Transcript Tom Peters’ Excellence. Always. Shanghai/25-27 April 2009 To appreciate this presentation [and ensure that it is not a mess], you need Microsoft fonts: NOTE: “Showcard Gothic,” “Ravie,” “Chiller” and “Verdana”

Tom Peters’
Excellence.
Always.
Shanghai/25-27 April 2009
To appreciate
this presentation [and ensure
that it is not a mess], you need
Microsoft fonts:
NOTE:
“Showcard Gothic,”
“Ravie,” “Chiller”
and “Verdana”
AGENDA
Part ONE … EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS./25.04
Part TWO … INNOVATION IMPERATIVE,
the NEXT STEP/26.04
Part THREE … PEOPLE-PEOPLE-PEOPLE.
PERIOD./26-7.04
Part FOUR … LEADERSHIP for EXCELLENCE
& INNOVATION/27.04
AGENDA
Part ONE … EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS./25.04
Part TWO … INNOVATION IMPERATIVE,
the NEXT STEP/26.04
Part THREE … PEOPLE-PEOPLE-PEOPLE.
PERIOD./26-7.04
Part FOUR … LEADERSHIP for EXCELLENCE
& INNOVATION/27.04
Part THREE
Tom Peters’
Excellence.
Always.
People.
Period.
Shanghai/25-26 April 2009
Slides at …
tompeters.com
If not Excellence,
What? If Not
Excellence Now,
When? Excellence.
Always. Period.
people power:
talent
The
38
1. People
First!
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
2. Priority!
First Things
First!
“How to throw
away $500,000 in
one easy lesson!!”
TP:
< CAPEX
> People!
3. The Alpha.
The Omega. And
everything in
between.
‘do’
“Leaders
people.
Period.”
—Anon.
4. FUNDAMENTAL
PREMISE: We Are in an
Age of Talent/
Creativity/
Intellectual-capital
Added.
Agriculture Age (farmers)
Industrial Age (factory workers)
Information Age (knowledge workers)
Conceptual Age
(creators and empathizers)
Source: Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind
Up,
Up,
Up,
Up
the Value-added Ladder.
“Human
creativity is the
ultimate
economic
resource.”
—Richard Florida,
The Rise of the Creative Class
5. Diversity =
creativity.
Period. No
Substitute.
“Strategic” Issue.
“Are there
enough weird
people in the lab
these days?”
—V. Chmn., pharmaceutical
house, to a lab director
CM Prof Richard Florida on “Creative
“You cannot get a
technologically
innovative place … unless
it’s open to weirdness,
eccentricity and
difference.”
Capital”:
Source: New York Times/06.01.2002
6. Talent
“Excellence” in
Every Part of
Every
Organization.
Wegmans:
#1/100
“Best Companies to
Work for”/2005
Groceries!
7. Talent
“Excellence”
Stretches Far
Beyond Our
Borders.
We become
who we spend
time with.
Measure “Strangeness”/Portfolio Quality
Staff
Consultants
Vendors
Out-sourcing Partners (#, Quality)
Innovation Alliance Partners
Customers
Competitors (who we “benchmark” against)
Strategic Initiatives
Product Portfolio (LineEx v. Leap)
IS/IT Projects
HQ Location
Lunch Mates
Language
Board
8. P.O.T./
Pursuit Of
Talent =
OBSESSION.
“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”
9. Talent Masters
Understand
Talent’s
Intangibles.
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 paramount
Re-lent-less!
“Practice is cool” (G Leonard/Mastery)
Team and individual
Aspire to EXCELLENCE = Obvious
Ex-e-cu-tion
Talent = Brand = Duh
“The Project” rules
Emotional language
Bit players. No.
B.I.W. (everything)
Delta events = Delta rosters (incl leader/s)
10. HR Is
“Cool.”
Are you …
“Rock Stars
of the
Age of
Talent”?
11. HR Sits at
The Head
Table.
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; i.e., 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.
Putting HR on
a par with finance
and marketing.
Second:
12. There Is an
“HR Strategy”/
“HR Vision”
EVP/
IBP?*
What’s your company’s …
*Employee Value Proposition, per Ed Michaels et al.,
The War for Talent; IBP/Internal Brand Promise per TP
EVP/IBP = Remarkable
challenge, rapid professional
growth, respect, satisfaction,
fun, stunning opportunity,
exceptional reward, amazing
peer group, full membership in
Club Adventure, maximized
future employability
Source: Ed Michaels, The War for Talent; TP
13. Acquire
for Talent!
Omnicom's acquisitions: “not for
“buying
talent;” “deepen a
size per se”;
relationship with a client.”
Source: Advertising Age
14. There Is a
blockbuster
Recruitment
Strategy.
“Busy Executives
Fail To Give
Recruiting
Attention It
Deserves”
—Headline, WSJ, 1121.05
#1.
Strategic.
Priority.
Period.
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
“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
15. There is a
“secret” to
Satisfied people.
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
Promotion
decision is
“Strategic”!*
Best Training
Course in the
company!
*Never “Fill the slot.”
16. There Is a
FORMAL
Leadership
Development
Strategy.
GE/Crotonville!
Enrico’s Assignment
Wasn’t a Dead End!
17. Understand
Your Legacy!
2/year =
legacy.
18. There Is a
FORMAL STRATEGIC
HR Review
Process.
“In most companies, the Talent Review Process is a
farce. At GE, Jack Welch and his two top HR people
visit each division for a day. They review the top 20
to 50 people by name. They talk about Talent Pool
The Talent
Review Process is a contact
sport at GE; it has the
intensity and the
importance of the budget
process at most
companies.”—Ed Michaels
strengthening issues.
19. “People”/
Talent” Reviews
Are the FIRST
Reviews.
The Loudest
Signal!
20. HR Strategy
= BUSINESS
Strategy.
Wegmans: #1/ 100 Best Companies to Work for
84%: Grocery stores “are all alike”
46%: additional spend if customers have an “emotional connection” to a
grocery store rather than “are satisfied” (Gallup)
“Going to Wegmans is not just shopping, it’s an event.”
—Christopher Hoyt,
grocery consultant
“You cannot separate
their strategy as a
retailer from their
strategy as an
employer.”
—Darrell Rigby, Bain & Co.
21. Make it a
“Cause Worth
Signing Up For.”
“People want to be part of
something larger than
themselves. They want to be
part of something they’re
really proud of, that they’ll
fight for, sacrifice for ,
trust.”
—Howard Schultz, Starbucks (IBD/09.05)
22. Pursue
the Best!
“We believe companies can increase their market cap
50 percent in 3 years. Steve Macadam at Georgia-
Pacific …
changed
20 of his
40 box plant managers
to put more talented,
higher paid managers in
charge. He increased profitability from
$25
million to
$80
million in
—Ed Michaels, War for Talent
2
years.”
23. Ensure that
the Review
Process Has
INTEGRITY.
25 = 100*
* “But what do I do that’s more important
than developing people? I don’t do the
damn work. They do.”—GK
24. Training I:
Train! Train!
Train!
25. Training II:
100% “Business
People.”
New Work SurvivalKit.2009
1. MASTERY! (Best/Absurdly Good at Something!)
2. “Manage” to Legacy (All Work = “Memorable”/“Braggable” WOW Projects!)
3. A “USP”/UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION
4. Rolodex Obsession (From vertical/hierarchy/“suck up” loyalty to
horizontal/“colleague”/“mate” loyalty)
5. ENTREPRENEURIAL INSTINCT (A sleepless … Eye for Opportunity!
6.CEO/LEADER/BUSINESSPERSON/CLOSER (CEO, Me Inc. 24/7!)
7. Master of Improv (Play a dozen parts simultaneously, from
Chief Strategist to Chief Toilet Scrubber)
8. Sense of Humor (A willingness to Screw Up & Move On)
9. Comfortable with Your Skin (Bring “interesting you” to work!)
10. Intense Appetite for Technology (E.g.: How Cool-Active is your
Web site? Do you Blog?)
11. EMBRACE “MARKETING” (Your own CSO/Chief Storytelling Officer)
12. PASSION FOR RENEWAL (Your own CLO/Chief Learning Officer)
13. EXECUTION EXCELLENCE! (Show up on time! Leave last!)
26. Training III:
100% LEADERS.
“I start with the
premise that the
function of leadership
is to produce more
leaders, not more
followers.”—Ralph Nader
27. Training IV:
Boss as Trainerin-Chief.
“Workout” =
24
DPY in the Classroom
28. Training V:
The REAL
Bedrock of the
“Talent Thing.”
“My wife and I went to a [kindergarten] parent-teacher
conference and were informed that our budding refrigerator
artist, Christopher, would be receiving a grade of
Unsatisfactory in art. We were shocked. How could any
child—let alone our child—receive a poor grade in art at such
His teacher informed
us that he had refused to color
within the lines, which was a
state requirement for
demonstrating ‘grade-level
motor skills.’ ” —Jordan Ayan, AHA!
a young age?
29. RESPECT!
“What creates
trust, in the end, is
the leader’s
manifest respect
for the followers.”
— Jim O’Toole, Leading Change
30. MBWA:
Visible
Leadership!
MBWA
31. Promote for
“people skills.”
(THE REST IS
DETAILS.)
“When assessing candidates, the
first thing I looked for was energy
and enthusiasm for execution.
Does she talk about the thrill
of getting things done, the
obstacles overcome, the role
her people played —or does she
keep wandering back to strategy
or philosophy?” —Larry Bossidy,
Honeywell/AlliedSignal, in Execution
32. Honor
Youth.
“Why focus on these late teens and twentysomethings? Because
they are the
first young who are both in a
position to change the world,
and are actually doing so. … For
the first time in history, children are more
comfortable, knowledgeable and literate than
their parents about an innovation central to
society. … The Internet has triggered the first
industrial revolution in history to be led by the
young.”—The Economist
33. Leader
Source #1!
“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
34. We Are All
Unique.
One
size NEVER fits
all. One size fits
Beware Standardized Evals:
one.
Period.
35. Capitalize
on Strengths.
“The key difference between
checkers and chess is that in
checkers the pieces all move
the same way, whereas in
chess all the pieces move
differently. … Discover what
is unique about each
person and capitalize
on it.” —Marcus Buckingham,
The One Thing You Need to Know
“The mediocre manager believes that most things
are learnable and therefore that the essence of
management is to identify ach person’s weaker
areas and eradicate them. The great manager
believes the opposite. He believes that the
most influential qualities of a person
are innate and therefore that the
essence of management is to deploy
these innate qualities as effectively as
possible and so drive performance.” —
Marcus Buckingham, The One Thing You Need to Know
36. Bosses “Win
People Over.”
“Coaching
is winning
players
over.”
PJ:
37. GOAL: Voyages
of Mutual
Discovery.
“The organization
would ultimately win
not because it gave
agents more money,
but because it gave
them a chance for
better lives.”
—Everybody Wins, Phil Harkins & Keith Hollihan
38. Talent
= Brand.
Brand =
Talent.
If not Talent
Excellence, What?
If Not Talent
Excellence Now,
When? Talent.
Brand. Excellence.
Period.
If not Excellence,
What? If Not
Excellence Now,
When? Excellence.
Always. Period.