Conrad Hilton … Conrad Hilton, at a gala celebrating his career, “What was the most important lesson you’ve learned in you long and distinguished career?” His immediate was.
Download ReportTranscript Conrad Hilton … Conrad Hilton, at a gala celebrating his career, “What was the most important lesson you’ve learned in you long and distinguished career?” His immediate was.
Conrad Hilton … Conrad Hilton, at a gala celebrating his career, “What was the most important lesson you’ve learned in you long and distinguished career?” His immediate was asked, answer … “remember to tuck the shower curtain inside the bathtub” “Execution is strategy.” —Fred Malek “The art of war does not require complicated maneuvers; the simplest are the best and common sense is fundamental. From which one might wonder how it is generals make blunders; it is because they try to be clever.” —Napoleon Tom Peters’ Excellence. Always. Special Management Program Seminarium Ecuador/11 November 2009 (Download PP at tompeters.com) To appreciate this presentation [and ensure that it is not a mess], you need Microsoft fonts: NOTE: “Showcard Gothic,” “Ravie,” “Chiller” and “Verdana” Part ONE Little = Don’t like it? Don’t pay. Source: Granite Rock Co. Big carts = Source: Wal*Mart Bag sizes = New markets: Source: PepsiCo 7X. 7:30A-8:00P. F12A. 7:30AM = 7:15AM. 8:00PM = 8:15PM. “No” = 2* *Yes Bank 2,000,000 BEGINS (and ENDS) It in the … parking lot* *Disney Source: Container Store/increase average sale per shopper see green = recover 20% faster Socks = 10,000 “Paint it white!” — On Hashem Akbari’s [Lawrence Livermore labs] powerful program to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions; using conservative reduce 44 billion tons of CO2 assumptions, it could emissions by cooling buildings, roads, entire cities (The Guardian, 0116.09) >100 feet = 100 miles Round = 2X/allx (1) Amenable to rapid experimentation/failure “free” (No bad “PR,” No $$) (2) Quick to implement/Quick to Roll out (3) Inexpensive to implement/ Roll out (4) Huge multiplier (5) An “Attitude” (6) Does not by and large require a “power position” from which to launch experiments. “Design is everything. Everything is design.” “We are all designers.” Inspiration: The Power of Design: A Force for Transforming Everything, Richard Farson <TGW and … >TGR [Things Gone WRONG-Things Gone RIGHT] 2-cent candy “May I clean your glasses, sir?” “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 Service = “Transaction” EXPERIENCE = “Memorable event” [Leaves a trace] M.M.M.O.T. = Manage To Memorable “Moments Of Truth”* *with thanks to Jan Carlzon, SAS C *Chief e O* Xperience Officer 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 Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation.” meaning of design. —Steve Jobs “With its carefully conceived mix of colors and textures, Starbucks aromas and music, 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 ‘Every Starbucks store is carefully designed to enhance the quality of everything the customers see, touch, hear, smell or taste,’ writes CEO Howard Schultz.” of … the aesthetic imperative. … -—Virginia Postrel, The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture and Consciousness Hypothesis: DESIGN is the principal difference between love and hate! “Business people don’t need to ‘understand designers better.’ Businesspeople need to be designers.” —Roger Martin/Dean/Rotman Management School/ University of Toronto Not optional … O* C *Chief Design Officer Message (?????): Men cannot design for women’s needs. Up, Up, Up, Up the Value-added Ladder. The Value-added Ladder Services Goods Raw Materials The Value-added Ladder Scintillating EXPERIENCES Services Goods Raw Materials Back to the future: “beyond” micro-marketing “Forget China, India and the Internet: Economic Growth Is Driven by Women.” Source: Headline, Economist “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, Women’s boys in the school system. Forum for the Economy and Society “Since 1970, women have held two out of every three new jobs created.” —Financial Times “Women are the majority market” —Fara Warner/The Power of the Purse “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 most significant variable in every “The sales situation is the gender of the buyer, and more importantly, how the salesperson communicates to the buyer’s gender.” —Jeffery Tobias Halter, Selling to Men, Selling to Women The Perfect Answer Jill and Jack buy slacks in black… 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 “Women don’t buy They join them.” brands. EVEolution 2.6 vs. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! “People turning 50 more than half of today have their adult life ahead of them.” —Bill Novelli, 50+: Igniting a Revolution to Reinvent America “Marketers attempts at reaching those over 50 have been miserably No market’s motivations and needs are so poorly understood.” unsuccessful. —Peter Francese, founding publisher, American Demographics 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 we will be the Center of your universe for the next twenty-five years. We have arrived! world—and Up, Up, Up, Up the Value-added Ladder. Planetary Rainmaker-in-Chief! “Palmisano’s strategy is to expand tech’s borders by pushing users—and entire industries—toward radically different business models. The payoff for IBM would be access to an ocean of revenue—Palmisano estimates it at $500 billion a year —that technology companies have never been able to touch.” —Fortune “Big Brown’s New Bag: UPS Traffic Manager for Corporate America” Aims to Be the —Headline/BW/2004 MasterCard Advisors (1) LAN Installation Co. (3%) “Geek Squad” (2) (30%) (3) Best Buy contracts with (4) Best Buy purchases company (5) Geek Squad = Best Buy’s “brand promise” Source: Best Buy (Circuit City: fire senior, hire junior) Huge: Customer Satisfaction versus Customer Success “ ‘Results’ are measured by the success of all those who have purchased your product or service” —Jan Gunnarsson & Olle Blohm, The Welcoming Leader The Value-added Ladder/ OPPORTUNITY-SEEKING Customer Success/ Gamechanging Solutions Scintillating Experiences Services Goods Raw Materials Part TWO “Excellence … can be obtained if you: ... care more than others think is wise; ... risk more than others think is safe; ... dream more than others think is practical; ... expect more than others think is possible.” Source: Anon. (Posted @ tompeters.com by K.Sriram, November 27, 2006 1:17 AM) 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 “Strive for Excellence. Ignore success.” —Bill Young, race car driver (courtesy Andrew Sullivan) The failure to pursue EXCELLENCE is incomprehensible to me. 14,000 20,000 14,000 20,000 14,000/eBay 20,000/Amazon 30/Craigslist* *Lockheed “Skunk Works,” 125 vs. 5,000(??) There is more than one way to skin a cat!* Message: *Every project REQUIRES (if you’re smart) an outside look by one/some Seriously Weird Cat/s—in pursuit of a whacked-out option. To consider “Insanely Great” Steve Jobs “Radically thrilling” BMW “Let us create such a building that future generations will take us for lunatics.” —the church hierarchs at Seville “You do not merely want to be You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do.” the best of the best. —Jerry Garcia “We are crazy. We should do something when people say it is If people say something is ‘good’, it means someone else is already doing it.” ‘crazy.’ —Hajime Mitarai, Canon 1977 MBWA Sunday “Drive By”: The CEO of a very successful mid-sized bank, in the Mid-west, attended a seminar of mine in Northern California in the mid-80s—but I remember the following as if it were yesterday. I’ve forgotten the specific context, but I recall him saying to me, pretty much word “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.” for word, 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) “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 of people is [Yet] I came to see in my time at IBM that culture isn’t just one aspect of the very, very hard. game —it is the game.” —Lou Gerstner, Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance “… it is the game.” -fold! “culture of cover-up that pervades healthcare” “Patient Safety Event Registry” … “looking for systemic solutions, not seeking to fix blame on individuals except in the Ken Kizer/VA 1997: most egregious cases. The good news was a thirty-fold increase in the number of medical mistakes and adverse events that got reported.” “National Center for Patient Safety Ann Arbor” 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 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. … 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 “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 “Managing winds up being the management of the allocation of resources against tasks. Leadership My definition of a leader is someone who helps people succeed.” focuses on people. —Carol Bartz, Yahoo! “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 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. Words! “Stretch” Encourage” vs “Dreams come true” “Life Success Co.” Thank you Peter Drucker/AIM Our goal is to serve our customers brilliantly and profitably over the long haul. Serving our customers brilliantly and profitably over the long haul is a product of brilliantly serving, over the long haul, the people who serve the customer. Hence, our job as leaders—the alpha and the omega and everything in between—is abetting the sustained growth and success and engagement and enthusiasm and commitment to Excellence of those, one at a time, who directly or indirectly serve the ultimate customer. Source: The Little BIG Things: 163 Ways to Pursue EXCELLENCE We—leaders of every stripe—are in the “Human Growth and Development and Success and Aspiration to Excellence business.” “We” [leaders] only grow when “they” [each and every one of our colleagues] are growing. “We” [leaders] only succeed when “they” [each and every one of our colleagues] are succeeding. “We” [leaders] only energetically march toward Excellence when “they” [each and every one of our colleagues] are energetically marching toward Excellence. Period. Source: The Little BIG Things: 163 Ways to Pursue EXCELLENCE “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) hostmanship “The path to a culture paradoxically does not go through the guest. In fact it wouldn’t be totally wrong to say that the guest has nothing to do with it. True hostmanship leaders focus on their employees. What drives exceptionalism is finding the right people and getting them to love their work and see it as a passion. ... The guest comes into the picture only when you are ready to ask, ‘Would you prefer to stay at a hotel where the staff love their work or where management has made customers its highest priority?’ We went through the hotel and made a ... ‘consideration renovation.’ Instead of redoing bathrooms, dining rooms, and guest rooms, we gave employees new uniforms, bought flowers and fruit, and changed colors. Our focus was totally on the staff. They were the ones we wanted to make happy. We wanted them to wake up every morning excited about a new day at work.”—Jan Gunnarsson and Olle Blohm, Hostmanship: The Art of Making People Feel Welcome. Brand = Talent. 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 Luiza Helena, Magazine Luiza* *Wegmans “Business has to give people enriching, or it's simply not worth doing.” rewarding lives … —Richard Branson ‘do’ “Leaders people. Period.” —Anon. Leadership is a sacred trust.* *President, classroom teacher, CEO, shop foreman “How to flush $500,000 down the toilet in one easy lesson!!” TP: < CAPEX > People! The “15% drill”!! 2009 New Delhi “The ONE Question”: “In the last year [3 years, current job], three people name the … … whose growth you’ve most contributed to. Please explain where they were at the beginning of the year, where they are today, and where they are heading in the next 12 months. Please explain in painstaking detail your development strategy in each case. Please tell me your biggest development disappointment—looking back, could you or would you have done anything differently? Please tell me about your greatest development triumph—and disaster—in the last five years. What are the ‘three big things’ you’ve learned about helping people grow along the way.” 2/year = legacy. #1. Strategic. Priority. Period. the most important aspect of business and yet “In short, hiring is 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 “I can’t tell you how many times we passed up hotshots for guys we thought were better people, and watched our guys do a lot better than the big names, not just in the classroom, but on the field—and, naturally, after they graduated, too. Again and again, the blue chips faded out, and our little up-and-comers clawed their way to all-conference and All-America teams.” —Bo Schembechler (and John Bacon), “Recruit for Character,” Bo’s Lasting Lessons “Character is more crucial now than ever, because in times of great uncertainty past performance is no indicator of future performance. Experience falls away and all you’re left with is character.” —David Rothkopf, founder of a firm that helps chief executives manage risks #1 cause of employee Dis-satisfaction? Employee retention & satisfaction: Overwhelmingly , based on the first-line manager! Source: Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman, First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently Capital Asset I **Selecting and training and mentoring one’s pool of frontline managers can be a “Core Competence” of surpassing strategic importance. **Put under a microscope every attribute of the cradle-tograve process of building the capability of our cadre of front-line managers. Capital Asset II I am sure you “spend time” on this. My question: Is it an OBSESSION … …worthy of the impact it has on enterprise performance? 1. Hiring 2. Front-line Supervisor Development 3. Promoting “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 “Forget China, India and the Internet: Economic Growth Is Driven by Women.” Source: Headline, Economist Part THREE 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? 1. Have you in the last 10 days … visited a customer? 2. Have you called a customer … TODAY? 3. Have you in the last 60-90 days … had a seminar in which several folks from the customer’s operation (different levels, different functions, different divisions) interacted, via facilitator, with various of your folks? 4. Have you thanked a front-line employee for a small act of helpfulness … in the last three days? 5. Have you thanked a front-line employee for a small act of helpfulness … in the last three hours? 6. Have you thanked a frontline employee for carrying around a great attitude … today? 7. Have you in the last week recognized—publicly—one of your folks for a small act of cross-functional co-operation? 8. Have you in the last week recognized—publicly—one of “their” folks (another function) for a small act of cross-functional co-operation? 9. Have you invited in the last month a leader of another function to your weekly team priorities meeting? 10. Have you personally in the last week-month called-visited an internal or external customer to sort out, inquire, or apologize for some little or big thing that went awry? (No reason for doing so? If true—in your mind—then you’re more out of touch than I dared imagine.) 11. Have you in the last two days had a chat with someone (a couple of levels down?) about specific deadlines concerning a project’s next steps? 12. Have you in the last two days had a chat with someone (a couple of levels down?) about specific deadlines concerning a project’s next steps … and what specifically you can do to remove a hurdle? (“Ninety percent of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get things done.”—Peter “His eminence” Drucker.) 13. Have you celebrated in the last week a “small” (or large!) milestone reached? (I.e., are you a milestone fanatic?) 14. Have you in the last week or month revised some estimate in the “wrong” direction and apologized for making a lousy estimate? (Somehow you must publicly reward the telling of difficult truths.) 15. Have you installed in your tenure a very comprehensive customer satisfaction scheme for all internal customers? (With major consequences for hitting or missing the mark.) 16. Have you in the last six months had a week-long, visible, very intensive visit-“tour” of external customers? 17. Have you in the last 60 days called an abrupt halt to a meeting and “ordered” everyone to get out of the office, and “into the field” and in the next eight hours, after asking those involved, fixed (f-i-x-e-d!) a nagging “small” problem through practical action? 18. Have you in the last week had a rather thorough discussion of a “cool design thing” someone has come across—away from your industry or function—at a Web site, in a product or its packaging? 19. Have you in the last two weeks had an informal meeting—at least an hour long—with a frontline employee to discuss things we do right, things we do wrong, what it would take to meet your mid- to long-term aspirations? 20. Have you had in the last 60 days had a general meeting to discuss “things we do wrong” … that we can fix in the next fourteen days? 21. Have you had in the last year a one-day, intense offsite with each (?) of your internal customers—followed by a big celebration of “things gone right”? 22. Have you in the last week pushed someone to do some family thing that you fear might be overwhelmed by deadline pressure? 23. Have you learned the names of the children of everyone who reports to you? (If not, you have six months to fix it.) 24. Have you taken in the last month an interesting-weird outsider to lunch? 25. Have you in the last month invited an interesting-weird outsider to sit in on an important meeting? 26. Have you in the last three days discussed something interesting, beyond your industry, that you ran across in a meeting, reading, etc? 27. Have you in the last 24 hours injected into a meeting “I ran across this interesting idea in [strange place]”? 28. Have you in the last two weeks asked someone to report on something, anything that constitutes an act of brilliant service rendered in a “trivial” situation— restaurant, car wash, etc? (And then discussed the relevance to your work.) 29. Have you in the last 30 days examined in detail (hour by hour) your calendar to evaluate the degree “time actually spent” mirrors your “espoused priorities”? (And repeated this exercise with everyone on team.) 30. Have you in the last two months had a presentation to the group by a “weird” outsider? 31. Have you in the last two months had a presentation to the group by a customer, internal customer, vendor featuring “working folks” 3 or 4 levels down in the vendor organization? 32. Have you in the last two months had a presentation to the group of a cool, beyond-our-industry ideas by two of your folks? 33. Have you at every meeting today (and forever more) re-directed the conversation to the practicalities of implementation concerning some issue before the group? 34. Have you at every meeting today (and forever more) had an end-of-meeting discussion on “action items to be dealt with in the next 4, 48 hours? (And then made this list public—and followed up in 48 hours.) And made sure everyone has at least one such item.) 35. Have you had a discussion in the last six months about what it would take to get recognition in local-national poll of “best places to work”? 36. Have you in the last month approved a cool-different training course for one of your folks? Have you in the last month taught a front-line training course? 37. 38. Have you in the last week discussed the idea of Excellence? (What it means, how to get there.) 39. Have you in the last week discussed the idea of “Wow”? (What it means, how to inject it into an ongoing “routine” project.) 40. Have you in the last 45 days assessed some major process in terms of the details of the “experience,” as well as results, it provides to its external or internal customers? 41. Have you in the last month had one of your folks attend a meeting you were supposed to go to which gives them unusual exposure to senior folks? 42. Have you in the last 60 (30?) days sat with a trusted friend or “coach” to discuss your “management style”—and its long- and short-term impact on the group? 43. Have you in the last three days considered a professional relationship that was a little rocky and made a call to the person involved to discuss issues and smooth the waters? (Taking the “blame,” fully deserved or not, for letting the thing-issue fester.) 44. Have you in the last … two hours … stopped by someone’s (two-levels “down") officeworkspace for 5 minutes to ask “What do you think?” about an issue that arose at a more or less just completed meeting? (And then stuck around for 10 or so minutes to listen—and visibly taken notes.) 45. Have you … in the last day … looked around you to assess whether the diversity pretty accurately maps the diversity of the market being served? (And …) 46. Have you in the last day at some meeting gone out of your way to make sure that a normally reticent person was engaged in a conversation—and then thanked him or her, perhaps privately, for their contribution? 47. Have you during your tenure instituted very public (visible) presentations of performance? 48. Have you in the last four months had a session specifically aimed at checking on the “corporate culture” and the degree we are true to it—with all presentations by relatively junior folks, including front-line folks? (And with a determined effort to keep the conversation restricted to “real world” “small” cases—not theory.) 49. Have you in the last six months talked about the Internal Brand Promise? 50. Have you in the last year had a full-day off site to talk about individual (and group) aspirations? Part FOUR “The doctor interrupts after …* *Source: Jerome Groopman, How Doctors Think seconds [An obsession with] Listening is ... the ultimate mark of Respect. Listening is ... the heart and soul of Engagement. Listening is ... the heart and soul of Kindness. Listening is ... the heart and soul of Thoughtfulness. Listening is ... the basis for true Collaboration. Listening is ... the basis for true Partnership. Listening is ... a Team Sport. Listening is ... a Developable Individual Skill.* (*Though women Listening Listening Listening Listening is is is is ... ... ... ... are far better at it than men.) the basis for Community. the bedrock of Joint Ventures that work. the bedrock of Joint Ventures that last. the core of effective Cross-functional Communication* (*Which is in turn Attribute #1 of organizational effectiveness.) [cont.] Listening Listening Listening Listening Listening Listening Listening Listening Listening Listening Listening Listening Listening Listening Listening Listening is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... the engine of superior EXECUTION. the key to making the Sale. the key to Keeping the Customer’s Business. the engine of Network development. the engine of Network maintenance. the engine of Network expansion. Social Networking’s “secret weapon.” Learning. the sine qua non of Renewal. the sine qua non of Creativity. the sine qua non of Innovation. the core of taking Diverse opinions aboard. Strategy. Source #1 of “Value-added.” Differentiator #1. Profitable.* (*The “R.O.I.” from listening is higher than from any other single activity.) Listening is … the bedrock which underpins a Commitment to EXCELLENCE *Listening is of the utmost … strategic importance! *Listening is a proper … core value ! *Listening is … trainable ! *Listening is a … profession ! *Listening is a … profession! Listen = Profession = Study = practice = evaluation = Enterprise value: "We listen intently to and fully engage all with whom we work." “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 “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” —Dale Carnegie Questioning, the art [and “profession”] of. $2.3 trillion “The West spent … on foreign aid over the last five decades and still has not managed to get twelve-cent medicines to children to prevent half of all malaria deaths. The West spent $2.3 trillion and still not managed to get three dollars to each new mother to prevent five million child But I and many other like-minded people keep trying, not to abandon aid to the poor, but to make sure it reaches them.” deaths. … Lesson: Talk to the “locals.” Lesson: Listen to the “locals.” Lesson: Hear the “locals.” Lesson: Listen to the “locals.” Lesson: Hear the “locals.” Lesson: Listen to the “locals.” Lesson: Hear the “locals.” Lesson: Listen to the “locals.” Lesson: Hear to the “locals.” Lesson: Listen to the “locals.” Lesson: Hear to the “locals.” Lesson: Respect the “locals.” Lesson: Empathize with the “locals.” For projects involving children or health or education or community development or sustainable small-business growth (most women projects), are by far the most reliable and most central and most indirectly powerful local players even in the most chauvinist settings. “if you don’t listen, you don’t sell anything.” —Carolyn Marland Sales > Marketing “Everybody lives by selling something.” —Robert Louis Stevenson four most important words in any “The organization are … The four most important words in any organization are … “What do you think?” Source: courtesy Dave Wheeler, posted at tompeters.com Tomorrow: How many times will you “ask the WDYT question”? [Count!] [Practice makes better!] [This is a STRATEGIC skill!] From Enemy/Reluctant User to Champion/Savior/Owner: “one line of code!” Axiom The “The deepest human need is the … need to be appreciated.” —William James “Thank you” lingers on: 10 years Tomorrow: How many times will you mange to blurt out, “Thank you”? [Count ’em!] [Practice makes better!* *The engineer from Manchester.]] [This is a STRATEGIC skill!] *appreciation is of the utmost … strategic importance! *appreciation is a proper … core value ! *appreciation is … trainable ! *appreciation is a … profession ! #61 And the answer is …. otis #62 “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 Successful pause “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 Successful. 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. *effective “Repair”/Apology is of the utmost … strategic importance! *effective repair is a proper … core value ! *effective repair is … trainable ! *effective repair is a … profession ! #63 THE PROBLEM IS RARELY/NEVER THE PROBLEM. THE RESPONSE TO THE PROBLEM INVARIABLY ENDS UP BEING THE REAL PROBLEM.* *PERCEPTION IS ALL THERE IS! Potlatch. Comeback [big, quick response] >> Perfection Acquire vs maintain*: *Recession goal: Higher “market share” current customers #64 “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. *Thoughtfulness is of the utmost … strategic importance! *thoughtfulness is a proper … core value ! *Thoughtfulness is … trainable ! *Thoughtfulness is a … profession ! “Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart.” —Henry Clay #65 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.” “There is a misconception that supportive interactions require more staff or more time and are therefore more costly. Although labor costs are a substantial part of any hospital budget, the interactions themselves add nothing to the budget. Kindness is free. Listening to patients or answering their questions costs nothing. It can be argued that negative interactions—alienating patients, being non-responsive to their needs or limiting their sense of control—can be very costly. … Angry, frustrated or frightened patients may be combative, withdrawn and less cooperative—requiring far more time than it would have taken to interact with them initially in a positive way.” —Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel #66 problem #1. Opportunity #1. X =XFX* *Excellence = Cross-functional Excellence Never waste a lunch! ???? % XF lunches* *Measure! Monthly! Part of evaluation! [The PA’s Club.] R.O.I.R. 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!” “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 “The capacity to develop close and enduring relationships is the mark of a leader. Unfortunately, many leaders of major companies believe their job is to create the strategy, organization structure and organizational processes—then they just delegate the work to be done, remaining aloof from the people doing the work.” —Bill George, Authentic Leadership “Who would you rather have as a CFO? A moderately good accountant who is great with people outside the firm and skilled at managing very smart people? Or a brilliant accountant who’s inept with outsiders and alienates the smart people under him?” —Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There (Way) Underutilized Lever Space! Space! Space! Space! Geologists + Geophysicists + A little bit of love = Oil #67 The “XF-50”: 50 Ways to Enhance Cross-Functional Effectiveness and Deliver Speed, “Service Excellence” and “Value-added Customer ‘Solutions’”* 1. It’s our organization to make work—or not. It’s not “them,” the outside world that’s the problem. The enemy is us. Period. 2. Friction-free! Dump 90% of “middle managers”—most are advertent or inadvertent “power freaks.” We are all—every one of us—in the Friction Removal Business, one moment at a time, now and forevermore. 3. No “stovepipes”! “Stove-piping,” “Silo-ing” is an Automatic Firing Offense. Period. No appeals. (Within the limits of civility, somewhat “public” firings are not out of the question—that is, make one and all aware why the axe fell.) 4. Everything on the Web. This helps. A lot. (“Everything” = Big word.) 5. Open access. All available to all. Transparency, beyond a level that’s “sensible,” is a de facto imperative in a Burn-the-Silos strategy. 6. Project managers rule!! Project managers running XF (cross-functional) projects are the Elite of the organization, and seen as such and treated as such. (The likes of construction companies have practiced this more or less forever.) 7. “Value-added Proposition” = Application of integrated resources. (From the entire supply-chain.) To deliver on our emergent business raison d’etre, and compete with the likes of our Chinese and Indian brethren, we must co-operate with anybody and everybody “24/7.” IBM, UPS and many, many others are selling far more than a product or service that works— the new “it” is pure and simple a product of XF co-operation; “the product is the co-operation” is not much of a stretch. 44. Put “it” on the–every agenda. XF “issues to be resolved” should be on every agenda—morning project team review, weekly exec team meeting, etc. A “next step” within 24 hours (4?) ought to be part of the resolution. 45. XF “honest broker” or ombudsman. The ombudsman examines XF “friction events” and acts as Conflict Resolution Counselor. (Perhaps a formal conflict resolution agreement?) 46. Lock it in! XF co-operation, central to any value-added mission, should be an explicit part of the “Vision Statement.” 47. Promotions. Every promotion, no exceptions, should put XF Excellence in the top 5 (3?) evaluation criteria. 48. Pick partners based on their “co-operation proclivity.” Everyone must be on board if “this thing” is going to work; hence every vendor, among others, should be formally evaluated on their commitment to XF transparency—e.g., can we access anyone at any level in any function of their organization without bureaucratic barriers? 49. Fire vendors who don’t “get it”—more than “get it,” welcome “it” with open arms.” 50. Jaw. Jaw. Jaw. Talk XF cooperation-value-added at every opportunity. Become a relentless bore! 51. Excellence! There is a state of XF Excellence per se. Talk about it. Pursue it. Aspire to nothing less. 450/8 Lisbon/New Biz: Weeks to … Minutes (!!!!) 90K in U.S.A. ICUs on any given day; 178 steps/day in ICU. 50% stays result in “serious complication” Source: Atul Gawande, “The Checklist” (New Yorker, 1210.07) **Peter Pronovost, Johns Hopkins, 2001 **Checklist, line infections **1/3rd at least one error when he started **Nurses/permission to stop procedure if doc, other not following checklist **In 1 year, 10-day line-infection rate: 11% to … 0% Source: Atul Gawande, “The Checklist” (New Yorker, 1210.07) The Commerce Bank Model “every computer at commerce bank has a special red key on it that says, ‘found something stupid that we are doing that interferes with our ability to service the customer? Tell us about it, and if we agree, we will give you $50.’” Source: Fans! Not customers. How Commerce Bank Created a Super-growth Business in a No-growth Industry, Vernon Hill & Bob Andelman Beauty. Grace. Clarity. Simplicity. First Steps: “Beauty Contest”! 1. Select one form/document: invoice, airbill, sick leave policy, customer returns claim form. 2. Rate the selected doc on a scale of 1 to 10 [1 = Stinks; 10 = Work of Art] on four dimensions: Beauty. Grace. Clarity. Simplicity. 3. Re-invent! 4. Repeat, with a new selection, every 15 working days. CGRO* *CGRO/Chief Grunge Removal Officer (CDC/Chief of De-complexification) (CAO/Chief Anti-systems Officer) (CBSD/Chief BS Destruction Officer) 3M’s Innovation Crisis: How Six Sigma Almost Smothered Its Idea Culture Source: Title/Cover Story, BW, 0611.07 (“What’s remarkable is how fast a culture can be torn apart,” 3M lead scientist; “In an innovation economy, [6 Sigma] is no longer a cure all”/BW) “Not only does standardization reduce accountability, but it causes workers to switch to autopilot.” “An artistic process has to rely on external measures of success, like customer feedback.” Source: “When Should a Process Be Art, Not Science?” by Joseph Hall and Eric Johnson, HBR (03.09) “What Rikyu demanded was not cleanliness alone, but the beautiful and the natural also.” —Kakuzo Okakura, The Book of Tea “Rikyu was watching his son Sho-an as he swept and watered the garden path. ‘Not clean enough,’ said Rikyu, when Sho-an had finished his task, and bade him try again. After a weary hour, the son turned to Rikyu: ‘Father, there is nothing more to be done. The steps have been washed for the third time, the stone planters and the trees are well sprinkled with water, moss and lichens are shining with a fresh verdure; not a twig, not a leaf have I left on the ground.’ ‘Young fool,’ chided the tea-master, ‘that is not the way a garden path should be swept.’ Saying this, Rikyu stepped into the garden, shook a tree and scattered over the garden gold and crimson leaves, scraps of the brocade of autumn! What Rikyu demanded was not cleanliness alone, but the beautiful and the natural also.” —Kakuzo Okakura, The Book of Tea Part FIVE ry it. Try it. Try it ry it. Try it. Screw i p. Try it. Try it. Try Try it. Try it. Try i ry it. Screw it up. it ry it. Try it. try it “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: BusinessWeek, Type A Organization Strategies/ “How to Hit a Moving Target”—Tactic #1 #72 Culture of Prototyping “Effective prototyping may the most valuable core competence an be innovative organization can hope to have.” —Michael Schrage #73 “SkunkWorks”/ “ParallelUniverse” “the solution” Source: Scott Bedbury (Others: 3M, Google, Shell, NAVFAC) The “Sri Lanka Stratagem” Forward, march: “Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” —Margaret Mead #74 “Fail . Forward. Fast.” High Tech CEO, Pennsylvania Read This! Richard Farson & Ralph Keyes: Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins: The Paradox of Innovation “It is not enough to ‘tolerate’ failure— you must ‘celebrate’ failure.” —Richard Farson (Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins) “In business, you reward people for taking risks. When it doesn’t work out you promote them-because they were willing to try new things. If people tell me they skied all day and never fell down, I tell them to try a different mountain.” —Michael Bloomberg (BW/0625.07) We learn from our failures. Period.* Failure to acknowledge failure is a fatal disease. Treating failure like a disease is a fatal disease. *Doctors, soldiers, pilots, musicians, etc. #75 “Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.” Phil Daniels, Sydney exec #76 Four Thousand Slides: 1/4,000 “You miss 100% of the shots you never take.” —Wayne Gretzky #77 BLAME NOBODY. EXPECT NOTHING. DO SOMETHING. Source: Locker room sign posted by football coach Bill Parcells #78 “Some people look for things that went wrong and try to fix them. I look for things that went right, and try to build off them.” —Bob Stone (Mr ReGo) “Somewhere in your organization, groups of people are already doing things differently and better. To create lasting change, find these areas of positive deviance and fan the flames.” —Richard Pascale & Jerry Sternin, “Your Company’s Secret Change Agents,” HBR “In foreign aid, Planners announce good intentions but don’t motivate Searchers find things that work and build on them. Planners apply global blueprints; Searchers adapt to local conditions. Planners never hear whether the planned recipients got what they needed; Searchers find out if the customer is satisfied. … A Planner thinks he anyone to carry them out; already knows the answers; he thinks of poverty as a technical A Searcher admits he doesn’t know the answers in advance; he hopes to find answers to individual problems only by trial and error experimentation. …” —William Easterly, engineering problem that his answers will solve. White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and so Little Good Demos! Heroes! Stories! “A key – perhaps the key – to leadership is the effective communication of a story.” —Howard Gardner, Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership We are the company we keep 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 “[CEO A.G.] Lafley has shifted P&G’s focus on inventing all its own products to developing others’ inventions at least half the time. One successful example, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, based on a product found in an Osaka market.” —Fortune The “We are what we eat” axiom: At its core, every (!!!) relationship-partnership decision (employee, vendor, customer, etc) is a strategic decision about: “Innovate, ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ ” “You will become like the five people you associate with the most—this can be either a blessing or a curse.” —Billy Cox “Normal” = “o for 800” "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends upon the unreasonable man.” —GB Shaw, Man and Superman: The Revolutionists' Handbook. “Who’s the most interesting person you’ve met in the last 90 days? How do I get in touch with them?” —Fred Smith “Freak Fridays” —once a month invite somebody interesting, in any field, to have lunch with your gang “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 “d”iversity “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 Can you pass the … “Squint test”? “What is your most marked characteristic?” Vanity Fair: Mike Bloomberg: “Curiosity.” “Do one thing every day that scares you.” —Eleanor Roosevelt 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! “The Billion-man Research Team: Companies offering work to online communities are reaping the benefits of ‘crowdsourcing.’” —Headline, FT, 0110.07 Rob McEwen/CEO/ Goldcorp Inc./ Red Lake gold Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams Source: All You Need to Know About “Sources of Innovation”: Angry people! [angry with the status quo] F(Anger/Passion) >>>> f(Pushback from Threatened Fat-cats & Bureau-crats) Iron Innovation Equality Law: The quality and quantity and imaginativeness of innovation shall be the same in all functions —e.g., in HR and purchasing as much as in marketing or product development. Inno14 Innovation’s “Fourteen Imperatives” (1) Try it. Repeat. (“1/40.”) (“R.F.A.”/Ready.Fire. Aim.) (Non-Linear!) Prototype it./MTTP (Mean Time To Prototype.)/(Inno. = Reaction to Proto.) (2) Celebrate failure. “Whoever makes the most mistakes wins.” “Fail. Fail again. Fail better.” “Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.” (3) Decentralize. (4) Parallel Universe. (5) “Hang Out” Axiom. (Hang “cool” = More cool. Dull = Dull.) (6) “d”iversity. (Every dimension.) (7) Co-invent with outsiders./Entwined with outsiders. (Including “Crowdsourcing.”) Innovation’s “Fourteen Imperatives” (8) “Strategic” Listening = Core competence. (9) Hire and promote 100% innovators. Innovator’s characteristic = Innovator. Innovator’s characteristic = Angry. (Anger > Blowback.) CEO=Innovation “bias.” (10) XFX/Cross-functional Excellence!! (#1??) (11) Chief Complexity & Systems Destruction Officer. (12) R&D Equality. All functions equal. (VA centerpiece./All staff VA-meisters.) (13) Fun! Self-deprecating! (14) Good luck! (Entropy rules.) (Major acquisition = Dumb.) (NB: All these things work except when they don’t.) Innovation Index: How many of your Top 5 Strategic Initiatives/Key Projects score 8 or higher [out of 10] on a “Weird”/ “Profound”/ “Wow”/“Game- changer” Scale? De-central-iza-tion! The True Logic* of Decentralization: 6 divisions = 6 “tries” 6 divisions = 6 DIFFERENT leaders = 6 INDEPENDENT “tries” = Max probability of “win” 6 divisions = 6 very DIFFERENT leaders = 6 very INDEPENDENT “tries” = Max probability of “far out”/”3-sigma” “win” *“Driver”: Law of Large #s “Best practice” = ZERO Standard Deviation “Parallel Universe” … China!!!!!!! “Centralization” vs. “Decentralization” = Everything Institute of Public Administration, last question … Centralization vs Decentralization = EVERYTHING (Business, government, child-rearing) Jefferson vs Hamilton (D.C. vs “states rights”) Nelson, Grant: simple-clear-brief orders, then lots of leeway Ike (and CEO Koppers): plan like hell and burn the plan (literally) Ceaselessly talk through the values, then enormous space within Bossidy: 2-page strategy (pre-Welch, strategy doc was budget doc) Katrina: USCG (“history of trusting their captains”) vs US Navy Rommel on Americans in North Africa No autonomy, no resilience (Yunus: “We’re all entrepreneurs”) CIO; across the hall anti-CIO (Mr Build, Mr Destroy) Drucker: “Ninety percent …” ICD/Inherent Centralist Drift Gary Hamel and “sell by” “Anthropological analysis,” McKinsey Degree of staff diversification is also Cent. vs De-cent issue (homogeneity grows over time) Jim Burke: “No.” (Watson: “never do a System 360 today”) Norberto Odebrecht and 2nd Law Thermodynamics (Foster’s data) Sloan: Dynamic approach, never get it right TP: dynamic approach, never get it right, lean “big time” toward decentralization, open warfare on “necessary” systems “‘Decentralization’ is not a piece of paper. It’s not me. It’s either in your heart, or not.” —Brian Joffe/BIDvest volcanic struggle! Enemy #1 I.C.D. Inherent/Inevitable/ Immutable Centralist Drift Note 1: Note 2: Jim Burke’s 1-word vocabulary: “No.” “Ninety percent of what we call ‘management’ consists of making it difficult for people to get things done.” – Peter Drucker Can’t Live Without ’em, Can’t live With ’em Office A, Executive Row: C.I.O. C.S.D.O./ Chief Systems Destruction Officer Office B (Across the hall): * (007 License) *Chief of Anti-matter; Deputy Chief, Grunge Removal Section; Chief, Crap Accretion Police; Chief, Office of Bullshit Detection; K.I.S.S. Kops Ex-ecu-tion! “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 (1) sum of Projects = Goal (“Vision”) (2) sum of Milestones = project (3) rapid Review + Truth-telling = accountability Excellence in Execution = Deepest “Blue Ocean” Ac-counta-bil-ity! Mission impossible? $36B/’98 minus $675M/‘07 “Mr Zetsche, head of Chrysler from 2000 to 2005, denied he should take any responsibility for the U.S. carmaker’s troubles …” —Financial Times /05.29.07 30% MH: 80% CF: (no salesfolk) (salesfolk) “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. DECENTRALIZATION. EXECUTION. ACCOUTABILITY. 6:15A.M. Part SIX the recession 44 Forty-four “Secrets” and “clever Strategies” For dealing with the Recession of 2008-XXXX I am constantly asked for 'secrets' “strategies/ for surviving the recession.” I try to appear wise and informed— and parade original, sophisticated thoughts. But if you want to know what’s really going through my head, see the list that follows. 44 “Secrets” and “Clever Strategies” For Dealing with the Recession of 2007+ You come earlier. You leave later. You work harder. You may well work for less; and, if so, you adapt to the untoward circumstances with a smile—even if it kills you inside. You volunteer to do more. You dig deep and always bring a good attitude to work. You fake it if your good attitude flags. You literally practice your "game face" in the mirror in the morning, and in the loo mid-morning. You give new meaning to the idea and intensive practice of “visible management.” 44 “Secrets” and “Clever Strategies” For Dealing with the Recession of 2008-XXXX You take better than usual care of yourself and encourage others to do the same—physical well-being determines mental well-being and response to stress. You shrug off shit that flows downhill in your direction—buy a shovel or a “pre-worn” raincoat on eBay. You try to forget about “the good old days”— nostalgia is self-destructive. You buck yourself up with the thought that “this too shall pass”—but then remind yourself that it might not pass any time soon, and so you re-dedicate yourself to making the absolute best of what you have now. 44 “Secrets” and “Clever Strategies” For Dealing with the Recession of 2008-XXXX You work the phones and then work the phones some more—and stay in touch with positively everyone. You frequently invent breaks from routine, including “weird” ones—“changeups” prevent wallowing and bring a fresh perspective. You eschew all forms of personal excess. You simplify. You sweat the details as never before. You sweat the details as never before. You sweat the details as never before. You raise to the sky and maintain at all costs the Standards of Excellence by which you unfailingly evaluate your own performance. You are maniacal when it comes to responding to even the slightest screw-up. 44 “Secrets” and “Clever Strategies” For Dealing with the Recession of 2008-XXXX You find ways to be around young people and to keep young people around—they are less likely to be members of the “sky is falling” school. You learn new tricks of your trade. You remind yourself that this is not just something to be “gotten through”—it is the Final Exam of character. You network like a demon. You network inside the company—get to know more of the folks who “do the real work.” You network outside the company—get to know more of the folks who “do the real work” in vendor-customer outfits. 44 “Secrets” and “Clever Strategies” For Dealing with the Recession of 2008-XXXX You thank others by the truckload if good things happen—and take the heat yourself if bad things happen. You behave kindly, but you don't sugarcoat or hide the truth--humans are startlingly resilient and rumors are the real killers. You treat small successes as if they were Superbowl victories—and celebrate and commend accordingly. You shrug off the losses (ignoring what's going on in your tummy), and get back on the horse and immediately try again. You avoid negative people to the extent you can—pollution kills. You eventually read the gloom-sprayers the riot act. 44 “Secrets” and “Clever Strategies” For Dealing with the Recession of 2008-XXXX You give new meaning to the word "thoughtful.“ You don’t put limits on the flowers budget— “bright and colorful” works marvels. You redouble, re-triple your efforts to "walk in your customer's shoes." (Especially if the shoes smell.) You mind your manners—and accept others’ lack of manners in the face of their strains. You are kind to all mankind. You keep your shoes shined. You leave the blame game at the office door. You call out the congenital politicians in no uncertain terms. You become a paragon of personal accountability. And then you pray. Part SEVEN Paul Omerod: “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 … “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 “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 No: People. No: Product. No: Value to customer. Yes: Dilution, other control and shareowning issues. Yes: Scale-as-power. Yes: Market share. Yes: People. Yes: Product. Yes: Value to customer. No: Dilution, other control and shareowning issues. No: Scale-as-power. No: Market share. “It suddenly occurred to me that in the space of two or three hours … “It suddenly occurred to me that in the space he never talked about cars.” of two or three hours … —Les Wexner 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?” #4 Japan #3 USA #2 China #1 Germany Reason!!! Mittelstand Productivity (Small/All) > Productivity (Big) (USA-9%/F500) st (China/1 20 yrs.) 26 = 73 – 47 Jim Penman/ Jim’s Group 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 Jim’s Group: Jim Penman.* 1984: Jim’s Mowing. 2006: Jim’s Group. 2,600 franchisees (Australia, NZ, UK). Cleaning. Dog washing. Handyman. Fencing. Paving. Pool care. Etc. “People first.” Private. Small staff. Franchisees can leave at will. 0-1 complaint per year is norm; cut bad ones quickly. *Ph.D. cross-cultural anthropology; mowing on the side Source: MT/Management Today (Australia), Jan-Feb 2006 *Basement Systems Inc. *Larry Janesky *Dry Basement Science (115,000!) *1990: $0; 2003: $13M; 2007: $62,000,000 The Red Carpet Store Joel Resnick/Flemington NJ (referenced in Fame Junkies) *Lived in same town all adult life *First generation that’s wealthy/ no parental support *“Don’t look like millionaires, don’t dress like millionaires, don’t eat like millionaires, don’t act like millionaires” *“Many of the types of businesses [they] are in could be classified as ‘dull-normal.’ [They] are welding contractors, auctioneers, scrap-metal dealers, lessors of portable toilets, dry cleaners, re-builders of diesel engines, paving contractors …” Source: The Millionaire Next Door, Thomas Stanley & William Danko Muhammad Yunus: “All human beings are entrepreneurs. When we were in the caves we were all selfemployed . . . finding our food, feeding ourselves. That’s where human history began . . . As civilization came we suppressed it. We became labor because they stamped us, ‘You are labor.’ We forgot that we are entrepreneurs.” Source: Muhammad Yunus/The News Hour—PBS/1122.2006 94% of loans to … women* *Microlending; “Banker to the poor”; Grameen Bank; Muhammad Yunus; 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner “CEMEX realized that women are the key drivers of savings in [Mexican] families. … They are entrepreneurial in nature, and they actively participate in the tanda system [neighborhood groups who pool money and save any that’s left over]. Regardless of whether they are homemakers or outside-the-home workers, they are responsible for any savings in the family. Patrimonio Hoy [Private Property Today, a CEMEX program to aid the poor in building homes] discovered that 70% of the women who saved were saving money in the tanda system to construct homes for their families. The men in the society consider their job done if they bring in their paycheck at the end of the day.” —C.K. Prahalad, from The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, on Lorenzo Zambrano and CEMEX, the Mexican company that’s the world’s #3 cement maker “Forget China, India and the Internet: Economic Growth Is Driven by Women.” Source: Headline, Economist #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 #98 “Dennis, you need a … ‘To-don’t ’ List !” John Sawhill/Major Strategic “What areas should the Conservancy focus on and more important— Initiative: what activities should we stop doing?” Source: Bill Birchard, Nature’s Keepers: The Remarkable Story of How The Nature Conservancy Became the Largest Environmental Organization in the World Don’t > Do* * “Don’ting,” systematic, > WILLPOWER #99 “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Gandhi “To change minds effectively, leaders make particular use of two stories that they tell and the lives tools: the that they lead.” Changing Minds —Howard Gardner, “It’s always showtime.” —David D’Alessandro, Career Warfare “Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.” —Samuel Taylor Coleridge “I am a dispenser of enthusiasm.” —Ben Zander Make friends! “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 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 The Real World’s “Little” Rule Book Ben/tea Norm/tea DDE/make friends WFBuckley/make friends-help friends Gust/Suck down Charlie/poker pal-BOF Eddie VII/dance-flatter-mingle-learn the language Vlad/birthday party of outgroup guy’s wife CIO/finance network ERP installer/consult-“one line of code” GE Energy/make friends risk assessment GWB/check the invitation list GHWB/T-notes Hank/60 calls MarkM/5K-5M Delaware/show up Oppy/snub Lewis Strauss NM/smile -$4.3T/tin ear tp.com/Big 4-What do you think? Women/genes Banker/after church Total Bloody Mess/Can they pay back the loan? #101 “eighty percent of success is showing up.” —Woody Allen #102 “To develop others, start with yourself.” —Marshall Goldsmith “The First step in a ‘dramatic’ ‘organizational change program’ is obvious— dramatic personal change!” —RG “How can a high-level leader like _____ be so out of touch with the truth about himself? It’s more common than you would imagine. In fact, the higher up the ladder a leader climbs, the less accurate his self-assessment is likely to be. The problem is an acute lack of feedback [especially on people issues].” —Daniel Goleman (et al.), The New Leaders “Being aware of yourself and how you affect everyone around you is what distinguishes a superior leader.” —Edie Seashore (Strategy + Business #45) L(+21) = L(-21) Leadership(21A.D.) = Leadership(21B.C.) #104 “To me business isn’t about wearing suits or pleasing stockholders. It’s about being true to yourself, your ideas and focusing on the essentials.” —Richard Branson Excellence. Always. If not Excellence, what? If not Excellence now, when? The end