Transcript First Things Before First Things: CONRAD HILTON … CONRAD HILTON, at a gala celebrating his career, was called to the podium and “What.

First Things Before First Things:
CONRAD HILTON …
CONRAD HILTON, at a gala celebrating
his career, was called to the podium and
“What were the
most important
lessons you learned
in your long and
distinguished
career?” His answer …
asked,
“Remember
to tuck the
shower curtain
inside the
bathtub.”
“Amateurs talk
about strategy.
Professionals talk
about logistics.”
—Omar Bradley, commander of American troops/D-Day
Tom Peters’
Leadership Excellence
in the “Real (Non-linear) World”:
The Mess Is the Message!
University of Auckland Business School/12 February 2015
(For more see tompeters.com and our fully annotated 23-part Master Compendium
[“Mother of All Presentations”] at excellencenow.com)
EXCELLENCE
—
EXCELLENCE is
not a “long-term”
"aspiration.”
EXCELLENCE is the ultimate
short-term strategy.
EXCELLENCE is … THE
NEXT
5
MINUTES.*
(*Or NOT.)
EXCELLENCE is not an "aspiration."
EXCELLENCE is … THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
EXCELLENCE
Or not.
is your next conversation.
is your next meeting.
is shutting up and listening—really listening.
is your next customer contact.
is saying “Thank you” for something “small.”
is the next time you shoulder responsibility and apologize.
is waaay over-reacting to a screw-up.
is the flowers you brought to work today.
is lending a hand to an “outsider” who’s fallen behind schedule.
is bothering to learn the way folks in finance [or IS or HR] think.
is waaay “over”-preparing for a 3-minute presentation.
is turning “insignificant” tasks into models of … EXCELLENCE.
Hard is Soft.
Soft is Hard.
MBWA
25/50
Managing
By
Wandering
Around
“I’m always stopping by our
at least
a week.
stores—
25
I’m also in other
places: Home Depot, Whole Foods, Crate &
Barrel. I try to be a sponge to pick up as
much as I can.” —Howard Schultz
Source: Fortune, “Secrets of Greatness”
“Most managers spend a great deal of time thinking about what they plan to do, but relatively little time thinking about what
they plan not to do. As a result, they become so caught up … in fighting the fires of the moment that they cannot really
attend to the long-term threats and risks facing the organization. So the first soft skill of leadership the hard way is to
cultivate the perspective of Marcus Aurelius: avoid busyness, free up your time, stay focused on what really matters.
Let me put it bluntly: every leader should
routinely keep a substantial portion of
his or her time—I would say as much as
50
percent—unscheduled.
…
Only when you have substantial ‘slop’ in your schedule—unscheduled time—will you have the space to reflect on what you
are doing, learn from experience, and recover from your inevitable mistakes. Leaders without such free time end up tackling
issues only when there is an immediate or visible problem. Managers’ typical response to my argument about free time is,
Yet we waste so much time in
unproductive activity—it takes an enormous effort on the part of the
leader to keep free time for the truly important things.”
‘That’s all well and good, but there are things I have to do.’
—Dov
Frohman (& Robert Howard), Leadership The Hard Way: Why Leadership Can’t Be Taught—
And How You Can Learn It Anyway (Chapter 5, “The Soft Skills Of Hard Leadership”)
MBWA 4/8
“The
4 most
important
words in any
organization are …
THE FOUR MOST IMPORTANT WORDS IN ANY ORGANIZATION
“WHAT
DO YOU
THINK?”
ARE …
Source: courtesy Dave Wheeler, posted at tompeters.com
8
MBWA
:
Change the World With EIGHT Words
What do you think?*
How can I help?**
*Dave Wheeler: “What are the four most important words in the boss’ lexicon?”
**Boss as CHRO/Chief Hurdle Removal Officer **********************************
Are you a full-fledged
“professional” when it
comes to helping?*
* >>harder than neurosurgery
SHOWTIME
—
“IT’S ALWAYS
SHOWTIME.”
—David D’Alessandro, Career Warfare
No Bad Days:
“Nothing is so
contagious as
enthusiasm.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
You = Your
Calendar
You = Your
calendar*
*The calendar
NEVER
lies.
!
Meetings ROCK
(Make that: SHOULD Rock)
Bitch all you
want, but
meetings
are what you
(boss/leader) do!
Meetings are
#1
do. Therefore,
thing bosses
100% of
those meetings:
EXCELLENCE.
ENTHUSIASM.
ENGAGEMENT.
LEARNING. TEMPO.
WORK-OF-ART. DAMN IT.
Self-
Evaluation
“Being aware of yourself
and how you affect
everyone around you is
what distinguishes a
superior leader.”
—Edie Seashore (strategy + business #45)
"Everyone thinks
of changing the
world, but no one
thinks of changing
himself."
—Leo Tolstoy
COMMUNICATIONS
Leaders:
Communications
failure …
100%*
*Your fault!
R.O.I.R. >
R.O.I.
Return On
Investment in
Relationships
“Personal relationships
are the fertile soil from
which all advancement,
all success, all
achievement in real
life grow.”
—Ben Stein
The Magic 220:
Never waste
a lunch!* **
*Bonus points: “XF”/Cross-functional lunch
**Bonus bonus points: Lunch with finance folks
L
vs.
H
“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!”
Low
>>>
High
“I got to
know his
secretaries.”
—Dick Parsons
(as CEO Time Warner, on successfully dealing with Carl Icahn)
The …
“80% Rule”
Spend
80%
of your time on allies—finding
and developing and
nurturing allies
of every size and shape
is the name of the
winning game.
Acknowledgement
“The deepest principle
in human nature is the
craving* to be
appreciated.”
—William James
*“Craving,” not “wish” or “desire” or
“longing”/Distinction per Dale Carnegie in How to Win
Friends and Influence People, chapter titled “The BIG
Secret of Dealing With People”
“Employees who
don't feel significant
rarely make
significant
contributions.”
—Mark Sanborn
The Big
T-H-A-N-K
Y-O-U
3 Minutes
THERE ONCE
WAS A TIME WHEN A
Relationships
(of all varieties):
THREE-MINUTE
PHONE CALL WOULD
HAVE AVOIDED SETTING OFF THE
DOWNWARD SPIRAL THAT
RESULTED IN A COMPLETE
RUPTURE.*
*Divorce, loss of a BILLION $$$ aircraft sale, etc., etc.
THE PROBLEM IS
RARELY/NEVER THE
PROBLEM. THE
RESPONSE TO THE
PROBLEM INVARIABLY
ENDS UP BEING THE
REAL PROBLEM.
[OPPORTUNITY].
1 Mouth
2 Ears
“The doctor
interrupts
after …*
*Source: Jerome Groopman, How Doctors Think
18 …
Seconds
[An obsession with] Listening is ... the ultimate mark
of
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
is
is
is
is
is
is
is
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Listening
Listening
Listening
Listening
is
is
is
is
...
...
...
...
the heart and soul of Engagement.
the heart and soul of Kindness.
the heart and soul of Thoughtfulness.
the basis for true Collaboration.
the basis for true Partnership.
a Team Sport.
a Developable Individual Skill.* (*Though women
are far better at it than men.)
the basis for Community.
the bedrock of Joint Ventures that work.
the bedrock of Joint Ventures that grow.
the core of effective Cross-functional
Communication.* (*Which is in turn Attribute #1 of
organization effectiveness.)
(cont.)
Respect
.
Non-Linearity/
The Mess Is the
Message
Antifragile*:
Things That Gain
From Disorder
—Nassim Nicholas Taleb
*Not to be confused with … RESILIENCE
/49*
*No kidding … the ONLY thing I’ve learned “for sure” in the 49 years I’ve been involved in management in one way or another.
1/49
WTTMSW
1/49
WHOEVER
TRIES
THE
MOST
STUFF
WINS
WTTMSASTMSUTFW
WHOEVER
TRIES
THE
MOST
STUFF
AND
SCREWS
THE
MOST
STUFF
UP
THE
FASTEST
WINS
0/800
“The reasonable man adapts
himself to the world; the
unreasonable one persists in
trying to adapt the world to
himself. Therefore all progress
depends on the unreasonable
man.” —G.B. Shaw, Man and Superman: The Revolutionist’s Handbook
“Whenever anything is being
accomplished, it is being done, I
have learned, by a monomaniac
with a mission.” —Peter Drucker
NOT OPTIONAL.2115: Brand You12
NOTEWORTHY skill
OBSESSIVE student
FIERCE listener
UNFAILINGLY trustworthy
PEERLESS team member
CONSUMMATE networker
MAESTRO of mess/antifragile
FANATIC deadlinist
CONGENITAL enthusiast
DETERMINED leader regardless of “rank”
RELENTLESS seeker of E-X-C-E-L-L-E-N-C-E
TIRELESS pursuer of WOW!
human
beings are
entrepreneurs. When we
Muhammad Yunus:
“All
were in the caves we were all self-employed ...
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.”
—Muhammad Yunus,
Nobel Laureate/The News Hour/PBS/1122.2006