships))
2007
Siberia
Why in the
World did you
go to Siberia?
An emotional,
vital, innovative, joyful,
creative, entrepreneurial
endeavor that elicits maximum
Enterprise* ** (*at its best):
concerted human
potential in the
wholehearted service of
others.**
2007
Sydney
… no less than
Cathedrals in
which the full and awesome power
of the Imagination and Spirit and
native Entrepreneurial flair of
diverse individuals is unleashed in
passionate pursuit of … Excellence.
‘SERVE’
“Leaders
people.
Period.”
—inspired by Robert Greenleaf
“You have to treat
your employees like
customers.”
—Herb Kelleher, complete answer,
upon being asked his “secrets to success”
Source: Joe Nocera, NYT, “Parting Words of an Airline Pioneer,” on the occasion of Herb Kelleher’s
retirement after 37 years at Southwest Airlines (SWA’s pilots union took out a full-page ad in USA
Today thanking HK for all he had done; across the way in Dallas American Airlines’ pilots were
picketing the Annual Meeting)
The Customer
Comes Second
—Hal Rosenbluth and Diane McFerrin Peters* (*no relation)
“We are a ‘Life
Success’
Company.”
Dave Liniger, founder, RE/MAX
The Dream Manager
—Matthew Kelly
“An organization can only become the-best-version-of-itself to the extent that the
people who drive that organization are striving to become better-versions-ofthemselves.” “A company’s purpose is to become the-best-version-of-itself. The
What is an employee’s purpose? Most
would say, ‘to help the company achieve its
purpose’—but they would be wrong. That is
certainly part of the employee’s role, but an
employee’s primary purpose is to become
the-best-version-of-himself or –herself. …
question is:
When a company forgets that it exists to serve customers, it quickly goes out of
Our employees are our first customers,
and our most important customers.”
business.
“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 role of the Director is to create a space
where the actors and actresses can
become more than they’ve
ever been before, more
than they’ve dreamed of
being.”
—Robert Altman, Oscar acceptance speech
“Business has to give people enriching,
or it's
simply not
worth doing.”
rewarding lives …
—Richard Branson
“How to flush
$500,000 down the toilet
in one easy lesson!!”
TP:
The “15% Drill”:
< CAPEX
> People!
Source: Container Store/increase average sale per shopper
Yes They Can:
#1/Wegmans
Brand =
Talent.
Our Mission
To develop and manage talent;
to apply that talent,
throughout the world,
for the benefit of clients;
to do so in partnership;
to do so with profit.
WPP
#1.
Strategic.
Priority.
Period.
the most
important aspect of
business and yet remains
“In short, hiring is
woefully misunderstood.”
Source: Wall Street Journal, 10.29.08,
review of Who: The A Method for Hiring,
Geoff Smart and Randy Street
“Development can help great people be
but if I had a
dollar to spend, I’d spend
70 cents getting the
right person in the
door.” —
even better—
Paul Russell, Director, Leadership &
Development, Google
#1 cause of
Dis-satisfaction?
Employee retention & satisfaction:
Overwhelmingly,
based on the first-line
manager!
Source: Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman, First, Break All the Rules:
What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
2/year =
legacy.
Little =
Don’t like it?
Don’t pay.
Source: Granite Rock Co.
Big carts =
Source: Wal*Mart
Socks =
10,000
90K in U.S.A. ICUs on any given day;
178 steps/day in ICU.
50%
stays result in
“serious complication”
Source: Atul Gawande, “The Checklist” (New Yorker, 1210.07)
**Peter Pronovost, Johns Hopkins
**Checklist, line infections
**Nurses/permission to stop procedure
if doc, other not following checklist
**In 1 year, 10-day line-infection rate:
11% to …
Source: Atul Gawande, “The Checklist” (New Yorker, 1210.07)
6.5 feet Away =
-63% “Seconds”
Little =
(1) Amenable to rapid experimentation/
failure “free” (PR, $$)
(2) Quick to implement/Quick to Roll out
(3) Inexpensive to implement/Roll out
(4) Huge multiplier
(5) An “Attitude”
(6) Don’t need to be a “Big Boss”
139,380 former
patients from 225 hospitals:
Press Ganey Assoc:
none
of THE top 15 factors determining
Patient Satisfaction referred to patient’s
health outcome
P.S.
Staff Interaction
P.P.S. directly correlated with Employee Satisfaction
directly related to
Source: Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
“There is a misconception that supportive interactions require more staff or
more time and are therefore more costly. Although labor costs are a
substantial part of any hospital budget, the interactions themselves add
nothing to the budget.
free.
Kindness is
Listening to patients or answering their questions
costs nothing. It can be argued that negative interactions—alienating
patients, being non-responsive to their needs or limiting their sense of
control—can be very costly. … Angry, frustrated or frightened patients may
be combative, withdrawn and less cooperative—requiring far more time
than it would have taken to interact with them initially in a positive way.” —
Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
“We are
thoughtful in
all we do.”
Core Value:
Thoughtfulness is key to customer retention.
Thoughtfulness is key to employee recruitment
and satisfaction.
Thoughtfulness is key to brand perception.
Thoughtfulness is key to your ability to look in the mirror —
and tell your kids about your job.
“Thoughtfulness is free.”
Thoughtfulness is key to speeding things up—
it reduces friction.
Thoughtfulness is key to transparency and even
cost containment—it abets rather than stifles
truth-telling.
“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
<TGW
and …
[Things Gone WRONG-Things Gone RIGHT]
2-cent
candy
-15/+15/
2,000,000
Comeback
[big, quick response]
>>
Perfection
Acquire vs maintain*:
*Recession goal: Higher “market share” current customers
“Forget China, India
and the Internet:
Economic Growth Is
Driven by
Women.”
Source: Headline, Economist
“Women are
the majority
market”
—Fara Warner/The Power of the Purse
The Perfect Answer
Jill and Jack buy slacks
in black…
“Goldman Sachs in Tokyo has
developed an index of 115 companies
poised to benefit from women’s
increased purchasing power; over
the past decade the value of shares
in Goldman’s basket has risen by 96%,
against the Tokyo stockmarket’s
rise of 13%.” —Economist
“AS LEADERS,
WOMEN RULE:
New
Studies find that female managers outshine their male
counterparts in almost every measure”
TITLE/ Special Report/ BusinessWeek
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“People turning 50 today
have
more than
half
of their adult life
ahead of them.”
50+: Igniting a
—Bill Novelli,
Revolution to Reinvent America
We are the Aussies & Kiwis & Americans & Canadians. We are the
Western Europeans
& Japanese. We are the
fastest growing,
the biggest, the
wealthiest, the
boldest,
the most (yes)
ambitious,
the most experimenta
& exploratory, the
most different, the most indulgent, the most difficult &
demanding, the most service & experience obsessed, the most
vigorous, (the least vigorous,) the most health conscious, the
most female, the most profoundly important commercial market in
we will be the
Center of your universe for the
next twenty-five years. We have
the history of the world—and
Forty-four “Secrets” and
“clever Strategies” For
dealing with the Recession
of 2008-XXXX
I am constantly asked for
'secrets'
“strategies/
for
surviving the recession.” I try
to appear wise and informed
—and parade original,
sophisticated thoughts. But if
you want to know what’s really
going through my head, see the
list that follows.
44 “Secrets” and “Clever Strategies” For
Dealing with the Recession of 2008-XXXX
You come earlier.
You leave later.
You work harder.
You may well work for less; and, if so, you
adapt to the untoward circumstances with a
smile—even if it kills you inside.
You volunteer to do more.
You dig deep and always bring a good attitude to work.
You fake it if your good attitude flags.
You literally practice your "game face" in the
mirror in the morning, and in the loo mid-morning.
You give new meaning to the idea and intensive
practice of “visible management.”
44 “Secrets” and “Clever Strategies” For
Dealing with the Recession of 2008-XXXX
You take better than usual care of yourself and
encourage others to do the same—physical well-being
determines mental well-being and response to stress.
You shrug off shit that flows downhill in your
direction—buy a shovel or a “pre-worn”
raincoat on eBay.
You try to forget about “the good old days”—
nostalgia is self-destructive.
You buck yourself up with the thought that
“this too shall pass”—but then remind yourself
that it might not pass any time soon, and so
you re-dedicate yourself to making the
absolute best of what you have now.
44 “Secrets” and “Clever Strategies” For
Dealing with the Recession of 2008-XXXX
You work the phones and then work the phones some
more—and stay in touch with positively everyone.
You invent breaks from routine, including “weird” ones—
“changeups” prevent wallowing/bring a fresh perspective.
You eschew all forms of personal excess.
You simplify.
You sweat the details as never before.
You sweat the details as never before.
You sweat the details as never before.
You raise to the sky and maintain at all
costs the Standards of Excellence by which
you unfailingly evaluate your own performance.
You are maniacal when it comes to responding
to even the slightest screwup.
44 “Secrets” and “Clever Strategies” For
Dealing with the Recession of 2008-XXXX
You find ways to be around young people and
to keep young people around—they are less
likely to be members of the “sky is falling” school.
You learn new tricks of your trade.
You remind yourself that this is not just
something to be “gotten through”—it is the
Final Exam of character.
You network like a demon.
You network inside the company—get to know
more of the folks who “do the real work.”
You network outside the company—get to know more of the
folks who “do the real work” in vendor-customer outfits.
44 “Secrets” and “Clever Strategies” For
Dealing with the Recession of 2008-XXXX
You thank others by the truckload if good things happen—
and take the heat yourself if bad things happen.
You behave kindly, but you don't sugarcoat or hide the
truth--humans are startlingly resilient and rumors are
the real killers.
You treat small successes as if they were World Cup
victories—and celebrate and commend accordingly.
You shrug off the losses (ignoring what's going
on in your tummy), and get back on the
horse and immediately try again.
You avoid negative people to the extent you
can—pollution kills.
You eventually read the gloom-sprayers the riot act.
44 “Secrets” and “Clever Strategies” For
Dealing with the Recession of 2008-XXXX
You give new meaning to the word "thoughtful.“
You don’t put limits on the flowers budget—
“bright and colorful” works marvels.
You redouble, re-triple your efforts to "walk in your
customer's shoes." (Especially if the shoes smell.)
You mind your manners—and accept others’
lack of manners in the face of their strains.
You are kind to all mankind.
You keep your shoes shined.
You leave the blame game at the office door.
You quash congenital politicians—none too gently.
You become a paragon of personal accountability.
And then you pray.
Innovation:
Base Case
“I am often asked by would-be entrepreneurs seeking
escape from life within huge corporate structures, ‘How do
I build a small firm for myself?’ The answer seems obvious :
Buy a very large one
and just wait.”
—Paul Ormerod, Why Most Things Fail:
Evolution, Extinction and Economics
“Mr. Foster and his McKinsey colleagues collected detailed
performance data stretching back
companies.
40 years for 1,000 U.S.
They found that
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
“Data drawn from the real world attest
to a fact that is beyond our control:
Everything in existence
tends to deteriorate.”
—Norberto Odebrecht, Education Through Work
#4 Japan
#3 USA
#2 China
#1 Germany
Reason!!!
Mittelstand
Jim Penman/
Jim’s Group
Jim’s Mowing Canada
Jim’s Mowing UK
Jim’s Antennas
Jim’s Bookkeeping
Jim’s Building Maintenance
Jim’s Carpet Cleaning
Jim’s Car Cleaning
Jim’s Computer Services
Jim’s Dog Wash
Jim’s Driving School
Jim’s Fencing
Jim’s Floors
Jim’s Painting
Jim’s Paving
Jim’s Pergolas [gazebos]
Jim’s Pool Care
Jim’s Pressure Cleaning
Jim’s Roofing
Jim’s Security Doors
Jim’s Trees
Jim’s Window Cleaning
Jim’s Windscreens
Note: Download, free, Jim Penman’s book:
What Will They Franchise Next? The Story of Jim’s Group
*Lived in same town all adult life
*First generation that’s wealthy/no parental support
*“Don’t look like millionaires, don’t dress
like millionaires, don’t eat like millionaires, don’t act
like millionaires”
*“Many of the types of businesses [they]
are in could be classified as ‘dull- normal.’ [They] are
welding contractors, auctioneers, scrap-metal dealers,
lessons of portable toilets, dry cleaners, re-builders of
diesel engines, paving contractors …”
Source: The Millionaire Next Door, Thomas Stanley & William Danko
ry it. Try it. Try it. Try
crew it up. Try it. Try i
ry it. Try it. Try it. Try
ry it. Screw it up. it. Tr
it. Try it. try it. Try it.
crew it up. Try it. Try i
“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
“Fail .
Forward.
Fast.”
High Tech CEO, Pennsylvania
“It is not enough to
‘tolerate’ failure—
you must ‘celebrate’
failure.”
—Richard Farson (Whoever Makes
the Most Mistakes Wins)
We are the
company
we keep
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
The “We are what we eat”
axiom: At its core, every (!!!)
relationship-partnership decision
(employee, vendor, customer, etc) is a
strategic decision about:
“Innovate,
‘Yes’ or ‘No’ ”
“[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
Rob McEwen/CEO/
Goldcorp Inc./
Red Lake
gold
Wikinomics: How Mass
Collaboration Changes Everything,
Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams
Source:
“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
Diversity
trumped ability.”
did better. …
—Scott Page, The
Difference: How
the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups,
Firms, Schools, and Societies Diversity
“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
“You will become like
the five people you
associate with the
most—this can be either
a blessing or a curse.”
—Billy Cox
X =XFX*
*Excellence = Cross-functional Excellence
Never
waste a
lunch!
????
% XF
lunches*
*Measure!
Geologists +
Geophysicists +
A little bit of love =
>100 feet =
100 miles
Lunch +
Proximity
> SAP/Oracle
The “XF-50”: 50 Ways to Enhance
Cross-Functional Effectiveness
and Deliver Speed, “Service
Excellence” and “Value-added
Customer ‘Solutions’”*
*Entire “XF-50” List is at Appendix ONE
CGRO*
*CGRO/Chief Grunge Removal Officer
(CDC/Chief of De-complexification)
(CAO/Chief Anti-systems Officer)
(CBSD/Chief BS Destruction Officer)
The Commerce Bank Model
“every computer at commerce bank has a …
special red key
… on it that
says, ‘found something stupid that we are doing that
interferes with our ability to service the customer? Tell
us about it, and if we agree, we will give you $50.’”
Source: Fans! Not customers. How Commerce Bank Created a
Super-growth Business in a No-growth Industry,
Vernon Hill & Bob Andelman
Up,
Up,
Up,
the Value-added Ladder.
IB : $55B*
M
*Also HP-EDS
“THE GIANT STALKING BIG OIL: How
Schlumberger 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
(1) LAN Installation Co. (3%)
“Geek Squad” (30%)
(2)
(3) Best Buy contracts
(4) Best Buy purchases
(5) Best Buy’s
“brand promise”
Source: Best Buy (Circuit City: fire senior, hire junior)
Huge: Customer
Satisfaction
versus …
Customer
Success
The Value-added Ladder/TRANSFORMATION
Customer Success/
Gamechanging
Solutions
Services
Goods
Raw Materials
Up,
Up,
Up,
the Value-added Ladder.
“Design is
treated like a
religion at
BMW.”
—Fortune
All Equal Except …
“At Sony we assume that all products of our
competitors have basically the same
technology, price, performance and features.
Design is the only thing
that differentiates one product from another
in the marketplace.”
—Norio Ohga
“We don’t have a good language to talk about this
kind of thing. In most people’s vocabularies,
design means veneer. … But to me, nothing could
be further from the meaning of design.
Design
fundamental
soul of a man-made
is the
creation.”
—Steve Jobs
DESIGN is the
PRINCIPAL
DIFFERENTIATOR
Axiom:
“LOVE”
“HATE”!
between
and
cannot
Message: Men
design for women’s needs.
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?
The
quality and quantity and
imaginativeness of
innovation shall be the
same in all functions —e.g.,
Iron Innovation Equality Law:
in HR and purchasing as much as in marketing or
product development.
L(+21) = L(-21)
Leadership(21A.D.) =
Leadership(21B.C.)
Delaware Rules:
“eighty
percent of
success is
showing up.”
—Woody Allen
Give
good
tea!
“Allied commands depend on
mutual confidence [and this
confidence] is gained, above all
through the development of
friendships.” —General D.D. Eisenhower,
Armchair General* (05.08)
*“Perhaps his most outstanding ability [at West Point]
was the ease with which he made friends and earned the trust of fellow
cadets who came from widely varied backgrounds; it was a quality that
would pay great dividends during his future coalition command
The Real World’s “Little” Rule Book
Ben/tea
Norm/tea
DDE/make friends
WFBuckley/make friends-help friends
Gust/Suck down
Charlie/poker pal-BOF
EVII/dance-flatter-mingle-learn the language
Vlad/birthday party of outgroup guy’s wife
CIO/finance network
ERP installer/consult-“one line of code”
GE Energy/make friends risk assessment
GWB/check the invitation list
GHWB/T-notes
Hank/60 calls
MarkM/5K-5M
Delaware/show up
Oppy/snub Lewis Strauss
NM/smile
-$4.3T/tin ear
tp.com/Big 4-What do you think?
Women/genes
Banker/after church
Total Bloody Mess/Can they pay back the loan?
“I regard … apologizing …
as the most magical, healing,
restorative gesture human beings
can make. It is the centerpiece of
my work with executives who
want to get better.” —Marshall Goldsmith, What
Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become
Even More Successful
THE PROBLEM IS
RARELY/NEVER THE
PROBLEM. THE RESPONSE TO
THE PROBLEM INVARIABLY
ENDS UP BEING THE REAL
PROBLEM.*
*PERCEPTION IS ALL THERE IS!
Relationships
(of all varieties):
THERE ONCE WAS
THREEMINUTE PHONE CALL
A TIME WHEN A
WOULD HAVE AVOIDED SETTING OFF THE
DOWNWARD SPIRAL THAT RESULTED IN A
COMPLETE RUPTURE.
“Courtesies of a small and
trivial character are the
ones which strike deepest
in the grateful and
appreciating heart.”
—Henry Clay
#1 Trait …
“Nothing is so
contagious as
enthusiasm.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“I am a
dispenser of
enthusiasm.”
—Ben Zander
“A leader is
a dealer in
hope.”
—Napoleon
#1 Truthteller …
You = Your
calendar*
*Calendars
never
lie
“I used to have a rule for myself that at any point in time I
wanted to have in mind — as it so happens, also in writing, on
a little card I carried around with me — the three big things I
was trying to get done.
Three.
Not two.
Not four.
Not five.
Not ten.
Three.”
— Richard Haass, The Power to Persuade
“Dennis, you need a …
‘To-don’t ’
List !”
How long
to achieve
excellence?
Excellence. Always.
If not excellence …
What?
If not excellence now …
when?