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>25
“Forget China, India and the
Internet: Economic Growth Is Driven
by Women.” —Headline, Economist,
April 15, Leader, page 14
“Forget China, India and the Internet: Economic Growth Is Driven
by Women.” [Headline.] “Even today in the modern, developed world, surveys show that parents still prefer to have
a boy rather than a girl. One longstanding reason boys have been seen as a greater blessing has been that they are expected to become better economic providers for their
parents’ old age. Yet it is time for parents to think again. Girls may now be a better investment.” “Girls get better grades in
school than boys, and in most developed countries more women than men go to university. Women will thus be better
equipped for the new jobs of the 21st century, in which brains count a lot more than brawn. … And women are more likely to provide sound advice on investing their parents’ nest—
eg: surveys show that women consistently achieve higher financial returns than men do. Furthermore, the increase in
female employment in the rich world has been the main driving force of growth in the last couple of decades. Those women have contributed more to global GDP growth than have
either new technology or the new giants, India and China.” —Economist, April 15
Continuing on page 73: “A Guide to Womenomics: The Future of the World Economy Lies
Increasingly in Female Hands.” (Headline.) More stats: Around the globe since 1980, women have filled “two
new jobs for everyone taken by a man.” “Women are becoming more important in the global marketplace not just as workers, but also as consumers, entrepreneurs, managers and investors.” Re consumption, 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%.” A couple of final assertions: (1) It is now agreed that “the single best investment that can be made in the developing world” is educating girls. (2) Also,
surprisingly, nations with the highest female laborforce participation rates, such as Sweden and the U.S., have the
highest fertility rates; and those with the lowest participation rates, such as Italy and Germany, have the lowest fertility
rates.
Source: Economist, April 15, page 73
“The Importance of Sex: Forget China, India, and the Internet—Economic Growth Is Driven By Women”
*Better grades*More go to university (“21st century, brains count”)
*“Far more” training to be docs (UK)
*Better investment decisions (greatest wealth transfer ever)
*Growing female employment rate #1 driver of growth (women>high tech, China, India)
*More women in gov’t increase econ growth emphasis (Invest health, ed, infrastructure, poverty)
Source: Economist/0415
Goodnight and Good
Luck.
“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
Unparalled in “Our” Professional Lifetime*
TerrorismMiddle East instability
H5N1China screwups
Globalization backlashEnergy dependence
Environmental threatsLife sciences
“Cold War” with ChinaFraying American fabric
U.S. impotence in the face of Asia’s rise
*Current leaders were not Cold War leaders
“Not a single item in our trillion-dollar arsenal can compare with the genius of the suicide bomber—the breakthrough
weapon of our time. Our intelligence systems cannot locate him, our arsenal cannot deter him, and, all too often, our soldiers cannot stop him
before it’s too late. A man of invincible conviction—call it delusion, if you will—armed
with explosives stolen or purchased for a handful of soiled bills can have a strategic
impact that staggers governments. Abetted by the global media, the suicide bomber is the
wonder weapon of the age.” —The Weekly Standard, 0206.06
“Deutsche Bank Moves Half of Its Back-office Jobs to India”/
headline/FT/0327; 500 of 900 Research;
JPMorgan Chase—30% back-office by 12.31.07
Wal*Mart + Home Depot + Walt Disney +
Intel + Microsoft + Pfizer = Flat
Source: “Blue Chip Blues,” Cover, BW, 04.17.06
“Google, Craigslist
Tackle Real Estate,” —Headline, WSJ, 04.06.06
eBay/0306
$50B
1 new car/second
700K make living from eBay
Source: FT/03.25.06
Health:Century21.Job # 1
(HC21.J1)
Tom Peters/04.28.2006
Quality!Prevention!Wellness!
Chronic care!Childhood obesity!
H5N1!
Quality!Prevention!Wellness!
Chronic care!Childhood obesity!
H5N1!
22mm3838ss
Welcome to the Homer Simpson Hospital
a/k/a
The Killing Fields
“When I climb Mount Rainier I face less
risk of death than I’ll face on the
operating table.” —Don Berwick, “Six Keys to Safer Hospitals: A Set of Simple Precautions Could Prevent 100,000 Needless Deaths Every Year,” Newsweek (1212.2005)
Quality!Prevention!Wellness!
Chronic care!
Childhood obesity!H5N1!
Childhood Obesity > Terrorism
Quality!
Prevention!Wellness!
Chronic care!Childhood obesity!
H5N1!
The Ultimate “Culture Change”
“Healthcare” vs.
“Health”
Re-imagine Healthcare: Reportcard2006
Evidence-based/Outcomes-based ……………….………...... DPay-for-performance ………………………………………….… DIS/IT (general) ………………………………..………………..…. C-Use of information (for decisionmaking-measurement) .… C-EMR (Electronic Medical Records) ……………………..….... C-/DCPOE (Computerized Physician Order Entry) ……….……. C-/DQuality/100K+ unnecessary deaths …………..……… D-(kind)Acute care to chronic care-home care shift ………….….... D/D-Acute-care to Prevention/Wellness Obsession…..… D/D-Patient-centric/Client-centric………………………………….. DDocs’ acceptance of “evidence-based” …………............… D/D-“Revolutionary”-intensity Incentives re evidence …..……. D-Childhood obesity epidemic …………………………….. D-H5N1 preparedness ………………………………….…….. D
Corporate focus on Prevention/Wellness…………..…..…..... C-/DIndividual focus on Prevention/Wellness…………………..… DIndividuals’ health education/self-management …….…...…. C-
Workforce acceptance of self-responsibility ….…….…...….. C-Workforce transition to “Brand You” attitude……..……..….. C-/D
3 March 2006/Tom Peters
“If God spoke to me by saying, ‘Mark, you’re down to your last three words: What would you want to say to
your fellow humans that would make the most positive impact?’ It would be a close call between Love Thy
Neighbor and Wash Your Hands . A close third would be Move,
Move, Move.” —Mark Pettus, M.D., The Savvy Patient
“The most important thing you can do to keep
from getting sick is to wash your hands. ” —CDC/National Center for Infectious Diseases
Tommy Thompson: take your meds; chronic illness 75% to 80%; “curative healthcare
system” to “prevention system”
Source: Advertising Age, 05.08.06
First-level Scientific Success:
Beyond Brains
Tom Peters/14April2006
First-level Scientific Success
The smartest guy in the room wins”
Or …
First-level Scientific Success
FanaticismPersistence-Dogged Tenacity
Patience (long haul/decades)-Impatience (in a hurry/”do it yesterday”)
PassionEnergy
Relentlessness (Grant-ian)
EnthusiasmDriven (nuts!)
(Brutal?) CompetitivenessEntrepreneurialPragmatic (R.F!A.)
Scrounge (“gets” the logistics-infrastructure bit)
Master of Politics (internal-external)Tactical Genius
Pursuit of (Oceanic) Excellence!High EQ/Skillful in Attracting + Keeping Talent/Magnetic
Prolific (“ground up more pig brains”)
Egocentric
Sense of History-DestinyFuturistic-In the Moment
Mono-dimensional (“Work-life balance”? Ha!)
Exceptionally IntelligentExceptionally Clever (methodological shortcuts/methodological genius)
Luck
Scientific Success (Nobel-level) = Genius +
Execution + Master of Soft Skills + Enthusiasm + Magnetism + Destiny
(sense of) + Energy
Happy 50!
26April2006
Malcom McLean
Containerization
Lessons
Need-drivenA thousand “parents”
MessyEvolutionary
“Trivial”Experimentation
trial & ERRORLoooong time for systemic adaptation/s
(many innovations) (bill of lading, standard time)
Not …
“Plan-driven”The product of “Strategic Thinking/Planning”
The product of “focus groups”
Innovation’s “Secrets”
Revealed: Get mad. Do
something about it. Now.
The Work Matters: On Self-reliance,
Becoming a “Change Insurgent” and the
Power of Peculiarities
“Self-reliance never comes ‘naturally’ to adults because
they have been so conditioned to think non-authentically that
it feels wrenching to do otherwise. … Self Reliance is a last resort to which a person is
driven in desperation only when he or she realizes ‘that imitation is suicide, that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion.’ ” —
Lawrence Buell, Emerson
“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
The Work Matters!
“What we do matters to us. Work may not be the most
important thing in our lives or the only thing. We may work because we must, but we still want to love, to feel pride in, to respect ourselves for what
we do and to make a difference.” —Sara Ann Friedman, Work Matters:
Women Talk About Their Jobs and Their Lives
“The key question isn’t ‘What fosters creativity?’ But it is why
in God’s name isn’t everyone creative? Where was the human
potential lost? How was it crippled? I think therefore a good
question might be not why do people create? But why
do people not create or innovate? We have got to abandon that
sense of amazement in the face of creativity,
as if it were a miracle if anybody created anything.” —Abe Maslow
“When was the last time you
asked, ‘What do I want to
be?’ ” —Sara Ann Friedman, Work Matters
“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
“How Would You Play Today If You Knew You Could
Not Play Tomorrow”
Source: Slogan for Loyola’s lacrosse season, from coach Diane Geppi-Aikens (Lucky Every Day: The Wisdom of Diane Geppi-Aikens, by Chip Silverman)
“She made us close our eyes and hear the singers she was passionate about: Roberta Flack and Aretha Franklin. ‘Listen to the joy
in their voices,’ urged Diane. ‘It’s not the words or the music.
They sing with such great passion, such heart and
soul. You can feel how the singers love what they’re doing. It’s not just a job to
them. If you want to excel at anything, you must be passionate. Otherwise, why waste
your time?’ ”
Source: Lucky Every Day: The Wisdom of Diane Geppi-Aikens, by Chip Silverman
“It’s no longer enough to be a ‘change agent.’
You must be a change insurgent
—provoking, prodding, warning everyone in
sight that complacency is death.”
—Bob Reich
“Nobody gives you power.
You just take it.” —Roseanne
Characteristics of the “Also rans”*
“Minimize risk”“Respect the chain of
command”“Support the boss”
“Make budget”*Fortune, on “Most Admired Global Corporations”
“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—Source: Orson Welles, as Harry Lime, in The Third Man
—the cuckoo clock.”
“To Hell With Well Behaved … Recently a
young mother asked for advice. What, she wanted to know, was she
to do with a 7-year-old who was obstreperous,
outspoken, and inconveniently willful? ‘Keep her,’ I replied. … The suffragettes refused to be polite in
demanding what they wanted or grateful for getting what they
deserved. Works for me.” —Anna Quindlen/Newsweek
Back to the Future: The “PSF”/ “Brand You” Idea Circa 1900*
William James (“What Makes a Life
Significant”/1899): “men with no trade” “must sell to the
highest bidder their mere muscular strength for so many hours per
day”
* “Brand You”/2005 = “Tradesman”/1899
“Well-behaved women
rarely make history.”
—Anita Borg, Institute for Women and Technology
M/3 of 10 (“I’m ready & rarin’ to go!”)
F/8 of 10 (“I’ve still got a ways to go.”)
ADDENDUM: Women Rock … as Salespersons (From Item #98.)
And the answers are?
“TAKE THIS QUICK QUIZ: Who manages more things at once? Who puts more effort into their appearance? Who usually takes care of the details? Who finds it easier to meet new people? Who asks more questions in a conversation? Who is a better listener? Who has more interest in communication skills? Who is more inclined to get involved? Who encourages harmony and agreement? Who has better intuition? Who works with a longer ‘to do’ list? Who enjoys a recap to the day’s events? Who is better at keeping in touch with others?”
Source: Selling Is a Woman’s Game: 15 Powerful Reasons Why Women Can Outsell Men, Nicki Joy & Susan Kane-Benson
A Few Lessons from the Arts
Each hired and developed and evaluated in unique ways (23 contributors; 23 unique contributions; 23 pathways; 23 personalities; 23 sets of
motivators)
Attitude/Enthusiasm/Energy paramountRe-lent-less!
“Practice is cool” (G Leonard/Mastery)
Team and individual Aspire to EXCELLENCE = Obvious
Ex-e-cu-tionTalent = Brand = Duh“The Project” rulesEmotional language
Bit players. No.B.I.W. (everything)
Delta events = Delta rosters (incl leader/s)
“I’m looking for insane
commitment.”
—Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit
“The role of the Director is to create a
space where the actor or actress can become more than they’ve ever been before, more than
they’ve dreamed of being.” —Robert Altman, Oscar
acceptance
“My only goal is to have no goals. The goal, every time, is that film, that very moment.” —Bernardo Bertolucci
“Life is not a journey to the grave with the
intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body—but
rather a skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and
loudly proclaiming, ‘Wow, what
a ride!’ ” —anon.
HTSH: Engage!*
Commit! Engage! Try! Fail! Get up! Try again! Fail again! Try again! But never,
ever stop moving on! Progress for humanity is engendered by those who join and savor the fray by giving one
hundred percent of themselves to their dreams! Not by those timid souls who
remain glued to the sidelines, stifled by tradition, and fearful of losing face or
giving offense to the reigning authorities.
Key words: Commit! Engage! Try! Fail! Persist!
*HTST/Hands That Shape Humanity, Tom Peters’ contribution to a Bishop Tutu exhibit
Only connect
!
—E.M. Forster, Howards End
Only connect! That was the whole of her
sermon. Only connect the prose and
the passion, and both will be exalted,
And human love will be seen at its height.
Live in fragments no longer. Only connect ...
—E.M. Forster, Howards End
Radically Thrilling Language!
“Radically Thrilling.”
—BMW Z4 (ad)
Exercise: Take a complex financial analysis you are presenting—and convert it into a
number-less story.**Shell’s (et al.) “scenario planning”
“One bank is currently claiming to ‘leverage its
global footprint to provide effective
financial solutions for its customers by providing a
gateway to diverse markets.’
—Charles Handy
“I assume that it is just saying that it is there to
‘help its customers wherever they are’.”
—Charles Handy
This is not about …
“customer centrism”“integrated marketing”
etcetcetc
It is about …
… sellin’ a whole lotta stuff and having customers go bananas
with love to the point that they tell every damn friend they have and then start buttonholing strangers on trains and planes
and busses.
Sales.Emotion.
Experience.Revenue.
(Execution.)(Excellence.)
M.I.A.*: Talk. (Present.) Listen. (Interview.)
Sell. (Life = Sales.) Do. (Execution-
Implementation.) Talent. (Recruit-Develop-Retain.) Project Management. (Create. Solicit support.
Execution. Adoption-Client “Culture Change.”) Product. (“It.”) Innovation. (Design. Creativity. “Buzz-building.”
Politics.) Leadership. (USMA, etc.) E.Q. (Connect.)
“Culture” Change. (Lasting impact.) Diversity. (Cross-cultural Effectiveness.) Career Creation. (Brand
You life-lifestyle.) Wellness. (Life.)
*B.Schools (“M.I.A.” or at most “B.I.A.”—barely in action)
Noble Bill
“This is not to denigrate emphasis on
leadership, entrepreneurship, management and
global business” —WFS
Source: “Brave New World, Bold New B-School”/Tim Westerbeck/BizEd/08.04
“Analysts … preferred cost cutting, as long as they could see two or three years of EPS growth. I
preached revenue and the analysts’ eyes would glaze over. Now revenue is ‘in’ because so many got caught, and
earnings went to hell. They said, ‘Oh my gosh, you need revenues to
grow earnings over time.’
Well, Duh!” —Dick Kovacevich, Wells
Fargo
CRO*
*Chief Revenue Officer
“I don’t believe in
economies of scale. You don’t get better by being bigger. You get worse.” —
Dick Kovacevich/Wells Fargo/Forbes/08.04 (ROA: Wells, 1.7%; Citi, 1.5%; BofA, 1.3%;
J.P. Morgan Chase, 0.9%)
Scale?
“Microsoft’s Struggle With
Scale” —Headline, FT, 09.2005
“Troubling Exits at Microsoft” —Cover Story, BW, 09.2005
“Too Big to Move Fast?” —Headline, BW, 09.2005
More than $$$$
#1 R&D spending,
last 25 years?
GM
“While many people big oil finds with big companies, over the years
about 80 percent of the oil found in the United States has been
brought in by wildcatters such as Mr Findley, says Larry Nation,
spokesman for the American Association of Petroleum
Geologists.” —WSJ, “Wildcat Producer Sparks Oil
Boom in Montana,” 04.05.2006
Line Extensions:
86 percent of new
products. 62 percent of revenues.
39 percent of profit.
Source: Blue Ocean Strategy, Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
Market Share, Anyone?
— 240 industries: Market- share leader is ROA leader 29% of the time
— Profit /ROA leaders: “aggressively weed out customers who generate low returns”
Source: Donald V. Potter, Wall Street Journal
Bacteria. (“Left tail” limits.)
Productivity of small.Failure rate of Big Mergers.
Failure rate of Big Companies.Terrorists.
Galbraith vs Hayek.
“American political life [has
been] overwhelmed by marketing professionals, consultants and pollsters
who, with the flaccid acquiescence of the
politicians, have robbed public life of much of its
romance and vigor.” —Joe Klein, Politics Lost
“Consultants have drained a good deal of
the life from our democracy. Specialists in caution,
they fear anything they haven’t tested.” —Joe
Klein, Politics Lost
Did one of ’em ever turn to the other and say: “Wow,
I wonder what unimaginable new
tools, otherwise not possible, will be
brought forth for my daughter Alice, age
17, because of this deal?”
Did one of ’em ever turn to the other and say: “Wow I
wonder what unimaginable new
tools, otherwise not possible, will be
quickly brought forth for our customers
because of this deal?”
Read.
This.
Book.
Damn it.
“Women are the
majority market”
—Fara Warner/The Power of the Purse
USA/F.Stats: Short ’n (Very) Sweet
>50% of stock ownership, $13T total wealth (2X in 15 years)
>$7T consumer & biz spending (>50% GDP; > Japan GDP); >80% consumer spdg (Consumer = 70% all spdg)
57% BA degrees (2002); = ed & social strata, no wage gap
60% Internet users; >50% primary users of electronic equipment
>50% biz trips
WimBiz: Employees > F500; 10M+: 33% all US Biz
Pay from 62% in 1980 to 80% today; equal if education, social status, etc are equal
60% work; 46M (divorced, widowed, never married)
Source: Fara Warner, The Power of the Purse
“The left hand rocks the cradle, The right hand rules the world.” —DeBeers*
(*created new $4B segment in 5 years)
“In those two simple sentences I saw a view of women I had not seen before in advertising. Here
was a company that had the guts to talk openly about what women were still struggling to understand and embrace.” —Fara
Warner, The Power of the Purse
Cases!McDonald’s (“mom-centered” to “majority consumer”;
not via kids)
Home Depot (“Do it [everything!] Herself”)
P&G (more than “house cleaner”)
DeBeers (“right-hand rings”/$4B)
AXA FinancialKodak (women = “emotional centers of the household”)
Nike (> jock endorsements; new def sports; majority consumer)
AvonBratz (young girls want “friends,” not a blond stereotype)
Source: Fara Warner/The Power of the Purse
“To help revive the company’s sales and profits, McDonald’s
shifted its strategy toward women from one of ‘minority’ consumers who served as a
conduit to the important children’s market to one in
which women are the majority consumers and the main drivers
behind menu and promotion innovation.” —Fara Warner, The Power of the Purse
“What women [in focus groups] told us was that all
moms were women, but not all women are moms
—so why weren’t we trying to reach all
women? We realized we should be finding the
woman inside the mom.” —Kay Napier, SVP Marketing (from Fara
Warner, The Power of the Purse)
Faith, Lys, Marti, Fara …
Targeting the New Professional Woman:
How to Market and Sell to Today’s 57 Million
Working Women.
—Gerry Myers
Stupid Fr*&^ing Idiot-Marketers!
“Critics describe evening news in unflattering
terms— They’re old! They’re set in their
ways! They won’t buy iPods!”
Source: Advertising Age, 05.08.06
Not!“Leadership is doing the right
things. Management is
doing things right.” —WB et al.
“Leadership” v. “Management”
“In [President Bush’s] belief that America needed to respond
resolutely to the dangers of terrorism, tyranny and
proliferation, he was mainly right. His chief failures stem
from incompetent execution.” —The Economist/05.13.2006
EXCELLENCE.
ALWAYS.Tom Peters/XAlways/17May2006/London
Manhole Cover
Madness and More ….
Chicagoland’s
Mystery Disappearances …
New Economy?!
Sergey + Larry >
Harvard/370
New Economy?!
Genentech09, Amgen09
> Merck09 (70K-3/394B-5)
EXCELLENCE. THE
MANDATE.
“It is not the strongest of the
species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most
responsive to change.” —Charles Darwin
“If you don’t like change,
you’re going to like irrelevance even less.” —General Eric
Shinseki, Chief of Staff. U. S. Army
“We are in a brawl with
no rules.” —Paul Allaire
S.A.V.
Sam’s Secret
#1!
“Reward excellent failures.
Punish mediocre
successes.”Phil Daniels, Sydney exec
“In Tom’s world, it’s always better to try
a swan dive and deliver a colossal belly flop than to
step timidly off the board while holding
your nose.” —Fast Company
/October2003
EXCELLENCE. THE
MANDATE.
The General’s
Story. (And Harry’s) (And Darwin’s)
(And James Yorke’s) (And the Admiral’s.)
“If you don’t like change,
you’re going to like irrelevance even less.” —General Eric
Shinseki, Chief of Staff. U. S. Army
“It is not the strongest of the
species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most
responsive to change.” —Charles Darwin
“The most successful
people are those who
are good at plan B.”
—James Yorke, mathematician, on chaos theory in The New Scientist
Nelson’s secret:
“[Other] admirals more frightened of losing than
anxious to win”
EXCELLENCE.
ALWAYS.Tom Peters/XAlways/17May2006/London
Slides at …
tompeters.com
The Irreducible20
9
A frustrated participant at a seminar for investment bankers in Mauritius listened impatiently to my explanation of differences of opinion among me, Mike Porter,
Gary Hamel, Jim Collins, etc. Finally, he’d had enough. “What, if anything,” he asked,
“do you believe ‘for sure’?” I mumbled something, but his query started rumbling
around in my mind. Three days later, wandering on a Sunday in London, the idea of “the irreducibles” occurred to
me—and I started jotting down notes on stuff I do indeed believe “for sure.” Before I knew it, a few days later, the list had grown to 209 items. Hence “The
Irreducible209” that follows.
Tom Peters
EXCELLENCE. THOUGHTS.
Radio City Music HallSeptember 2005
Franchise Lost!
TP: “How many of you [600] really
crave a new Chevy?”
NYC/IIR/061205
P.P.E.E.R.R.E.
People.Product.
Execution.Enthusiasm.Relentless.Re-invent.Excellence.
EXCELLENCE. THE WORD.
Synonyms
PurityTranscendence
VirtueEleganceMajesty
Antonyms
Mediocrity
EXCELLENCE.
GAMECHANGER.
Excellence1982: The Bedrock “Eight Basics”
1. A Bias for Action2. Close to the Customer3. Autonomy and Entrepreneurship4. Productivity Through People5. Hands On, Value-Driven6. Stick to the Knitting7. Simple Form, Lean Staff8. Simultaneous Loose-Tight Properties”
What is In Search of Excellence all about:
People. Emotion. Engagement. Exuberance. Action-Execution. Empowerment. Independence. Initiative. Imagination. Great
Stories. Incredible Adventures. Trust. Caring. Fun. Joy.
Customer-centrism. Profit. Growth. “Brand You.” “Dramatic Differences.” Experiences that Make You “Gasp.” Excellence.
Always.
ExIn*: 1982-2002/Forbes.com
DJIA: $10,000 yields $85,000 EI: $10,000 yields $140,050
*Excellence Index /Basket of 32 publicly traded stocks
Progress?Excellence1982: The Bedrock “Eight Basics”
1. A Bias for Action 2. Close to the Customer 3. Autonomy and Entrepreneurship 4. Productivity Through People 5. Hands On, Value-Driven 6. Stick to the Knitting 7. Simple Form, Lean Staff 8. Simultaneous Loose-Tight Properties”
Hardball: Are You Playing to Play or Playing to Win? by George Stalk & Rob Lachenauer/HBS Press
“The winners in business have always played hardball.” “Unleash massive and overwhelming force.” “Exploit
anomalies.” “Threaten your competitor’s profit sanctuaries.” “Entice your competitor into retreat.”
Approximately 640 Index entries: Customer/s
(service, retention, loyalty), 4. People (employees, motivation, morale,
worker/s), 0. Innovation (product development, research &
development, new products), 0.
My (Les’s) Dinner with Henri
JUSTWHATIZZITUMAKE?
My (Les’s) Dinner with Henri
JUST WHAT IS IT YOU MAKE?
X06/Excellence2006: The Bedrock Baker’s Dozen
1. A Bias For Action/Culture of Execution = Job One! 2. DECENTRALIZATION! ACCOUNTABILITY! 3. Fail. Forward. Fast.4. Velocity! Tempo! “Metabolic Management” Matters! 5. INNOVATE … or Die.6. A Damn Good Product. A Damn Cool Product.7. Ride the Value Added Curve to the Sky: Insure “Gamechanging Solutions”; Provide “Spellbinding Experiences”; Become a “Dream Merchant”; Strive to Be a “Lovemark;” Seek “Tattoo Brand” status.8. Relentlessly Pursue the “Big Two” Markets: Women, Boomers & Geezers. 9. Best Talent Wins! Women Rule! HR at the Head Table!
10. Educate for Creativity, Entrepreneurship & “Brand You” Independence.11. Demanded: Radical Technology Strategies! 12. Passion! Enthusiasm! Energy! Excitement! Relentlessness! 13. No Less Than EXCELLENCE. Ever.
X06/Excellence2006: The Bedrock Baker’s Dozen
1. A Bias For Action/A “Culture of Execution” = Job One! (Must be a Systematic Discipline.)
2. DECENTRALIZATION! ACCOUNTABILITY! (Tom’s “Top Two,” 1965-2005.)
3. Fail. Forward. Fast. (“Reward Excellent Failures, Punish Mediocre Successes.” “Most tries wins.”)
4. Velocity! Tempo! “Metabolic Management” Matters! (Hustle! Adapt! Win the “O.O.D.A. Loop” War—Confuse Your Competitors!)
5. INNOVATE … or Die. (“Game-changers” or Bust! Lead the Customer! Shout “NO” to Imitation!)
6. A Damn Good Product. A Damn Cool Product. (Pursue “Dramatic Difference.”
Design Rules!)
7. Ride the Value Added Curve to the Sky: Insure “Gamechanging Solutions”; Provide “Spellbinding Experiences”; Become a “Dream Merchant”; Strive to Be a “Lovemark;” Seek “Tattoo Brand” status.8. Relentlessly Pursue the “Big Two” Markets: Women, Boomers & Geezers. (WOMEN Buy Everything. BOOMERS & GEEZERS Have All the Money!)
9. Best Talent Wins! Women Rule! HR at the Head Table! (“Weird” Matters Most! A Workplace to Brag About! Educate for Creativity!)
10. Educate for Creativity, Entrepreneurship & “Brand You” Independence. (The schools have it all wrong!)
11. Demanded: Radical Technology Strategies! (“Incrementalism” Is for Wimps!)
12. Passion! Enthusiasm! Energy! Relentlessness! (Hard Is Soft! Soft Is Hard!) 13. No Less Than EXCELLENCE. Ever. (Excellence … the #1 Thing That Vaults Us Out of Bed in the Morning, and Matters in the Long run.)
EXCELLENCE.
CAUSES.ADVERSARIES.
Causes/1966-2006
Implementation/Small Wins (Stanford GSB/PhD thesis; 1st on implementation per se)
EXCELLENCE (as a worthy business pursuit)
Management Style/Corporate CultureSoft “Ss”/7-S (Waterman-Peters complete “business model”; waaaaay beyond Strategy & Structure)
Structure > Strategy (“We shape our structures, then they shape us …”—Churchillian paraphrase)
Soft Change Levers (> structure; symbols, patterns & settings)
Close to the Customer (novel idea, circa 1982)
MBWA (Managing By Wandering Around—courtesy a much more intimate than today HP)
Productivity through People (novel idea, circa 1982)
Chaos/Crazy Times Call for Crazy OrganizationsMiddle-sized companies are cool Re-imagine!/Innovate or Die!Small-ish/Scale & Synergy limits-delusions/anti-Big Mergers
Causes/1966-2006
Women/Market opportunityWomen/Leaders (right for the times)
Design/Design-as-soulWow! (Hot language)
WeirdPassion/Enthusiasm/Exuberance (as Leader Lever #1)
Brand You (or else)
PSF = Bedrock (add value or bust—every group must demonstrate economic viability)
Sales/+R > -C (increasing revenue more important than cutting cost)
HealthCare/Wellness-Safety-H5N1Brand = Talent (best roster wins)
New VA Ladder/Products-Services-SOLUTIONS-EXPERIENCES-DREAMKETING (Dream Marketing)-LOVEMARKDifferent > > BetterBoomers & Geezers/marketing to new “mega-segment”
Adversaries
B-schools (crappy at soft skills, implementation, leadership)
Strategy-is-allBy-the-numbers managementDis-passionate managementFocus groupsIntuition discountedLeading as an intellectual taskLeading without passionCool language in Hot timesDilbert (accepting cubicle slavery)
Bigness per se (severe scale limitations—even at Microsoft)
White guys! (not really, but enough already)
18-44 emphasis in marketing (geezers > youth for foreseeable future)
-Cost > +Revenue (cost cutting more important than organic revenue growth)
CI (continuous improvement in an age of discontinuous world)
LESS THAN THE NO-HOLDS-BARRED PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE
EXCELLENCE.
ALWAYS.
“Why in the world did you go to Siberia?”
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.
Business* ** (*at its best): An emotional, vital, innovative, joyful,
creative, entrepreneurial endeavor that elicits
maximum concerted human potential in the
wholehearted service of others.***
**Excellence. Always.***Employees, Customers, Suppliers, Communities, Owners, Temporary partners
Business: The Ultimate Creative
Endeavor.
Business: The Ultimate Personal
Development-Growth
Experience.
Business: The Ultimate
Transcendent Service
Opportunity.
EXCELLENCE.
ALWAYS.
Synonyms
PurityTranscendence
VirtueEleganceMajesty
Antonyms
Mediocrity
EXCELLENCE.
ALWAYS.
“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.” —GB Shaw/Man and Superman
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and
precious life?” —Mary Oliver
Happy 50!
26April2006
Malcom McLean
Containerization
LessonsNeed-driven
A thousand “parents”Messy
Evolutionary“Trivial”
Experimentation
trial & ERRORLoooong time for systemic adaptation/s
(many innovations) (bill of lading, standard time)
Not …
“Plan-driven”The product of “Strategic Thinking/Planning”
The product of “focus groups”
“Consultants have drained a good deal of
the life from our democracy. Specialists in caution,
they fear anything they haven’t tested.” —Joe
Klein, Politics Lost
Get mad. Do something
about it. Now.
Howard, Don
and I: Days of rage!
“No day passed—
not one —without medication
errors.”—Don Berwick, on his wife’s hospital stay
First-level Scientific Success:
Beyond Brains
First-level Scientific Success
The smartest guy in the room wins”
Or …
First-level Scientific Success
FanaticismPersistence-Dogged Tenacity
Patience (long haul/decades)-Impatience (in a hurry/”do it yesterday”)
PassionEnergy
Relentlessness (Grant-ian)
EnthusiasmDriven (nuts!)
(Brutal?) CompetitivenessEntrepreneurialPragmatic (R.F!A.)
Scrounge (“gets” the logistics-infrastructure bit)
Master of Politics (internal-external)Tactical Genius
Pursuit of (Oceanic) Excellence!High EQ/Skillful in Attracting + Keeping Talent/Magnetic
Prolific (“ground up more pig brains”)
Egocentric
Sense of History-DestinyFuturistic-In the Moment
Mono-dimensional (“Work-life balance”? Ha!)
Exceptionally IntelligentExceptionally Clever (methodological shortcuts/methodological genius)
Luck
First-level Scientific Success/Short Form
Scientific Success (Nobel-level) = Genius +
Execution + Master of Soft Skills + Enthusiasm + Magnetism + Destiny
(sense of) + Energy
Biz Bonanza Success = DDMMSTERL/
"D-squared, M-squared, STERL” = DramaticDifference + “Business”
Acumen/Money + Good “Marketing” Instinct/“Ice-to-
Eskimos” Sales Skills + Stellar Talent + Aim for Excellence +
Resilience/Tenacity/Adaptability + Luck (The “Necessary Nine”: What Every Small Biz
Requires to Excel.) (Big, too.)
EXCELLENCE.
DEFINED.
Great Companies … SET THE
AGENDA.*
(Period.)
* “disturb the sleep of …
AGENDA SETTERS: “Set the Table”/ Pioneers/ Questors/ Adventurers
US Steel … Ford … Toyota … Sears … GM … ITT … The Gap … Limited …
Wal*Mart … Tesco … P&G … 3M … Intel … IBM … Apple … Nokia …
Cisco … Dell … MCI … Sun … Microsoft … Google … Enron …
Schwab … GE … Laker … Southwest … People Express … Ogilvy … Virgin
… eBay … Amazon … Sony … Amgen … BMW … CNN … Nike
Built to Last vs Built for Impact
“But what if [former head of strategic planning at Royal Dutch Shell] Arie De Geus is wrong in suggesting, in The
Living Company, that firms should aspire to live forever? Greatness is fleeting and, for corporations, it
will become ever more fleeting. The ultimate aim of a business organization, an artist, an athlete or a stockbroker may be to explode in a dramatic frenzy of value creation during a
short space of time, rather than to live forever.” —Kjell Nordström and Jonas Ridderstråle, Funky Business
EXCELLENCE. NO EXCUSES.
Summary:
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 “mini-Wal*Mart.)
*Never attack the monsters head on! (Instead steal niche business and lukewarm customers.)
*“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, Vendors. (BEAT THE BIGGIES ON EMOTION/CONNECTION!!)
$798
$415/SqFt/Wal*Mart$798/SqFt/Whole
Foods
EXCELLENCE.
WANTING.
This is not a “mature
category.”
This is an “undistinguishe
d category.”
“The ‘surplus society’ has a surplus of
similar companies, employing
similar people, with
similar educational backgrounds,
coming up with similar ideas,
producing similar things, with
similar prices and similar quality.”
Kjell Nordström and Jonas Ridderstråle, Funky Business
The “Small Guys” Guide: Wallop Wal*Mart16
*Niche-aimed. (Never, ever “all things for all people,” a “mini-Wal*Mart.)
*Never attack the monsters head on! (Instead steal niche business and lukewarm customers.)
*“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, Vendors. (BEAT THE BIGGIES ON EMOTION/CONNECTION!!)
“This is an essay about what it takes to create and sell something remarkable. It is a plea for originality, passion, guts and daring. You can’t be remarkable by following someone else who’s remarkable. One way to
figure out a theory is to look at what’s working in the real world and determine what the successes have in common. But what could the Four Seasons and Motel 6 possibly have in common? Or Neiman-Marcus and Wal*Mart? Or Nokia (bringing out new hardware every 30 days or so) and
Nintendo (marketing the same Game Boy 14 years in a row)? It’s like trying
to drive looking in the rearview mirror. The thing that all these companies
have in common is that they have nothing in common. They
are outliers. They’re on the fringes. Superfast or superslow. Very exclusive or very cheap. Extremely big or extremely small. The reason it’s so hard to follow the leader is this: The leader is the leader precisely because he did something remarkable. And that remarkable thing is now taken—so it’s no
longer remarkable when you decide to do it.” —Seth Godin, Fast Company/02.2003
The “Small Guys” Guide: Wallop Wal*Mart16
*Hands-on, emotional leadership. (“We are a great & cool & intimate & joyful & dramatically different team working to transform our Clients lives via Consistently Incredible Experiences!”)
*A community star! (“Sell” local-ness per se. Sell the hell out of it!)
*An incredible experience, from the first to last moment—and then in the follow-up! (“These guys are cool! They ‘get’ me! They love me!”)
*DESIGN DRIVEN! (“Design” is a premier weapon-in-pursuit-of-the sublime for small-ish enterprises, including the professional services.)
The “Small Guys” Guide: Wallop Wal*Mart16
*Employer of choice. (A very cool, well-paid place to work/learning and growth experience in at least the short term … marked by notably progressive policies.) (THIS IS EMINENTLY DO-ABLE!!)
*Sophisticated use of information technology. (Small-“ish” is no excuse for “small aims”/execution in IS/IT!)
*Web-power! (The Web can make very small very big … if the product-service is super-cool and one purposefully masters buzz/viral marketing.)
*Innovative! (Must keep renewing and expanding and revising and re-imagining “the promise” to employees, the customer, the community.)
The “Small Guys” Guide: Wallop Wal*Mart16
*Brand-Lovemark* (*Kevin Roberts) Maniacs! (“Branding” is not just for big folks with big budgets. And modest size is actually a Big Advantage in becoming a local-regional-niche “lovemark.”)
*Focus on women-as-clients. (Most don’t. How stupid.)
*Excellence! (A small player …
per me … has no right or reason to exist unless they are in Relentless Pursuit of Excellence. One earns the right—one damn day and client experience at a time!—to beat the Big Guys in your chosen niche!)
Synonyms
PurityTranscendence
VirtueEleganceMajesty
Antonyms
Mediocrity
EXCELLENCE!
ALWAYS!
$798
7X. 730A-800P.
F12A.**’93-’03/10 yr annual return: CB: 29%; WM: 17%;
HD: 16%. Mkt Cap: 48% p.a.
“It’s simple, really, Tom. Hire for s,
and, above all, promote for s.”
—Starbucks middle manager/field
“Gambling our entire
net worth!”
#1/100
“Best Companies to
Work for”/2005
Wegmans
EXCELLENCE.
#1T.
Donnelly’s Weatherstrip
Service
Weymouth MA
EXCELLENCE.
#1T.
Cirque du Soleil!
And the Winner is …
1. Audacity of Vision2. Innovation/R&D/Design3. Talent Acquisition & Development4. Resultant “Experience”5. Strategic Alliances6. Operations7. Financial Management8. Overall/Sustaining Excellence9. “Wow!”10. Lovemark!
Tattoo Brand: What % of users would tattoo the brand name on their
body?
Top 10 “Tattoo Brands”*
Harley .… 18.9%Disney .... 14.8
Coke …. 7.7Google .... 6.6Pepsi .... 6.1Rolex …. 5.6Nike …. 4.6
Adidas …. 3.1Absolut …. 2.6
Nintendo …. 1.5
*BRANDsense: Build Powerful Brands through Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, and Sound, Martin Lindstrom
Synonyms
PurityTranscendence
VirtueEleganceMajesty
Antonyms
Mediocrity
EXCELLENCE.
AARGH.
????????
Weenie of the year,
2006 …
????????
6/44
P&G
EXCELLENCE.
FOUND.
“To be a leader in consumer
products, it’s critical to have
leaders who represent the population we
serve.” —Steve Reinemund/PepsiCo
EXCELLENCE.
AARGH.
2005
Good Thinking, Guys!
“Kodak Sharpens Digital Focus
On Its Best Customers:
Women”
—Page 1 Headline/WSJ/0705
EXCELLENCE.
OPPORTUNITY.
“Women are the
majority market”
—Fara Warner/The Power of the Purse
1. Men and women are different.2. Very different.3. VERY, VERY DIFFERENT.4. Women & Men have a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y nothing in common.5. Women buy lotsa stuff.
6. WOMEN BUY A-L-L THE STUFF.7. Women’s Market = Opportunity No. 1.8. Men are (STILL) in charge.9. MEN ARE … TOTALLY, HOPELESSLY CLUELESS ABOUT WOMEN.10. Women’s Market = Opportunity No. 1.
The Perfect Answer
Jill and Jack buy slacks in black…
“Women don’t buy
brands. They join them.”
EVEolution
2.6 vs. 21
10. Women’s Market =
Opportunity No. 1.
Synonyms
PurityTranscendence
VirtueEleganceMajesty
Antonyms
Mediocrity
EXCELLENCE.
OPPORTUNITY.
10.6
EXCELLENCE.
OPPORTUNITY.
Add It Up!
Doing it right (“Men buy things that other men will buy for women. I buy things that women want.”—successful jeweler/F)
Greater workforce/global participation rate (“bigger contributor to GDP growth than technology, China, India”)
Higher wages (more seniority, promotions—even if not to CEO)
Women-owned businesses (answer to the Glass Ceiling)
EXCELLENCE.
OPPORTUNITY.
Just Say No. 18-44
2000-2010 Stats
18-44: -1%
55+: +21%(55-64: +47% )
44-65: “New Customer Majority” *
*45% larger than 18-43; 60% larger by 2010Source: Ageless Marketing, David Wolfe & Robert Snyder
“The New Customer Majority is the only adult
market with realistic prospects for significant
sales growth in dozens of product lines for thousands of companies.” —David Wolfe & Robert Snyder,
Ageless Marketing
“Baby-boomer Women: The Sweetest of
Sweet Spots for Marketers” —David Wolfe and
Robert Snyder, Ageless Marketing
“WOMAN of the Year: She’s the most powerful
consumer in America. And as she starts to turn sixty
this month, the affluent baby boomer is doing what she’s always done—redefining
herself.” —Joan Hamilton, Town & Country, JAN06
“Sixty Is the New Thirty”
—Cover/AARP/11.03
EXCELLENCE.
OPPORTUNITY.
Women.Women business owners.
Boomers-Geezers.Single-adults (Urban)
Fastest growing demographic:
Single-person Households (>50% in
London, Stockholm, etc)
Source: Richard Scase
% of homes purchased by single women: 1981, 10%;
2005, 20%
% of homes purchased by single men: 1981, 10%;
2005, 9%
Source: USA Today/02.15.06
EXCELLENCE.
OPPORTUNITY.
Women.Women business owners.
Boomers-Geezers.Single-adults (Urban)
The Irreducible20
9
73. Exercise.74. Paint. (Leader. Portraits of Excellence.)
75. Best story wins.76. “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”77. Two “big ones.” Max. (Priorities.)78. No “I” in Team. (“I” in Win.)79. “I” in Win. (No “I” in Team.)80. Different 1, Better 0. (Better = 0.1)81. Imitation = Mistake. (Learn, from who?)82. Choose/battle the “right” competitor.83. Schools. Creativity. Entrepreneurship. (Not.)84. MBAs. Creativity. Entrepreneurship. Leadership. (Not.)85. Design. Under-rated. Wildly. (Still.) (Everything.)
EXCELLENCE.
VALUE ADDED.
$55B
And the “M” Stands for … ?
Gerstner’s IBM: “Systems Integrator of choice.”/BW
(“Lou, help us turn ‘all this’ into that long-promised ‘revolution.’ ” )
IBM Global Services* (*Integrated Systems
Services Corp.): $55B
“By making the Global Delivery Model both legitimate and mainstream, we have brought the battle to our territory. That is, after all, the purpose of strategy. We have become the leaders, and incumbents [IBM, Accenture]
are followers, forever playing catch-up. … However, creating a new business innovation is not enough for rules to be changed. The
innovation must impact clients, competitors, investors, and society. We have seen all this in spades. Clients have embraced the model and are
demanding it in even greater measure. The acuteness of their circumstance, coupled with the capability and value of our solution, has made the choice not a choice. Competitors have been dragged kicking
and screaming to replicate what we do. They face trauma and disruption,
but the game has changed forever. Investors have grasped that this is not a passing
fancy, but a potential restructuring of the way the world
operates and how value will be created in the future.” —Narayana Murthy,
chairman’s letter, Infosys Annual Report
“Big Brown’s New Bag: UPS
Aims to Be the Traffic Manager for Corporate
America” —Headline/BW/2004
“SCS”/Supply Chain Solutions: 750 locations;
$2.5B; fastest growing division; 19 acquisitions,
including a bank
Source: Fast Company
MasterCard Advisors
Huge: Customer Satisfaction versus
Customer
Success
Synonyms
PurityTranscendence
VirtueEleganceMajesty
Antonyms
Mediocrity
EXCELLENCE.NECESSITY.
OPPORTUNITY.
“There is no job that
is America’s God-given
right anymore.”
—Carly Fiorina/HP/January2004
“ ‘Disintermediation’ is overrated. Those who fear disintermediation should in fact be afraid of
irrelevance—disintermediation is just another way
of saying that … you’ve become
irrelevant to your
customers.”
—John Battelle/Point/Advertising Age/07.05
Chicago:
HRMAC
“support function” / “cost
center”/ “overhead”
or …
Are you … “Rock Stars of the
Age of Talent”
DD$21M
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; ie 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.
Second: Putting HR on a par with finance and marketing.
Are you the …
“Principal Engine of
Value Added”*Eg: Your R&D budget as robust as the New Products team?
The Irreducible20
9
117. Negotiation. Make all winners. (Save face.)118. Grace makes enemies friends.119. Network.
120. Invest in relationships. (Think ROIR. Return On Investment in Relationships.)118. Relationship investment. Forethought. Calendar item. Intensity.119. Innovation. Easy. (Hang out with weird.)120. Weird = Win. (Weird times.)121. “The bottleneck is at the top of the bottle.”122. Good Board = Weird Board. (At least, surprising.)123. No contention, no progress.
EXCELLENCE. NO OPTION.
“support function” / “cost
center”/ “overhead”
or …
Answer:
PSF
Core Mechanism:“Game-changing Solutions”
PSF (Professional Service Firm “model”/The Organizing Principle)
+
Brand You(“Distinct” or “Extinct”/The Talent)
+
Wow! Projects (“Different” vs “Better”/The Work)
The “PSF35”: Thirty-Five
Professional Service Firm Marks of Excellence
Department Head
to …
Managing
Partner, IS [HR, R&D, etc.] Inc.
The PSF35: The Work & The Legacy
1. CRYSTAL CLEAR POINT OF VIEW (E very 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 Aims7. 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”
?????
Do good (excellent?!) work
Make a lot of money
Point of
View!
R.POV8**Remarkable Point Of View/8 Words or less/“If you can’t state your position in eight words or less, you don’t have a position.”—SG
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 Skills25. A “PROPRIETARY” TALENT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS (GE)26. Team Leadership Skills Valued Early27. Partner with B.I.W. [Best In World] Outsiders as Needed and to Infuse Different Views
The PSF35: The Firm & The Brand
28. EAT-SLEEP-BREATHE-OOZE INTEGRITY (“My life is my message”—Gandhi)29. Excellence+ in EXECUTION … 100.00% of the Time (No such thing as a “small sins”/World Series Ring to the Batboy!) 30. “Drop everything”/“Swarm” to Support a Harried-On The Verge Team31. SPEND AS AGGRESSIVELY ON R&D AS A TECH FIRM OR CIRQUE DU SOLEIL32. A PROPRIETARY METHODOLOGY (FBR, McKinsey, Chiat Day, IDEO, old EDS)33. Web (Technology) Obsession34. BRAND/“LOVEMARK” MANIACS (Organize Around a Point of View Worth BROADCASTING: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”—Gandhi)35. PASSION! ENTHUSIASM! (Passion & Enthusiasm have as much a place at the Head Table in a “PSF” as in a widgets factory: “You can’t behave in a calm, rational manner. You’ve got to be out there on the lunatic fringe”—Jack Welch)
The PSF35: The Firm & The Brand
28. EAT-SLEEP-BREATHE-OOZE INTEGRITY (“My life is my message”—Gandhi)
29. Excellence+ in EXECUTION … 100.00% of the Time30. “Drop everything”/“Swarm” to Support a Harried-On The Verge Team
31. SPEND ON R&D LIKE A TECH FIRM.32. A PROPRIETARY METHODOLOGY (FBR, McKinsey, Chiat Day, IDEO, old EDS)
33. BRAND MANIACS (Organize Around a Point of View Worth BROADCASTING)
34. PASSION! ENTHUSIASM!
35. EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.
“PSF” Nirvana
Counselor
Trusted Advisor
DD$21M
PSF + BY + WP +
DD + E = UVA
PSF (Professional Service Firm) + BY (Brand You) + WP (WOW Projects) +
DD (Dramatic Difference)
+ E (Excellence) = UVA (Unassailable
Value-Added)
Static/Imitative
Integrity.Quality.
Excellence.Continuous Improvement.
Superior Service (Exceeds Expectations.)
Completely Satisfactory Transaction.Smooth Evolution.
Market Share.
Dynamic/Different
Dramatic Difference!Disruptive!
Insanely Great! (Quality++++)
Life-(Industry-)changing Experience!Game-changing!
WOW!Surprise!Delight!
Breathtaking!Punctuated Equilibrium!
Market Creation!
Synonyms
PurityTranscendence
VirtueEleganceMajesty
Antonyms
Mediocrity
EXCELLENCE. UBIQUITOUS.
Trapper: <$20 per beaver pelt.
Source: WSJ
WDCP*: $150 to remove
“problem beaver”; $750-$1,000 for flood-control piping … so that beavers can
stay.
* “Wildlife Damage-control Professional”
Source: WSJ
Answer:
PSF
EXCELLENCE.
ATTITUDE.TRANSFORMATION.
Fleet Manager
Rolling Stock Cost Minimization Officer
vs/or
Chief of Fleet Lifetime Value Maximization
Strategic Supply-chain Executive
Customer Experience Director (via drivers)
“Big Brown’s New Bag: UPS
Aims to Be the Traffic Manager for Corporate
America” —Headline/BW/2004
“Typically in a mortgage company or financial services company, ‘risk
management’ is an overhead, not a revenue center. We’ve become more
than that. We pay for ourselves, and we
actually make money for the company.” —Frank
Eichorn, Director of Credit Risk Data Management Group, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage (Source: sas.com)
Mantra:
“Eichorn it!”
Back to the Future: The “PSF”/ “Brand You” Idea Circa 1900*
William James (“What Makes a Life
Significant”/1899): “men with no trade” “must sell to the
highest bidder their mere muscular strength for so many hours per
day”
* “Brand You”/2005 = “Tradesman”/1899
“Purchasing Officer” Thrust #1: Cost (at All Costs*) Minimization
Professional? Or/to: Full Partner-Leader in Lifetime
Value-added Maximization?
(*Lopez: “Arguably ‘Villain #1’ in GM tragedy”/Anon VSE-Spain)
HCare CIO: “Technology Executive” (workin’ in a hospital)
Or/to: Full-scale, Accountable (life or death)
Member-Partner of XYZ Hospital’s Senior Healing-Services Team (who happens to be a techie)
PSF Transformation: Credit Department/Trek
Was Is
Credit Dept Financial Services
Hammer on dealers until Make dealers successful so theythey pay CAN pay
AR sold to 3rd party Trek is the commercial financialcommercial co. 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
Answer:
PSF
Wildlife Damage-control
Professional
The Value-added Ladder/Opportunity-seeking
Gamechanging Solutions
ServicesGoods
Raw Materials
Are you the …
“Principal Engine of
Value Added”*Eg: Your R&D budget as robust as the New Products team?
I. LAN Installation Co. (3%)
II. Geek Squad. (30%.)
III. Acquired by BestBuy.
IV. Flagship of BestBuy Wholesale “Solutions” Strategy Makeover.
EXCELLENCE.
UP THE LADDER.
The Value-added Ladder/Stuff ‘n’ Things
Goods Raw Materials
The Value-added Ladder/Stuff & Transactions
ServicesGoods
Raw Materials
The Value-added Ladder/Opportunity-seeking
Gamechanging Solutions
ServicesGoods
Raw Materials
Synonyms
PurityTranscendence
VirtueEleganceMajesty
Antonyms
Mediocrity
EXCELLENCE.
EXPERIENCE IT.
“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
“Club Med is more than just a ‘resort’; it’s a means of rediscovering oneself, of inventing an
entirely new ‘me.’ ”
Source: Jean-Marie Dru, Disruption
“The [Starbucks] Fix” Is on …
“We have identified a
‘third place.’ And I
really believe that sets us apart. The third place is that place that’s not work or home. It’s the place our customers
come for refuge.”
Nancy Orsolini, District Manager
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
EXCELLENCE.
UP THE LADDER.
The Value-added Ladder/Memorable Connection
Spellbinding Experiences
Gamechanging SolutionsServicesGoods
Raw Materials
Warren Goes Shopping …
Q: “Why did you buy Jordan’s Furniture?”
A: “Jordan’s is spectacular. It’s all
showmanship.”
Source: Warren Buffet interview/Boston Sunday Globe/12.05.2004
CXO**Chief eXperience Officer
Extraction & Goods: Male dominance
Services & Experiences: Female
dominance
EXCELLENCE.
DREAM IT.
DREAM: “A dream is a complete moment in the life
of a client. Important experiences that tempt the client to commit substantial resources. The essence of
the desires of the consumer. The opportunity to help
clients become what they want to be.”
—Gian Luigi Longinotti-Buitoni
The Marketing of Dreams (Dreamketing)
Dreamketing: Touching the clients’ dreams.Dreamketing: The art of telling stories and entertaining.Dreamketing: Promote the dream, not the product.Dreamketing: Build the brand around the main dream.Dreamketing: Build the “buzz,” the “hype,” the “cult.”
Source: Gian Luigi Longinotti-Buitoni
EXCELLENCE.
UP THE LADDER.
The Value-added Ladder/Emotion
Dreams Come True
Spellbinding Experiences Gamechanging Solutions
ServicesGoods
Raw Materials
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 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. … 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
CDM*
*Chief Dream Merchant
EXCELLENCE.
ALWAYS.
“What Isn’t Matter Is
What Matters” —section title, Branded Nation: The Marketing of
Megachurch, College Inc., and Museumworld, James Twitchell
Gas ………….….. $1.75 per gallonLipton Iced Tea .. $9.52 per gallonOcean Spray …... $10.00Gatorade ……….. $10.17Diet Snapple …... $10.32STP brake fluid .. $33.60Pepto-Bismol ….. $123.20Vicks NyQuil …... $178.13Evian water ……. $21.19 ($50B-$200B)
Source: Branded Nation: The Marketing of Megachurch, College Inc., and Museumworld, James Twitchell (2004)
VA “Teaching Moment”
“Andy pointed to a molding, about halfway up the
wall …”
EXCELLENCE.
LEADING.
CXO**Chief eXperience Officer
CDM*
*Chief Dream Merchant
CFO*
*Chief Festivals Officer
CCO*
*Chief Conversations Officer
CSO*
*Chief Seduction Officer
CL O*
*Chief Lovemark Officer
CPI**Chief Portal Impresario
CWO**Chief WOW Officer
CSTO*
*Chief Storytelling Officer
CRO*
*Chief Revenue Officer
Synonyms
PurityTranscendence
VirtueEleganceMajesty
Antonyms
Mediocrity
EXCELLENCE.
SOUL.
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
“Design is
treated like a religion at
BMW.”Fortune
“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 is the fundamental soul
of a man-made creation.” —Steve Jobs
“With its carefully conceived mix of colors and textures,
aromas and music, Starbucks is more indicative of our era than the iMac. It is to the Age of
Aesthetics what McDonald’s was to the Age of Convenience or Ford was to the Age of Mass Production—the touchstone success story, the exemplar of all that
is good and bad about the aesthetic imperative. …
‘Every Starbucks store is carefully designed to enhance the quality of everything the customers see, touch, hear,
smell or taste,’ writes CEO Howard Schultz.”
-—Virginia Postrel, The Substance of Style: How the Rise of AestheticValue Is Remaking Commerce, Culture and Consciousness
Westin’s …
Heavenly Bed
Hypothesis: “Design” is the principle
“metaphor” for the encompassing Value-
added Imperative!
“If you can’t win on ‘cost,’ then you’re left with
‘cool.’ ” —Anon./NZ
EXCELLENCE.
K.I.S.S.
“One bank is currently claiming to …
‘leverage its global footprint to provide effective financial solutions for its customers by providing a
gateway to diverse markets.”
—Charles Handy
“I assume that it is just saying that it is
there to ‘help its customers
wherever they are’.”
—Charles Handy
450/8
EXCELLENCE. THE STORY.
“Storytelling
is the core of culture.”
—Branded Nation: The Marketing of Megachurch, College Inc., and Museumworld, James Twitchell
“Leaders don’t just make products and make
decisions. Leaders make
meaning.” – John Seely Brown
Best Story Wins!
“A key – perhaps the key – to leadership is
the effective communication
of a story.”—Howard Gardner/Leading Minds:
An Anatomy of Leadership
Market Power = Story Power
= Dream Power
Exercise: Take a complex financial-market-
strategic analysis you are preparing to present
—and convert it into a high-impact, mountain-
moving number-less story.*
*Shell’s (et al.) “scenario planning”
Synonyms
PurityTranscendence
VirtueEleganceMajesty
Antonyms
Mediocrity
EXCELLENCE.
BONUS.
Flower Power!
EXCELLENCE. EVERYWHERE.
Better By Design: A National Strategy
NZ = Design
Excellence
New ZealandThailand
SpainPortugalIreland
Singapore Taiwan
PhilippinesUAEChile
(Romania)
“ ‘MADE IN TAIWAN’: From
Cheap Manufacturing to Chic Branding”
—Headline/Advertising Age/06.05
Taiwan, Your Partner in InnoValue
Poster/Bucharest/03.06
London circa 1976: “You can’t build a ‘real
economy’ on services, finance, advertising,
etc.”
London circa 2006:
deliberately aims to be the “capital of the 21st
century”
The Irreducible20
9
163. Own up. Quick. ( Denial. Cancer.)
164. Celebrate. Often.165. 78 people = 78 approaches. (Each. Unique.)166. Weed. Ceaselessly. (Prune. Stupid. Rules. Non-stop.)
167. Get out of the way. (You = The problem.)168. Smile. Sunny. Optimism. (If it kills you.)169. Flowers. (Cheery workplace.)170. Enjoy. (Or get the hell.)
171. Be intolerant of “sour.” (1 = Major pollution)172. No “quick trigger” on promotion. (Too important.)173. Evaluation = Lots of study-time.174. Evaluation = “Life or death” to evaluee.175. “360” evaluation. No fad.
176. Exit when you’re done. (Done. Sooner than you think.)
EXCELLENCE.
BEDROCK.
“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
Synonyms
PurityTranscendence
VirtueEleganceMajesty
Antonyms
Mediocrity
“In 1933, Thomas J. Watson Sr. gave a speech at the World’s
Fair, ‘World Peace through
World Trade.’ We stood for
something, right?” —Sam Palmisano
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’?”
EXCELLENCE.
ALWAYS.
“In classical times when Cicero had finished
speaking, the people said, ‘How well he spoke,’ but when Demosthenes had finished speaking,
they said, ‘Let us march.’” —Adlai Stevenson
Let us march
.
EXCELLENCE.
ALWAYS.
. “Everyone lives by selling
something.”
– Robert Louis Stevenson
SellSellSell
CRO*
*Chief Revenue Officer
Sales.Emotion.
Experience.Revenue.
(Execution.)(Excellence.)
EXCELLENCE.
PASSION.
“Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Charles Handy on the “Alchemists”:
“Passion was what drove
these people, passion for
their product, passion for their cause. If you care enough, you will
find out what you need to know. Or you will experiment and not
worry if the experiment goes wrong. Passion as
the secret to learning is an odd secret to propose, but I believe
that it works at all levels and at all ages. Sadly,
passion is not a
word often heard in the elephant organizations, nor in schools, where it can seem disruptive.”
First-level Scientific Success
FanaticismPersistence-Dogged Tenacity
Patience (long haul/decades)-Impatience (in a hurry/”do it yesterday”)
PassionEnergy
Relentlessness (Grant-ian)
EnthusiasmDriven (nuts!)
(Brutal?) CompetitivenessEntrepreneurialPragmatic (R.F!A.)
Scrounge (“gets” the logistics-infrastructure bit)
Master of Politics (internal-external)Tactical Genius
Pursuit of (Oceanic) Excellence!High EQ/Skillful in Attracting + Keeping Talent/Magnetic
Prolific (“ground up more pig brains”)
Egocentric
Sense of History-DestinyFuturistic-In the Moment
Mono-dimensional (“Work-life balance”? Ha!)
Exceptionally IntelligentExceptionally Clever (methodological shortcuts/methodological genius)
Luck
EXCELLENCE.
BEDROCK.
Brand =
Talent.
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.”
Leadership’s Mt Everest/Mt Excellence
“free to do his or her absolute best” …
“allow its members to discover their
greatness.”
“We are a ‘Life
Success’ Company’
Dave Liniger, founder, RE/MAX
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
“Leaders
‘do’ people.
Period.” —Anon.
“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”
EXCELLENCE. INDIVIDUAL.
Core Mechanism:“Game-changing Solutions”
PSF (Professional Service Firm “model”/The Organizing Principle)
+
Brand You(“Distinct” or “Extinct”/The Talent)
+
Wow! Projects (“Different” vs “Better”/The Work)
“There is no job that
is America’s God-given
right anymore.”
—Carly Fiorina/HP/January2004
“You are the storyteller of your own life, and you can create your own legend or
not.” —Isabel Allende
12January2006
Happy 300 th, Brand You!
“Nobody can prevent you from choosing to be exceptional.” —Mark
Sanborn, The Fred Factor
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist,
that is all.” –Oscar Wilde
“Make your life itself a creative work of art.” —Mike Ray, The Highest Goal
“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.” —GB Shaw/
Man and Superman
Will you actually remember it as worthwhile 10
years from now?” —S.H.
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and
precious life?” —Mary
Oliver
EXCELLENCE.
BEDROCK.
X.Step #1:Buy a Mirror!
“The First step in a ‘dramatic’
‘organizational change program’ is obvious—
dramatic personal change!” —RG
“You must
be the
change you wish to see in the
world.”Gandhi
“To change minds effectively, leaders make
particular use of two tools: the stories
that they tell and the lives that they lead.” —
Howard Gardner, Changing Minds
MBWA**HS/25+
25
You = Your calendar*
*Calendars NEVER lie!!
Synonyms
PurityTranscendence
VirtueEleganceMajesty
Antonyms
Mediocrity
Bonus
Health:Century21.Job # 1
Quality!Prevention!Wellness!
Chronic care!Childhood obesity!
H5N1!
Quality!Prevention!Wellness!
Chronic care!Childhood obesity!
H5N1!
22mm3838ss
Welcome to the Homer Simpson Hospital
a/k/a
The Killing Fields
“When I climb Mount Rainier I face less
risk of death than I’ll face on the
operating table.” —Don Berwick, “Six Keys to Safer Hospitals: A Set of Simple Precautions Could Prevent 100,000 Needless Deaths Every Year,” Newsweek (1212.2005)
The Ultimate “Culture Change”
“Healthcare” vs.
“Health”
Quality (100K+ deaths)
“Evidence/Outcomes-based” medicineIS/IT-in-health(care) revolution
Wellness/PreventionHealth“care” to Health “culture” transformation
Wash your hands!Home-care (as the population rapidly ages)
Med-school re-orientation “Public health” emphasisChildhood Obesity
Mind-boggling (15 years?) social-moral-technological impact of life sciences (“the Singularity”?)
H5N1/WMDs/Environmental degradationRisk assessment (private, public)
Market opportunityPublic vs/+ Private responsibilities & partnerships
Africa! (Unconscionable failure to attend to/staggering Health consequences for all)
Re-imagine Healthcare: Reportcard2006
Evidence-based/Outcomes-based ……………….………...... DPay-for-performance ………………………………………….… DIS/IT (general) ………………………………..………………..…. C-Use of information (for decisionmaking-measurement) .… C-EMR (Electronic Medical Records) ……………………..….... C-/DCPOE (Computerized Physician Order Entry) ……….……. C-/DQuality/100K+ unnecessary deaths …………..……… D-(kind)Acute care to chronic care-home care shift ………….….... D/D-Acute-care to Prevention/Wellness Obsession…..… D/D-Patient-centric/Client-centric………………………………….. DDocs’ acceptance of “evidence-based” …………............… D/D-“Revolutionary”-intensity Incentives re evidence …..……. D-Childhood obesity epidemic …………………………….. D-H5N1 preparedness ………………………………….…….. D
Corporate focus on Prevention/Wellness…………..…..…..... C-/DIndividual focus on Prevention/Wellness…………………..… DIndividuals’ health education/self-management …….…...…. C-
Workforce acceptance of self-responsibility ….…….…...….. C-Workforce transition to “Brand You” attitude……..……..….. C-/D
3 March 2006/Tom Peters
“If God spoke to me by saying, ‘Mark, you’re down to your last three words: What would you want to say to
your fellow humans that would make the most positive impact?’ It would be a close call between Love Thy
Neighbor and Wash Your Hands . A close third would be Move,
Move, Move.” —Mark Pettus, M.D., The Savvy Patient
“The most important thing you can do to keep
from getting sick is to wash your hands. ” —CDC/National Center for Infectious Diseases
Childhood Obesity > Terrorism
Source: Mike Levitt
The Irreducible20
9
188. Handshake. (Quantity. Quality.)189. Don’t fold your hands in front of your chest. Ever. (Never.)190. Simplicity. Redundancy. Resilience. Bloody-mindedness. Visible optimism. (Success.) (Repeat.)
191. Employee Entrance = Guest Entrance.192. Put the customer SECOND. (Thanks, Hal.)193. Flowers. (Or did I say that before? No matter if I did.)194. Big Mergers don’t work. Small acquisitions can/do work—if you don’t screw with their energy.
EXCELLENCE.
4/40.
Pathetic!
“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
“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
Rate of Leaving F500
1970-1990: 4XSource: The Company, John Micklethwait & Adrian Wooldridge
(1974-200: One-half biggest 100 disappear)
Exit, Stage Right …
CEO “departure” rate, 1995-2004:
+300%Source: Booz Allen Hamilton (per USA Today/06.13.05)
“When asked to name just one big merger that had lived up to expectations, Leon
Cooperman, former cochairman of Goldman Sachs’ Investment Policy
Committee, answered: I’m sure there are success
stories out there, but at this moment I
draw a blank.” —Mark
Sirower, The Synergy Trap
“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
Rate of Leaving F500
1970-1990: 4XSource: The Company, John Micklethwait & Adrian Wooldridge
(1974-200: One-half biggest 100 disappear)
Exit, Stage Right …
CEO “departure” rate, 1995-2004:
+300%Source: Booz Allen Hamilton (per USA Today/06.13.05)
“Almost every personal friend I have in the world works on Wall Street. You can buy and sell the same company six times and everybody makes
money, but I’m not sure we’re actually
innovating. … Our challenge is
to take nanotechnology into the future, to do
personalized medicine …” —Jeff Immelt/2005
“I don’t believe in
economies of scale. You don’t get better by being bigger. You get worse.” —
Dick Kovacevich/Wells Fargo/Forbes/08.04 (ROA: Wells, 1.7%; Citi, 1.5%; BofA, 1.3%;
J.P. Morgan Chase, 0.9%)
Scale?
“Microsoft’s Struggle With
Scale” —Headline, FT, 09.2005
“Troubling Exits at Microsoft” —Cover Story, BW, 09.2005
“Too Big to Move Fast?” —Headline, BW, 09.2005
Bacteria. (“Left tail” limits.)
Productivity of small.Failure rate of Big Mergers.
Failure rate of Big Companies.Terrorists.
Galbraith vs Hayek.
EXCELLENCE.
4/40.
4/40
De-cent-ral-iz-a-tion!
“‘Decentralization’ is not a piece of paper. It’s not me. It’s either in
your heart, or not.”
—Brian Joffe/BIDvest
“HOW THE COAST GUARD GETS IT RIGHT” —Headline, Time, 10.31.2005
*Autonomy*Flexibility*“Perhaps the most important distinction of the Coast Guard is that it trusts itself”
Ex-e-cu-
tion!
“Ninety percent of what we call
‘management’ consists of making
it difficult for people to get
things done.” – Peter Drucker
TP/BW on BigCo Sin #1:
“too much talk, too little do”
“Execution is the job of
the business leader.” —Larry Bossidy & Ram
Charan/ Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
“Execution is a
systematic process of rigorously
discussing hows and whats, tenaciously following through, and
ensuring accountability.” —Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/ Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
“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
“While many people big oil finds with big companies, over the years
about 80 percent of the oil found in the United States has been
brought in by wildcatters such as Mr Findley, says Larry Nation,
spokesman for the American Association of Petroleum
Geologists.” —WSJ, “Wildcat Producer Sparks Oil
Boom in Montana,” 04.05.2006
A man approached JP Morgan, held up an envelope, and said, “Sir, in my hand I hold a guaranteed formula for success, which I will
gladly sell you for $25,000.”
“Sir,” JP Morgan replied, “I do not know what is in the envelope, however if you show me, and I like it, I give you my word as a
gentleman that I will pay you what you ask.”
The man agreed to the terms, and handed over the envelope.JP Morgan opened it, and extracted a single sheet of paper.
He gave it one look, a mere glance, then handed the piece of paper back to the gent.
And paid him the agreed-upon $25,000 …
1. Every morning, write a list of the things that need to be done that day.
2. Do them. Source: Hugh MacLeod/tompeters.com/NPR
“Never forget implementation
boys. In our work it’s what I call the ‘missing 98
percent’ of the client puzzle.” —Al
McDonald
Ex-e-cu-
tion!
“I saw that leaders placed too much emphasis on what some call ‘high-level strategy,’ on
intellectualizing and philosophizing, and not enough
on implementation. People would agree on a project or initiative—and then nothing
would come of it.” —Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
“The person who is a little less conceptual but is absolutely determined to succeed will usually find the
right people and get them together to achieve objectives. I’m not knocking education or looking for
dumb people. But if you have to choose between someone with a
staggering IQ and an elite education who’s gliding along,
and someone with a lower IQ but who is absolutely determined to succeed, you’ll always do better with the second person.” —Larry
Bossidy/Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
“You only find oil if
you drill wells.”
Source: The Hunters, by John Masters, Canadian O & G wildcatter
Ac-count-a-bil-ity!
“Realism is the heart of execution.”
—Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
“robust dialogue”
—Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/ Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
“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.
????????
Work Hard > Work Smart
“This [adolescent] incident [of getting from point A to point B] is notable not only because it underlines Grant’s fearless
horsemanship and his determination, but also it is the first known
example of a very important peculiarity of his character:
Grant had an extreme, almost phobic dislike of
turning back and retracing his steps. If he set out for somewhere, he would get
there somehow, whatever the difficulties that lay in his way. This idiosyncrasy would turn out to be one the factors that made him
such a formidable general. Grant would always, always press on—
turning back was not an option for him.”
—Michael Korda, Ulysses Grant
EXCELLENCE.
4/40.
DECENTRALIZATION.EXECUTION.
ACCOUTABILITY.6:15A.M.
EXCELLENCE.
LEADING.
Leadership23
Leadership23
1. Enthusiasm. Energy. Exuberance.2. Action. Execution.3. Tempo. Metabolism.4. Relentless.5. Master of Plan B.6. Accountability.7. Meritocracy.8. Leaders “do” people. Mentor. (“Success creation business.”)9. Women. Diversity.10. Integrity. Credibility. Humanity. Grace.11. Realism.12. Cause. Adventures. Quests.13. Legacy.14. Best story wins.15. On the edge. (“Wildest chimera of a moonstruck mind.”)16. “Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.”17. Different > Better. (“Only ones who do what we do.”)18. MBWA. Customer MBWA.19. Laughs.20. Repot. Curiosity. Why?21. You = Calendar. “To Don’t.” Two.22. Excellence. Always.23. Nelsonian! (“Other admirals more afraid of losing than anxious to win.”)
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 on Branson
EXCELLENCE.
STRETCH.
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
“Beware of the tyranny of making
Small Changes to Small
Things. Rather,
make Big Changes
to Big Things.”
—Roger Enrico, former Chairman, PepsiCo
“Reward excellent failures.
Punish mediocre
successes.”Phil Daniels, Sydney exec
EXCELLENCE.
STRETCH.
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!
Stay Hungry.
Stay Foolish.
Steve Jobs
EXCELLENCE.
TRANSCENDENCE.THRILLS.
Synonyms
PurityTranscendence
VirtueEleganceMajesty
Antonyms
Mediocrity
Insanely Great Language!
“Insanely Great.”
—Steve Jobs
Radically Thrilling Language!
“Radically Thrilling.”
—BMW Z4 (ad)
“Astonish me!” /S.D.
“Build something great!” /H.Y.
“Make it immortal!” /D.O.
Gaspworthy!
CTO**Chief Thrills Officer
CTO**Chief Transcendence Officer
Synonyms
PurityTranscendence
VirtueEleganceMajesty
Antonyms
Mediocrity
EXCELLENCE. WOW. NOW.
“It’s always
showtime.”
—David D’Alessandro, Career Warfare
“In classical times when Cicero had finished
speaking, the people said, ‘How well he spoke,’ but when Demosthenes had finished speaking,
they said, ‘Let us march.’” —Adlai Stevenson
CWO**Chief WOW Officer
!
C!O*Chief ! Officer
EXCELLE ALWAYS.
Let us march.
EXCELLE ALWAYS.
Bonus
The Irreducible209/
Sales122Tom Peters/04.10.2006
The Irreducible20
9
A frustrated participant at a seminar for investment bankers in Mauritius listened impatiently to my
explanation of differences of opinion among me, Mike Porter, Gary Hamel, Jim Collins, etc. Finally, he’d had
enough. “What, if anything,” he asked, “do you believe ‘for
sure’?” I mumbled something, but his query started rumbling around in my mind. Three days later,
wandering on a Sunday in London, the idea of “the irreducibles” occurred to
me—and I started jotting down notes on stuff I do indeed believe “for sure.” Before I knew it, a few days
later, the list had grown to 209 items. Hence “The Irreducible209” that follows.
Tom Peters
1. Hare 1, Tortoise 0. (Hare-y times.)2. Tempo. (O.O.D.A.)3. MBWA.4. Appreciation. (“Motivator” #1.) (Can’t be faked. Good.)5. Decency.6. Hurry.7. Time out.8. One matters. 9. Big change. Short time. (Alt not work.)10. Excellence. Always.11. Passion. Energy. Hustle. Enthusiasm. Exuberance. (Move mountains. No alt.)12. You must care.13. Emotion.14. Hard is soft. (Soft is hard.)
15. Men. Women. Different. Contend. Connect.16. Women. Buy. All. (RU listening?)17. Quality. (“Mind-blowing.” Beyond 6-Sigma.)18. Re-invent. Re-pot. (Required.)19. Jaywalk.20. Big change. Small # of people. (Always.)21. Experiment. Now.22. Failure. Normal. 23. Most failures, most success. (Fail. Forward. Fast.) 24. “Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.”25. Women leaders. (Altered times.) 26. Extremism. (Good business. Bad politics.)27. Innovation source. Only. Extreme irritation.28. Smile.
29. You must care.30. Mentor. (Highest ROI.)31. Best “roster” wins.32. Wow. (Okay in biz.)33. We all have customers. (Biz. Personal.)34. All contacts = Experiences.35. Cirque du Soleil. (Peerless.)36. Leaders create space for growth.37. Quests. (Only.)38. High aspirations, “high” results. (Self-fulfilling prophecy.)39. Attitude 1, Skills 0. (Mostly.) (Attitude 1, Skill 0.3?)40. Sometimes: Skill 1, Attitude 0.1.41. Must “love,” not “like.”42. Wegman’s.” (No excuses. “Mere” groceries.)43. Less than your best. Cheating.
44. Brand You. (No alt.)45. Self-sufficiency. (Biggest LT turn-on.)46. In the moment.47. The moment wins.48. Tomorrow = Never. 49. Action 1, Plan 0.1.50. “Execution” can be a “system.”51. Realism.52. Own up. Move on.53. Accountability.54. Work hard > Work smart. (Mostly.)55. Feedback. Necessary. Fast. (R.F.A. in “RFA times.”)56. Customers. Listen. Lead. (Paradox.)57. “On stage.” Always. (GW, FDR, RG = Supreme actors.)
58. Master statistical analysis.59. Excellence = Set the table.60. Legacy. (Will it have mattered?)61. “Great.” (Why not?)62. Radicals rule. (Think … Olympics.)63. !!! = Good.64. Red 1, Brown 0. (Red times.)65. Talk. Listen. (“Big 2.” Master.)66. Politics. (Normal-inevitable state of affairs. Master.)67. Student. Forever.68. “Why?” (Question #1.)69. Don’t belittle.70. Respect.71. All we have: this moment. (“Moments matter most”?) 72. Now. (Procrastination. Death.)
73. Exercise.74. Paint. (Leader. Portraits of Excellence.)75. Best story wins.76. “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”77. Two “big ones.” Max. (Priorities.)78. No “I” in Team. (“I” in Win.)79. “I” in Win. (No “I” in Team.)80. Different 1, Better 0. (Better = 0.1)81. Imitation = Mistake. (Learn, from who?)82. Choose/battle the “right” competitor.83. Schools. Creativity. Entrepreneurship. (Not.)84. MBAs. Creativity. Entrepreneurship. Leadership. (Not.)85. Design. Under-rated. Wildly. (Still.) (Everything.)
86. You = Calendar. (Calendar. Never. Lies.)87. Laugh.88. Handshake. (Quantity. Quality.)89. Don’t fold your hands in front of your
chest. Ever. (Never.)90. Grace. (“Works” in biz.)91. Weird. Wins. (Weird times.)92. Crazy times. Crazy orgs.93. Internet. All.94. Women. Boomers-Geezers. Market. All.95. Passion. (Repeat. So what?)96. Energy. (Repeat. So what?)97. Hustle. (Repeat. So what?)98. Enthusiasm. (Repeat. So what?)99. Exuberance. (Repeat. So what?)100. Smile. (Repeat. So what?)101. Care. (Repeat. So what?)
102. Simplicity. Redundancy. Resilience. Bloody- mindedness. Visible optimism. (Success.) 103. Act. (Repeat. So what?) 104. Appreciate. (Repeat. So what?)105. Fun. (Biz. Why not?)106. Joy. (Biz. Why not?)107. Sales = Life.108. Marketing = Life.109. Long-term. “Top line.”110. Great company = Creates the most individual success stories. (RE/MAX)111. Talent first, performance byproduct.112. Sustained Wow* 1, “Shareholder value,” 0.2 (*Product, People.)113. Commitment, by invitation only.114. Creativity, by invitation only. 115. HR = #1. (Ought to.)116. Face-to-face. (5K miles, 5 minutes.)
117. Negotiation. Make all winners. (Save face.)118. Grace makes enemies friends.119. Network.120. Invest in relationships. (Think ROIR. Return On Investment in Relationships.)118. Relationship investment. Forethought. Calendar item. Intensity.119. Innovation. Easy. (Hang out with weird.)120. Weird = Win. (Weird times.)121. “The bottleneck is at the top of the bottle.”122. Good Board = Weird Board. (At least, surprising.)123. No contention, no progress.
124. “Crucial conversations.” “Crucial confrontations.” (Study. Learn. Do.)125. Honest feedback.126. Gaspworthy. Yes. 127. “Insanely great.”128. “Astonish me.”129. “Make it immortal.”130. “Will you remember it in 20 years?”131. No small opportunities. (Reframe.)132. One playmate, one playpen = Enough.133. End run. Sensible.134. Allies are there for the finding.135. Find successes. Build on successes. (Pos > Neg. Encourage > Fix.)136. Somebody’s doing it today. Find ’em.137. Someone is living 2016 in 2006. (Find ’em. Study ’em.)
138. Don’t “benchmark,” “futuremark.” (2016. Happening. Somewhere.)139. “PMA.” It works.140. There are no experts. (You are the expert.)141. Life is short. 142. “Sustained success.” Fat chance. Make today matter. (“Sustained.” Ha.)143. Collaborate. (Networked world.)144. Go solo. (Individual. Unit of Intellectual Capital.)145. There are no “perfect” plans. (Do. Wins.)146. Plans motivate. (Right or wrong. Sense of purpose.)147. Never rest.148. Get some sleep.149. Winning = Embracing paradox.150. Ambiguity = Opportunity.
151. Resilience.152. Relentless-ness.153. None. Above. Comeuppance. (GM. Sears. U.S. Steel. DEC.)154. Be yourself. Period.155. Never work with jerks. Including customers. (Life. Too short.)156. Under-promise, over-deliver.157. Talent. (Powerful word.)158. “Customer = Anyone whose actions affect your results.”159. Competition stinks. (Seek the soft spots where you can dominate.)160. K.I.S.S./Keep It Simple, Stupid.161. Beauty. (Good biz word.)162. “See the beauty in a hamburger bun.” (Go. Ray.)
163. Own up. Quick. ( Denial. Cancer.)164. Celebrate. Often.165. 78 people = 78 approaches. (Each. Unique.)166. Weed. Ceaselessly. (Prune. Stupid. Rules. Non-stop.)167. Get out of the way. (You = The problem.)168. Smile. Sunny. Optimism. (If it kills you.)169. Flowers. (Cheery workplace.)170. Enjoy. (Or get the hell.)171. Be intolerant of “sour.” (1 = Major pollution)172. No “quick trigger” on promotion. (Too important.)173. Evaluation = Lots of study-time.174. Evaluation = “Life or death” to evaluee.175. “360” evaluation. No fad.176. Exit when you’re done. (Done. Sooner than you think.)
177. Today. Now. My Project. Am. Is. I. Period.178. “Beautiful” systems. (Good biz phrase. Not oxymoron.)179. Build on strengths > Fix weaknesses.180. “To don’t” = “To do.” (“To don’t” > “To do” ?)181. Leaders “Do” People. (Period.)182. Leaders enjoy leading.183. Serious leadership training = Serious.184. Priorities. Obvious. (Or else.)185. 5 “Priorities” = 0 Priorities. (3 “Priorities” = 0 Priorities?)186. People. First. Last. Always.187. It. Is. Always. The. People.
188. Handshake. (Quantity. Quality.)189. Don’t fold your hands in front of your chest. Ever. (Never.)190. Simplicity. Redundancy. Resilience. Bloody-mindedness. Visible optimism. (Success.) (Repeat.)191. Employee Entrance = Guest Entrance.192. Put the customer SECOND. (Thanks, Hal.)193. Flowers. (Or did I say that before? No matter if I did.)194. Big Mergers don’t work. Small acquisitions can/do work—if you don’t screw with their energy.
195. Instinctively “head for the front line.” (In all contexts.)196. Success = DDMMPR/"D-squared, M-squared, PR” = DramDiff + Money-Financial Acumen + Good “Marketing” Instincts + Stellar People + Resilience (The “fab five”: What. Every. Small. Biz. Needs.) (Big too.)197. Core Mechanism (“Game-changing Solutions”): PSF (Professional Service Firm “model”) + Wow! Projects (“Different” vs “Better”) + Brand You (“Distinct” or “Extinct”)198. 2011/2016 has already happened. Find it.
199. Kids “know” kids. Oldies “know” oldies. Women “know” women. (Staff accordingly.)200. Everybody is my customer.201. Cosset “vendors.”202. I want to run a Housekeeping department. (And you?)203. The military doesn’t follow the “military model.” (Initiative = Excellence.)204. No such thing as “going to absurd lengths” to serve the Customer. (HSM & Lefties.)205. Forget the “customer.” All = “Clients.”206. It takes decades to get over “sleights.” (So don’t sleight.)207. Don’t “dumb down.” Ever.
208. NO LESS THAN EXCELLENCE. EVER.209. EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.
Work In Progress
XXX. One size fits. One. Only. (Evaluations. Period.)XXX. Teaching. Individualized. Only. (6 billion people = 6 billion learning trajectories.) (Montessori.)XXX. First impression. Matters. Shapes all that comes. Hard to overcome. (Understatement.)XXX. Jerks. Don’t work with. (Life = Too short.)XXX. Manage [the hell out of] first impressions.XXX. Last impression. Matters. Dominates memory. Hard to overcome. (Understatement.)XXX. Manage [the hell out of] last impressions.XXX. Plain English.XXX. K.I.S.S. (450/8.)XXX. $798. $55,000,000,000. 3,000,000,000. 7AM-7PM. 6:15AM.XXX. Donnelly Weatherstrip rules.XXX. Managers do things right. Leaders do the right thing. NOT.
GE (more or less):
The Sales122: 122 Ridiculously Obvious Thoughts About Selling Stuff
Tom Peters/0402.2006
This list was first prepared for GE Energy sales & marketing people in January 2006. It started with a half-dozen items, and grew like Topsy.
Possibly, given its origins, it’s a little tilted toward complex, engineering-based sales. In any event, it makes a
perfect companion to “The Irreducibles209.” This, too, is
effectively a list of “irreducibles.”
Tom Peters
1. “Strategy” overrated, simply “doin’ stuff” underrated. See Kelleher and Bossidy: “We have a ‘strategic plan,’ it’s called doing things.”—Herb Kelleher. “Execution is a systematic process of rigorously discussing hows and whats, tenaciously following through, and ensuring accountability.” —Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/ Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done. Action has its own logic—ask Genghis Khan, Rommel, COL John Boyd, U.S. Grant, Patton, W.T. Sherman.2. What are you personally great at? (Key word: “great.”) Play to strengths! “Distinct or Extinct.” You should aim to be “outrageously good”/B.I.W. at a niche area (or more).3. Are you a “personality,” a de facto “brand” in the industry? The Dr Phil of ...4. Opportunism (with a little forethought) mostly wins. (“Successful people are the ones who are good at Plan B.”)5. Little starts can lead to big wins. Most true winners—think search & Google—start as something small. Many big deals—Disney & Pixar—could have been done as little-er deals if you’d had the guts to jump before the value became obvious.
6. Non-obvious targets have great potential. Among many other things, everybody goes after the obvious ones. Also, the “non-obvious” are often good Partners for technology experiments.7. The best relationships are often (usually?) not “top to top”! (Often the best: hungry division GMs eager to make a mark.)8. IT’S RELATIONSHIPS, STUPID—DEEP AND FROM MULTIPLE FUNCTIONS.9. In any public-sector business, you must become an avid student of “the politics,” the incentives and constraints, mostly non-economic, facing all of the players. Politicians are usually incredibly logical—if you (deeply!) understand the matrix in which they exist.10. Relationships from within our firm are as important—often more important—as those from outside—again broad is as important as deep. Allies—avid supporters!—within and from non-obvious places may be more important than relationships at the Client organization. Goal: an “insanely unfair ‘market share’” of insiders’ time devoted to your projects!
“Everyone lives by
selling something.”
—Robert Louis Stevenson
11. Interesting outsiders are essential to innovative proposal and sales teams. An “exciting” sales-proposal team is as important as a prestigious one.12. Is the proposal-sales team weird enough—weirdos come up with the most interesting, game-changer ideas. Period.13. Lunch with at least one weirdo per month. (Goal: always on the prowl for interesting new stuff.)14. Gratuitous comment: Lunches with good friends are typically a waste of (professional) time. 15. Don’t short-change (time, money, depth) the proposal process. Miss one tiny nuance, one potential incentive that “makes my day” for a key Client player—and watch the whole gig be torpedoed. 16. “Sticking with it” sometimes pays, sometimes not—it takes a lot of tries to forge the best path in. Sometimes you never do, after a literal lifetime. (Ah, life.)17. WOMEN ARE SIMPLY BETTER AT RELATIONSHIPS—don’t get hung up—particularly in tech firms—on what industries-countries “women can’t do.” (Or some such bullshit.)
18. Work incessantly on your “story”—most economic value springs from a good story (think Perrier)! In sensitive public or quasi-public negotiations, a compelling story is of immense value—politics is about the tension among competing stories. (If you don’t believe me, ask Karl Rove or James Carville.) (“Storytelling is the core of culture.” —Branded Nation: The Marketing of Megachurch, College Inc., and Museumworld, James Twitchell)19. Call this 18A, or 18 repeat: Become a first-rate Storyteller! (“A key – perhaps the key – to leadership is the effective communication of a story.”—Howard Gardner, Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership)20. Risk Assessment & Risk Management is more about stories than advanced math—i.e., brilliant scenario construction.21. Good listeners are good sales people. Period.22. Lousy listeners are lousy sales people. Period. 23. GREAT LISTENERS ARE GREAT SALES PEOPLE. (Listening “skills” are hard to learn and subject to immense effort in pursuit of Mastery. A virtuoso “listener” is as rare as a virtuoso cello player.) (“If you don’t listen, you don’t sell anything.”—Carolyn Marland/MD/Guardian Group)
24. Things that are funny to me (American) are often-mostly not funny to those in other cultures. (Humor is as fine-edged as it gets, and rarely travels.)25. You don’t know Jack Squat about other peoples’ cultures—especially if you are a typically myopic American. (Like me.)26. Are you a great interviewer? It’s a make or break skill. (Think Barbara Walters’ skill at extracting unwanted truths from pros in persona-protection ... in front of 10s of millions of people.27. Are you a great (not merely “good”) presenter? Mastering presentation skills is a life’s work—with stupendous payoff.28. Work like hell on the Big 2: LISTENING/INTERVIEWING, PRESENTING. These are “the essence of [sales] life”—and usually picked-up in an amateurish fashion. Mistake! (Become a “professional student” of these two areas, achieve Mastery.)29. Are you good at flowers? Think: FLOWER POWER! (see Harvey Mackay’s “Mackay 66”—what you should know about a Client; e.g., birthdays & anniversaries.) (My “flowers budget” is out of control. Hooray for me.)30. You can’t do it all—be clear at what you are good at, bad at, indifferent at. Hubris sucks.
“If you don’t listen,
you don’t sellanything.”
—Carolyn Marland/Managing Director/
Guardian Group
31. The point is not to “prove yourself.” (That’s ego-talk.) Let the best person present to the Client—perhaps a “lower level” geek. (“Control freaks” get their just desserts in the long haul—or sooner.)32. The numbers will more or less take care of themselves over the long haul—if the relationship/s is/are solid gold.33. The Gold Standard in selling: INDISPENSABLE to the Client. No other goal is worthy.34. Never stop growing-broadening-deepening the relationship. The key to “indispensability” is to get the Client more and more … and more … and then more … imbedded in “our” web. Hence the so-called “selling process” is only the first step!35. USE THE WORD “WE” … CONSTANTLY & RELIGIOUSLY! (E.g.: “We”—the Client & me—“are going to change the world with this service.”)36. Don’t waste your time on jerks—it’ll rarely work out in the mid- to long-term.37. Genius is walking away from lousy “scores” (deals)—and accepting the attendant heat. Big Business is the premier home to Big Egos overpaying by a factor of 2 to 22 with billion$$$$ at stake. (Think Jerry Levin and AOL Time Warner.)
38. You haven’t a clue as to how this situation will actually play out—be prepared to move fast in a different direction.39. Keep your word.40. KEEP YOUR WORD.41. Underpromise (i.e., don’t over-promise; i.e., cut yourself a little slack) even if it costs you business—winning is a long-term affair. Over-promising is Sign #1 of a lack of integrity. You will pay the piper. 42. There is such a thing as a “good loss”—if you’ve tested something new and developed good relationships. A half-dozen honorable, ingenious losses over a two-year period can pave the way for a Big Victory in a New Space in year 3.43. It’s a competitive world out there. New, innovative products are harder to sell than old stand-bys. Nonetheless, you will be a long-term star to the extent that you are willing to push the harder-to-sell-at-the-moment Innovative Products that cement long-term Client success (Indispensability!) —even if it means a #s hit this quarter. PART OF YOUR JOB: TAKE CLIENTS ON AN ADVENTURE THAT PUTS THEM AHEAD OF THE GAME CALLED (GAMECHANGING—hopefully) COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE!
44. Think “legacy”—what the hell is all this really about for you and the world? (“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” —Mary Oliver)45. THERE ARE NO “MODERATES” IN THE HISTORY BOOKS! 46. Keep it simple! (Damn it!) No matter how “sophisticated” the product. If you can’t explain it in a phrase, a page, or to your 14-year-old ... you haven’t got it right yet.47. Know more than the next guy. Homework pays. (of course it’s obvious—but in my work it is too often honored in the breach.)48. Regardless of project size, winning or losing invariably hinges on a raft of “little stuff.” Little stuff is and always has been everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!—or, “one man’s little stuff is another man’s 7.6 Richter deal-breaker.”49. In public settings in particular, face saving is all. When something changes, allow the other guy to come out looking like a winner, especially if he has lost. (Even if you must accept the egg on your face—he will always remember you!)50. Don’t hold grudges. (It is the ultimate in small mindedness—and incredibly wasteful and ineffective. There’s always tomorrow.)
51. IT’S ALWAYS “THE POLITICS”—wee private-sector deal or giant public sector deal. (Every player, small or large, is angling for something. Master the calculus of advantage.)52. To beat the “turnover problem” in key Client posts amidst long negotiations, invest outrageous amounts of time building a wide & deep set of relationships with mid-level (& lower!!) “plodding” “careerists.” The invisible careerists are the bedrock upon which repeated success is built! (My “Capitol Hill Axiom”: It’s the 24-year-old LA who in the end briefs the Senator right before she goes to the Floor to vote.)53. Speaking of “she”: Gender differences are Enormous—dealing with a woman and dealing with a man are different kettles of fish—you must become an A+ student of gender differences. (E.g.: Men are typically more interested in the short-term “score.” Women are more interested in the long-term consequences.) 54. “LITTLE PEOPLE” OFTEN HAVE BIG FRIENDS.55. This is not war, damn it. All parties can win (or not lose, anyway). And losing bidders can walk away from a deal with increased respect for you and your team.
56. Never, ever dump on a competitor—the Tom Watson IBM glory-days mantra.57. Never forget the “Law of Cousins!” In developing nations in particular, power brokers at all levels are at least cousins! Consideration for a second cousin can pay off big time.58. Speaking of “favors,” jail sucks.59. Work hard beats work smart. (Mostly.)60. REPEAT: HE/SHE WHO HAS THE MOST-BEST RELATIONSHIPS WINS. RELATIONSHIPS ARE THE ESSENCE OF THE WORK OF THE SALESPERSON. THE HARD ... AND LONG ... WORK OF THE SALESPERSON. 61. Mano v mano “hardball” is seldom the answer—end runs based and patient multi-level relationship building via deeper-wider networks win. 62. If the deal is wired from below, truly wired, than the so-called “big negotiations” are essentially irrelevant.63. If every quarter is a “little better” than the prior quarter—then you are not taking any serious risks. 64. Phones beat email.
“Nothing is so
contagious asenthusiasm.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
65. A THREE-MINUTE CALL TODAY CAN AVOID A GAME-LOSER OF A FIASCO NEXT MONTH. There was always a time when a little thing could have been addressed that headed off a subsequent big thing. As to avoiding that call, didn’t someone say, “Pride goeth before the fall”?66. Be hyper-organized about relationship management—you are in the anthropology business. Study the great pols! Brilliant NRM (network relationship management) is not accidental! It is not catch-as-catch can. (Football analogies are cute—but deep political understanding pays the private-school tuition.)67. Obsess on ROIR (Return On Investment In Relationships).68. “THANK YOU” NOTES: World’s highest-return investment!!69. The way to anyone’s heart: Doing a nice thing for their kid. (But, gawd, does this take a gentle touch.)70. Scoring off other people is stupid. Winners are always in the business of creating the maximum # of winners—among adversaries at least as much as among “partners.”71. Your colleagues’ successes are your successes. Period. (Trust me, my greatest personal success—financially as well as artistically—has been creating a bigger pond in which everyone wins, even if my “market share” is down.)
72. Lend a helping hand, especially when you don’t have the time. E.g. share relationships—the more you give away the more you get in return (just like they say in church). 73. Listen up: “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. (I.e., Respect is Cool.)74. Mentoring is a thrill—and the practical payoff is enormous. The best mentors have the whole world working its buns off for them!75. Hire for enthusiasm. Promote for enthusiasm. Cherish enthusiasm. REMOVE NON-ENTHUSIASTS—THEY ARE CANCERS. (“Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.”—Samuel Taylor Coleridge. “A man without a smiling face must not open a shop.”—Chinese Proverb.)76. IT’S ALWAYS YOUR PROBLEM—you sold it to them.
77. It’s never over: While there may be an excellent service activity in your company, the “relationship” belongs to You! Hence the “aftersales” “moments of truth” are at least as—if not more than*--important to the Continuing Relationship as the sale “transaction” itself. (*I vote for “more than.”) You’ll get your biggest “points” with the Client for being an effective after-the-fact go-between with your company.78. Don’t get too hung up on “systems integration”—first & foremost, the individual bits have got to work.79. For God’s sake don’t over promise on “systems integration”—it’s nigh on impossible to deliver.80. On the other hand … winners clamber Up the Value-added Ladder, and offer ever so much more than “mere” product. ALL SUCCESSFUL SALES PEOPLE ARE IN THE “SOLUTIONS BUSINESS”—no matter how jargony that may sound.
81. “Systems” / “Solutions” selling means grappling directly with “culture change” in Client organizations. (“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”—Jeff Thull, The Prime Solution: Close the Value Gap, Increase Margins, and Win the Complex Sale) 82. Shit happens. That’s what they pay you for.83. This is not a “GE” or “Ben & Jerry’s” sale—it is a Joe Jones/Jane Jones sale. YOU ARE THE “BRAND” THE CLIENT BUYS—especially over the long haul.84. Duh: You make money, the company makes money—on repeat business.85. Master—yes, you—the “PR” Game. “Word of Mouth” is not accidental! You want Word of Mouth? Make it happen! 86. GOAL #1: MAKE YOUR CLIENT A HERO—YOU ARE NOT THERE TO GET CREDIT. (“Taking credit” is for egomaniacs. And losers.)87. “Decent margins,” over the mid- to long-term, are a product of better relationships, not better “negotiating skill.” (Mostly.)
“You can’t behavein a calm, rationalmanner. You’ve
got to be out there on
the lunatic fringe.”
—Jack Welch
88. In the immortal words of ex-GE Vice Chairman Larry Bossidy, more or less, “Realism rocks.” (“Bullshit artist” and “great salesperson,” contrary to conventional wisdom, are Diametric Opposites. “Truthteller” and Great Salesperson is more like it.)89. Be the first to tell the Client bad news (e.g., slipped delivery); his intelligence sources will tell him fast—you want to be there first with your story and to enhance your rep as Truthteller!90. Work like hell to get a reputation as a valued industry expert, to become an industry resource.91. Work the Trade Association angle for all its worth—it may take a decade to pay off—e.g., when you become an officer or are on an important panel or testify Before Congress.92. PAY YOUR DUES IN THE CLIENT ORG AND IN YOUR OWN ORG!93. It’s all bloody tactics.94. You must ... LOVE .... the product! (Period.)95. YOU MUST LOVE THE PRODUCT!96. Don’t over-schedule. “Running late” is inexcusable at any level of seniority; it is the ultimate mark of self-importance mixed with contempt.
97. Women are better salespeople. (See Addendum.)98. Women alone understand Women.99. Actually, Women by and large understand Men better than Men understand Men.100.Women purchasers buy Stories and recommendations.101. Women take longer to become Loyal purchasers, but then stay Loyal.102. Men buy Stats.103. Men decide fast, but are fickle.104. Men & Women are … VERY, VERY … Different.105. Women buy most things. Consumer. Increasingly, professional goods and services.106. Women’s Market is Opportunity #1.107. Boomers. Many, many. Lots & lots & lots of … $$$.108. Boomers-Geezers are very different purchasers than those in other categories.
109. It takes time to get to know people. (DUH.)110. The very idea of “efficiency” in relationship development is ... STUPID.111. MBWA (still) rules.112. “Preparing the soil” is the “first 98 percent.” (Or more.)113. WORK THE PHONES!114. Rule 5K-5M: 5K miles for a 5-Minute meeting often makes sense. (Yes, often.) (Even with constrained travel budgets.) (Thanks, super-agent Mark McCormack.)115. Become a student! Study great salespeople! (Including Presidents.) (“Natural” is a little bit true—but then Naturals are always the ones who study hardest—e.g., Jerry Rice.)116. Become a student! Yes, you can study Relationship Building. So, study … 117. Beware complexifiers and complicators. (Truly “smart people” ... Simplify things.)
118. The smartest guy in the room rarely wins—alas, he usually is aware he’s the smartest guy. (And needn’t waste his time on that “soft relationship crap.”)119. Be kind. It works.120. Be especially kind when there are screw-ups. (There’s plenty of time later to Play the Great Accountability Game.)121. Presidents never tire of being treated like Presidents.
122. Luck matters. So: Good luck!
ADDENDUM: Women Rock … as Salespersons (From Item #98.)
And the answers are?
“TAKE THIS QUICK QUIZ: Who manages more things at once? Who puts more effort into their appearance? Who usually takes care of the details? Who finds it easier to meet new people? Who asks more questions in a conversation? Who is a better listener? Who has more interest in communication skills? Who is more inclined to get involved? Who encourages harmony and agreement? Who has better intuition? Who works with a longer ‘to do’ list? Who enjoys a recap to the day’s events? Who is better at keeping in touch with others?”
Source: Selling Is a Woman’s Game: 15 Powerful Reasons Why Women Can Outsell Men, Nicki Joy & Susan Kane-Benson
EXCELLENCE.
ALWAYS.