Transcript Tom Peters’ Excellence. Always. Trinity University Policy Maker Breakfast 20 March 2009 To appreciate this presentation [and ensure that it is not a mess], you need Microsoft fonts: NOTE: “Showcard.

Tom Peters’
Excellence.
Always.
Trinity University
Policy Maker Breakfast
20 March 2009
To appreciate
this presentation [and ensure
that it is not a mess], you need
Microsoft fonts:
NOTE:
“Showcard Gothic,”
“Ravie,” “Chiller”
and “Verdana”
“It suddenly
occurred to me …
“It suddenly
occurred to me that
in the space of two
or three hours he
never talked
about cars.”
—Les Wexner
“Tom, let
me tell you the definition of a
good lending officer. After
church on Sunday, on the way
home with his family, he takes
a little detour to drive by the
factory he just lent money to.
Doesn’t go in or any such
thing, just drives by and takes
a look.”
Message from a banker, circa 1988:
“Managers have lost dignity over the
past decade in the face of wide spread
institutional breakdown of trust and
self-policing in business. To regain
society’s trust, we believe that business
leaders must embrace a way of looking
at their role that goes beyond their
responsibility to the shareholders to
include a civic and personal
commitment to their duty as
institutional custodians. In other
words, it is time hat management
became a profession.” —Rakesh Khurana &
Nitin Nohria, “It’s ime To Make Management a True Profession,”
HBR/10.08
“Too Much Cost, Not Enough Value” … “Too
Much Speculation, Not Enough Investment” …
“Too Much Complexity, Not Enough Simplicity”
… “Too Much Counting, Not Enough Trust” …
“Too Much Business Conduct, Not Enough
Professional Conduct” … “Too Much
Salesmanship, Not Enough Stewardship” …
“Too Much Focus on Things, Not Enough Focus
on Commitment” … “Too Many Twenty-first
Century Values, Not Enough EighteenthCentury Values” … “Too Much ‘Success,’ Not
Enough Character”
—chapter titles from John Bogle,
Enough. The Measures of Money, Business, and Life (Bogle is
founder of the Vanguard Mutual Fund Group)
“I am often asked by would-be entrepreneurs
seeking escape from life within huge corporate
structures, ‘How do I build a small firm for
Buy
a very large one
and just wait.”
myself?’ The answer seems obvious:
—Paul Ormerod, Why Most Things Fail:
Evolution, Extinction and Economics
“Data drawn from the real world
attest to a fact that is beyond
Everything
in existence tends
to deteriorate.”
our control:
—Norberto Odebrecht, Education Through Work
#4 Japan
#2T USA
#2T China
#4 Japan
#3 USA
#2 China
#1 Germany
Reason!!!
Mittelstand
Jim’s Mowing Canada
Jim’s Mowing UK
Jim’s Antennas
Jim’s Bookkeeping
Jim’s Building Maintenance
Jim’s Carpet Cleaning
Jim’s Car Cleaning
Jim’s Computer Services
Jim’s Dog Wash
Jim’s Driving School
Jim’s Fencing
Jim’s Floors
Jim’s Painting
Jim’s Paving
Jim’s Pergolas [gazebos]
Jim’s Pool Care
Jim’s Pressure Cleaning
Jim’s Roofing
Jim’s Security Doors
Jim’s Trees
Jim’s Window Cleaning
Jim’s Windscreens
Note: Download, free, Jim Penman’s book:
What Will They Franchise Next? The Story of Jim’s Group
*Basement Systems Inc.
*Larry Janesky
*Dry Basement Science
(115,000!)
*1990: $0; 2003: $13M;
2007:
$62,000,000
The “Unlucky Thirteen”:
Big companies!
Public companies!
“Cool” industries!
Stability!
Famous CEOs!
“Hard” stuff!
Plans!
“Success”!
Men!
Young!
Incrementalism-Kaizen
Minimization!
Uniformity!
The “Lucky Thirteen”:
SMEs!
Private companies!
“Dull” industries!
Churn!
laudable CEOs!
“Soft” stuff!
Excellence!
Action-Execution!
Women!
Boomers-Geezers!
Imagination Unbound!
Accentuate the Positive!
Individuality!
Conrad Hilton, at a gala
celebrating his career,
was asked, “What was the
most important lesson
you’ve learned in your long
and distinguished career?”
His immediate answer …
“remember
to tuck the
shower curtain
inside the
bathtub”
“Execution
is strategy.”
—Fred Malek
MBWA
CBVA*
*Command By Visiting About/U.S. Grant/circa 1865
(“In these days of telegraph and steam I can command
while traveling and visiting about.”)
1982
Excellence1982: The Bedrock “Eight Basics”
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
A Bias for Action
Close to the Customer
Autonomy and Entrepreneurship
Productivity Through People
Hands On, Value-Driven
Stick to the Knitting
Simple Form, Lean Staff
Simultaneous Loose-Tight
Properties”
“Breakthrough” 82*
People!
Customers!
Action!
Values!
*In Search of Excellence
Hard Is Soft
Soft Is Hard
Hard Is Soft (Plans, #s)
Soft Is Hard (people,
customers, values,
relationships))
“The 7-S Model”
Strategy
Structure
Systems
Style
Skills
Staff
Super-ordinate goal
“The 7-S Model”
“Hard S’s”
(Strategy, Structure, Systems)
“Soft S’S”
(Style, Skills, Staff, Super-ordinate goal)
“The 7-S Model”
Strategy
Structure
Systems
Style (Corporate “Culture,” “The way
we do things around here”)
Skills (“Distinctive Competence/s)
Staff (People-Talent)
Super-ordinate goal (Vision,
Core Values)
“If I could have chosen not to tackle the IBM
culture head-on, I probably wouldn’t have. My
bias coming in was toward strategy, analysis and
measurement. In comparison, changing the
attitude and behaviors of hundreds of thousands
[Yet] I
came to see in my time at
IBM that culture isn’t
just one aspect of the
game—it is the game.”
of people is very, very hard.
—Lou Gerstner, Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance
2007
Siberia
Why in the
World did you
go to Siberia?
An
emotional, vital, innovative,
joyful, creative,
entrepreneurial endeavor
that elicits maximum
Enterprise* ** (*at its best):
concerted human
potential in the
wholehearted service of
others.**
**Employees, Customers, Suppliers, Communities, Owners, Temporary partners
2007
Sydney
Organizations exist
to serve. Period.
Leaders live to
serve. Period.
“Leaders
‘SERVE’
people.
Period.”
—inspired by Robert Greenleaf
… no less than
Cathedrals in
which the full and awesome
power of the Imagination and
Spirit and native
Entrepreneurial flair of
diverse individuals is
unleashed in passionate
pursuit of … Excellence.
“We are a
‘Life Success’
Company.”
Dave Liniger, founder, RE/MAX
“Managing winds up being
the management of the
allocation of resources
against tasks. Leadership
focuses on people. My
definition of a leader is
someone who helps people
succeed.” —Carol Bartz, Yahoo!
The Dream Manager
—Matthew Kelly
“An organization can only become the-best-version-of-itself to
the extent that the people who drive that organization are
striving to become better-versions-of-themselves.” “A
company’s purpose is to become the-best-version-of-itself. The
What is an employee’s purpose?
Most would say, ‘to help the company
achieve its purpose’—but they would be
wrong. That is certainly part of the
employee’s role, but an employee’s
primary purpose is to become the-bestversion-of-himself or –herself. … When a
question is:
company forgets that it exists to serve customers, it quickly
Our employees are our first
customers, and our most important customers.”
goes out of business.
“The role of the Director is to create a
space where the actors and
become more
than they’ve ever been
before, more than
they’ve dreamed of
being.”
actresses can
—Robert Altman, Oscar acceptance speech
“No matter what the situation,
[the great manager’s] first response is
always to think about the
individual concerned and how
things can be arranged to help
that individual experience
success.” —Marcus Buckingham,
The One Thing You Need to Know
“The four most important
words in any
organization
‘What do
you think?’ ”
are …
Source: courtesy Dave Wheeler, posted at
tompeters.com, source of original unknown (0609.08)
“The deepest
human need is
the need to be
appreciated.”
William James
“Buy in”“Ownership”Authorial bragging
rights-“Born again”
Champion = One
Line of Code!
"Trust the
development
experts—all
seven billion of
them.”
—headline, Financial Times,
0529.08, to an article by development guru William Easterly,
commenting negatively on the World Bank Growth
Commission’s recent report that concludes, in effect,
“trust the World Bank experts”
“It was much later that I realized
Dad’s secret. He gained respect by
giving it. He talked and listened to
the fourth-grade kids in Spring Valley
who shined shoes the same way he
talked and listened to a bishop or a
He was
seriously interested in
who you were and what
you had to say.”
college president.
Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Respect
“Don’t
belittle!”
—OD Consultant
“You have to
treat your
employees like
customers.”
—Herb Kelleher,
complete answer, upon being asked his “secrets to success”
Source: Joe Nocera, NYT, “Parting Words of an Airline Pioneer,” on the occasion of
Herb Kelleher’s retirement after 37 years at Southwest Airlines (SWA’s pilots union
took out a full-page ad in USA Today thanking HK for all he had done; across the
way in Dallas American Airlines’ pilots were picketing the Annual Meeting)
The Customer
Comes Second
—Hal Rosenbluth and Diane McFerrin Peters* (*no relation)
“Business has to give
people enriching,
rewarding lives,
or it's simply not
worth doing.” —Richard Branson
“How to flush
$500,000 down
the toilet in one
easy lesson!!”
TP:
< CAPEX
> People!
Wegmans
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
Brand =
Talent.
Ben
Changes His
BHAG!*
*Big Hairy Audacious Goal/Collins
Profitable
“We are
thoughtful
in all we do.”
Thoughtfulness is key to customer retention.
Thoughtfulness is key to employee recruitment
and satisfaction.
Thoughtfulness is key to brand perception.
Thoughtfulness is key to your ability to look in
the mirror—and tell your kids about your job.
“Thoughtfulness is free.”
Thoughtfulness is key to speeding things up—
it reduces friction.
Thoughtfulness is key to transparency and even
cost containment—it abets rather than stifles
truth-telling.
none!
139,380 former
patients from 225 hospitals:
Press Ganey Assoc:
none
of THE top 15 factors
determining Patient Satisfaction
referred to patient’s health outcome
P.S. directly related to Staff Interaction
P.P.S. directly correlated with Employee
Satisfaction
Source: Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
“Kindness
is free.”
“Development can help great
but if
I had a dollar to
spend, I’d spend 70
cents getting the
right person in the
door.” —
people be even better—
Paul Russell, Director, Leadership &
Development, Google
the
most important
aspect of business
“In short, hiring is
and yet remains woefully
misunderstood.”
Source: Wall Street Journal, 10.29.08,
review of Who: The A Method for Hiring,
Geoff Smart and Randy Street
#1.
Strategic.
Priority.
Period.
#1 cause of
Dis-satisfaction?
Employee retention & satisfaction:
Overwhelmingly,
based on the firstline manager!
Source: Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman, First, Break All
the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
2/year =
legacy.
“Diverse groups of problem solvers—groups
of people with diverse tools—consistently
outperformed groups of the best and the
brightest. If I formed two groups, one
random (and therefore diverse) and one
consisting of the best individual performers,
the first group almost always did better. …
Diversity trumped
ability.”
—Scott Page, The Difference: How
the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups,
Firms, Schools, and Societies Diversity
“The Billion-man
Research Team:
Companies offering
work to online
communities are
reaping the benefits of
‘crowdsourcing.’”
—Headline, FT, 0110.07
“In Blackburn,
olds
four-year-
are making podcasts. In Suffolk,
the sometimes tedious and impractical ritual of
morning Assembly has been replaced in one
school by a news video compiled by pupils;
posting it on YouTube means parents can
watch as well—and they do. … Learners at all
stages and ages, from all over the world, are
downloading free tutorials while they replenish
their iPods, courtesy of iTunes U. …
Source: The Guardian, 0113.09, “Resource 2009,” a preview of BETT 2009
“The
Bottleneck Is at
the Top of the Bottle”
“Where are you likely to find people with the least diversity of
experience, the largest investment in the past, and the greatest
reverence for industry dogma:
At the top!”
— Gary Hamel/Harvard Business Review
“Normal” =
“o for 800”
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!
“Forget China,
India and the
Internet: Economic
Growth Is Driven
by
Women.”
—Headline,
Economist, April 15, 2006, Leader, page 14
“One thing is certain: Women’s rise to power, which is
linked to the increase in wealth per capita, is happening
in all domains and at all levels of society. Women are no
longer content to provide efficient labor or to be
consumers with rising budgets and more autonomy to
spend. … This is just the beginning. The phenomenon
will only grow as girls prove to be more successful than
For a number of
observers, we have already
entered the age of
‘womenomics,’ the economy as
thought out and practiced
by a woman.” —Aude Zieseniss de Thuin, Financial
boys in the school system.
Times, 10.03.2006
“AS LEADERS,
WOMEN
RULE:
New Studies find that
female managers outshine their male
counterparts in almost every measure”
TITLE/ Special Report/ BusinessWeek
Women’s Strengths Match New
Economy Imperatives: Link [rather than rank]
workers; favor interactive-collaborative leadership
style [empowerment beats top-down decision
making]; sustain fruitful collaborations; comfortable
with sharing information; see redistribution of power
as victory, not surrender; favor multi-dimensional
feedback; value technical & interpersonal skills,
individual & group contributions equally; readily
accept ambiguity; honor intuition as well as
pure “rationality”; inherently flexible; appreciate
cultural diversity. —Judy B. Rosener,
America’s Competitive Secret: Women Managers
Period??!!*
Start:
3 0f 14
18 months later:
10 of 18
(“deep dip”!)
*AIM/September 2007
“Women are
the majority
market”
—Fara Warner/The Power of the Purse
Big bank CEO, summarizing to his top-management team his
“Tom’s made a great
point; he let us know that our customer base
will be different and more diverse in the future.”
notes from TP’s presentation:
“With all due respect, that’s not what Tom
said. Though I am an unabashed supporter of
‘diversity’ in general, what I said was
Tom:
‘She
is your customer—and
has been for a long time and will be forever.’
And ‘she’ is notably AWOL in this [meeting] room
full of senior ‘leaders.’ ”
“Goldman Sachs in Tokyo has
developed an index of 115
companies poised to benefit from
women’s increased purchasing
power; over the past decade the
value of shares in Goldman’s
basket has risen by 96%, against
the Tokyo stockmarket’s rise
of 13%.” —Economist, April 15
10 UNASSAILABLE REASONS WOMEN RULE
Women make [all] the financial decisions.
Women control [all] the wealth.
Women [substantially] outlive men.
Women start most of the new businesses.
Women’s work force participation rates have
soared worldwide.
Women are closing in on “same pay for same
job.”
Women are penetrating senior ranks rapidly
[even if the pace is slow for the corner
office per se].
Women’s leadership strengths are exceptionally well
aligned with new organizational effectiveness
imperatives.
Women are better salespersons than men.
Women buy [almost] everything—commercial
as well as consumer goods.
So what exactly is the point of men?
Cases! Cases! 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 Financial
Kodak (women = “emotional centers of the household”)
Nike (> jock endorsements; new def sports; majority consumer)
Avon
Bratz (young girls want “friends,” not a blond stereotype)
Source: Fara Warner/The Power of the Purse
94%
of loans to …
women*
*Microlending; “Banker to the poor”; Grameen Bank;
Muhammad Yunus; 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“People turning 50
more
than half of
today have
their adult life
ahead of them.”
—Bill Novelli,
50+: Igniting a Revolution to Reinvent America
We are the Aussies & Kiwis & Americans &
Canadians. We are the Western Europeans &
Japanese. We are the fastest growing, the
biggest, the wealthiest, the boldest, the
most (yes) ambitious, the most
experimental & exploratory, the most
different, the most indulgent, the most
difficult & demanding, the most service &
experience obsessed, the most vigorous,
(the least vigorous,) the most health
conscious, the most female, the most
profoundly important commercial market
in the history of the world—and we will
be the Center of your universe for the
L(+21) = L(-21)
Leadership(21A.D.) =
Leadership(21B.C.)
Give
good
tea!
“In the same bitter winter of 1776 that Gen. George Washington led his beleaguered troops
across the Delaware River to safety, Benjamin Franklin sailed across the Atlantic to Paris to
engage in an equally crucial campaign, this one diplomatic. A lot depended on the bespectacled
and decidedly unfashionable 70-year-old as he entered the world’s fashion capitol sporting a
Franklin’s miracle was that armed
only with his canny personal charm and reputation as a
scientist and philosopher, he was able to cajole a wary
French government into lending the fledgling American
nation an enormous fortune. … The enduring image of Franklin in Paris tends
simple brown suit and a fur cap. …
to be that of a flirtatious old man, too busy visiting the city’s fashionable salons to pursue affairs
When Adams joined Franklin in
Paris in 1779, he was scandalized by the late hours and
French lifestyle his colleague had adopted, says [Stacy
Schiff, in A Great Improvisation] Adams was clueless that
it was through the dropped hints and seemingly offhand
remarks at these salons that so much of French diplomacy
was conducted. … Like the Beatles arriving in America, Franklin aroused a fervor—his
of state as rigorously as John Adams.
face appeared on prints, teacups and chamber pots. The extraordinary popularity served
Franklin’s diplomatic purposes splendidly. Not even King Louis XVI could ignore the enthusiasm
that had won over both the nobility and the bourgeoisie. …”
Source: “In Paris, Taking the Salons By Storm: How the Canny Ben Franklin Talked
the French into Forming a Crucial Alliance,” U.S. News & World Report, 0707.08
“eighty percent
of success is
showing up.”
—Woody Allen
“Allied commands depend
on mutual confidence
[and this confidence]
is gained, above all
through the development
of friendships.”
—General D.D. Eisenhower,
Armchair General* (05.08)
*“Perhaps his most outstanding ability [at West Point]
was the ease with which he made friends and earned the
trust of fellow cadets who came from widely varied
backgrounds; it was a quality that would pay great
dividends during his future coalition command
Ike: An American Hero, Michael Korda/pp268-371:
“infectious grin and great charm”
“nice face”
“grin that was to become so
famous” “got along famously” “goodwill was
spontaneous and easily recognizable” “good impression
that Ike had made in six weeks” [newcomer junior general to
supreme commander, Torch; Marshall-ADM King-Roosevelt-Churchill-British
“least rank-conscious of generals” “Men
were happy to serve under Ike, even British admirals
and generals who might easily have raised objections.
His sincerity and lack of ceremony made it difficult,
even impossible, to refuse him, and enabled him very
rapidly to pull a team together …” “Ike was
gregarious, rarely had anything bad to say about
anyone, and, on the surface at least, was relaxed and
good natured.” “Whereas Ike’s good humor was
genuine, unaffected, and affectionate, Monty’s
[Field Marshall Montgomery] was cruel and mocking and
always carried a sting”
Chiefs of Staff]
“We hire people who smile”—Starbucks manager
“Mandela, a model host [in his prison hospital room]
smiled grandly, put [Justice Minister Kobie] Coetzee at
his ease, and almost immediately, to their quietly
contained surprise, prisoner and jailer found themselves
chatting amiably. … [It had mostly] to do with
body language, with the impact Mandela’s
manner had on people he met. First there was
his erect posture. Then there was the way he
shook hands. The effect was both regal and
intimidating, were it not for Mandela’s warm
gaze and his big, easy smile. … Coetzee was
surprised by Mandela’s willingness to talk in Afrikaans,
his knowledge of Afrikaans history.” Coetzee: “He was a
born leader. And he was affable. He was obviously well
liked by the hospital staff and yet he was respected even
though they knew he was a prisoner.”
Source: John Carlin, Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela
and the Game that Made a Nation. (Mandela meets surreptitiously with
justice minister after decades in prison—and turns on the charm.)
Major Van Sittert, brute commanding officers,
immune to Mandela’s charm: “He thought
hard, probing for weakness. And he found one.
Sittert was a rugby nut. So, Mandela, who had
no special interest in rugby [the quintessential
white man’s sport], set about zealously
learning the game in preparation for the
major’s monthly visit.” Christo Brand, guard:
“Mandela was very polite as usual. He greeted
[Sittert] with a big smile, and then
immediately started talking rugby. … Once the
major got over his amazement, he became
very animated, agreeing with Mandela on
almost every point he made. You could see all
those doubts of the major just melting away.”
Source: John Carlin, Playing the Enemy:
Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation
“We behaved as if we
were guests in their
house. We treated
them not as a defeated
people, but as allies.
Our success became
their success.”
—“How One Soldier
Brought Democracy to Iraq: The Mayor of Ar Rutbah”
(MAJ James Gavrilis/USA Special Forces)
“Courtesies of a small and
trivial character are the
ones which strike
deepest in the grateful
and appreciating heart.”
—Henry Clay
“I regard apologizing as the
most magical, healing,
restorative gesture human
beings can make. It is the
centerpiece of my work with
executives who want to get
better.” —Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You
Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become
Even More Successfu.
Relationships
(of all varieties):
THERE
ONCE WAS A TIME WHEN A
THREE-MINUTE
PHONE CALL WOULD
HAVE AVOIDED SETTING OFF THE
DOWNWARD SPIRAL THAT RESULTED
IN A COMPLETE RUPTURE.
THE PROBLEM IS
RARELY/NEVER THE
PROBLEM. THE
RESPONSE TO THE
PROBLEM INVARIABLY
ENDS UP BEING THE
REAL PROBLEM.*
*PERCEPTION IS ALL THERE IS!
#1 Truthteller …
You = Your
calendar*
*Calendars
never lie
“I used to have a rule for myself that at any point in
time I wanted to have in mind — as it so happens,
also in writing, on a little card I carried around with
me — the three big things I was trying to get done.
Three.
Not two.
Not four.
Not five.
Not ten.
Three.”
— Richard Haass, The Power to Persuade
“Dennis, you need a …
‘To-don’t ’
List !”
“You must
be
the change you
wish to see in the
world.”
Gandhi
“Do one thing
every day
that scares
you.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt
Skip the map
“Mapping your
competitive
position”
or …
The “Have
you …” 50
1. Have you in the
last 10 days …
visited a
customer?
2. Have you called a
customer … TODAY?
Try it. Try it. Try it
ry it. Try it. Screw
up. Try it. Try it. Try
t. Try it. Try it. Try
t. Try it. Screw it up
t. Try it. Try it. try
Dick ’n
dan
“We have a
‘strategic plan.’
It’s called doing
things.”
— Herb Kelleher
“This is so simple it sounds stupid, but it is amazing
how few oil people really understand that
you only find
oil if you drill
wells.
You may think you’re finding it
when you’re drawing maps and
studying logs, but you have to drill.”
Source: The Hunters, by John Masters, Canadian O & G wildcatter
“We made mistakes, of course. Most of them were
omissions we didn’t think of when we initially wrote the
software. We fixed them by doing it over and over, again
and again. We do the same today. While our competitors
are still sucking their thumbs trying to make the design
perfect, we’re already on prototype version
#5.
By the time our rivals are
ready with wires and screws, we are on version
#10. It gets back to planning
versus acting: We act from day
one; others plan how to plan—
for months.” —Bloomberg by Bloomberg
“Experiment
fearlessly”
Source: BW0821.06, Type A Organization Strategies/
“How to Hit a Moving Target”—Tactic #1
“Fail .
Forward.
Fast.”
High Tech CEO, Pennsylvania
“Reward
excellent failures.
Punish mediocre
successes.”
Phil Daniels, Sydney exec
“It is not the
strongest of the
species that survives,
nor the most
intelligent, but the
one most responsive
to change.”
—Charles Darwin
DECENTRALIZATION.
EXECUTION.
ACCOUTABILITY.
6:15A.M.
The 19 Es of
Excellence
If Not Excellence, What?
If Not Excellence Now, When?
The “19 Es” of Excellence
Enthusiasm. (Be an irresistible force of nature!)
Energy. (Be fire! Light fires!)
Exuberance. (Vibrate—cause earthquakes!)
Execution. (Do it! Now! Get it done! Barriers are baloney!
Excuses are for wimps! Accountability is gospel!
Adhere to the Bill Parcells doctrine: “Blame nobody! Expect nothing! Do something!”)
Empowerment.
(Respect and appreciation! Always ask, “What do you think?”
Then: Listen! Liberate! Celebrate! 100% innovators or bust!)
Edginess. (Perpetually dancing at the frontier, and a little or a lot beyond.)
Enraged. (Determined to challenge & change the status quo!)
Engaged. (Addicted to MBWA/Managing By Wandering Around. In touch. Always.)
Electronic. (Partners with the world 60/60/24/7 via electronic community building
and entanglement of every sort. Crowdsourcing/doing power!)
Encompassing. (Relentlessly pursue diverse opinions—the more diversity the merrier! Diversity per se “works”!)
Emotion. (The alpha. The omega. The essence of leadership. The essence of sales.
Empathy.
The essence of marketing. The essence. Period. Acknowledge it.)
(Connect, connect, connect with others’ reality and aspirations! “Walk
in the other person’s shoes”—until the soles have holes!)
Experience.
(Life is theater! Make every activity-contact memorable! Standard:
“Insanely Great”/Steve Jobs; “Radically Thrilling”/BMW.)
Eliminate. (Keep it simple!)
Errorprone. (Ready! Fire! Aim!
Try a lot of stuff and make a lot of booboos and then try some more stuff
and make some more booboos—all of it at the speed of light!)
Evenhanded.
Expectations.
Eudaimonia.
Excellence.
(Straight as an arrow! Fair to a fault! Honest as Abe!)
(Michelangelo: “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it,
but that it is too low and we reach it.” Amen!)
(Pursue the highest of human moral purpose—the core of Aristotle’s philosophy. Be of service. Always.)
(The only standard! Never an exception! Start now! No excuses! If not Excellence, what?
If not Excellence now, when?)
“Mr. Watson,
how long does it
take to achieve
Excellence?”
minute”
Excellence.
Always.