Tom Peters’ Leadership2002

Leading in Totally Screwed-

Up TimesWashington Speakers

Bureau/05.14.2002

All Slides Available at …

tompeters.com

The Context.

“We are in a brawl with no rules.”—Paul Allaire

“There will be more

confusion in the business world in the next decade than in any decade in history. And the current pace of

change will only accelerate.”Steve Case

The

Leadership36(36 ideas in 35 minutes)

The Basic Premise.

1. Leadership Is a …

Mutual Discovery Process.

“I don’t know.”

2. Leaders Try … Not to Screw Things

Up

“Ninety percent of what we call ‘management’ consists of making it

difficult for people to get things done.” – P.D.

The Leadership

Types.

3. 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.

25/8/53*(*Damn it!)

Whoops: Jack didn’t have a vision!

4. 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)

5. Find the “Businesspeople”!

(Type III Leadership)

I.P.M. (Inspired Profit

Mechanic)

6. 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.

7. Leaders …

SHOW UP!

Rudy!

8. Leaders … LOVE the

MESS!

“I’m not comfortable unless I’m

uncomfortable.”—Jay Chiat

“If things seem under control, you’re just not

going fast enough.”

Mario Andretti

9. Leaders

DO!

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!)

10. BUT … Leaders

Know When to Wait.

Tex Schramm: The

“too hard” box!

11. Leaders

FOCUS!

“To Don’t ” List

Danger: S.I.O. (Strategic

Initiative Overload)

JackWorld/1@T: (1) Neutron 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!

If It Ain’t Broke … Break It.

12. 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

“Good management was the most powerful reason [leading firms] failed to

stay atop their industries. Precisely because these firms listened to their customers, invested aggressively in technologies that would

provide their customers more and better products of the sort they wanted, and because

they carefully studied market trends and systematically allocated investment capital to

innovations that promised the best returns, they lost their positions of leadership.”

Clayton Christensen, The Innovator’s Dilemma

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

13. Leaders …

HANG OUT WITH FREAKS!

Saviors-in-Waiting

Disgruntled CustomersUpstart CompetitorsRogue EmployeesFringe Suppliers

Wayne Burkan, Wide Angle Vision

CUSTOMERS: “Future-defining customers may

account for only 2% to 3% of your total, but they represent a crucial

window on the future.”Adrian Slywotzky, Mercer Consultants

Employees: “Are there enough weird

people in the lab these days?”

V. Chmn., pharmaceutical house, to a lab director (06.01)

14. Leaders Make [Lotsa] Mistakes

– and MAKE NO BONES ABOUT IT!

Sam’s

Secret #1!

15. Leaders Make …

BIG MISTAKES!

“Reward excellent

failures. Punish mediocre successes.”

Phil Daniels, Sydney exec (and, de facto, Jack)

Create.

16. 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

17. Leaders Pursue

DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE!

1st Law Mktg Physics: OVERT BENEFIT (Focus: 1 or 2 > 3 or 4/“One Great Thing.”

Source #1: Personal Passion)

2ND Law: REAL REASON TO BELIEVE (Stand & Deliver!)

3RD Law: DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE (Execs Don’t Get It: “intent to purchase” – 100%; “unique” – 0% to

5%)

Source: Jump Start Your Business Brain, Doug Hall

The greatest dangerfor most of us

is not that our aim istoo high

and we miss it,but that it is

too lowand we reach it.

Michelangelo

18. Leaders … Make Their Mark /

Leaders … Do Stuff That Matters

“I never, ever thought of myself

as a ‘businessman.’ I was simply interested in

creating things I would be proud of.” —Richard Branson

19. Leaders

LOVE the New Technology!

100 square feet

Talent.

20. When It Comes to

TALENT … Leaders Always Swing

for the Fences!

From “1, 2 or you’re out” [JW] to …

“Best Talent in each industry segment to build

best proprietary intangibles” [EM]

Source: Ed Michaels, War for Talent (05.17.00)

Message: Some people are better than other

people. Some people are a helluva lot better than other

people.

21. Leaders Don’t Create “Followers”:

THEY CREATE LEADERS!

Brand You, Big Time!

I AM AN ARMY OF

ONE

22. Leaders “Win Followers Over”

WHAT AN IDIOT: “Instead of employees being in the driver’s

seat, now we’re in the driver’s seat.”

PJ: “Coaching is winning

players over.”

23. Leaders LOVE RAINBOWS – for Pragmatic Reasons.

“Diversity defines the health and wealth of nations in a new century.

Mighty is the mongrel. … The hybrid is hip. The impure, the mélange, the adulterated, the

blemished, the rough, the black-and-blue, the mix-and-match – these people are inheriting

the earth. Mixing is the new norm. Mixing trumps isolation. It spawns creativity,

nourishes the human spirit, spurs economic growth

and empowers nations.”

G. Pascal Zachary, The Global Me: New Cosmopolitans and the Competitive Edge

Passion.

24. Leaders …

Out Their

PASSION!

G.H.: “Create a ‘cause,’ not a ‘business.’ ”

“They [leading consumer goods company] have acquired a bunch of products, which is what everyone is doing. But what’s the point, the

message, the story line, the Big Idea that makes ‘it’ all hang together?” —Exec,

major consumer goods company

25. Leaders Know: ENTHUSIASM

BEGETS ENTHUSIASM!

BZ: “I am a … Dispenser of Enthusiasm!”

The “Job” of Leading.

26. Leaders Know It’s

ALL SALES ALL THE TIME.

TP: If you don’t LOVE SALES … find

another life. (Don’t pretend

you’re a “leader.”) (See TP’s The Project50.)

27. Leaders

LOVE “POLITICS.”

TP: If you don’t LOVE POLITICS … find

another life. (Don’t pretend

you’re a “leader.”)

28. But … Leaders Also

Break a Lot of China

If you’re not pissing people off, you’re not making

a difference!

29. 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

30. Leaders Say

“Thank You.”

“The two most powerful things

in existence: a kind word and a thoughtful gesture.”

Ken Langone, CEO, Invemed Associates [from Ronna Lichtenberg, It’s Not Business, It’s Personal]

31. Leaders … Are The Brand

The BRAND lives (OR DIES) in the “minutiae” of the leader’s moment-

to-moment actions.

“You must be the change you

wish to see in the world.”

Gandhi

32. Leaders …

Have a GREAT STORY!

“A key – perhaps the key – to leadership is the effective

communication of a story.”

Howard Gardner Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership

Leaders don’t just make products and make decisions.

Leaders make meaning. – John Seeley Brown

Introspection.

33. Leaders …

Enjoy Leading.

“Warren, I know you want to ‘be’

president. But do you want to ‘do’

president?”

34. Leaders … Take Breaks.

Zombie!Zombie!Zombie!Zombie!

The End Game.

35. Leaders ???

:

“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”

36. Leaders Know

WHEN TO LEAVE!

Thank You!