LONG Tom Peters’ X25* EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS. Bestsellers/Goteborg/29 May 2007 *In Search of Excellence 1982-2007 Tom Peters’ G30* EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS. Bestsellers/Goteborg/29 May 2007 * Research for In Search of Excellence 1977-2007
Download ReportTranscript LONG Tom Peters’ X25* EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS. Bestsellers/Goteborg/29 May 2007 *In Search of Excellence 1982-2007 Tom Peters’ G30* EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS. Bestsellers/Goteborg/29 May 2007 * Research for In Search of Excellence 1977-2007
LONG Tom Peters’ X25* EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS. Bestsellers/Goteborg/29 May 2007 *In Search of Excellence 1982-2007 Tom Peters’ G30* EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS. Bestsellers/Goteborg/29 May 2007 * Research for In Search of Excellence 1977-2007 (Stop #1: Goteborg) Slides at … tompeters.com All you need to know … You = Your calendar* *Calendars never lie All you need to know … New Zealand 2007 Ho hum: 2+ weeks in New Zealand … Pfizer Ford Gap Chrysler Yahoo microsoft wal*mart ??? ??? The last word: There is no “last word.” “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” —Charles Darwin EXCELLENCE???? “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 “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. (Practical) Implication? “Go for it!” (Why not— alternative is slow death, at best) BIAS. BUILT. TO. LAST. NOT. Built to Last vs Built to Change/Rock the World 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?) GM25/50-75: “Built to last”???? EXCELLENCE. CIRCA 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” ExIn*: 1982-2002/Forbes.com $85,000 EI: $10,000 yields $140,050 DJIA: $10,000 yields *Forbes/Excellence Index /Basket of 32 publicly traded stocks EXCELLENCE. 1982. Hard is soft. Soft is hard. Hard Is Soft Soft Is Hard Hard Is Soft (#s) Soft Is Hard (people) Hard Is Soft (Plans, #s) Soft Is Hard (people, customers, values, relationships)) EXCELLENCE. ASPIRATION. 2006. Why in the World did you go to Siberia? Enthusiasm. Emotion. Excellence. Energy. Excitement. Service. Growth. Creativity. Imagination. Vitality. Joy. Surprise. Independence. Spirit. Community. Limitless human potential. Diversity. Profit. Innovation. Design. Quality. Entrepreneurialism. The Peters Principles: Wow! “BUSINESS IS ABOUT POWER.” —Joanne Lipman, editor, on Portfolio “enterprises that Matter & change the game … offer solutions & experiences that surprise , amaze, and transform perceptions of what’s possible —and stick like super-glue in customers’ minds.* such offerings are brilliantly conceived and flawlessly delivered by unconventional, creative, hypercommitted, energetic talent from within & outside the organization.” —Tom Peters E.g.: Apple, Whole Foods, Cirque du Soleil, Starbucks, Wegmans, London Drugs, Griffin Hospital/Planetree Alliance, John Laing Homes, RE/MAX, Sewell Autos, Jim’s Group, The Met/Big Picture, Virgin, Commerce Bank, Google, Basement Systems Inc., Ford (circa 1917), IBM (circa 1970), Wanamaker’s (circa 1880) EXCELLENCE. ASPIRATION. “You do not merely want to be the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do.” —Jerry Garcia EXCELLENCE. ASPIRATION. “Every time we come to a comfort zone, we will find a way out.” “No Cloning.” “‘Reinvent the brand’ with each new show.” “A typical day at the office for me begins by asking, ‘What is impossible that I am going to do today?’” —Daniel Lamarre, president, Cirque du Soleil “Do one thing every day that scares you.” —Eleanor Roosevelt “The one thing you need to know about sustained individual success: Discover what you don’t like doing and stop doing it.” —Marcus Buckingham, The One Thing You Need to Know EXCELLENCE. ASPIRATION. UNIVERSAL. 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 Basement Systems Inc. EXCELLENCE. REVENUE. MATTERS. MOST. “TOP LINE TOM.” C *Chief O* Revenue Officer “Our whole story is growing revenue.” —Vernon Hill (Top-line driven; standard is bottom-line driven by cost cutting) WE ARE ALL IN “TAKE THIS QUICK QUIZ: Who manages more things at once? Who puts more effort into their appearance? Who usually takes care of the details? Who finds it easier to meet new people? Who asks more questions in a conversation? Who is a better listener? Who has more interest in communication skills? Who is more inclined to get involved? Who encourages harmony and agreement? Who has better intuition? Who works with a longer ‘to do’ list? Who enjoys a recap to the day’s events? Who is better at keeping in touch with others?” Source: Selling Is a Woman’s Game: 15 Powerful Reasons Why Women Can Outsell Men, Nicki Joy & Susan Kane-Benson EXCELLENCE. INNOVATE. OR. DIE. What makes God laugh? People making plans! “Recently I asked several corporate executives what decisions they had made in the last year that would not have been made were it not for their All had difficulty identifying one such decision. corporate plans. Since all of the plans are marked ‘secret’ or ‘confidential,’ I asked them how their competitors might benefit from possession of their plans. Each answered with embarrassment that their competitors would not benefit.” —Russell Ackoff (from Henry Mintzberg, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning) EXCELLENCE. INNOVATE. OR. DIE. More than $$$$ R&D spending, last 25 years? You don’t get better by being bigger. You Dick Kovacevich: “When asked to name just one 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.” answered: —Mark Sirower, The Synergy Trap “Acquisitions are about buying market share. Our challenge is to create markets. There is a big difference.” —Peter Job, former CEO, Reuters Daimler. And Dumb. Both Start with “d.” “Marriage in heaven” —Daimler- Benz and Chrysler exchange vows, circa 1998 (Jürgen Schrempp) “the divorce on earth” —Daimler exec, circa 2007, on probable Cerberus private equity purchase of Chrysler from Daimler “Schrempp is one of the last dinosaurs of Germany Inc. He represents a strategy of acquiring assets and building empires that just didn’t work.” —Arndt Ellinghorst, analyst, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein “His bets went sour one by one.” —WSJ on Jürgen Schrempp’s conglomeration (05.15.2007) “Obviously, we overestimated the potential for synergies.” —Dieter Zetsche, CEO, Daimler DaimlerChrysler/’98-’07: Duh, Duh, Duh, Duh and … Duh Manifold Synergies/No Severe Scale limits/Yes Culture clashes/Yes Rushmorean ego issues/Yes Customer acceptance Mission impossible? $36B/’98 minus $675M/‘07 InnoTacs We become who we hang out with 1 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 The “Hang Out Axiom”: At its core, every (!!!) relationship-partnership decision (employee, vendor, customer, etc) is a strategic decision about: “Innovate, ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ ” 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.) “Normal” = “o for 800” “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 We become who we hang out with 2 “To grow, companies need to break out of a vicious cycle of competitive benchmarking and imitation.” —W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne, “Think for Yourself —Stop Copying a Rival,” Financial Times “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 “Don’t benchmark … futuremark!” Impetus: “The future is already here; it’s just not evenly distributed” —William Gibson We become who we hang out with 3 Whacky WikiWo rldWow “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 Source: Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams Concoct a Parallel universe! “SkunkWorks”/ “ParallelUniverse” “the solution” Source: Scott Bedbury (Others: 3M, Google, Shell, NAVFAC) Where to look for “Playmates”: F.F.F.F. (Find a Fellow Freak Faraway) Build a “School on top of a school” (The Parallel Universe Strategy) “Parallel Universe” … China!!!!!!! Speed/ Tempo/ is-it FedEx Economy” “the —headline/New York Times Anything/ Anywhere/ Anytime “Any3”: Power Tools For Power Strategies Try it. Try it. Try it ry it. Try it. Screw up. Try it. Try it. Try t. Try it. Try it. Try t. Try it. Screw it up t. Try it. Try it. try “We have a ‘strategic plan.’ It’s called doing things.” — Herb Kelleher “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 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: BW0821.06, Type A Organization Strategies/ “How to Hit a Moving Target”—Tactic #1 Screw. things. “FAIL, FAIL AGAIN. FAIL BETTER.” —Samuel Beckett “Fail . Forward. Fast.” High Tech CEO, Pennsylvania Sam’s Secret #1! “Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.” Phil Daniels, Sydney exec try. Miss. READY. FIRE! No try. No deal. “You miss 100% of the shots you never take.” —Wayne Gretzky “Intelligent people can always come up with intelligent reasons to do nothing.” —Scott Simon Conscious measurement 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? personal “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, “Work on me first.” —Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler/Crucial Conversations EXCELLENCE. 4/40. De-central-iza-tion! “‘Decentralization’ is not a piece of paper. It’s not me. It’s either in your heart, or not.” —Brian Joffe/BIDvest “If if feels painful and scary—that’s real delegation” —Caspian Woods, small biz owner 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 (1) sum of Projects = Goal (“Vision”) (2) sum of Milestones = project (3) rapid Review + Truth-telling = accountability Ac-counta-bil-ity! 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. “But it’s only 2am!” “Where are you going? … But it’s only 2am. … You see, you can live your life at 120 miles an hour, and that’s pretty impressive. But it’s not good enough. Unless you live at 150 miles an hour, the world will pass you by,” HRH Prince Alwaleed* *1 day: 573 people met separately, 200 phone calls, 100 text messages, etc Source: “Prince Alwaleed, Inside the private world of the Middle East’s most powerful investor” cover story, The Business, 0519.07 DECENTRALIZATION. EXECUTION. ACCOUTABILITY. 6:15A.M. (2a.m.) Up, Up, Up, Up the Value-added Ladder. EXCELLENCE. VALUE-ADDED LADDER I. SOLVE IT. Huge: Customer Satisfaction versus Customer Success Up, Up, Up, Up the Value-added Ladder. The Value-added Ladder/ STUFF ‘N’ THINGS Goods Raw Materials The Value-added Ladder/Stuff & TRANSACTIONS Services Goods Raw Materials The Value-added Ladder/ OPPORTUNITY-SEEKING Customer Success/ Gamechanging Solutions Services Goods Raw Materials EXCELLENCE. SOLVE IT. NO OPTION. PSF. (PSF++) “ ‘Disintermediation’ is overrated. Those who fear disintermediation-outsourcing should in fact be afraid of irrelevance; ‘outsourcing’ is just another you’ve become irrelevant to your customers.” way of saying that … —John Battelle/Point/Advertising Age/07.05 “Deutsche Bank Moves Half of Its Back-office Jobs to India”/ (500 of 900 Research) headline/FT/0327 “[Former Fed Vice-chairman Alan] Blinder … remains an implacable opponent of tariffs and trade barriers. But now he is saying loudly that a new industrial revolution—communication technology that allows services to be delivered 40 million American jobs from afar—will put as many as at risk of being shipped out of the country in the next decade or two.”* —Wall Street Journal /0328 “only the tip of a very big iceberg.” *Blinder: 40 million = “support function” / “cost center”/ “overhead” or … Are you … “Rock Stars of the Age of Talent” Department Head to … Managing Partner, IS Inc. [HR, R&D, etc.] Are you the … “Principal Engine of Value Added” *E.g.: Your R&D budget as robust as the New Products team? Core Mechanism: “Game-changing Solutions” PSF (Professional Service Firm “model”/The Organizing Principle) + Brand You (“Distinct” or “Extinct”/The Talent) + Wow! Projects (“Different” vs “Better”/The Work) The “PSF35”: Thirty-Five Professional Service Firm Marks of Excellence Psf. Bedrock. PSF/Professional Service Firm/Beliefs Profession: Calling/Passion to make a difference/Excellence (always) point of view: know exactly what we stand for/ “Dramatic Difference” Client: enduring, test-the-limits relationship/Trusted advisor Solution: Rock His-her World/ “wow”/ implemented “Culture change”/ >>>>>> “satisfaction” “Technology Executive” (workin’ in a hospital) HCare CIO: Full-scale, Accountable (life or death) Member-Partner of XYZ Hospital’s Senior Or/to: Healing-Services Team (who happens to be a techie) Big Idea: “Corporation” as Mega-“PSF” (Professional Service Firm*) * “Virtual” Collection of Entrepreneurially-minded Professionals (“Talent”/“Roster”) Creating/Applying Intellectual Capital (“Work Product”) EXCELLENCE. VALUE-ADDED LADDER II. EXPERIENCE IT. “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 “The [Starbucks] Fix” Is on … “We have identified a ‘third place.’ And I really believe that sets us apart. The third place is that place that’s not work or home. It’s the place our customers come for refuge.” —Nancy Orsolini, District Manager 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 Up, Up, Up, Up the Value-added Ladder. The Value-added Ladder/ MEMORABLE CONNECTION Spellbinding Experiences Gamechanging Solutions Services Goods Raw Materials Beyond the “Transaction”/ “Satisfaction” Mentality “Good hotel”/ “Happy guest”/ “Exceeded Expectations” vs. “Great Vacation”/ “Great Conference”/ “Operation Personal Renewal” C *Chief e O* Xperience Officer EXCELLENCE. VALUE-ADDED LADDER III. DREAM IT. 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 Up, Up, Up, Up the Value-added Ladder. The Value-added Ladder/ EMOTION Dreams Come True Spellbinding Experiences Gamechanging Solutions Services Goods Raw Materials C *Chief Dream Merchant “Dreams Come True”: IBM EXCELLENCE. VALUE-ADDED LADDER III. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE. “Brands have run out of juice. They’re dead.” —Kevin Roberts/Saatchi & Saatchi Kevin Roberts: Lovemarks! Brand …………………………………………………. Lovemark Recognized by consumers ………………. Loved by People Generic ………………………………………………… Personal Presents a narrative ………………….. Creates a Love story The promise of quality ……………… A touch of Sensuality Symbolic ………………………………………………….. Iconic Defined ………………………………………………….. Infused Statement ………………………………………………….. Story Defined attributes ……………………... Wrapped in Mystery Values ………………………………………………………. Spirit Professional …………………………... Passionately Creative Advertising agency ………………………….. Ideas company Source: Kevin Roberts, Lovemarks Tattoo Brand: What % of users would tattoo the brand name on their body? Top 10 “Tattoo Brands”* Harley .… 18.9% Disney .... 14.8 Coke …. 7.7 Google .... 6.6 Pepsi .... 6.1 Rolex …. 5.6 Nike …. 4.6 Adidas …. 3.1 Absolut …. 2.6 Nintendo …. 1.5 *BRANDsense: Build Powerful Brands through Touch, Taste, Smell, Sight, and Sound, Martin Lindstrom Up, Up, Up, Up the Value-added Ladder. The Value-added Ladder/ ECSTASY Lovemark Dreams Come True Spellbinding Experiences Services Goods Raw Materials C O* *Chief Lovemark Officer New (4 of 7) Value-added “Ladder”: Plays to Women’s Inherent Strengths! Lovemark/F Dreams Come True/F Spellbinding Experiences/F Gamechanging Solutions/F Services/F Goods/M Raw Materials/M EXCELLENCE. DOES MATTER MATTER? “What Isn’t Matter Is What Matters” —section title, Branded Nation: The Marketing of Megachurch, College Inc., and Museumworld, James Twitchell VA “Teaching Moment” “Andy pointed to a molding, about halfway up the wall …” The Boot … and Timberland The Tomato/ Farmer … and Campbell’s “NEW” MARKETS. E-nor-mous Stra-te-gic opp-or-tun women. BOOMERS. GEEZERS. Amazon Reviewer: “‘Trends’ [TPMB book] is old news!” (1 of 5 stars) TP: “Repeating it doesn’t make it It ain’t old if it hasn’t been implemented!” ‘old.’ women BOOMERS “EXCELLENCE.” AARGH. 200 Good Thinking, Guys! “Kodak Sharpens Digital Focus On Its Best Customers: Women” —Page 1 Headline/WSJ/0705 women BOOMERS Just Say No. “Forget China, India and the Internet: Economic Growth Is Driven by Women.” —Headline, Economist, April 15, 2006, Leader, page 14 Women’s Trifecta+ *Buy *Wealth *Lead +ECLIPSE OF MALES (Old/Retire; Young/Poorly educated) Not Just America … “Boys Falling Seven Years Behind Girls at GCSE Level” —headline, Weekly Telegraph, UK, 10.25.06 “Girls are the new boys.” Source: The Daily Mail, 0425.2007, “Why today’s women want a girl” “Women are the majority market” —Fara Warner/The Power of the Purse ????????? Home Furnishings … 94% Vacations … 92% (Adventure Travel … 70%/ $55B travel equipment) Houses … 91% D.I.Y. (major “home projects”) … 80% Consumer Electronics … 51% (66% home computers) Cars … 68% (90%) All consumer purchases … 83% Bank Account … 89% Household investment decisions … 67% Small business loans/biz starts … 70% Health Care … 80% Internet users: 60%* *“manage their lives and the lives of their families” — Kelley Mooney, president, Resource Interactive Source: Fara Warner, The Power of the Purse 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 A World of Difference Build Sales and Share by Tapping into the Buying Power of Women Martha Barletta T r e n d S i g h t™ Author, Marketing to Women President & CEO, The TrendSight Group Powered by Microsoft Office® Live Meeting The Perfect Answer Jill and Jack buy slacks in black… “She knows more about the [Volvo] than the salesman who greets her at the door. But how is she treated? As if she has a low IQ , is slightly hard of hearing , and really has no right to be buying a luxury car; and if she brought a male friend with her, odds are 10:1 that the clueless salesperson spent most of his time speaking to him .” —Selling to Men, Selling to Women, Jeffery Tobias Halter “Women don’t buy They join them.” brands. EVEolution Selling to men: The TRANSACTION Model Selling to Women: The RELATIONAL Model Source: Selling to Men, Selling to Women, Jeffery Tobias Halter 2.6 vs. 75% switch financial advisors within 3 years of widowhood Source: Eileen McDonnell, The American College 1. Men and women are different. 2. Very different. 3. VERY, VERY DIFFERENT. 4. Women & Men have a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y nothing in common. 5. Women buy lotsa stuff. 6. WOMEN BUY A-L-L THE STUFF. 7. Women’s Market = Opportunity No. 1. 8. Men are (STILL) in charge. 9. MEN ARE … TOTALLY, HOPELESSLY CLUELESS ABOUT WOMEN. 10. Women’s Market = Opportunity No. 1. P-l-e-a-s-e Read … Fara Warner: The Power of the Purse 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 EXCELLENCE. OPPORTUNITY. WOMEN. BUSINESS. OWNERS. 94% of loans to … women* *Microlending; “Banker to the poor”; Grameen Bank; Muhammad Yunus; 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner WOMEN. DOMINATE. ECONOMIC. GROWTH. “Forget China, India and the Internet: Economic Growth Is Driven by Women.” —Headline, Economist, April 15, 2006, Leader, page 14 “Since 1970, women have held two out of every three new jobs created.” —FT, 10.03.2006 10 UNASSAILABLE REASONS WOMEN RULE Women make [all] the financial decisions. Women control [all] the wealth. Women [substantially] outlive men. Women start most of the new businesses. Women’s work force participation rates have soared worldwide. Women are closing in on “same pay for same job.” Women are penetrating senior ranks rapidly [even if the pace is slow for the corner office per se]. Women’s leadership strengths are exceptionally well aligned with new organizational effectiveness & value-added imperatives. Women are better salespersons than men. Women buy [almost] everything—commercial as well as consumer goods. So what exactly is … the point of men? “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 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, Financial more successful than boys in the school system. Times, 10.03.2006 COROLLARY. EXCELLENCE. WOMEN. RULE. “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 New (4 of 7) Value-added “Ladder”: Plays to Women’s Inherent Strengths! Lovemark/F Dreams Come True/F Spellbinding Experiences/F Gamechanging Solutions/F Services/F Goods/M Raw Materials/M women BOOMERS GEEZERS 20 $14,000,000,000,000$25,000,000,000,000 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! “People turning 50 more than half of today have their adult life ahead of them.” —Bill Novelli, 50+: Igniting a Revolution to Reinvent America women BOOMERS GEEZERS Subject: Marketers & Stupidity “It’s 18-44, stupid!” Subject: Marketers & Stupidity Or is it: “18-44 is stupid, stupid!” 2000-2010 Stats 18-44: -1% 55+: +21% (55-64: +47%) BOOMERS. GEEZERS. MONEY. ALL. NOW. 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 world—and we will be the Center of your universe for the See me. Watch me. respect me. Suck up to me. Serve me. Love me. Love my longevity. Love my m-o-n-e-y. lizabeth Cady Stanton (more or less) (circa 0331.2007) See “her.” Watch her. respect her. Be obsequious to her. Serve her. Love her. Love her long longevity. Love her m-o-n-e-y. (which is damn near a-l-l the mon-$$$$$$.) Boomers’-Geezers’-Women’s Trifecta+ *Buy/all *Wealth/all *time left/ lots *Eclipse of males/retire-die 44-65: “New Customer Majority” * *45% larger than 18-43; 60% larger by 2010 Source: Ageless Marketing, David Wolfe & Robert Snyder “One particularly puzzling category of youthobsession is the highly coveted target of men 18-34, and it’s always referred to as ‘highly coveted category.’ Marketers have been distracted by men age 18-34 because they are getting harder to reach. So what? Who wants to reach them? Beyond fast food and beer, they don’t buy much of anything. … The theory is that if you ‘get them while they’re young, What nonsense!” they’re yours for life.’ —Marti Barletta, PrimeTime Women “Fifty-four years of age has been the highest cutoff point for any marketing initiative I’ve ever been involved in. Which is pretty weird when you consider age 50 is right about when people who have worked all their lives start to have some money to spend.” —Marti Barletta, PrimeTime Women “Baby-boomer Women: The Sweetest of Sweet Spots for Marketers” —David Wolfe and Robert Snyder, Ageless Marketing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! “People turning 50 more than half of today have their adult life ahead of them.” —Bill Novelli, 50+: Igniting a Revolution to Reinvent America Brand Loyalty: Stable or Unstable/Fickle? Serial Monogamy: A Personal Odyssey Tom Peters/0411.07 Beer: National Boh to Bud to Anchor Steam to Zilch Car: Chevrolet (1942-1962) to misc to Subaru Biz Clothes: Various warehouses to Brooks to Nordstrom to Milan Biz: Big (U.S. Navy, McKinsey) to Small (de facto self-employed) Sports clothes: Misc-cheap to Northface Spouse: “Sexy broad” (wife #1) to Best friend/Brainy (+sexy) School: Cornell to Stanford to RISD (Go Nads!) Pens: Cross to Bic Food: Safeway to Whole Foods Music: Beatles to Queen Home Furnishings: With it to Comfortable Home: SF Bay Area to West Tinmouth VT Favorite sport: Lacrosse-Crew to Speed Walking-Trekking-Rowing Favorite MLB, NFL: Orioles-Baltimore Colts to A’s-Raiders (Warriors!) Favorite magazine: Life to Wired Favorite media: Print-Radio to Web-Radio Favorite airline: TWA to American to Lufthansa Home: East to West Vacations: USA to New Zealand Price: Cheap to Varied (Wal*Mart to Milan) Hotel: Ramada/Holiday Inns to Four Seasons/Leading Hotels Restaurants: McDonald’s to Hole in the wall Stores: Misc/Big to Little shops Loyalty: Serial monogamy (just as loyal now as then; love ’em, then leave ’em”) EXCELLENCE. INDIVIDUAL. BRAND YOU. “One of the defining characteristics [of the change] is that it will be less driven by countries or corporations and more driven by real people. It will unleash unprecedented creativity, advancement of knowledge, and economic development. But at the same time, it will tend to undermine safety net systems and penalize the unskilled.” —Clyde Prestowitz, Three Billion New Capitalists Distinct … … or Extinct “You are the storyteller of your own life, and you can create your own legend or not.” —Isabel Allende New Work SurvivalKit.2007 1. MASTERY! (Best/Absurdly Good at Something!) 2. “Manage” to Legacy (All Work = “Memorable”/“Braggable” WOW Projects!) 3. A “USP”/UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION 4. Rolodex Obsession (From vertical/hierarchy/“suck up” loyalty to horizontal/“colleague”/“mate” loyalty) 5. ENTREPRENEURIAL INSTINCT (A sleepless … Eye for Opportunity! 6.CEO/LEADER/BUSINESSPERSON/CLOSER (CEO, Me Inc. 24/7!) 7. Master of Improv (Play a dozen parts simultaneously, from Chief Strategist to Chief Toilet Scrubber) 8. Sense of Humor (A willingness to Screw Up & Move On) 9. Comfortable with Your Skin (Bring “interesting you” to work!) 10. Intense Appetite for Technology (E.g.: How Cool-Active is your Web site? Do you Blog?) 11. EMBRACE “MARKETING” (Your own CSO/Chief Storytelling Officer) 12. PASSION FOR RENEWAL (Your own CLO/Chief Learning Officer) 13. EXECUTION EXCELLENCE! (Show up on time! Leave last!) Personal “Brand Equity” Evaluation – My current Project is challenging me … – New things I’ve learned in the last 90 days include … – I am known for [2 to 3 things]; next year at this time I’ll also be known for [1 more thing]. – My public “recognition program” consists of … – Additions to my Rolodex in the last 90 days include … – My resume is discernibly different from last year’s at this time … 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 Getting to WOW Through Mastery of … The Sales25. Presentation Excellence: The PresX56 “The problem with communication ...is the ILLUSION that it has been accomplished.” —George Bernard Shaw “Everyone lives by selling something.” —Robert Louis Stevenson Listening & Interviewing Excellence: The IntX31 supreme skills (m.i.a.) Talk. Listen. EXCELLENCE. BEDROCK. TALENT. “THE FUTURE BELONGS TO … SMALL POPULATIONS … WHO BUILD EMPIRES OF THE MIND … AND WHO IGNORE THE TEMPTATION OF— OR DO NOT HAVE THE OPTION OF— EXPLOITING NATURAL RESOURCES.” Source: Juan Enriquez/As the Future Catches You Hire very good people! “We believe companies can increase their market cap 50 percent in 3 years. Steve Macadam at Georgia- Pacific … changed 20 of his 40 box plant managers to put more talented, higher paid managers in charge. He increased profitability from $25 million to $80 million in —Ed Michaels, War for Talent 2 years.” C O* *Chief talent acquisition Officer 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.” C O* *Chief quest-meister EMPHASIZE THE “SOFT SKILLS.” 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) Build on strengths “The mediocre manager believes that most things are learnable and therefore that the essence of management is to identify ach person’s weaker areas and eradicate them. The great manager believes the opposite. He believes that the most influential qualities of a person are innate and therefore that the essence of management is to deploy these innate qualities as effectively as possible and so drive performance.” —Marcus Buckingham, The One Thing You Need to Know 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! SO YOU’RE A “PEOPLE PERSON”? PROVE IT. 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: 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 Brand = Talent. “I have always believed that the purpose of the corporation is to be a blessing to the employees.” —Boyd Clarke EXCELLENCE. AWOL: THE SCHOOLS FIASCO. “My wife and I went to a [kindergarten] parent-teacher conference and were informed that our budding refrigerator artist, Christopher, would be receiving a grade of Unsatisfactory in art. We were shocked. How could any child—let alone our child—receive a poor His teacher informed us that he had refused to color within the lines, which was a state requirement for demonstrating ‘grade-level motor skills.’ ” grade in art at such a young age? —Jordan Ayan, AHA! Ye gads: “Thomas Stanley has not only found no correlation between success in school and an ability to accumulate wealth, he’s actually found a negative correlation. ‘It seems that school-related evaluations are poor predictors of economic success,’ Stanley concluded. What did predict success was a willingness to take risks. Yet the successfailure standards of most schools penalized risk takers. Most educational systems reward those who play it safe. As a result, those who do well in school find it hard to take risks later on.” —Richard Farson & Ralph Keyes, Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins 15 “Leading” Biz Schools Design/Core: 0 Design/Elective: 1 Creativity/Core: 0 Creativity/Elective: 4 Innovation/Core: 0 Innovation/Elective: 6 Source: DMI/Summer 2002/Research by Thomas Lockwood New Economy Biz Degree Programs MBA (Master of Business Administration) MMM1 (Master of Metaphysical Management) MMM2 (Master of Metabolic Management) MGLF (Master of Great Leaps Forward) MTD (Master of Talent Development) W/MwGTDw/oC (Woman/Man Who Gets Things Done without Certificate) DE (Doctor of Enthusiasm) Just say “No”! “Never, ever again will I evaluate anyone using a standardized instrument devised by a “professional” in inhuman Resources.” Promise #1: One size … NEVER fits all. … Arts/??? V.P.s/??? Nobel Prizes/??? Our spouse/??? Our children/??? NEVER … ever … ever ……. ever … ever ever … … ever … ever … ever … EVER … ever EXCELLENCE. BEDROCK. LEADERSHIP. “12 Ps.” Tom Peters/04.18.2007 PURPOSE. PASSION. Potential. Presence. Personal. pissed off. Playful. PERSISTENCE. PEOPLE. Peculiar. Potent. Positive. st “21 -century Leadership” = Bunkum PURPOSE. PASSION. Potential. Presence. Personal. pissed off. Playful. PERSISTENCE. PEOPLE. Peculiar. 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) “A leader is a dealer in hope.” —Napoleon (+TP’s writing room pics) USN&WR: What traits do successful activists share? “They have hope, and they imbue others with hope.” Studs Terkel, age 91: “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’?” Leader Job One Paint Portraits of Excellence! PURPOSE. PASSION. Potential. Presence. Personal. pissed off. Playful. PERSISTENCE. PEOPLE. Peculiar. Potent. Positive. “Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.” —Samuel Taylor Coleridge EX-UBERANCE! Exuberance: The Passion for Life, by Kay Redfield Jamison+ “I believe exuberance is incomparably more important than we acknowledge. If, as has been claimed, enthusiasm finds the opportunities and energy makes the most of them, a mood of mind that yokes the two of them is formidable indeed.” “The Greeks bequeathed to us one of the most beautiful words in our language—the word ‘enthusiasm’—en theos—a god within. The grandeur of human actions is measured by the inspiration from which they spring. Happy is he who bears a god within, and who obeys it.”—Louis Pasteur “Exuberance is, at its quick, contagious. As it spreads pell-mell through a group, exuberance excites, it delights, and it dispels tension. It alerts the group to change and possibility.” Exuberance: The Passion for Life, by Kay Redfield Jamison+ “A leader is someone who creates infectious enthusiasm.”—Ted Turner “‘Glorious’ was a term [John] Muir would invoke time and again … despite his conscious attempts to eradicate it from his writing. ‘Glorious’ and ‘joy’ and ‘exhilaration’: no matter how often he scratched out these words once he had written them, they sprang up time and again …” “To meet Roosevelt, said Churchill, ‘with all his buoyant sparkle, his iridescence,’ was like ‘opening a bottle of champagne.’ Churchill, who knew both champagne and human nature, recognized ebullient leadership when he saw it.” Exuberance: The Passion for Life, by Kay Redfield Jamison+ “At a time of weakness and mounting despair in the democratic world, Roosevelt stood out by his astonishing appetite for life and by his apparently complete freedom from fear of the future; as a man who welcomed the future eagerly as such, and conveyed the feeling that whatever the times might bring, all would be grist to his mill, nothing would be too formidable or crushing to be subdued. He had unheard of energy and gusto … and was a spontaneous, optimistic, pleasureloving ruler with unparalleled capacity for creating confidence.”—Isaiah Berlin on FDR Exuberance: The Passion for Life, by Kay Redfield Jamison+ “Churchill had a very powerful mind, but a romantic and unquantitative one. If he thought about a course of action long enough, if he achieved it alone in his own inner consciousness and desired it passionately, he convinced himself it must be possible. Then, with incomparable invention, eloquence and high spirits, he set out to convince everyone else that it was not only possible, but the only course of action open to man.”—C.P. Snow “We are all worms. But I do believe that I am a glow-worm.”—Churchill on Churchill “The multitudes were swept forward till their pace was the same as his.”—Churchill on T.E. Lawrence “He brought back a real joy to music.”—Wynton Marsalis on Louis Armstrong PURPOSE. PASSION. Potential. Presence. Personal. pissed off. Playful. PERSISTENCE. PEOPLE. Peculiar. Potent. Positive. “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. pissed off. Playful. PERSISTENCE. PEOPLE. Potent. Positive. MBWA* *5,000 miles for a 5-minute face-to -face meeting (courtesy superagent Mark McCormick) MBWA, Grameen Style! “Conventional banks ask their clients to come to their office. It’s a terrifying place for the poor and illiterate. … The entire Grameen Bank system runs on the principle that people should not come to the bank, the bank should go to the people. … If any staff member is seen in the office, it should be taken as a violation of the rules of the Grameen Bank. … It is essential that [those setting up a new village Branch] have no office and no place to stay. The reason is to make us as different as possible from government officials.” Source: Muhammad Yunus, Banker to the Poor PURPOSE. PASSION. Potential. Presence. Personal. pissed off. Playful. PERSISTENCE. PEOPLE. Peculiar. Potent. Positive. “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Gandhi Questions: What do others think of you? [Are you sure?] What do you think of you? [Are you sure?] What is your impact on others? [Are you sure?] What is your impact on others? [Are you sure?] What is your impact on others? [Are you sure?] What are the “little things” you (perhaps unconsciously) do that cause people to shrivel—or blossom? [Are you sure?] What do you want? [Are you sure?] Are you aware of your changing moods? [Are you sure?] How fragile is your ego? [Are you sure?] Do you have a true confidant? [Are you sure?] Do you perform brief or not-so-brief self-assessments? Do you talk too much? [Are you sure?] Do you know how to listen? [Are you sure?] Do you listen? [Are you sure?] What is your style of “hashing things out”? Are you perceived as (a) arrogant, (b) abrasive (c) attentive, (d) genuinely interested in people, (e) etc? [Are you sure?] Are you flexible? Have you changed your mind about anything important in a while? Are you comfortable-uncomfortable with folks on the front line? Do you think you’re “in touch with the pulse of things around here”? [Are You Sure?] Are you too emotional/intuitive? Are you too unemotional/rational? Do you spend much time with people who are new to you? [Do you think questions like this are “so much BS”?] PURPOSE. PASSION. Potential. Presence. Personal. pissed off. Playful. PERSISTENCE. PEOPLE. Peculiar. Potent. Positive. “Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart.” —Henry Clay Jim Jeffords oversight! The … PURPOSE. PASSION. Potential. Presence. Personal. pissed off. Playful. PERSISTENCE. PEOPLE. Peculiar. Potent. Positive. Pissed Off* ** *As in “I’m pissed off and I’m not gonna take it any more …” **Innovation Stems from Irritation (Re-imagining Results from Rage) F(Anger/Passion) >>>> f(Pushback from Threatened Fat-cats & Bureau-crats) PURPOSE. PASSION. Potential. Presence. Personal. pissed off. Playful. PERSISTENCE. PEOPLE. Peculiar. Potent. Positive. SERIOUS PLAY “You can’t be a serious innovator unless and until you are ready, willing and able to seriously play. ‘Serious play’ is not an oxymoron; it is the essence of innovation.” —Michael Schrage, Serious Play Try it. Try it. Try it ry it. Try it. Screw up. Try it. Try it. Try t. Try it. Try it. Try t. Try it. Screw it up t. Try it. Try it. try PURPOSE. PASSION. Potential. Presence. Personal. pissed off. Playful. PERSISTENCE. PEOPLE. Peculiar. 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 “incredible power of endurance” —political colleague, on Nicolas Sarkozy, repeatedly written off by the public and the celestial powers of French politics (FT, 0515.07) Relent PURPOSE. PASSION. Potential. Presence. Personal. pissed off. Playful. PERSISTENCE. PEOPLE. Peculiar. Potent. Positive. ‘do’ “Leaders people. Period.” —Anon. “Leaders ‘SERVE’ people. Period.” —Anon. Cause Space (worthy of commitment) (room for/encouragement for initiative) Decency (respect, humane) “Sorry, I’ve got to go—the HR people get on me if I don’t go do my ‘shake handschat up’ duty” —president, large division of large company in the _______ industry PURPOSE. PASSION. Potential. Presence. Personal. pissed off. Playful. PERSISTENCE. PEOPLE. Peculiar. Potent. Positive. We become who we hang out with 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.) “Normal” = “o for 800” “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 Keep Austin Weird PURPOSE. PASSION. Potential. Presence. Personal. pissed off. Playful. PERSISTENCE. PEOPLE. Peculiar. Potent. Positive. 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 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. pissed off. Playful. PERSISTENCE. PEOPLE. Peculiar. Potent. Positive. “[other] admirals more frightened of losing than anxious to win” On NELSON: PURPOSE. PASSION. Potential. Presence. Personal. pissed off. Playful. PERSISTENCE. PEOPLE. Peculiar. 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) "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 02.1982) Geron-imo!