Transcript Tom Peters’ Re-Imagine ! EXCELLENCE Firebirds Annual Managers Awards Meeting Marriott Harbor Beach Resort & Spa/30 March 2015 (For more see tompeters.com and our fully annotated.

Tom Peters’
Re-Imagine
!
EXCELLENCE
Firebirds Annual Managers Awards Meeting
Marriott Harbor Beach Resort & Spa/30 March 2015
(For more see tompeters.com and our fully annotated 23-part
Master Compendium [“Mother of All Presentations”] at excellencenow.com)
YOUR
CUSTOMERS
WILL NEVER BE
ANY HAPPIER
THAN YOUR
EMPLOYEES.
Kingfisher Air
Location: Approach/New Delhi
Conveyance:
“May I
clean your
glasses,
sir?”
“Courtesies of a small and
trivial character are the
ones which strike deepest
in the grateful and
appreciating heart.” —Henry Clay
"Let's not forget that small
emotions are the great
captains of our lives."
—Van Gogh
Kindness =
Repeat Business =
Profit.
“What employees experience,
Customers will. The best marketing is
YOUR
CUSTOMERS WILL
NEVER BE ANY
HAPPIER THAN YOUR
EMPLOYEES.”
happy, engaged employees.
—John DiJulius,
The Customer Service Revolution: Overthrow Conventional
Business, Inspire Employees, and Change the World
“It may sound radical, unconventional, and
bordering on being a crazy business idea.
However— as ridiculous as it sounds—joy is the
core belief of our workplace.
Joy
is the reason my company,
Menlo Innovations, a customer software design
and development firm in Ann Arbor, exists. It
defines what we do and how we do it. It is the
single shared belief of our entire team.”
Joy, Inc.:
How We Built a Workplace People Love
—Richard Sheridan,
Monocle: “Do
you want to
be liked or
respected?”
Yoshiharu Hoshino, Hoshino
Resorts: “Management
should be liked.’
Master or Mauled in the Age of Social Media:
“What used to be ‘word of
mouth’ is now ‘word of
mouse.’ You are either
creating brand
ambassadors or brand
terrorists doing brand
assassination.”
—John DiJulius, The Customer Service Revolution: Overthrow
Conventional Business, Inspire Employees, and Change the World
People:
1/4,096
“You have to
treat your
employees like
customers.”
—Herb Kelleher,
upon being asked his “secret to success”
Source: Joe Nocera, NYT, “Parting Words of an Airline Pioneer,”
on the occasion of Herb Kelleher’s retirement after 37 years at Southwest
Airlines (SWA’s pilots union took out a full-page ad in USA Today
thanking HK for all he had done) ; across the way in Dallas, American
Airlines’ pilots were picketing AA’s Annual Meeting)
"When I hire
someone, that's
when I go to
work for
them.”
—John DiJulius, "What's the Secret
to Providing a World-class Customer Experience"
“We look for ...
listening, caring,
smiling, saying
‘Thank you,’ being
warm.”
— Colleen Barrett, former President, Southwest Airlines
“It’s simple, really,
Tom. Hire for s,
and, above all,
promote for
s.”
—Starbucks regional manager,
on why so many smiles at Starbucks shops
“May I help
you down the
jetway.”
“hostmanship”/
“consideration
renovation”
“The path to a
hostmanship
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
“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
management has made customers its highest priority?’”
about a new day at work.” —Jan Gunnarsson and Olle Blohm, Hostmanship:
The Art of Making People Feel Welcome.
“ … 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?’”
Rocket Science.
NOT.
“If you want staff to
give great service,
give great service
to staff.”
—Ari Weinzweig, Zingerman’s
Source: Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great
Instead of Big, Bo Burlingham
1996-2014/12 companies every year/
341,567 new jobs/+172%:
Publix
Whole Foods
Wegmans
Nordstrom
Cisco Systems
Marriott
REI
Goldman Sachs
Four Seasons
SAS Institute
W.L. Gore
TDIndustries
Source: Fortune/ “The 100 Best Companies to Work For”/0315.15
100 Best Companies to Work for,
Plus 3.5%
per annum risk
adjusted returns
1984-2009:
Source: Fortune/“The 100 Best Companies to Work
For”/0315.15/Alex Edmunds, Wharton
“Contrary to conventional
corporate thinking, treating
retail workers much better
may make everyone
(including their employers)
much richer.” * **
*Duh!
**Cited in particular, The Good Jobs Strategy,
by M.I.T. professor Zeynep Ton.
“I didn’t have a ‘mission statement’ at
Burger King. I had a dream.
Very simple. It was something like,
‘Burger King is 250,000
people, every one of
whom gives a shit.’ Every
one. Accounting. Systems. Not just
the drive through. Everyone is ‘in the
brand.’ That’s what we’re talking
about, nothing less.”
— Barry Gibbons, former CEO, Burger King
Training =
Investment
#1
6/2/3*
SIX MONTHS to develop
THREE MINUTES of new material
*It takes Jerry Seinfeld
TWO
or
(documentary: Comedian)
In the Army, 3-star
generals worry about
training. In most
businesses, it's a
“ho-hum” mid-level
staff function.
Basketball coach John Wooden, perhaps the best coach of
“I was never much
of a game coach, but I
was a pretty good
practice coach.”
anything, ever:
Hall of fame football coach Bill Walsh on preparation:
“The score takes care
of itself.”
> 8 of 10 CEOs,
in 45-min “tour
d’horizon” of their
biz, would NOT
mention training.
Bet:
Is your CTO/Chief Training Officer your top paid “C-level” job (other than CEO/COO)?
If not, why not?
Are your top trainers paid as much as your top marketers and engineers?
If not, why not?
Are your training
courses so good they
make you giggle and
tingle?
If not, why not?
Randomly stop an employee in the hall: Can she/he meticulously describe her/his development plan for the next 12
months?
If not, why not?
Why is your world of business any different than the (competitive) world of rugby, football, opera, theater,
the military?
If “people/talent first” and hyper-intense continuous training are laughably obviously for them, why not you?
What is the best reason to go bananas over training?
GREED.
(It pays off.)
Is your CTO/Chief Training Officer your top paid “C-level” job (other than CEO/COO)?
If not, why not?
Are your top trainers paid as much as your top marketers and engineers?
If not, why not?
Are your training courses so good they make you giggle and tingle?
If not, why not?
Randomly stop an employee
in the hall: Can she/he
meticulously describe her/his
development plan for the
next 12 months?
If not, why not?
Why is your world of business any different than the (competitive) world of rugby, football, opera,
theater,
the military?
If “people/talent first” and hyper-intense continuous training are laughably obviously for them,
why not you?
“G-E-N-I-U-S”
Getting more and more cantankerous (short tempered!)
about this:
Job #1 (& #2 & #3)
is to abet peoples' personal
growth. All other good things
flow there from.
My idea of a gen-u-ine "genius“
If you work your
heart out to help people grow,
they'll work their hearts out
to give customers a great
experience.
"breakthrough" idea:
1/4,096: excellencenow.com
“Business has to give people enriching,
or it's
simply not
worth doing.”
rewarding lives …
—Richard Branson
Your principal
moral obligation as a leader is to
develop the skillset, “soft” and
“hard,” of every one of the people
in your charge (temporary as well
as semi-permanent) to the
maximum extent of your abilities.
The good news: This is also the
#1 mid- to long-term …
profit maximization strategy!
CORPORATE MANDATE #1 2015:
“The topic is probably the oldest and biggest debate in
Customer service. What is more important:
How well you hire, or the training and
culture you bring your employees into?
75
While both are very important,
percent is the Customer service training
and the service culture of your company.
Do you really think that Disney has found 50,000 amazing
service-minded people? There probably aren’t 50,000
people on earth who were born to serve. Companies like
Ritz-Carlton and Disney find good people and put them in
such a strong service and training environment that
doesn’t allow for accept anything less than excellence.”
—John DiJulius, The Customer Service Revolution: Overthrow
Conventional Business, Inspire Employees, and Change the World
!
WOMEN RULE
“Research
suggests that to
succeed, start
by promoting
women.”
Source: Nicholas Kristof, “Twitter, Women, and Power,” NYTimes, 1024.13
“In my experience,
women make much
better executives
than men.”
—Kip Tindell, CEO,
Container Store, from UNCONTAINABLE
“Women are rated higher in fully 12
of the 16 competencies that go into
outstanding leadership. And two
of the traits where women
outscored men to the highest
degree — taking initiative and
driving for results — have long
been thought of as particularly
male strengths.”
—Harvard Business Review
For One (BIG) Thing …
“McKinsey & Company found that the
international companies with more
women on their corporate boards far
outperformed the average company in
return on equity and other measures.
Operating profit was …
56%
higher.”
Source: Nicholas Kristof, “Twitter, Women, and Power,” NYTimes, 1024.13
Women BUY
(Everything)
!
“Forget CHINA,
INDIA and the
INTERNET: Economic
Growth Is Driven by
WOMEN.”
Source: Headline, Economist
W>
2X (C + I)*
*“Women now drive the global economy. Globally, they control about $20
trillion in consumer spending, and that figure could climb as high as
$28 trillion
in the next five years. Their
$13 trillion in total yearly earnings could reach $18 trillion in the same
period. In aggregate, women represent a growth market bigger than China and India combined—more than
twice as big in fact. Given those numbers, it would be foolish to ignore or underestimate the female consumer. And
yet many companies do just that—even ones that are confidant that they have a winning strategy when it comes to
women. Consider Dell’s …”
Source: Michael Silverstein and Kate Sayre, “The Female Economy,” HBR, 09.09
“Women are
THE majority
market”
—Fara Warner/The Power of the Purse
Sales/After-sales Process
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Kick-off – Women
Research – Women
Purchase – Men
Ownership – Women
Word-of-mouth – Women
(2.6/21)
Source: Martha Barletta, Marketing to Women: How to Increase Your Share of the World’s Largest Market
TGRs:
8/80
Customers describing their service
experience as “superior”:
8%
Companies describing
the service experience they provide as
“superior”:
80%
—Source: Bain & Company survey of 362 companies
<TGW
and …
>TGR
(Things Gone
WRONG-Things Gone RIGHT)
7X.
7:30A-8:00P. F12A.
7:30AM = 7:15AM.
8:00PM = 8:15PM.
(2,000,000)
Source: Vernon Hill, Fans, Not Customers
Don’t like it?
Don’t pay!
Source: Graniterock Co.
“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
“IT’S ALWAYS
SHOWTIME.”
—David D’Alessandro, Career Warfare
“Every year, for 25 years, is a
startup. For that matter, every event
Not
one single
satisfied
customer! I take nothing
is a startup. No customers.
for granted.”
—Jose Salibi Neto*
*Only person to push Peter Drucker around! Radio City Music Hall!
TGRs:
!
OVERKILL
THE PROBLEM IS
RARELY/NEVER THE
PROBLEM. THE
RESPONSE TO THE
PROBLEM INVARIABLY
ENDS UP BEING THE
REAL PROBLEM.
(OPPORTUNITY).
TGRs:
LBTs*
*Little
BIG
Things
Big carts =
Source: Walmart
Bag sizes = New markets:
Source: PepsiCo
2X: “When Friedman
slightly
curved
the right angle of an
entrance corridor to one property, he
was ‘amazed at the magnitude of
change in pedestrians’ behavior’—the
percentage who entered increased from
one-third to nearly two-thirds.”
—Natasha Dow Schull, Addiction By Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas
Machine Gambling
“Pleasing” odor #1 vs.
“pleasing” odor #2:
+45% revenue
Source: “Effects of Ambient Odors on Slot-Machine Useage in Las Vegas
Casinos,” reported in Natasha Dow Schull, Addiction By Design:
Machine Gambling in Las Vegas (66% revenue, 85% profit)
(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” (R.F.A./
Ready. Fire. Aim.) (WTTMSW)
(6) Does not by and large require a
“power position” from which to
launch experiments.
TGRs:
Social Business/
Customer
Engagement
“Customer engagement is moving
from relatively isolated market
transactions to deeply connected
and sustained social
relationships. This basic change
in how we do business will make
an impact on just about
everything we do.”
Social Business By Design: Transformative Social Media Strategies
For the Connected Company —Dion Hinchcliffe & Peter Kim
“The
customer is in
Welcome to the Age of Social Media:
complete
control of
communication.”
—John DiJulius, The Customer Service Revolution: Overthrow
Conventional Business, Inspire Employees, and Change the World
“It
takes 20 years to build a
reputation and five
minutes to ruin it. Also, the
Welcome to the Age of Social Media:
Internet and technology have made
customers more demanding., and
they expect information, answers,
products, responses, and resolutions
sooner than ASAP.” —John DiJulius,
The Customer Service Revolution: Overthrow Conventional
Business, Inspire Employees, and Change the World
“Amy Howell
[social marketer extraordinaire,
ignites
epidemics. In a good way,
of course. Epidemics of
excitement. Epidemics of
business connections.
Epidemics of influence.”
founder of Howell Marketing]
—Mark Schaeffer, ROI/Return on Influence: The Revolutionary
Power of Klout, Social Scoring, and Influence Marketing
“Caesars’ Entertainment
have bet their future on
harvesting personal
data rather than
developing the fanciest
properties.”
—Adam Tanner,
What Stays in Vegas: The World of Personal Data—Lifeblood of Big
Business—and the End of Privacy as We Know it
Going “Social”: Location and Size Independent
“Today, despite the fact that we’re just a little swimming
pool company in Virginia, we have the most trafficked
swimming pool website in the world. Five years ago, if
you’d asked me and my business partners what we do, the
answer would have been simple, ‘We build in-ground
‘We
are the best teachers
… in the world … on the
fiberglass swimming pools.’ Now we say,
subject of fiberglass swimming pools,
and we also happen to build them.’”
—Jay Baer, Youtility: Why Smart Marketing Is About Help, Not Hype
Roll Out the
RED Carpet!
S&P 500
+1/-1*
*Every …
!
2 weeks
Source: Richard Foster (via Rita McGrath/HBR/12.26.13
THE RED
CARPET
STORE
(Joel Resnick/Flemington NJ)
*Basement Systems Inc.
(Larry Janesky/Seymour CT)
*Dry Basement Science
(100,000++ copies!)
*1990: $0; 2003: $13M;
2010:
$80,000,000
“BE THE BEST.
IT’S THE ONLY
MARKET THAT’S
NOT CROWDED!”
JUNGLE JIM’S INTERNATIONAL MARKET, FAIRFIELD, OH:
“An adventure in
‘shoppertainment,’ begins in the parking lot
and goes on to
1,600
cheeses and
1,400
varieties of hot sauce—not to mention 12,000 wines priced from
$8-$8,000
4,000
a bottle; all this is brought to you by
vendors. Customers from every corner of the globe.”
BRONNER’S CHRISTMAS WONDERLAND, FRANKENMUTH, MI, POP
5,000: 98,000-square-foot “shop” features
ornaments,
50,000
6,000
Christmas
trims, and anything else you can
name pertaining to Christmas. …”
“INSANELY
GREAT”
STEVE JOBS
“RADICALLY
THRILLING”
BMW
Excellence. Always.
If not Excellence,
what?
If not Excellence
now, when?
EXCELLENCE is not a “longterm” "aspiration.”
EXCELLENCE is the ultimate
short-term strategy.
EXCELLENCE is … THE
NEXT
5
MINUTES.*
(*Or NOT.)