Transcript EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS. Tom Peters’ Harvard Business Review America Latina

Tom Peters’
EXCELLENCE.
ALWAYS.
Harvard Business Review America Latina
Santiago/14 October 2008
To appreciate
this presentation [and ensure
that it is not a mess], you need
Microsoft fonts:
NOTE:
“Showcard Gothic,”
“Ravie,” “Chiller”
and “Verdana”
Slides at …
tompeters.com
“Tom let me tell you the
definition of a good lending
officer. After church on
Sunday, on the way home
with his family, he takes a
little detour to drive by the
factory he just lent money to.
Doesn’t go in or any such
thing, just drives by and
takes a look.”
MBWA
Excellence1982: The Bedrock “Eight Basics”
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
A Bias for Action
Close to the Customer
Autonomy and Entrepreneurship
Productivity Through People
Hands On, Value-Driven
Stick to the Knitting
Simple Form, Lean Staff
Simultaneous Loose-Tight
Properties”
“Breakthrough” 82*
People!
Customers!
Action!
Values!
*In Search of Excellence
Hard Is Soft
Soft Is Hard
Hard Is Soft (Plans, #s)
Soft Is Hard (people,
customers, values,
relationships))
“We Have Met the Enemy …
Thank
you,
Howard
& Howard …
Internal
organizational
excellence =
Deepest “Blue
Ocean”
When The “Enemy” Really Wins
“Obsessing about your competitors,
trying to match or best their offerings, spending time
each day wanting to know what they are doing, and/or
measuring your company against them—these activities
have no great or winning outcome. Instead you are simply
“Lose Your Nemesis”:
prohibiting your company from finding its own way to be truly
meaningful to its clients, staff and prospects. You block your company
from finding its own identity and engaging with the people who pay
the bills. … Your competitors have never paid your bills and they
never will.” —Howard Mann, Your Business Brickyard: Getting Back to the Basics to Make
Your Business More Fun to Run*
*Mr Mann also quotes Mike McCue, former VP/Technology at Netscape: “At Netscape
the competition with Microsoft was so severe, we’d wake up in the
morning thinking about how we were going to deal with them instead
of how we would build something great for our customers. What I
realize now is that you can never, ever take your eye
off the customer. Even in the face of massive
competition, don’t think about the competition. Literally
don’t think about them.”
Thank you
Horst …
“I [will] not accept the
explanation of a recession
negatively affecting the
[new] business. There are
swtill people traveling. We
just have to get them to stay
in our hotel.” —Horst Schulze, on his new
chain, Capella, from Prestige (06.08) The Return of History
and the End of Dreams
Thank you ,
Herb, Robert,
Peter &
Siberia …
“You have to
treat your
employees like
customers.”
—Herb Kelleher,
complete answer, upon being asked his “secrets to success”
Source: Joe Nocera, NYT, “Parting Words of an Airline Pioneer,” on the occasion of
Herb Kelleher’s retirement after 37 years at Southwest Airlines (SWA’s pilots union
took out a full-page ad in USA Today thanking HK for all he had done; across the
way in Dallas American Airlines’ pilots were picketing the Annual Meeting)
“The 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
… no less than
Cathedrals
in which the full and
awesome power of the
Imagination and Spirit and
native Entrepreneurial flair
of diverse individuals is
unleashed in passionate
pursuit of … Excellence.
Why in the
World did you
go to Siberia?
An
emotional, vital, innovative,
joyful, creative,
entrepreneurial endeavor
that elicits maximum
Enterprise* ** (*at its best):
concerted human
potential in the
wholehearted service of
others.**
**Employees, Customers, Suppliers, Communities, Owners, Temporary partners
Thank you Ben
& Norm, Ike ,
Gust, Walt, David &
Mark & Muhammad,
Nelson, Ben II
and Delaware/
Woody …
Give
good
tea!
“Allied commands depend
on mutual confidence
[and this confidence]
is gained, above all
through the development
of friendships.”
—General D.D. Eisenhower,
Armchair General * (05.08)
*“Perhaps his most outstanding ability [at West Point] was
the ease with which he made friends and earned the trust
of fellow cadets who came from widely varied backgrounds;
it was a quality that would pay great dividends during his
future coalition command.”
George Crile (Charlie Wilson’s War) on Gust
“He had
become something of a
legend with these
people who manned the
underbelly of the
Agency [CIA].”
Avarkotos’ strategy:
???????
“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!”
C(I) > C(E)
General David Petraeus’ “White lines along the road”:
“Secure and serve the population.
Live among the people.
Promote reconciliation.
Move mounted, work dismounted;
situational awareness can only be
achieved by operating face-to-face,
not separated by ballistic glass.
Walk.*”
—David Petraeus, Men’s Journal (06.08)
* “I love that last one for its simplicity.” —DP
3K/5M
5,000 miles for
a 5-minute
face-to
-face meeting
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
“I am a
dispenser of
enthusiasm.”
—Ben Zander
“eighty percent
of success is
showing up.”
—Woody Allen
Do tea!
Make friends!
Show up!
Walk!
L(+21) = L(-21)
Leadership(21A.D.) =
Leadership(21B.C.)
Thank
you , 7-11…
“How to flush
$500,000 down
the toilet in one
easy lesson!!”
TP:
< CAPEX
> People!
‘do’
“Leaders
people.
Period.”
—Anon.
“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
Brand =
Talent.
Our Mission
To develop and manage talent;
to apply that talent,
throughout the world,
for the benefit of clients;
to do so in partnership;
to do so with profit.
WPP
#1/100
“Best Companies to
Work for”/2005
Wegmans
The Dream Manager
—Matthew Kelly
“An organization can only become the-best-version-ofitself to the extent that the people who drive that
organization are striving to become better-versions-ofthemselves.” “A company’s purpose is to become thebest-version-of-itself. The question is: What is an
employee’s purpose? Most would say, ‘to help the
company achieve its purpose’—but they would be wrong.
That is certainly part of the employee’s role, but an
employee’s primary purpose is to become the-bestversion-of-himself or –herself. … When a company
forgets that it exists to serve customers, it quickly goes
Our employees are our
first customers, and our most
important customers.”
out of business.
#1 cause of
Dis-satisfaction?
2/year =
legacy.
“Leaders
‘SERVE’
people.
Period.”
—inspired by Robert Greenleaf
Thank
you ,
Rich …
“Mapping your
competitive
position”*
or …
*Rich D’Aveni/HBR
The “Have
you …” 50*
*See Appendix One
1. Have you in the
last 10 days …
visited a customer?
2. Have you called a
customer … TODAY?
*
*
*
1. Have you in the last 10 days … visited a
customer?
2. Have you called a customer … TODAY?
3. Have you in the last 60-90 days … had a seminar in which several folks from the
customer’s operation (different levels, different functions, different divisions) interacted,
via facilitator, with various of your folks?
4. Have you thanked a front-line employee for a
small act of helpfulness … in the last three days?
5. Have you thanked a front-line employee for a small act of helpfulness … in the
last three hours?
6. Have you thanked a frontline employee for carrying around a great attitude … today?
7. Have you in the last week recognized—publicly—one of your folks for a small act of
cross-functional co-operation?
8. Have you in the last week recognized—publicly—one of “their” folks (another function)
for a small act of cross-functional co-operation?
9. Have you invited in the last month a leader of another function to your weekly team
priorities meeting?
10. Have you personally in the last week-month called-visited an internal or external
customer to sort out, inquire, or apologize for some little or big thing that went awry? (No
reason for doing so? If true—in your mind—then you’re more out of touch than I dared
imagine.)
11. Have you in the last two days had a chat with someone (a couple of levels down?) about specific deadlines
concerning a project’s next steps?
12. Have you in the last two days had a chat with someone (a couple of levels down?) about specific deadlines
concerning a project’s next steps … and what specifically you can do to remove a hurdle? (“Ninety percent of
what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get things done.”—Peter “His eminence”
Drucker.)
13. Have you celebrated in the last week a “small” (or large!) milestone reached? (I.e., are you a milestone
fanatic?)
14. Have you in the last week or month revised some estimate in the “wrong” direction and apologized for making
a lousy estimate? (Somehow you must publicly reward the telling of difficult truths.)
15. Have you installed in your tenure a very
comprehensive customer satisfaction scheme for all
internal customers? (With major consequences for hitting or missing the mark.)
16. Have you in the last six months had a week-long, visible, very intensive visit-“tour” of external customers?
17. Have you in the last 60 days called an abrupt halt to a meeting and “ordered” everyone to get out of the office,
and “into the field” and in the next eight hours, after asking those involved, fixed (f-i-x-e-d!) a nagging “small”
problem through practical action?
18. Have you in the last week had a rather thorough discussion of a “cool design thing” someone has come
across—away from your industry or function—at a Web site, in a product or its packaging?
19. Have you in the last two weeks had an informal meeting—at least an hour long—with a frontline employee to
discuss things we do right, things we do wrong, what it would take to meet your mid- to long-term aspirations?
20. Have you had in the last 60 days had a general meeting to discuss “things we do wrong” … that we can fix in
the next fourteen days?
UniCredit Group/
UniCredito Italiano* **
—3rd party measurement
—Customer-initiated
measurement
—Primary $$$$ incentives
—“Factories”
—Primary Corporate Initiative
—Etc
*#13
**TP/#1
The “XF-50”: 50 Ways to
Enhance Cross-Functional
Effectiveness and Deliver
Speed, “Service Excellence”
and “Value-added
Customer ‘Solutions’”*
*Entire “XF-50” List is an Appendix to the LONG version of
this presentation, posted at tompeters.com
X =XFX*
*Excellence = Cross-functional Excellence
Never
waste a
lunch!
????
% XF
lunches*
*Measure!
CIO Question:
% Doc
lunches*
*Last 30 days
Thank
you ,
Richard &
Marcus …
“I used to have a rule for myself that at any point in
time I wanted to have in mind — as it so happens,
also in writing, on a little card I carried around with
me — the three big things I was trying to get done.
Three.
Not two.
Not four.
Not five.
Not ten.
Three.”
— Richard Haass, The Power to Persuade
“Dennis, you need a …
‘To-don’t ’
List !”
“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
You = Your
calendar*
*Calendars
never lie
Thank you ,
Dr. Groopman …
Thank you ,
Marshall et
al. …
“The First step in a
‘dramatic’
‘organizational change
program’ is obvious—
dramatic personal
change!” —RG
“To develop others,
start with yourself.”
—Marshall Goldsmith
“Being aware of
yourself and how you
affect everyone around
you is what
distinguishes a superior
leader.” —Edie Seashore
(Strategy + Business #45)
“Work
on me
first.”
—Kerry Patterson,
Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler/Crucial Conversations
“How can a high-level leader like _____ be so
out of touch with the truth about himself? It’s
more common than you would imagine. In fact,
the higher up the ladder a leader climbs, the less
accurate his self-assessment is likely to be. The
problem is an acute lack of feedback [especially
on people issues].”
—Daniel Goleman (et al.), The New Leaders
Buy a
Mirror!
Step #1:
Habit #1/Winning Too Much: “Winning too much is easily the
most common behavioral problem I observe in successful
people. [My italics.] There’s a fine line between winning when it
counts and when no one’s counting. … Winning too much
underlies nearly every other behavioral problem.” “If we argue
too much, it’s because we want our view to prevail over
everyone else (i.e. it’s all about winning).” “If we’re guilty of
putting down other people, It’s our stealthy way of positioning
them beneath us (again, winning).” “If we ignore people, again
it’s about winning—by making them fade away.”
Habit #2/Adding Too Much Value: “Good idea, but …” “The
problem is you may have improved the content by 5%, but
you’ve reduced my commitment to executing it by 50%,
because you’ve taken away my ownership of the idea.”
Habit #3: Passing Judgment
Habit #4: Making Destructive Comments
Etc.
Source: Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How
Successful People Become Even More Successful. (“The Twenty Habits That Hold
You Back From the Top”)
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”?]
“You must
be
the change you
wish to see in the
world.”
Gandhi
“To change minds
effectively, leaders make
particular use of two
stories that
they tell and the lives
tools: the
that they lead.”
Changing Minds
—Howard Gardner,
Thank
you ,
Dave …
“The four most important
words in any
organization
‘What do
you think?’ ”
are …
Source: courtesy Dave Wheeler, posted at
tompeters.com, source of original unknown (0609.08)
People are
always ready to
tell their story!
TP:
See also: “The story leaner’s edge” (Steve Farber)
“The dream manager” (Matthew Kelly)
"Trust the
development
experts—all
seven billion of
them.”
—headline, Financial Times,
0529.08, to an article by development guru William Easterly,
commenting negatively on the World Bank Growth
Commission’s recent report that concludes, in effect,
“trust the World Bank experts”
“Buy in”“Ownership”Authorial bragging
rights-“Born again”
Champion = One
Line of Code!
Thank you,
Henry ,
Marshall ,
Steve, & Sara …
“Courtesies of a small and
trivial character are the
ones which strike
deepest in the grateful
and appreciating heart.”
—Henry Clay
“I regard apologizing as the
most magical, healing,
restorative gesture human
beings can make. It is the
centerpiece of my work with
executives who want to get
better.” —Marshall Goldsmith, What Got You Here
Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More
Successfu.
Relationships
THERE
ONCE WAS A TIME WHEN A
THREE-MINUTE PHONE CALL
WOULD HAVE AVOIDED
SETTING OFF THE DOWNWARD
SPIRAL THAT RESULTED IN A
COMPLETE RUPTURE.
(of all varieties)
:
THE PROBLEM IS
RARELY/NEVER THE
PROBLEM. THE
RESPONSE TO THE
PROBLEM INVARIABLY
ENDS UP BEING THE
REAL PROBLEM.* **
*Watergate, M Stewart, BR
**And: PERCEPTION IS ALL THERE IS!
The Manager’s Book
of Decencies: How
Small /gestures
Build Great
Companies.
—Steve Harrison, Adecco
“It was much later that I realized
Dad’s secret. He gained respect by
giving it. He talked and listened to
the fourth-grade kids in Spring Valley
who shined shoes the same way he
talked and listened to a bishop or a
He was
seriously interested in
who you were and what
you had to say.”
college president.
Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Respect
“We are
thoughtful
in all we do.”
Thoughtfulness is key to customer retention.
Thoughtfulness is key to employee recruitment
and satisfaction.
Thoughtfulness is key to brand perception.
Thoughtfulness is key to your ability to look in
the mirror—and tell your kids about your job.
“Thoughtfulness is free.”
Thoughtfulness is key to speeding things up—
it reduces friction.
Thoughtfulness is key to transparency and even
cost containment—it abets rather than stifles
truth-telling.
100 Ways to Succeed #142:
“We Are Thoughtful In All We Do.”
Consider the idea of: “We are thoughtful in all we do.”
What does it mean?
How does one practice it?
Talk about it with peers, pals, vendors, customers, etc,
etc.
Talk about thoughtfulness—“dogmatic
thoughtfulness”?—as a powerful and pragmatic
business value. (And especially in traumatic times.)
Keep debating.
Consider adding “thoughtfulness in all we do,” maybe
“dogmatic thoughtfulness in all we do,” to your formal
values proclamation—or otherwise vigorously promoting
the idea.
(NB: You must come to agreement on the “bottom line” pragmatism of
this idea before formally proceeding—it may well make you better
persons, but it is not in any way a “mushy” idea.)
“Kindness
is free.”
139,380 former
patients from 225 hospitals:
Press Ganey Assoc:
none
of THE top 15 factors
determining Patient Satisfaction
referred to patient’s health outcome
P.S. directly related to Staff Interaction
P.P.S. directly correlated with Employee
Satisfaction
Source: Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
“There is a misconception that supportive interactions require
more staff or more time and are therefore more costly. Although
labor costs are a substantial part of any hospital budget, the
interactions themselves add nothing to the budget.
Kindness is
free.
Listening to patients or answering their
questions costs nothing. It can be argued that negative
interactions—alienating patients, being non-responsive to their
needs or limiting their sense of control—can be very costly. …
Angry, frustrated or frightened patients may be combative,
withdrawn and less cooperative—requiring far more time
than it would have taken to interact with them initially in a
positive way.” —Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton,
Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
Thank
you,
Team
Planetree…
Kindness
is free
139,380 former
patients from 225 hospitals:
Press Ganey Assoc:
none
of THE top 15 factors
determining Patient Satisfaction
referred to patient’s health outcome
PS directly related to Staff Interaction
PS directly correlated with Employee
Satisfaction
Source: Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
Planetree:
A Radical Model for New
Healthcare/Healing/
Wellness Excellence
The 9 Planetree Practices
1. The Importance of Human Interaction
2. Informing and Empowering Diverse Populations: Consumer
Health Libraries and Patient Information
3. Healing Partnerships: The importance of Including
Friends and Family
4. Nutrition: The Nurturing Aspect of Food
5. Spirituality: Inner Resources for Healing
6. Human Touch: The Essentials of Communicating
Caring Through Massage
7. Healing Arts: Nutrition for the Soul
8. Integrating Complementary and Alternative Practices
into Conventional Care
9. Healing Environments: Architecture and Design
Conducive to Health
Source: Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
7. Healing Arts:
Nutrition for
the Soul
Griffin:
Music in the parking
lot; professional musicians in
the lobby (7/week, 3-4hrs/day) ;
5 pianos
volunteers (120-140 hrs arts &
entertainment per month).
Source: Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
;
Access to nurses station:
“Happen to”
vs
“Happen with”
Source: Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
Conclusion:
Caring/Growth
“Experience”
“It was the goal of
Planetree to help
patients not only get
well faster but also to
stay well longer.”
—Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton,
Laura Gilpin, Patrick Charmel
(Planetree Alliance/Griffin Hospital)
Care!/Love!/Spirit!
Self-Control!
Connect!/learn!/
involve!/Engage!
Understanding!/Growth!
De-stress!/heal!
Whole patient & family
& friends!
be well!/stay well!
“Planetree is about
human beings
caring for other
human beings.”
—Putting Patients First, Susan Frampton, Laura Gilpin,
Patrick Charmel (“Ladies and gentlemen serving
ladies and gentlemen”—4S credo)
F.Y.I.: It
works!
Griffin Hospital/Derby CT (Planetree Alliance “HQ”) Results:
Financially successful.
Expanding programsphysically. Growing market
share. Only hospital in “100
Best Cos to Work for”—
7 consecutive years,
currently #6.
—“Five-Star Hospitals,” Joe Flower, strategy+business (#42)
Thank
you ,
Singapore …
2-cent
candy
<TGW
vs.
>TGR
“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
Thank
you,
Heather …
“Forget China,
India and the
Internet: Economic
Growth Is Driven
by
Women.”
—Headline,
Economist, April 15, 2006, Leader, page 14
“AS LEADERS,
WOMEN
RULE:
New Studies find that
female managers outshine their male
counterparts in almost every measure”
TITLE/ Special Report/ BusinessWeek
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
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?
Thank
you, Sheik
Mohammad
(& Jerry) …
Single
greatest act
of pure
imagination
Does your
project
portfolio
“have
a dubai”?
“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
Thank
you Steve
“You know a
design is good
when you want
to lick it.”
—Steve Jobs
Source: Design: Intelligence Made Visible,
Stephen Bayley & Terence Conran
Thank you ,
Anthelme
Brillat-Savarin
and Ludwig
Feuerbach …*
*”You are what you eat”
We are the
company
we keep
Measure “Strangeness”/Portfolio Quality
Staff
Consultants
Vendors
Out-sourcing Partners (#, Quality)
Innovation Alliance Partners
Customers
Competitors (who we “benchmark” against)
Strategic Initiatives
Product Portfolio (LineEx v. Leap)
IS/IT Projects
HQ Location
Lunch Mates
Language
Board
The “Hang Out Axiom”: At
its core, every (!!!)
relationship-partnership
decision (employee,
vendor, customer, etc)
is a strategic decision
about:
“Innovate,
‘Yes’ or ‘No’ ”
“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
“the wildest
chimera of a
moonstruck
mind”
—The Federalist on TJ’s Louisiana Purchase
Thank
you, Lou …
“M” = $0
IB :
$55B*
M
*Also HP-EDS
And the “M” Stands for … ?
“Systems
Integrator of choice.”/BW
Gerstner’s IBM:
(“Lou, help us turn ‘all this’ into that long-promised ‘revolution.’ ” )
IBM Global Services*
Services Corp.):
$55B
(*Integrated Systems
“THE GIANT STALKING BIG OIL: How
Schlumberger Is
Rewriting the Rules of the Energy
Game.”: “IPM [Integrated Project
Management] strays from
[Schlumberger’s] traditional role
as a service provider and moves
deeper into areas once dominated
by the majors.”
Source: BusinessWeek cover story, January 2008
“Big Brown’s New Bag: UPS Aims
to Be the Traffic Manager for
Corporate America” —Headline/BW
“UPS wants to take over the
sweet spot in the endless loop
of goods, information and
capital that all the packages
[it moves] represent.” —ecompany.com
(E.g., UPS Logistics manages the logistics of 4.5M Ford vehicles,
from 21 mfg. sites to 6,000 NA dealers)
GE Enterprise Solutions*
GE Enterprise Solutions delivers high-impact, integrated
solutions that improve customers’ productivity and
profitability. Enterprise Solutions helps customers
compete and win in a changing global environment by
combining the power of GE’s intelligent technologies
with its multi-industry experience and expertise.
Enterprise Solutions comprises high-tech, high-growth
businesses including Sensing & Inspection Technologies,
Security, GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, and Digital
Energy. The business has 17,000 customer-focused
associates in more than 60 countries around the world.
*from GE.com
The Value-added Ladder/TRANSFORMATION
Customer Success/
Gamechanging
Solutions
Services
Goods
Raw Materials
Huge: Customer
Satisfaction
versus
Customer
Success
“The business of selling is not just about matching viable
It’s
equally about managing the
change process the customer
will need to go through to
implement the solution and
achieve the value promised by
the solution. One of the key differentiators of
solutions to the customers that require them.
our position in the market is our attention to managing change
and making change stick in our customers’ organization.”*
(*E.g.: CRM failure rate/Gartner: 70%)
—Jeff Thull, The Prime Solution: Close the Value Gap,
Increase Margins, and Win the Complex Sale
The Value-added Ladder/TRANSFORMATION
Customer Success through
Implemented
Gamechanging Solutions*
Services
Goods
Raw Materials
*Subject-matter Professionals and
Organization Effectiveness Experts (Degree: MBA,
Organizational Psychology)
“support function” /
“cost center”/
“overhead”
or …
Department Head
to …
Managing
Partner,
IS Inc.
[HR, R&D, etc.]
Answer:
Are you the …
“Principal
Engine of
Value Added”
*E.g.: Your R&D budget as robust as the New Products team?
“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)
Full-scale
“business partner”
[CFO?] to the/each
department she
serves.
Ideal “finance staffer”:
Ideal “finance staffer”:
**Full-scale “business partner”
[CFO?] to the/each department
she serves.
**Not cop—obsessed instead with
value-added
**Integration first, “stovepipe”
secondary
**MBWA/bigtime
**Networker to the rest of Finance
Thank
you Jim (and
Germany ) …
Jim’s
Group
Jim’s Mowing Canada
Jim’s Mowing UK
Jim’s Antennas
Jim’s Bookkeeping
Jim’s Building Maintenance
Jim’s Carpet Cleaning
Jim’s Car Cleaning
Jim’s Computer Services
Jim’s Dog Wash
Jim’s Driving School
Jim’s Fencing
Jim’s Floors
Jim’s Painting
Jim’s Paving
Jim’s Pergolas [gazebos]
Jim’s Pool Care
Jim’s Pressure Cleaning
Jim’s Roofing
Jim’s Security Doors
Jim’s Trees
Jim’s Window Cleaning
Jim’s Windscreens
Note: Download, free, Jim Penman’s book:
What Will They Franchise Next? The Story of Jim’s Group
Jim’s Group: Jim Penman.*
1984: Jim’s Mowing. 2006: Jim’s Group.
2,600 franchisees (Australia, NZ, UK).
Cleaning. Dog washing. Handyman.
Fencing. Paving. Pool care. Etc.
“People first.” Private. Small staff. Franchisees
can leave at will. 0-1 complaint per year is
norm; cut bad ones quickly.
*Ph.D. cross-cultural anthropology; mowing on the side
Source: MT/Management Today (Australia), Jan-Feb 2006
#4 Japan
#3 USA
#2 China
#1 Germany
Reason!!!
Mittelstand
Or …
Goldmann
Produktions
(11/50%/$5M/”dip and coat,” expensive pigments
vs “through coloring,” fadesBekro Chemie)
“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
You don’t
get better by
being bigger.
You get
worse.”
Dick Kovacevich:
“Mr. Foster and his McKinsey
colleagues collected detailed
performance data stretching back 40
years for 1,000 U.S. companies. They
none
found that
of the longterm survivors managed to outperform
the market. Worse, the longer
companies had been in the database,
the worse they did.” —Financial Times
“Data drawn from the real world
attest to a fact that is beyond
Everything
in existence tends
to deteriorate.”
our control:
—Norberto Odebrecht, Education Through Work
The last
word:
There is
no “last
word.”
Thank
you,
John …
“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
“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
Culture of Prototyping
“Effective prototyping may
the most
valuable core
competence an
be
innovative organization can
hope to have.” —Michael Schrage
“Experiment
fearlessly”
Source: BW0821.06, Type A Organization Strategies/
“How to Hit a Moving Target”—Tactic #1
“You miss
100% of
the shots you
never take.”
—Wayne Gretzky
“Reward
excellent failures.
Punish mediocre
successes.”
Phil Daniels, Sydney exec
“FAIL, FAIL
AGAIN. FAIL
BETTER.”
—Samuel Beckett
“The secret of fast
progress is
inefficiency, fast
and furious and
numerous failures.”
—Kevin Kelly
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
Thank
you , Conrad
& Fred …
DECENTRALIZATION.
EXECUTION.
ACCOUTABILITY.
6:15A.M.
Conrad Hilton, at a gala
celebrating his life,
was asked, “What was the
most important lesson
you’ve learned in you long
and distinguished career?”
His immediate answer …
Conrad Hilton, at a gala celebrating his life,
was asked, “What was the most important lesson you’ve learned
in you long and distinguished career?”
His immediate answer:
“remember
to tuck the
shower curtain
inside the
bathtub”
“Execution is
strategy.”
—Fred Malek
“almost inhuman
disinterestedness in
… strategy” —Josiah Bunting
on
U.S. Grant (from Ulysses S. 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
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
Thank
you ,
Peter …
Nudge.
Sway.
K.I.S.S.
90K in U.S.A. ICUs on any
given day; 178 steps/day
in ICU.
50%
stays result
in “serious complication”
Source: Atul Gawande, “The Checklist” (New Yorker, 1210.07)
**Peter Pronovost, Johns Hopkins,
2001
**Checklist, line infections
**1/3rd at least one error when he started
**Nurses/permission to stop procedure
if doc, other not following checklist
**In 1 year, 10-day line-infection rate:
11% to …
0%
Source: Atul Gawande, “The Checklist” (New Yorker, 1210.07)
Thank you ,
Nassim Nicholas
Taleb …
The Black Swan
44: Tactical
Rules for
Survival (and
success) in
Looney times
“I [will] not accept the
explanation of a recession
negatively effecting the
[new] business. There are
still people traveling. We just
have to get them to stay in
our hotel.”
—Horst Schulze, former president of Ritz
Carlton, on his new luxury hotel chain, Capella, from Prestige (06.08)
Black Swan Tactical Rules
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
K.I.S.S.
Hammer on the basics.
Focus on us, not the competition.
Puzzle-solving: How to turn this
into an opportunity.
MBWA/X.
MBWA/I.
MBWA/Vendors.
Waaaaay over-communicate!!!!!!
(With everyone—start with your
banker.)
"’Overcommunication never hurts.
If it is something significant, I
would just pick up the phone and
call Ben [Bernanke]. . . . One of the
things I do is I create an
atmosphere where I am so direct
and so open and collaborative with
people I trust that it brings out the
same in them.”
—Hank Paulson
Black Swan Tactical Rules
9. All work is team work.
10. Transparency.
11. Work the phones.
12. Perception of fairness.
13. Share the pain.
14. Decency!!!!!!!
15. Grace!!
16. “Thank you.”
17. Control your impatience—
no temper tantrums.
18. Constant attitude checks—you.
Work the
phones!
Black Swan Tactical Rules
19. Dress for success.
20. Avoid burnout/you, the team,
the entire organization.
21. Re-emphasize the company
values-philosophy. (Now,
more than ever.)
22. Quality!!!!!! (Now, more than ever.)
23. No corner cutting. (Now, more
than ever.)
24. Constant reviews/War room.
25. Celebration of small wins.
Black Swan Tactical Rules
26. People First/HR is King.
27. Help people with personal
financial management.
28. Be generous to those who are
let go—e.g. healthcare benefits.
29. Don’t over-analyze.
30. Don’t under-analyze.
31. Cuts all at once—if possible.
32. Cuts explained in great detail.
33. Quantitative calendar
management—focus on “to don’ts.”
Black Swan Tactical Rules
34. Increase customer-service
training.
35. In general, minimize training cuts.
36. Be(very)ware R&D cuts; R&D
quick pay SWAT teams.
37. Beware such things as sales
travel cuts, ad cuts.
38. “Across the board” = Dumb.
39. Is this a time to over-invest if
cash is at hand? (E.g., distressed
innovative start-ups?
Black Swan Tactical Rules
40. Stealth work on the likes of
XF communication.
41. This could last a long time—
LT prep is necessary now.
42. Prepare/Be prepared for more
Black Swans.
43.
Excellence. (Now,
more than ever.)
(44. Remember all this in
peacetime—Chuck Knight’s
legacy.)
this is
your life.
Think
this is
your life.
Think
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
100 Ways to Succeed #139: Work the Damn Phones! Treble Your MBWA!*
One of my favorite quotes, from Carolyn Lamb , goes like this: “A year from now you may wish you
had started today.”
Yes, today many of us wish we had “wildly” “over”invested in those employee-vendor-clientcommunity relationships when the market was heading North and there was a little slack in the
system. Well, perhaps we didn’t, but, and I’m not “doing a Tony Robbins” here, it really is never
too late. That is:
Work the damn phones.
Keep working the damn phones.
Show up.
Keep showing up.
Call clients and suppliers, ask them how things are going, and how you can help. This is not about
sales (directly), but about “showing up”—taking time from your busy affairs to offer assistance of
any sort. (E.g., offer up your network: “Well, Dave [one of your key suppliers], I know Ed Simpson,
over there at [one of Dave’s problem clients]; his daughter and mine are co-captains of the [name
of school] soccer team; I can give him a call for you if you’d like.” Etc.)
This is even more important with our employees.** “Over”inform—the rumors are invariably worse
than reality. “Over”do your MBWA—managing by wandering around. Keep your enthusiasm up if it
kills you—not in a dopey grin, “all is well” way, but by exhibiting energy and masking any internal
doom & gloom expressions that may in fact be just beneath the surface. [**I use the formal word
“employees” here, a word I ordinarily dislike. But the point is that you do have a formal hierarchal
relationship with those on your payroll, and thence a formal as well as an abiding moral obligation
concerning their and their families’ well-being.]
*A series of ideas from tompeters.com
Thank you,
Eleanor, Jay
and Kevin …
“Do one thing
every day
that scares
you.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt
“I’m not comfortable
unless I’m
uncomfortable.”
—Jay Chiat
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!
Thank
you ,
3H Club …
Howard
Hilton
Herb
Conrad Hilton, at a gala celebrating his life,
was asked, “What was the most important lesson you’ve learned
in you long and distinguished career?”
His immediate answer:
“remember
to tuck the
shower curtain
inside the
bathtub”
“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 the
Annual Meeting)
3H: Howard, Hilton, Herb
**Stay in touch!
**Sweat the
details!
**It’s the people,
stupid!
Thank
you , Mike &
Tom …
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
“Mr. Watson,
how long does it
take to achieve
Excellence?”
minute”
Good luck …
“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)
Leadership(21A.D.) =
Leadership(21B.C.)