Transcript LONG Tom Peters’ X25*: EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS. Rompetrol/Annual Management Meeting Paris/02 December 2006 *In Search of Excellence 1982-2007

LONG
Tom Peters’ X25*:
EXCELLENCE.
ALWAYS.
Rompetrol/Annual Management Meeting
Paris/02 December 2006
*In Search of Excellence 1982-2007
Slides at …
tompeters.com
EXCELLENCE.
ALL . YOU.
NEED. TO.
KNOW.
7X. 730A800P.
F12A.*
*’93-’03/10
yr annual return: CB: 29%; WM: 17%;
HD: 16%. Mkt Cap: 48% p.a.
Wegmans
EXCELLENCE.
ALL. YOU. NEED.
TO. KNOW.
ANYWHERE.
ANY MARKET.
ANY TIME.
Jim’s
Group
EX-CELLENCE. NOT .
“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
“Forbes100” from 1917 to 1987
: 39
members of
the Class of ’17 were alive in ’87; 18 in ’87
F100; 18 F100 “survivors” significantly
underperformed the market;
just
2 (2%), GE & Kodak,
outperformed the market from
1917 to 1987.
S&P 500 from 1957 to 1997:
’97;
74 members of the Class of ’57 were alive in
12 (2.4%) of 500 outperformed the market from 1957 to 1997.
Source: Dick Foster & Sarah Kaplan, Creative Destruction:
Why Companies That Are Built to Last Underperform the Market
Welcome to the “Club of Shattered Dreams”:
Of Korea’s
Top 100
7
companies in 1955, only
were
still on the list in 2004. The 1997
crisis “destroyed
half of Korea’s
30 largest conglomerates.”
Source: “KET Issue Report,” Kim Jong Nyun (14.05.2005)
S&P Stability Ratings*
1985
2006
Low Risk
41%
13%
Average Risk
24%
14%
High Risk 35%
*Likelihood of stable long-term earnings growth
Source: Fortune (2 October 2006)
73%
The last
word:
There is
no last
word.
Flat as a Pancake (Or Worse)
Wal*Mart … Dell …
Intel … Home Depot
… Microsoft … GE
“It is generally much easier to
organization
kill an
than change it
substantially.”
—Kevin Kelly, Out of Control
C.E.O.
to
C.D.O.
“Wealth in this new regime
flows directly from innovation,
not optimization. That is,
wealth is not gained by
but by
imperfectly seizing the
unknown.” —Kevin Kelly, New Rules for
perfecting the known,
the New Economy
EXCELLENCE.
STARTERS.
BASICS.
K.I.S.S.
Raging Success =
P-SQUARED.
C. E-CUBED.
People.
Product.
Clients.
Execution.
Enthusiasm.
Excellence.
EXCELLENCE.
THE WORD.
Synonyms
Purity
Transcendence
Virtue
Elegance
Majesty
Antonyms
Mediocrity
EXCELLENCE.
GAMECHANGER.
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”
EXCELLENCE.
ASPIRATION.
“Why in the
world did
you go to
Siberia?”
The Peters
Principles: Enthusiasm.
Emotion. Excellence. Energy.
Excitement. Service. Growth.
Creativity. Imagination. Vitality.
Joy. Surprise. Independence.
Spirit. Community. Limitless
human potential. Diversity. Profit.
Innovation. Design. Quality.
Entrepreneurialism. Wow.
An emotional,
vital, audacious, innovative, joyful,
frightening, risky, creative,
entrepreneurial endeavor that breathes
life & fire into our work & life & elicits
maximum concerted human potential
in the wholehearted effort to help
others ** [**employees, clients, suppliers,
communities, owners, temporary partners] succeed &
profit & imagine & reach places they’d
never dreamed they could go.
Business* (*at its “excellent” best) can be:
The
Ultimate
Business:
Creative
Endeavor.
The
Ultimate
Business:
Personal
DevelopmentGrowth
Experience.
The
Ultimate
Business:
Transcendent
Service
Opportunity.
“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
“Astonish me!”
(SD).
“Build something great!”
“Make it immortal!”
“Insanely great”
(SJ)
(DO)
(HY).
“In-sane-
ly-great”
EXCELLENCE.
“THEM.”
“US.”
“Them”
“Us”
Strategy
Planning
Marketing
Markets
Customers
Micro-segmentation
Cost minimization
Synergy/“Efficiencies”
“Strategic” supplier
Process
Effectiveness
Men
Leadership
Standardization
Big clients
Prestigious Board
EXECUTION
Action
Selling/Sales
Customers
Clients
Big Stuff (Women, Boomers)
Revenue maximization
Decentralization
Pioneering supplier
Project
Excellence
Women
Management + Leadership
Exceptionalism (53 = 53)
COOL clients
INTERESTING Board
“Them”
Big
Growth by merger
Buy market share
Efficient, streamlined
“department”
Certainty-predictability
Fearful of losing
Plan
Careful evaluation
Revised plan
People/Employees
Effective HR department
Benchmark against the
“best”-“industry leader”
“Us”
Mid-size
Organic growth
Create NEW markets
Value-creating “PSF”
Ambiguity-opportunity
Aggressive pursuit
of winning
Prototype
Another prototype
Another prototype
Talent
Rockin’ Talent
Development Center
of Excellence
Benchmark against the
“coolest”
“Them”
“Us”
Benchmark
Orderly career progression
Head
IQ
“Professional”
Stoic, humble leaders
“Future”mark
“Up or Out” (PDQ)
Heart
EQ
Passionate
Noisy, emotional
“characters” in charge
Hire for intangibles
Relentless, pig-headed
determination
Teamwork and disruptive
individuals equal billing
Lead customers
Intimate-Seamless
customer inter-twining
Hire for Resume
Measured-thoughtful
approach
Teamwork comes first
Listen to customers
Customer “involvement”
“Them”
MBM (Management
by memo)
MBA
Shareholder Value
comes first
Work smart
Built to last
Reward successes
“Us”
MBWA
MFA
Great people-product rule
Work hard
Built to Rock the World
Reward (EXCELLENT)
failures
Design 1T
Innovation 1T
Jaw-dropping Experience
Quality first!
Quality first
High-quality
transaction
CVs demo consistent CVs feature Magic Moments
performance
Good grades
Cool stuff
Operational excellence World-rocking INNOVATION
“Them”
Brand
Best analysis wins
“Beyond politics”
Outsource
“Motivate”
“Motivate”
Measured language
Product-Service
Pastel
Better
“Mission success”
Very good
“Us”
Lovemark
Best STORY wins
Politics-is-life, the
rest is details
Bestsource
Send on QUESTS
Invite
HOT language
Gamechanging SOLUTION,
Thrilling EXPERIENCE,
DREAM come true,
LOVEMARK
Technicolor
Different
“Mission EXCELLENCE”
EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.
EXCELLENCE.
DEFINED.
EXCELLENCE.
DEFINED.
AGENDA.
SETTER.
Great Companies …
SET
THE
AGENDA.*
* “disturb the sleep of …
(PERIOD.)
AGENDA SETTERS: “Set the Table”/
Pioneers/ Questors/ Adventurers
US Steel … Ford … Toyota … Sears …
GM … ITT … The Gap … Limited …
Wal*Mart … Tesco … P&G … 3M …
Intel … IBM … Apple … Nokia …
Cisco … Dell … MCI … Sun …
Microsoft … Google … Enron …
Schwab … GE … Laker … Southwest
… People Express … Ogilvy … Virgin
… eBay … Amazon … Sony …
Amgen … BMW … CNN … Nike
Built to Last vs Built for Impact
“But what if [former head of strategic planning at Royal
Dutch Shell] Arie De Geus is wrong in suggesting, in
The Living Company, that firms should aspire to live
forever? Greatness is fleeting and, for corporations, it
The ultimate
aim of a business organization, an
artist, an athlete or a stockbroker
may be to explode in a dramatic
frenzy of value creation during a
short space of time, rather than to
live forever.”
will become ever more fleeting.
—Kjell Nordström and Jonas Ridderstråle,
Funky Business
TP#1*:
Netscape!
*Where would you rather have worked for those 5 years, Netscape
or IBM-HP-Microsoft-Oracle? (Where, 25 years from now, would you
rather to be able to tell someone—e.g., grandchild—that you worked?)
Built to Last
vs
Built to
Change/Rock
the World
GM25/50-75:
“Built to
last”????
“Life is occupied in both perpetuating
itself and in surpassing itself. If all it
does is maintain itself, then living is only
not dying.”
—Simone de Beauvoir
“… Longevity has its place, but I’m not
concerned about that now. I just want to
do God’s will, and He’s allowed me to go
up the mountain. And I’ve looked over.
And I have seen the Promised Land.
And I don’t mind. … I may not get there
with you. …”
—MLK/Memphis
“In Tom’s world, it’s
always better to try
a swan dive and
deliver a colossal
belly flop than to
step timidly off the
board while holding
your nose.”
—Fast Company /October2003
EXCELLENCE.
INNOVATE.
OR. DIE.
“It is not the
strongest of the
species that survives,
nor the most
intelligent, but the
one most responsive
to change.”
—Charles Darwin
EXCELLENCE.
INNOVATE.
ALL. WRONG.
“I don’t believe in economies of
You don’t get
better by being
bigger. You get
worse.”
scale.
—Dick Kovacevich/Wells Fargo
More than $$$$
R&D
spending,
last 25 years?
“When asked to name just
1
big
merger that had lived up to
expectations, Leon Cooperman, former
cochairman of Goldman Sachs’
Investment Policy Committee,
‘I’m sure there
are success stories
out there, but at this
moment I draw a
blank.’” —Mark Sirower, The Synergy Trap
answered:
“Not a single company that
qualified as having made a
sustained transformation
ignited its leap with a big
acquisition or merger. Moreover,
comparison companies—those that failed to make a
leap or, if they did, failed to sustain it—often tried to
make themselves great with a big acquisition or
merger. They failed to grasp the simple truth that while
you can buy your way to growth, you cannot buy your
way to greatness.” —Jim Collins/Time/2004
There’s “A”
and then
there’s “A.”
Spinoffs
systematically
perform better than IPOs … track
record, profits … “freed from
the confines of the parent
… more entrepreneurial,
more nimble”
—Jerry Knight/ Washington Post/ 08.05
Free at Last: Most Recent Chapter
in a Long-running Saga
Freescale
Semiconductor*
*$16B
Private Equity-financed
Firm, Best *Case
*Focus! Focus! Focus!
*In a [Big] hurry
*CEO/Top team, “skin
in the game”
*CEO, 100% of time
on the biz
*Merit! Merit!
*Motivated oversight
*Worst case: Rape & Pillage
EXCELLENCE.
INNOVATE.
TACTICS.
We become
who we hang
out 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
Employees:
“Are there
enough weird
people in the lab
these days?”
V. Chmn., pharmaceutical house, to a lab director
Get mad. Do
something
about it. Now.
Why Do I love Freaks?
(1) Because when Anything Interesting happens … it was
a freak who did it. (Period.)
(2) Freaks are fun. (Freaks are also a pain.) (Freaks are
never boring.)
(3) We need freaks. Especially in freaky times. (Hint:
These are freaky times, for you & me & the CIA & the
Army & Avon.)
(4) A critical mass of freaks-in-our-midst automatically
make us-who-are-not-so-freaky at least somewhat more
freaky. (Which is a Good Thing in freaky times—see
immediately above.)
(5) Freaks are the only (ONLY) ones who succeed—as in,
make it into the history books.
(6) Freaks keep us from falling into ruts. (If we listen to
them.) (We seldom listen to them.) (Which is why most
organizations are in ruts. Make that chasms.)
“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
futuremark
“How do dominant companies
lose their position? Two-
thirds of the time,
they pick the wrong
competitor to worry
about.”
—Don Listwin, CEO,
Openwave Systems/WSJ
Kodak …. Fuji
GM …. Ford
Ford …. GM
IBM …. Siemens, Fujitsu
Sears …. Kmart
Xerox …. Kodak, IBM
“Don’t
benchmark,
futuremark!”
Impetus: “The future is already here; it’s just
not evenly distributed” —William Gibson
Concoct a
Parallel
universe!
“SkunkWorks”/ “ParallelUniverse”
“the
solution”
Source: Scott Bedbury (Others: 3M, Google, Shell, NAVFAC)
“Venture”
fund: Gerstner/Amex,
Dow/Marriott, Grove/Intel,
Bedbury/Starbucks
The
“Sri Lanka
Stratagem”
Forward, march:
Try it. Try it. Try it
Try it. Try it. Try it
ry it. Try it. Try i
Try it. Try it. Try it
Try it. try it. Try it
Try it. try it. Try it
“This is so simple it sounds stupid, but it is amazing
how few oil people really understand that
you only find
oil if you drill
wells.
You may think you’re finding it
when you’re drawing maps and
studying logs, but you have to drill.”
Source: The Hunters, by John Masters, Canadian O & G wildcatter
“We have a
‘strategic plan.’
It’s called doing
things.”
— Herb Kelleher
“Experiment
fearlessly”
Source: BW0821.06, Type A Organization Strategies/
“How to Hit a Moving Target”—Tactic #1
“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
“We ground
up more pig
brains!”
READY.
FIRE!
AIM.
Ross Perot (vs “Aim! Aim! Aim!” /EDS vs GM/1985)
READY.
FIRE!
“You miss 100
percent of the
shots you never
take.”
—Wayne Gretzky
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”
tolerate
[encourage?]
failure
Sam’s
Secret
#1!
“Reward
excellent failures.
Punish mediocre
successes.”
Phil Daniels, Sydney exec
“FAIL, FAIL
AGAIN. FAIL
BETTER.”
—Samuel Beckett
“Fail . Forward.
Fast.”
High Tech CEO, Pennsylvania
“Fail faster.
Succeed Sooner.”
David Kelley/IDEO
do!
Addendum!
“Action is the
foundational
key of all
success.”
—Picasso
“The secret of
getting ahead
is getting
started.” —
Agatha Christie
“The secret to having
good ideas is to have a
lot of ideas, then
throw the bad ones
away.” —Linus Pauling
Translating Picasso
“Doing something
is the key to
getting something
done.”
In Search of
—TP (Co-author,
Excellence, first “Basic”: “A BIAS FOR ACTION”)
“Intelligent people
can always come up
with intelligent
reasons to do
nothing.”
—Scott Simon
Speed/
Tempo
“We don’t sell
insurance anymore.
We sell
speed.”
Peter Lewis, Progressive
place big
bets
No Wiggle Room!
“Incrementalism
is innovation’s
worst enemy.”
Nicholas Negroponte
“Beware of the tyranny
of making Small Changes
to Small Things. Rather,
make Big Changes to
Big Things.”
—Roger Enrico, former Chairman, PepsiCo
Five MYTHS About Changing Behavior
*Crisis is a powerful impetus for change
*Change is motivated by fear
*The facts will set us free
*Small, gradual changes
are always easier to
make and sustain
*We can’t change because our brains become
“hardwired” early in life
Source: Fast Company/05.2005
focus
“We will not, I
repeat not, pretend
to be ‘all things to
all people.’”
—CEO, Investec (03.06)
Private Equity-financed
Firm, Best *Case
*Focus! Focus! Focus!
*In a [Big] hurry
*CEO/Top team, “skin
in the game”
*CEO, 100% of time
on the biz
*Merit! Merit!
*Motivated oversight
*Worst case: Rape & Pillage
measure
Innovation Index: How many
of your Top 5 Strategic
Initiatives/Key Projects
score 8 or higher [out of 10] on a
“Profound”/
“Amazing”/“Gamechanger” Scale?
personal
Buy a
Mirror!
Step #1:
re-imagine the
“value added”
equation
“Big Brown’s New Bag: UPS
Traffic
Manager for
Corporate
America”
Aims to Be the
—Headline/BW/2004
Up,
Up,
Up,
Up
the Value-added Ladder.
The [NEW] “Value-added Ladder”
Gamechanging Solutions/
Implemented Customer
culture change & success
Services/Transactions
Manufactured Goods/Things
Extracted Raw Materials/Stuff
Up,
Up,
Up,
Up
the Value-added Ladder.
“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
Experience: “Rebel Lifestyle!”
“What we sell is the
ability for a 43year-old accountant
to dress in black
leather, ride through
small towns and have
people be afraid
of him.”
Harley exec, quoted in Results-Based Leadership
The [NEW] “Value-added Ladder”
spellbinding Experiences
Gamechanging Solutions
Services
Goods
Raw Materials
Up,
Up,
Up,
Up
the Value-added Ladder.
Furniture vs. Dreams
“We do not sell ‘furniture’ at Domain.
We sell dreams. This
is accomplished by addressing the
half-formed needs in our customers’
heads. By uncovering these needs,
we, in essence, fill in the blanks. We
convert ‘needs’ into
‘dreams.’ Sales are the
inevitable result.”
— Judy George,
Domain Home Fashions
The (NEW) Value-added Ladder
Dreams Come True
Spellbinding Experiences
Gamechanging Solutions
Services
Goods
Raw Materials
Dream Merchants:
IBM
UPS
EXCELLENCE.
1966. 2006.
De-central-iza-tion!
“If if feels
painful and
scary—that’s
real delegation”
—Caspian Woods, small biz owner
“‘Decentralization’
is not a piece of
paper. It’s not me.
It’s either in your
heart, or not.”
—Brian Joffe/BIDvest
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
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
Projects =
Goal (“Vision”)
Milestones =
Project
Rapid Review +
Truth-telling =
accountability
The X-squared Axiom:
X=X
eXcellence =
eXecution
Ac-counta-bil-ity!
“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)
“Realism is
the heart of
execution.”
—Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/Execution:
The Discipline of Getting Things Done
6:15A.M.
4/40:
De-centralization
execution
accountability
6:15a.m.
Excellence: The SE22:
ORIGINS OF
SUSTAINABLE
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
SE22/Origins of Sustainable Entrepreneurship
1. Genetically disposed to Innovations that upset apple carts (3M, Apple,
FedEx, Virgin, BMW, Sony, Nike, Schwab, Starbucks, Oracle, Sun,
Fox, Stanford University, MIT)
2. Perpetually determined to outdo oneself, even to
the detriment of today’s $$$ winners (Apple, Cirque du Soleil, Nokia, FedEx)
3. Treat History as the Enemy (GE)
4. Love the Great Leap/Enjoy the Hunt (Apple, Oracle, Intel, Nokia, Sony)
5. Use “Strategic Thrust Overlays” to Attack Monster Problems (Sysco,
GSK, GE, Microsoft)
6. Establish a “Be on the COOL Team” Ethos. (Most PSFs, Microsoft)
7. Encourage Vigorous Dissent/Genetically “Noisy” (Intel, Apple,
Microsoft, CitiGroup, PepsiCo)
8.
“Culturally” as well as
organizationally Decentralized
(GE, J&J, Omnicom)
9. Multi-entrepreneurship/Many Independent-minded Stars (GE, PepsiCo)
TP “Lessons Learned”
Innovation = DisDis
(Disciplined Disorganization)
Luck is a very good thing.* **
(*More “lessons” later: E.g., If you hire a bunch of disciplined weirdos and
try a lot of weird stuff, the odds of getting lucky go up remarkably) (**Career
success depends on convincing others that you knew what the hell you
were doing all along. Good news: Say it long enough and you will believe it.
Great news: Keep saying it and you, too, can become a “guru.”)
SE22/Origins of Sustainable Entrepreneurship
10. Keep decentralizing—tireless in pursuit of wiping out
Centralizing Tendencies (J&J, Virgin)
11. Scour the world for Ingenious Alliance Partners—
especially exciting start-ups (Pfizer)
12. Acquire for Innovation, not Market Share (Cisco, GE)
13. Don’t overdo “pursuit of synergy” (GE, J&J, Time Warner)
14. Execution/Action Bias: Just do it … don’t obsess on
how it “fits the business model.” (3M, J & J)
15. Find and Encourage and Promote Strong-willed/
Hyper-smart/Independent people (GE, PepsiCo, Microsoft)
16. Support Internal Entrepreneurs (3M, Microsoft)
17. Ferret out Talent anywhere/“No limits” approach to
retaining top talent (Virgin, GE, PepsiCo)
SE22/Origins of Sustainable Entrepreneurship
18. Unmistakable Results & Accountability focus from
the get-go to the grave (GE, New York Yankees, PepsiCo)
19. Up
or Out (GE, McKinsey, big consultancies and law
firms and ad agencies and movie studios in general)
20. Competitive to a fault! (GE, New York Yankees, News
Corp/Fox, PepsiCo)
21. “Bi-polar” Top Team, with “Unglued” Innovator #1,
powerful Control Freak #2 (Oracle, Virgin) (Watch out when
#2 is missing: Enron)
22. Masters of Loose-Tight/Hard-nosed about a very few
Core Values, Open-minded about everything else
(Virgin)
EXCELLENCE.
BEDROCK.
TALENT.
Hire very
good
people!
“We believe companies can increase their market cap
50 percent in 3 years. Steve Macadam at Georgia-
changed 20 of his
40 box plant managers
to put more talented,
higher paid managers in
charge. He increased profitability from
Pacific …
$25
million to
$80
million in
—Ed Michaels, War for Talent
2
years.”
INVITE THEM TO
JOIN US IN A
JOURNEY TO
EXCELLENCE!
“In the end, management
doesn’t change culture.
Management
invites
the workforce itself to
change the culture.”
—Lou Gerstner
Organizing Genius / Warren Bennis
and Patricia Ward Biederman
“Groups become great only when
everyone in them, leaders and
members alike, is free to do his or
her absolute best.”
“The best thing a leader can do for a
Great Group is to allow its
members to discover their
greatness.”
Leadership’s Mt Everest/Mt Excellence
“free to do his or her
absolute best” …
“allow its members to
discover their
greatness.”
EMPHASIZE
THE “SOFT
SKILLS.”
“It’s simple, really,
Tom. Hire for s,
and, above all,
promote for s.”
—Starbucks middle manager/field
“The person who is a little less
conceptual but is absolutely determined
to succeed will usually find the right
people and get them together to achieve
objectives. I’m not knocking education
or looking for dumb people. But if you
have to choose between someone with a
staggering IQ and an elite education
who’s gliding along, and someone with a
lower IQ but who is absolutely
determined to succeed, you’ll always do
better with the second person.”
—Larry Bossidy (Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done)
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)
PUT HR AT THE
HEAD OF THE HEAD
TABLE. BEST
PEOPLE. NOBLEST
MISSION.
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:
DD$21M
SO YOU’RE A
“PEOPLE
PERSON”?
PROVE IT.
“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”
SO YOU’RE A
“PEOPLE
PERSON”?
PROVE IT.
< CAPEX
> People!
LIVE FOR
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
Portfolio Thinking
G.M.
V.C.
M.B.S.A.
(Brand Yous)
(Wow Projects!)
(Demos. Heroes. Stories.)
Internal
“brand
promise”!
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
Brand =
Talent.
Re-imagine
People Power:
The Talent50
The Talent50
1. People first!
2. Soft is Hard.
3. FUNDAMENTAL PREMISE: We are in an
Age of Talent/ Creativity/Intellectualcapital Added.
4. Talent “excellence” in every part of the
organization.
5. P.O.T./Pursuit Of Talent = Obsession.
6. HR sits at The Head Table.
7. HR is “cool.”
The Talent50
8. Re-name “HR.” (Talent Department, Center of
Talent Excellence)
9. There’s an HR Strategy
10. There is a FORMAL Recruitment Strategy.
11. There is a FORMAL Leadership Development
Strategy.
12. There is a “world class” Leadership
Development Center.
13. There is a FORMAL-STRATEGIC HR Review
Process.
14. The “Top100,” and every unit’s Top10, are
consciously managed.
The Talent50
15. “People/Talent Reviews” are the
FIRST reviews.
16. HR Strategy = Business Strategy.
17. Make it a Cause Worth Signing Up For..
18. Set Sky High Standards.
19. Enlist everyone in Challenge Century21.
20. Pursue the Best!
21. Up or Out.
22. Ensure that the Review Process has
INTEGRITY.
23. Pay!
The Talent50
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
Training I: Train! Train! Train!
TII: 100% “business people.”
TIII: 100% Leaders.
TIV: Boss as Trainer-in-Chief.
Open Communication I: NO
BARRIERS.
Open Communication II: Share
Information. (ALL!)
Respect!
INTEGRITY!
Treat the Whole Individual.
The Talent50
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
Places of “grace.”
MBWA: The “Rudy Rule.”
Thank You!
Promote for “people skills.”
(ALL ELSE IS SECONDARY.)
Honor youth.
Early leadership assignments.
Fast Tracking is the norm.
Create a System of Mentoring.
The Talent50
41. Diversity!
42. Diversity starts on the Board of
Directors.
43. WOMEN RULE.
44. Weird Wins.
45. We are all unique.
46. Bosses “win people over.”
47. GOAL: Adventures of Mutual
Discovery.
48. Foster Independence.
49. Enthusiasm!
50.
Talent
= Brand.
EXCELLENCE.
THE LEADERSHIP23.
Leadership23/ML
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Enthusiasm. Energy. Exuberance.
Action. Execution.
Tempo. Metabolism.
Relentless.
Master of Plan B.
Accountability.
Meritocracy.
Leaders “do” people. Mentor. (“Success
creation business.”)
9. Women. Diversity.
10. Integrity. Credibility. Humanity. Grace.
11. Realism.
12. Cause. Adventures. Quests.
Leadership23/ML
13. Legacy.
14. Best story wins.
15. On the edge. (“Wildest chimera of a
moonstruck mind.”)
16. “Reward excellent failures. Punish
mediocre successes.”
17. Different > Better. (“Only ones who do
what we do.”)
18. MBWA. Customer MBWA.
19. Laughs.
20. Repot. Curiosity. Why?
21. You = Calendar. “To Don’t.” Two.
22. Excellence. Always.
23. Nelsonian! (“Other admirals more afraid
of losing than anxious to win.”)
EXCELLENCE.
BEDROCK.
LEADERSHIP.
9Ps.
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Potent.
Positive.
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Potent.
Positive.
“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)
“Management has a lot to do with
answers. Leadership is a function of
questions. And the first question for a
‘Who do
we intend to
be?’ Not ‘What are we going to
leader always is:
do?’ but ‘Who do we intend to be?’”
—Max De Pree, Herman Miller
Ah, kids: “What is your vision for
the future?” “What have you
accomplished since your first book?”
“Close your eyes and imagine me
immediately doing something about
what you’ve just said. What would it
be?” “Do you feel you have an
obligation to ‘Make the world a
better place’?”
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Potent.
Positive.
“Nothing is so
contagious as
enthusiasm.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“Whenever anything is
being accomplished, I
have learned, it is being
done by a monomaniac
with a mission.”
—Peter Drucker
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Potent.
Positive.
“In the end, management
doesn’t change culture.
Management
invites
the workforce itself to
change the culture.”
—Lou Gerstner
“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
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Potent.
Positive.
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Potent.
Positive.
“The First step in a
‘dramatic’
‘organizational change
program’ is obvious—
dramatic personal
change!” —RG
“You must
be
the change you
wish to see in the
world.”
Gandhi
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Potent.
Positive.
Relentless: “One of
my superstitions had always been
when I started to go anywhere or
not to
turn back , or stop,
to do anything,
until the thing intended was
accomplished.” —Grant
“This [adolescent] incident [of getting from point A to point B] is notable
not only because it underlines Grant’s fearless horsemanship and his
determination, but also it is the first known example of a very important
Grant had an
extreme, almost phobic
dislike of turning back
and retracing his steps.
peculiarity of his character:
If he
set out for somewhere, he would get there somehow, whatever the
difficulties that lay in his way. This idiosyncrasy would turn out to be one
the factors that made him such a formidable general. Grant would always,
always press on—turning back was not an option for him.”
—Michael Korda, Ulysses Grant
“It is no use saying
‘We are doing our
best.’ You have got
to succeed in doing
what is necessary.”
—WSC
"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.
“Success seems to be
largely a matter
of hanging on
after others have
let go.”
—William Feather, author
“The most
successful people
are those who
are good at plan B.”
—James Yorke, mathematician, on chaos
theory, in The New Scientist
"Life is not a journey to the
grave with the intention of
arriving safely in one pretty
and well preserved piece, but
to skid across the line
broadside, thoroughly used
up, worn out, leaking oil,
shouting ‘GERONIMO!’ ”
—Bill McKenna, professional motorcycle racer (Cycle magazine)
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Potent.
Positive.
‘do’
“Leaders
people.
Period.”
—Anon.
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Potent.
Positive.
“Beware of the tyranny
of making Small Changes
to Small Things. Rather,
make Big Changes to
Big Things.”
—Roger Enrico, former Chairman, PepsiCo
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!
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Potent.
Positive.
“[other]
admirals more
frightened of
losing than
anxious to win”
On NELSON:
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
PURPOSE.
PASSION.
Potential.
Presence.
Personal.
PERSISTENCE.
PEOPLE.
Potent.
Positive.
“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)
EXCELLE
ALWAYS