Transcript 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.

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 pursuit of
EXCELLENCE in
service of others.**
**Employees, Customers, Suppliers, Communities, Owners, Temporary partners
Tom Peters’
Re-Imagine:
Excellence
NOW!
PwC Annual Partners Meeting
Campinas/20 August 2012
(slides @ tompeters.com; also see excellencenow.com)
Excellence/
Service/
Immoderation
Excellence
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.
EXCELLENCE is not
an "aspiration.”
EXCELLENCE is …
THE NEXT FIVE
MINUTES.
EXCELLENCE is not an "aspiration."
EXCELLENCE is … THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
is your next conversation.
is your next meeting.
is shutting up and listening—really listening.
is your next customer contact.
is saying “Thank you” for something “small.”
is the next time you shoulder responsibility and apologize.
is waaay over-reacting to a screw-up.
is the flowers you brought to work today.
is lending a hand to an “outsider” who’s fallen behind schedule.
is bothering to learn the way folks in finance [or IS or HR] think.
is waaay “over”-preparing for a 3-minute presentation.
is turning “insignificant” tasks into models of … EXCELLENCE.
Service
Organizations
exist to serve.
Period.
Leaders live to
serve. Period.
Immoderation
14,000
20,000
14,000/eBay
20,000/Amazon
30/Craigslist
“We all agree your
theory is crazy. The
question, which
divides us, is
whether it is crazy
enough.”
—Niels Bohr, to Wolfgang Pauli
Kevin Roberts’ Credo
1. Ready. Fire! Aim.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
If it ain’t broke ... Break it!
Hire crazies.
Ask dumb questions.
Pursue failure.
Lead, follow ... or get out of the way!
Spread confusion.
Ditch your office.
Read odd stuff.
10.
Avoid moderation!
“We are crazy. We should do
something when people say
If people
say something is
‘good’, it means
someone else is
already doing it.”
it is ‘crazy.’
—Hajime Mitarai, Canon
“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 …
Source: Paul Ormerod, Why Most Things Fail: Evolution, Extinction and Economics
“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
“Mr. Foster and his McKinsey colleagues
collected detailed performance data stretching
back
40 years for 1,000
They found that
U.S. companies.
none
of
the long-term survivors managed to
outperform the market. Worse, the
longer companies had been in the
database, the worse they did.”
—Financial Times
The Word
according to
Mr. Hilton
Conrad Hilton, at a gala celebrating his
career, was called to the podium and
“What were the
most important
lessons you learned
in your long and
distinguished
career?” His answer …
asked,
“remember
to tuck the
shower curtain
inside the
bathtub.”
is
“Execution
strategy.”
—Fred Malek
“In real life, strategy
is actually very
straightforward. Pick
a general direction
… and implement
like hell.” —Jack Welch
A Professional
Just Like You?
“The doctor
interrupts
after …*
*Source: Jerome Groopman, How Doctors Think
18 …
seconds!
[An obsession with] Listening is ... the ultimate mark
of
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
is
is
is
is
...
...
...
...
the heart and soul of Engagement.
the heart and soul of Kindness.
the heart and soul of Thoughtfulness.
the basis for true Collaboration.
the basis for true Partnership.
a Team Sport.
a Developable Individual Skill.* (*Though women
are far better at it than men.)
the basis for Community.
the bedrock of Joint Ventures that work.
the bedrock of Joint Ventures that grow.
the core of effective Cross-functional
Communication* (*Which is in turn Attribute #1 of
organizational effectiveness.)
[cont.]
Respect
.
Message:
Listening is a …
profession!
Complain all
you want,
buT …
Complain all
you want,
but meetings
are what
you do!
Every meeting that
does not stir the imagination
and curiosity of attendees and
increase bonding and cooperation and engagement
and sense of worth and
motivate rapid action and
enhance enthusiasm is a
permanently lost opportunity.
Meeting:
FYI: This is … not
… a rant about
“conducting
better meetings.”
Remember
what your
grandmother
Told You …
“Courtesies of a small and
trivial character are the
ones which strike
deepest in the grateful
and appreciating heart.”
—Henry Clay, American Statesman (1777-1852)
K=R=P
Kindness =
Repeat Business =
Profit.
K = R = P/Kindness = Repeat business = Profit
Kindness:
Kind.
Thoughtful.
Decent.
Caring.
Attentive.
Engaged.
Listens well/obsessively.
Appreciative.
Open.
Visible.
Honest.
Responsive.
On time all the time.
Apologizes with dispatch for screw-ups.
“Over”-reacts to screw-ups of any magnitude.
“Professional” in all dealings.
Optimistic.
Understands that kindness to staff breeds kindness to others/outsiders.
Applies throughout the “supply chain.”
Applies to 100% of customer’s staff.
Explicit part of values statement.
Basis for evaluation of 100% of our staff.
Cross-border
Conversations
hundreds of
times better here
“I am
[than in my
because of the
support system. It’s like you
were working in an organism;
you are not a single cell when
you are out there practicing.’” —
prior hospital assignment]
quote from Dr. Nina Schwenk, in Chapter 3,
“Practicing
Team Medicine,” from Leonard Berry & Kent Seltman,
from
Management Lessons From
Mayo Clinic
"It became necessary to develop
medicine as a cooperative science;
the clinician, the specialist, the
laboratory workers, the nurses
uniting for the good of the patient,
each assisting in the elucidation of
the problem at hand, and each
dependent upon the other for
support.”
—Dr. William Mayo,
1910
"The personnel committees on all
three campuses have become
aggressive in addressing the issue
of physicians who are not living
the Mayo value of exhibiting
respectful, collegial behavior to all
team members. Some physicians
have been suspended without pay
or terminated.” —Leonard Barry & Kent Seltman,
Management Lessons from Mayo Clinic
“Observed closely:
The use of
‘we’
‘I’
or
during a job
interview.”
Source: Leonard Berry & Kent Seltman, chapter 6, “Hiring for Values,”
Management Lessons From Mayo Clinic
“Allied commands depend on
mutual confidence
and this confidence is
gained, above all
development
of friendships.”
through the
—General D.D. Eisenhower, Armchair General*
*“Perhaps his most outstanding ability [at West Point]
he made friends and earned
the trust of fellow cadets who came from
widely varied backgrounds; it was a quality that would pay
was the ease with which
great dividends during his future coalition command.”
R.O.I.R. >
R.O.I.
Return On
Investment In
Relationships
“Success doesn’t depend on the number of
people you know; it depends on the number
of people you know in
high places!”
or
“Success doesn’t depend on the number of
people you know; it depends on the number
of people you know in
low
places!”
“I got to know his
[Icahn’s] secretaries.
They are always
the keepers of
everything.”
—Dick Parsons, then CEO Time Warner, on
dealing with an Icahn threat to his company
XFX = #1*
*Cross-Functional eXcellence
No Shortcuts!
“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
[Yet]
I came to see in my time at IBM
that culture isn’t just one
thousands of people is very, very hard.
aspect of the game —it is
the game.”
—Lou Gerstner, Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance
“The 7-S Model”
Strategy
Structure
Systems
Style
Skills
Staff
Super-ordinate goal
“The 7-S Model”
“Hard Ss”
(Strategy, Structure, Systems)
“Soft SS”
(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)
Which
customers
first?
“You have to
treat your
employees like
customers.”
—Herb Kelleher,
upon being asked his “secret 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 AA’s Annual Meeting)
… 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.
“Business has to give people enriching,
or it's
simply not
worth
doing.”
rewarding lives …
—Richard Branson
"Leadership is a gift.
It's given by those
who follow. You
have to be worthy of
it.”
—USAF General Mark Walsh
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
The Memories
That Matter.
The Memories That Matter
The people you developed who went on to
stellar accomplishments inside or outside
the company.
The (no more than) two or three people you developed who went on to
create stellar institutions of their own.
The longshots (people with “a certain something”) you bet on who
surprised themselves—and your peers.
The people of all stripes who 2/5/10/20 years
later say “You made a difference in my life,”
“Your belief in me changed everything.”
The sort of/character of people you hired in general. (And the bad
apples you chucked out despite some stellar traits.)
A handful of projects (a half dozen at most) you doggedly pursued that
still make you smile and which fundamentally changed the way
things are done inside or outside the company/industry.
The supercharged camaraderie of a handful of Great Teams aiming to
“change the world.”
The Memories That Matter
Unalloyed pleasure in being informed of the fallaciousness of your
beliefs by someone 15 years your junior and several rungs below you
on the hierarchical ladder.
Selflessness. (A sterling reputation as “a guy always willing to help out
with alacrity despite personal cost.”)
As thoughtful and respectful, or more so, toward thine “enemies” as
toward friends and supporters.
Always and relentlessly put at the top of your list/any
list being first and foremost “of service” to your
internal and external constituents. (Employees/Peers/
Customers/Vendors/Community.)
Treated the term “servant leadership” as holy writ. (And “preached”
“servant leadership” to others—new “non-managerial” hire or old
pro, age 18 or 48.)
The Memories That Matter
Created the sort of workplaces you’d like your kids to
inhabit. (Explicitly conscious of this “Would I want my
kids to work here?” litmus test.)
A “certifiable” “nut” about quality and safety and integrity. (More or
less regardless of any costs.)
A notable few circumstances where you resigned rather than
compromise your bedrock beliefs.
Perfectionism just short of the paralyzing variety.
A self- and relentlessly enforced group standard of
“EXCELLENCE-in-all-we-do”/“EXCELLENCE in our
behavior toward one another.”
Joe J. Jones
1942 – 2010
Net Worth
$21,543,672.48
Andrew Carnegie’s Tombstone Inscription …
Here lies a man
Who knew how to enlist
In his service
Better men than
himself.
Source: Peter Drucker, The Practice of Management
starts at home
“Being aware of
yourself and how you
affect everyone around
you is what
distinguishes a superior
leader.” —Edie Seashore (Strategy +
Business #45)
“How can a high-level leader like _____ be so
out of touch with the truth about himself? It’s
In
fact, the higher up the
ladder a leader climbs, the
less accurate his selfassessment is likely to be.
more common than you would imagine.
The problem is an acute lack of feedback
[especially on people issues].”
—Daniel Goleman (et al.), The New Leaders
"Everyone thinks
of changing the
world, but no one
thinks of changing
himself"
- Leo Tolstoy
You are What
You Eat
“You will become
like the five people
you associate with
the most—this can
be either a blessing
or a curse.”
—Billy Cox
The “We are what we eat”/
“We are who we hang out with”
Axiom: At its core, every (!!!)
relationship-partnership decision
(employee, vendor, customer, etc,
etc) is a strategic decision about:
“Innovate,
‘Yes’ or ‘No’ ”
“Who’s the most
interesting person
you’ve met in the last
90 days? How do I
get in touch with her
or him?” —Fred Smith
Vanity Fair:
“What is your most marked
characteristic?”
Mike Bloomberg:
“Curiosity.”
“Do one thing
every day that
scares you.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt
“The
Bottleneck …
“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
1/46
1/4096
Lesson46:
WTTMTW
Whoever
Tries
The
Most
Things
Wins
Better yet:
WTTMTTFW
Whoever
Tries
The
Most
Things
The
Fastest
Wins
“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
Change lever #1:
The power of
“Small wins”!
“You miss
100% of
the shots you
never take.”
—Wayne Gretzky
In Search of Excellence /1982:
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
Obvious
“Forget China, India
and the Internet:
Economic Growth Is
Driven by
Women.”
Source: Headline, Economist
W = 28T > 2(C + I)*
*Women = $28 trillion > twice China + India combined
“AS LEADERS,
WOMEN
RULE:
New Studies find that
female managers outshine their male
counterparts in almost every measure”
TITLE/ Special Report/ BusinessWeek
GREAT
Professional
Service Firms
1. Stunning commitment to integrity.
2. Counselors/trusted advisors first.
not not not not
3. We are
in a commodity
business. (If it is a “commodity business,” then I/Tom
Peters am a commodity?)
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
listeners
Stellar
—to our Clients.
Stellar listeners—to our fellow partners.
Stellar listeners—to our most junior associates. (!!!!!)
Stellar listeners—to every member of staff.
Insatiable curiosity marks 100% of us.
Extreme Service
9. We live to serve/
ethic.
10. Our leaders are servant leaders. (Every partner is a
leader/servant leader first.)
11. Deeply ingrained sense of fairness.
12. Hustlers—but thoughtful to a fault!
13. “Service ethic” means … service to one another as
much as service to clients!
14. Drop everything to assist a colleague in need—central
to our overall ethos.
15. A compensation scheme that unmistakably and
visibly and dramatically rewards partner co-operation in
developing and serving and retaining clients.
Toss “lousy colleagues” [bad
teammates] out on their derrieres.
16.
We will not tolerate less than class-A supportiveness; we
will toss out top “rainmakers” who do not subscribe to
our abiding teamwork ethic.
Intellectual point of view that is
Distinct/Exciting/Constantly
refreshed.
17.
18. We listen intently, but we also push our clients to
explore significantly new approaches to doing business.
19. We insist, as best we can, that every client consider
and test discontinuous change.
20. We understand that implementing our advice may
require “culture change” in the client’s operation; we will
leave a practical framework-process behind to help the
client embrace and execute such excruciatingly difficult
change.
21. We will stretch our clients to the limits—but not
suggest actions that are beyond the reach of
implementation in the mid-term future. (“Never give an
order that cannot be obeyed.”—MacArthur.)
22. We will intimately assist the client in achieving nearterm “small wins” that signify and exemplify the changes
the client intends to embrace.
23. Every partner must have a point of view of note—and
a point of view that is recognized far beyond our firm’s
borders.
The definition of the very best
partners is that they are “insanely great”
(thanks, Steve Jobs) mentors!
24.
25. Equal compensation/recognition to top “rainmakers,”
“intellectuals,” and “magical mentors.”
26. We are all “rainmakers”—responsible for making it
clear to the client that he-she made a great decision in
associating with us.
Invest heavily in ideas—this means
significant time and $$$$$$$.
27.
28. Invest heavily in training and retraining. (Our training
will feature working with clients to implement our ideas,
the managerial aspect of directing client engagements,
the theory and art and practice of leadership, listening
and presenting, and understanding the “business
principals” that are essential to our economic survival.)
29. Technology pioneers. (Yes, “pioneers.”)
A decent/significant share of
oddballs/disturbers-of-the-peace. (Often
30.
irritating people; get over it.)
31. Relatively high turnover and very high diversity
(background, gender, etc.) in top leadership posts and
committees.
32. Quality >> Quantity. (Big is fine as a byproduct of Great
Work. “Big for big’s sake” is un-fine; economies of scale are
over-rated.)
33. Significant portfolio of “interesting” clients. (I.e.
clients that lead us-drag us into new pastures.)
34. A clear understanding that the “middle market” is
often the key to success and vitality—we will not be
conned by some specious/ego-centric need to be
associated with the likes of the “Fortune 100.”
35. Willingness to dump bad-demotivating-enervating
clients (even big ones).
36. Understand that we are running a for-profit
enterprise. Cash flow matters! (A lot.)
37. In love with our work! (Expunge those who
are not in love with their work—dump the burnouts.)
38. Sense of fun. (Yes, damn it.) (Make it a fun place to
work—David Ogilvy.)
39. Professional to a fault (we love the word
“professional”) …. but not pompous.
40. “d”iversity—diversity of every flavor one can imagine.
41. Notable-visible respect for the ideas of young
associates. (!!!!!!)
42. Practice-as-teamwork. (Teammate-ism rewarded, lack
thereof punished with extreme prejudice.)
43. Deep bench. “Supporting cast,” notably starting with
receptionist, must be of same quality as partners—there
are no “bit players” in our business!
44. Age gracefully gives way to youth—regeneration a
deep-seated guiding belief.
45. Youth gracefully gives way to age—our most effective
elders have much to teach us when, especially, it comes to
client retention.
46. Hard work expected and cherished—workaholism for
workaholism’s sake assiduously guarded against.
47. Proud of our culture, guard our culture zealously—but
even “great cultures” age. (And at the least become
horribly elaborated.)
48. Rigorous evaluations of client satisfaction by more or
less disinterested parties.
49. Sky-high time investment in our evaluation process.
50. My legacy (as a partner) is:
Being “of service.”
Developing people.
Being a good colleague—which absorbed
lots of my time.
Doing consistently superior (sky high)
quality work.
Adding materially to the ideas base of the
Firm.
Insuring the continuity of the firm—
culturally and financially.
Being a paragon of integrity and decency.
Leaving gracefully.
51. “Execution is strategy.” (Thanks, Fred
Malek.)
52. My word is my bond.
Wow! (Why not? What else?)
54. Excellence! PERIOD! (Why not?
53.
What else?)
“Be the best. It’s the
only market that’s not
crowded.”
55.
—George Whalin
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.
Michelangelo
Excellence.
Always.
If not Excellence,
what?
If not Excellence
now, when?