Tom Peters at Miller Agency, Hamden, CT

The last word: There is no last word.

Ho hum: 2+ weeks in New Zealand … Pfizer Ford Gap Chrysler Yahoo microsoft wal*mart ??? ???

“ It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change .” —Charles Darwin

Tom Peters’ X25* EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS. Miller Agency/0316.2007 * In Search of Excellence 1982-2007

Slides at … tompeters.com* *Also see “LONG”

“ I am often asked by would-be entrepreneurs seeking escape from life within huge corporate structures, ‘How do I build a small firm for myself?’ The answer seems obvious : Buy a very large one and just wait .” —Paul Ormerod, Why Most Things Fail: Evolution, Extinction and Economics

“ Why in the world did you go to S iberia ?”

S y non y ms Purity Transcendence Virtue Elegance Majesty Anton y ms Mediocrity

The Peters Princi p les : Enthusiasm. Emotion. Excellence. Energy. Excitement. Service. Growth. Creativity. Imagination. Vitality. Joy. Surprise. Independence. Spirit. Community. Limitless human potential. Diversity. Profit. Innovation. Design. Quality. Entrepreneurialism. Wow.

EXCELLENCE. INNOVATE. OR. DIE.

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

“ 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 to p!” — Gary Hamel/ Harvard Business Review

“ 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

We become who we hang out with 2

“ The Billion-man Research Team: Companies offering work to online communities are reaping the benefits of ‘crowdsourcing.’” —Headline, FT , 0110.07

try it. Try it. Try it. Try it. Try it. Try it. Try it. Try it. Screw it up. Try it. Try it. Try it. Try it. Try it. Try it. Try it. Screw it up. it. Try it. Try it. try it. Try it. Screw it up. Try it. Try it. Try it.

“ 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

“ Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.” Phil Daniels, Sydney exec

READY. FIRE! AIM. Ross Perot (vs “ Aim! Aim! Aim!” /EDS vs GM/1985)

“ You miss 100 % of the shots you never take.” —Wayne Gretzky

“ If it feels painful and scary—that’s real delegation.” —Caspian Woods, small biz owner

“ Best practice” = ZERO Standard Deviation = Whaddawaste

“ Execution is the j ob of the business leader .” —Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/ Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

“ Costco figured out the big , simple things and executed with total fanaticism .” —Charles Munger, Berkshire Hathaway

“ 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)

DECENTRALIZATION/ everything. EXECUTION/98. ACCOUNTABILITY. 6 :15A.M.

Up, Up, Up, Up the Value-added Ladder.

The Value-added Ladder/ OPPORTUNITY-SEEKING Gamechanging Solutions Services Goods Raw Materials

“ Experiences are as distinct from services as services are from goods.” —Joe Pine & Jim Gilmore, The Experience Economy: Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage

Experience: “Rebel Lifestyle!” “What we sell is the ability for a 43-year-old accountant to dress in black leather, ride through small towns and have people be afraid of him.” Harley exec, quoted in Results-Based Leadership

The Value-added Ladder/ MEMORABLE CONNECTION Spellbinding Experiences Gamechanging Solutions Services Goods Raw Materials

EXCELLENCE. DRAMATIC. DIFFERENCE. DOABLE.

“ The ‘surplus society’ has a surplus of similar companies, employing similar people, with similar educational backgrounds, coming up with similar ideas, producing similar things, with similar prices and s imilar quality.” —Kjell Nordstr ö m and Jonas Ridderstr å le, Funky Business

7X. 730A-800P. F12A . * * ’93-’03/10 yr annual return: CB: 29%; WM: 17%; HD: 16%. Mkt Cap: 48% p.a.

Jim’s Group Jim Penman/“Empire Builders”/ MT / Jan/Feb 2006/Australia

WallopWal*Mart16* *Or: Why it’s so ABSURDLY EASY to BEAT a GIANT Company

The “Small Guys” Guide: Wallop Wal*Mart16 * Niche-aimed. (Never, ever “all things for all people,” a “mini-Wal*Mart.) * Never attack the monsters head on! (Instead steal niche business and lukewarm customers.) * “ Dramaticall y Different ” (La Difference ... within our community, our industry regionally, etc … is as obvious as the end of one’s nose!) (THIS IS WHERE MOST MIDGETS COME UP SHORT.) * Compete on value/experience/intimacy, not price. (You ain’t gonna beat the behemoths on cost-price in 9.99 out of 10 cases.) * Emotional bond with Clients, Vendors. (BEAT THE BIGGIES ON EMOTION/CONNECTION!!)

Furniture vs. Dreams “We do not sell ‘furniture’ at Domain. We sell dreams . This is accomplished by addressing the half-formed needs in our customers’ heads. By uncovering these needs, we, in essence, fill in the blanks. We convert ‘needs’ into ‘dreams.’ Sales are the inevitable result .” — Judy George, Domain Home Fashions

The Value-added Ladder/ EMOTION Dreams Come True Spellbinding Experiences Gamechanging Solutions Services Goods Raw Materials

To p 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

The Value-added Ladder/ ECSTASY Lovemark Dreams Come True Spellbinding Experiences Services Goods Raw Materials

“ Forget China , India and the Internet : Economic Growth Is Driven by Women .” —Headline, Economist , April 15, 2006, Leader, page 14

“ Women are the majority market” —Fara Warner/ The Power of the Purse

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. [2 of 3] 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 ?

“ AS LEADERS, WOMEN RULE : New Studies find that female managers outshine their male counterparts in almost every measure” TITLE/ Special Report/ BusinessWeek

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! “ People turning 50 today have more than half of their adult life ahead of them.” —Bill Novelli, 50+: Igniting a Revolution to Reinvent America

“ Little Stuff” (plus): The True “Basics” Tom Peters/03.14.2007

“ Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart.” —Henry Clay

The … Jim Jeffords oversight!

The Manager’s Book of Decencies: How Small gestures Build Great Companies —Steve Harrison, Adecco Servant Leadership —Robert Greenleaf One: The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership —Lance Secretan, founder of Manpower, Inc.

“ Leaders ‘ SERVE ’ people. Period.” —Anon.

Servant Leadership /Robert Greenleaf 1. Do those served grow as persons? 2. Do they, while being served, become healthier wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?

THE PROBLEM IS RARELY THE PROBLEM.

THE PROBLEM IS RARELY/NEVER THE PROBLEM. THE RESPONSE TO THE PROBLEM INVARIABLY ENDS UP BEING THE REAL PROBLEM . * *RMN, M Stewart, WJC, “Scooter” Libby

Relationships (of all varieties) : 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.

“ WHY NOT JUST TELL THE TRUTH?” —Raymond Carver

“ 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 college president. He was seriously interested in who you were and what you had to say.” Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Respect

“ The deepest human need is the need to be appreciated.” William James

THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO KNOW (Marcus Buckingham)

“ 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

“ The one thin g 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

SWEET SPOT: SEEKING THE DIS COMFORT ZONE.

“ Do one thing every day that scares you.” —Eleanor Roosevelt

“ 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 2 years.” —Ed Michaels, War for Talent

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”

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. Second : Putting HR on a par with finance and marketing.

EXCELLENCE. BEDROCK. TALENT. LEADERSHIP. The “9Ps.”

PURPOSE . PASSION . Potential . Presence . Personal . PERSISTENCE . PEOPLE . Potent . Positive .

“ People want to be part of something larger than themselves . They want to be part of something they’re really proud of, that they’ll fight for , sacrifice for , trust .” — Howard Schultz, Starbucks ( IBD /09.05)

“ Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.” —Samuel Taylor Coleridge

“ The role of the Director is to create a space where the actors and actresses can become more than they’ve ever been before, more than they’ve dreamed of being .” —Robert Altman, Oscar acceptance speech

“ In the end, management doesn’t change culture. Management invites the workforce itself to change the culture.” —Lou Gerstner

MBWA * *5,000 miles for a 5-minute face-to -face meeting (courtesy super- agent Mark McCormick)

“ The First step in a ‘dramatic’ ‘organizational change program’ is obvious— dramatic personal change !” —RG

“ A man without a smiling face must not open a shop.” —Chinese Proverb

Relentless : “One of my superstitions had always been when I started to go anywhere or to do anything, not to turn back , or stop, until the thing intended was accomplished.” —Grant

“ Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.” —William Feather, author

“ Leaders ‘ do ’ people. Period.” —Anon.

" The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends upon the unreasonable man.” —GB Shaw, Man and Superman: The Revolutionists' Handbook.

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

“ 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)

Tom Peters at Miller Agency, Hamden, CT

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Tom Peters at Miller Agency, Hamden, CT