Tom Peters at Future of Talent Conference, Utrecht

Tom Peters’ X25* EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS. Talent. Utrecht/23 March 2007 * In Search of Excellence 1982-2007

Peo p le Power : The Talent 50

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

“ Omnicom very simply is about talent. It’s about the acquisition of talent, providing the atmosphere so talent is attracted to it.” —John Wren

Whoops: Jack didn’t have a vision ! * * GE = “Talent Machine” (Ed Michaels)

“ 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?

Cause (worthy of commitment) Space (room for/encouragement for initiative) Decency (respect, humane)

2 . “Soft” Is “Hard.”

Excellence1982: The Bedrock “Eight Basics” 1. A Bias for Action 2. Close to the Customer 3. Autonomy and Entrepreneurship 4. Productivity Through Peo p le 5. Hands On , Value-Driven 6. Stick to the Knitting 7. Simple Form, Lean Staff 8. Simultaneous Loose-Tight Properties”

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

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.

Enter p rise * ** (*at its best): An emotional , vital , innovative , joyful , creative , entrepreneurial endeavor that elicits maximum concerted human potential in the wholehearted service of others . *** **Excellence. Always. ***Employees, Customers, Suppliers, Communities, Owners, Temporary partners

3 . FUNDAMENTAL PREMISE: We Are in an Age of Talent/ Creativity/ Intellectual-capital Added.

Agriculture Age (farmers) Industrial Age (factory workers) Information Age (knowledge workers) Conceptual Age (creators and empathizers) Source: Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind

“ Human c reativit y is the ultimate economic resource.” —Richard Florida, The Rise of the Creative Class

“ The Creative Age is a wide open g ame .” —Richard Florida, The Rise of the Creative Class

“ 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

4 . Talent “Excellence” in Every Part of Every Organization.

We g mans: #1/100 “ Best Companies to Work for” / 2005

5 . Talent “Excellence” Stretches Far Beyond Our Borders.

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 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

6 . P.O.T./ Pursuit Of Talent = OBSESSION.

“ 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”

Les Wexner : From sweaters to … p eo p le !

7 . Talent Masters Understand Talent’s Intangibles.

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

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)

Visibly energetic /Passionate/Enthusiastic … about everything. Engaging/Inspires others. ( Inspires the interviewer!) Loves messes & pressure. Impatient/ Action fanatic. A finisher. Exhibits: Fat “WOW Project” Portfolio . (Loves to talk about her work.) Smart. Curious/ Eclectic interests/ A little (or more) weird . Well-developed sense of humor/ Fun to be around. ****** No. 1 re bosses: Exceptional talent selection & development record. (Former co-workers: “Did you visibly grow while working with X?” /“How has the department/team grown on a ‘world-class’ scale during X’s tenure?”)

“ support function” / “cost center” / “bureaucratic drag” or …

Are you … “Rock Stars of the Age of Talent”?

9 . HR Sits at The Head Table.

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.

“ HR doesn’t tend to hire a lot of independent thinkers or people who stand up as moral compasses.” —Garold Markle, Shell Offshore HR Exec ( FC /08.05)

“ H.R.” to “H.E.D.” ??? H uman E nablement D epartment

People Department Center for Talent Excellence Seriously Cool People Who Recruit & Develop Seriously Cool People Etc.

11 . There Is an “HR Strategy”/ “HR Vision”

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

What’s your company’s … EVP/ IBP ?* * E mployee V alue P roposition , per Ed Michaels et al., The War for Talent; IBP/ I nternal B rand P romise per TP

EVP/IBP = Remarkable challenge, rapid professional growth, respect, satisfaction, fun, stunning opportunity, exceptional reward, amazing peer group, full membership in Club Adventure, maximized future employability Source: Ed Michaels, The War for Talent; TP

Omnicom's acquisitions : “not for size per se”; “buying talent;” “deepen a relationship with a client.” Source: Advertising Age

13 . There Is a FORMAL Recruitment Strategy.

C ta O * *Chief talent acquisition Officer

“ Busy Executives Fail To Give Recruiting Attention It Deserves” —Headline, WSJ , 1121.05

14 . There Is a FORMAL Leadership Development Strategy.

DD : 0 to 60mph in a flash (months)

15 . There Is a FORMAL STRATEGIC HR Review Process.

“ In most companies, the Talent Review Process is a farce. At GE, Jack Welch and his two top HR people visit each division for a day. They review the top 20 to 50 people by name. They talk about Talent Pool strengthening issues . The Talent Review Process is a contact sport at GE; it has the intensity and the importance of the budget process at most companies.” —Ed Michaels

16 . “People”/ Talent” Reviews Are the FIRST Reviews.

17 . HR Strategy = BUSINESS Strategy.

18 . Make it a “Cause Worth Signing Up For.”

“ 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

19 . Unleash “Their” Full Potential!

“ We are a ‘Life Success’ Company.” Dave Liniger, founder, RE/MAX

“ No matter what the situation, [the great manager’s] first res p onse is alwa y s to think about the individual concerned and how thin g s can be arran g ed to hel p that individual ex p erience success .” —Marcus Buckingham, The One Thing You Need to Know

“ Firms will not ‘manage the careers’ of their employees. The y will p rovide o pp ortunities to enable the em p lo y ee to develo p identit y and ada p tabilit y and thus be in char g e of his or her own career .” —Tim Hall et al., “The New Protean Career Contract ”

“ 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

21 . Enlist Everyone in Challenge Century21.

“ 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

“ If there is nothing very special about your work, no matter how hard you apply yourself you won’t get noticed, and that increasingly means you won’t get paid much either.” —Michael Goldhaber, Wired

Distinct … or … Extinct

From “1, 2 or you’re out” [JW] to … “ Best Talent in each industry segment to build best proprietary intangibles” [EM] Source: Ed Michaels, War for Talent

“ 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

24 . Ensure that the Review Process Has INTEGRITY.

25 = 100* * “But what do I do that’s more important than developing people? I don’t do the damn work. They do.”—GK

“ Top performing companies are two to four times more likely than the rest to pa y what it takes to prevent losing top performers.” —Ed Michaels, War for Talent

Costco *$17/hour (42% above Sam’s); very good health plan; low t/o, low shrinkage *Low margins (“When I started, Sears, Roebuck was the Costco of the country, but they allowed someone to come in under them”—Jim Sinegal) Source: “How Costco Became the Anti-Wal*Mart/ NYT /07.17.05

26 . Training I: Train! Train! Train!

Divas do it. Violinists do it. Sprinters do it. Golfers do it. Pilots do it. Soldiers do it. Surgeons do it. Cops do it. Astronauts do it. Why don’t business p eo p le do it?

“ Knowledge becomes obsolete incredibly fast. The continuing p rofessional education of adults is the No. 1 industr y in the next 30 y ears … mostly on line .” Peter Drucker, Business 2.0

27 . Training II: 100% “Business People.”

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!)

28 . Training III: 100% LEADERS.

“ I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to p roduce more leaders , not more followers.” — Ralph Nader

29 . Training IV: Boss as Trainer-in-Chief.

“ Workout” = 24 DPY in the Classroom

30 . Training V: The REAL Bedrock of the “Talent Thing.”

“ 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 grade in art at such a young age? His teacher informed us that he had refused to color within the lines, which was a state re q uirement for demonstratin g ‘ g rade-level motor skills .’ ” —Jordan Ayan, AHA!

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

31 . Wide-open Communication: NO BARRIERS.

“ The organizations we created have become tyrants. They have taken control, holding us fettered, creating barriers that hinder rather than help our businesses. The lines that we drew on our neat organizational diagrams have turned into walls that no one can scale or penetrate or even peer over.” — Frank Lekanne Deprez & Ren é Tissen, Zero Space: Moving Beyond Organizational Limits

“ 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

“ What creates trust, in the end, is the leader’s manifest res p ect for the followers.” — Jim O’Toole, Leading Change

“ Don’t belittle!” —OD Consultant

33 . Embrace the Whole Individual.

34 . Build Places of “Grace.”

Rodale’s on “Grace” … elegance … charm … loveliness … poetry in motion … kindliness ... benevolence … benefaction … compassion … beauty

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.

“ Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.” —Philo of Alexandria

35 . MBWA*: Visible Leadership! *Managing By Wandering Around

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

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

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

37 . Promote for “people skills.” (THE REST IS DETAILS.)

“ When assessing candidates, the first thing I looked for was energy and enthusiasm for execution. Does she talk about the thrill of g ettin g thin g s done, the obstacles overcome, the role her p eople p layed —or does she keep wandering back to strategy or philosophy?” —Larry Bossidy, Honeywell/AlliedSignal, in Execution

“ Why focus on these late teens and twenty-somethings? Because the y are the first y oun g who are both in a position to change the world, and are actuall y doing so . … For the first time in history, children are more comfortable, knowledgeable and literate than their parents about an innovation central to society. … The Internet has triggered the first industrial revolution in history to be led by the young.” The Economist

39 . Provide Early Leadership Assignments.

40 . Create a FORMAL System of Mentoring.

“ To be a leader in consumer products, it’s critical to have leaders who represent the population we serve.” —Steve Reinemund/PepsiCo

“ We want our associate population to mirror our customer population at every level, from the executive suite all the way to the retail floor .” —Larry Johnston, CEO, Albertsons

CM Prof Richard Florida on “Creative Capital ”: “You cannot get a technologically innovative place … unless it’s open to weirdness, eccentricity and difference.” Source: New York Times /06.01.2002

“ 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 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

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

Women’s Stren g ths Match New Econom y Im p eratives : 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

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 ?

43 . Hire (& Protect!) Weird!

“ Are there enou g h weird p eo p le in the lab these days?” —V. Chmn., pharmaceutical house, to a lab director

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”

Beware Standardized Evals : One size NEVER fits all. One size fits one. Period .

53 Players = 53 Projects = 53 different success measures.

45 . Capitalize on Strengths.

“ The key difference between checkers and chess is that in checkers the pieces all move the same way, whereas in chess all the pieces move differently. … Discover what is uni q ue about each p erson and ca p italize on it .” —Marcus Buckingham, The One Thing You Need to Know

“ 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

46 . Bosses “Win People Over.”

PJ: “Coaching is winning players over.”

47 . GOAL: Voyages of Mutual Discovery.

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 g reatness .”

Leadershi p ’s Mt Everest! “ free to do his or her absolute best” … “allow its members to discover their greatness.”

“ The organization would ultimately win not because it gave agents more money, but because it gave them a chance for better lives.” — Everybody Wins , Phil Harkins & Keith Hollihan

“ You must realize that how you invest your human capital matters as much as how you invest your financial capital. Its rate of return determines your future options. Take a job for what it teaches you, not for what it pays. Instead of a potential employer asking, ‘Where do you see yourself in 5 years?’ you’ll ask, ‘If I invest my mental assets with you for 5 years, how much will they appreciate? How much will my portfolio of career options grow?’ ” Source: Stan Davis & Christopher Meyer, futureWEALTH

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

The Top 5 “Revelations” Better talent wins. Talent management is my job as leader. Talented leaders are looking for the moon and stars. Over-deliver on people’s dreams – they are volunteers. Pump talent in at all levels, from all conceivable sources, all the time. Source: Ed Michaels et al., The War for Talent

“ I have always believed that the purpose of the corporation is to be a blessing to the employees.” —Boyd Clarke

EXCELLENCE. BEDROCK. LEADERSHIP. 9Ps.

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

“ Management has a lot to do with answers. Leadership is a function of questions. And the first question for a leader always is: ‘ Who do we i ntend to be ?’ Not ‘What are we going to do?’ but ‘Who do we intend to be?’” —Max De Pree, Herman Miller

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

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

“ You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Gandhi

“ We make our own traps.” “ We construct our own cage.” “ We build our own roadblocks.” Source: Douglas Kennedy, State of the Union

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

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 Future of Talent Conference, Utrecht

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Tom Peters at Future of Talent Conference, Utrecht