Punchline …

The last word: There is no last word.

NEW ZEALAND 2007

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. Transforming Life, Work, & Organizations Manchester, England, 07 March 2007 * In Search of Excellence 1982-2007

Slides at … tompeters.com

EXCELL- ENCE????

“ 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

S&P Stability Ratings* 1985 2006 Low Risk 41% 13% Average Risk 24% 14% High Risk 35% 73% *Likelihood of stable long-term earnings growth Source: Fortune (2 October 2006)

EXCELLENCE. CIRCA 1982.

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

ExIn*: 1982-2002/Forbes.com DJIA : $10,000 yields $85,000 EI : $10,000 yields $140,050 * Forbes / Excellence Index /Basket of 32 publicly traded stocks

EXCELLENCE. ASPIRATION.

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

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

EXCELLENCE. INNOVATE. OR. DIE.

More than $$$$ #1 R&D spending, last 25 years?

GM

InnoTacs

We become who we hang out with 1

Measure “Strangeness”/Portfolio Quality Staff Consultants Vendors Out-sourcing Partners (#, Quality) Innovation Alliance Partners Customers Competitors (who we “benchmark” against) Strategic Initiatives Product Portfolio (LineEx v. Leap) IS/IT Projects HQ Location Lunch Mates Language Board

“ 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

Why Do I love Freaks? (1) Because when Anything Interesting happens … it was a freak who did it. (Period.) (2) Freaks are fun. (Freaks are also a pain.) (Freaks are never boring.) (3) We need freaks . Especially in freaky times. (Hint: These are freaky times, for you & me & the CIA & the Army & Avon.) (4) A critical mass of freaks-in-our-midst automatically make us-who-are-not-so-freaky at least somewhat more freaky. (Which is a Good Thing in freaky times—see immediately above.) (5) Freaks are the only (ONLY) ones who succeed—as in, make it into the history books. (6) Freaks keep us from falling into ruts. (If we listen to them.) (We seldom listen to them.) (Which is why most organizations are in ruts. Make that chasms.)

“ Normal” = “o for 800”

“ The Bottleneck Is at the Top of the Bottle” “Where are you likely to find people with the least diversity of experience, the largest investment in the past, and the greatest reverence for industry dogma: At the to p!” — Gary Hamel/ Harvard Business Review

We become who we hang out with 2

Whacky Wiki World Wow

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything — Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams

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

Wikinomics WikiWorld Weapons of Mass collaboration CrowdSourcing smart mobs Linux Human genomE project InnoCentive YouTube Second Life Wikipedia Myspace

Rob McEwen/ CEO/ Goldcorp Inc./ Red Lake gold Source: Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything , Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams

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.

do things.

“ We have a ‘strategic plan.’ It’s called doing things .” — Herb Kelleher

drill.

“ 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

try things.

“ 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

Screw. things. Up.

“ FAIL, FAIL AGAIN. FAIL BETTER.” —Samuel Beckett

“ Fail . Forward. Fast.” High Tech CEO, Pennsylvania

“ Fail faster. Succeed Sooner.” David Kelley/IDEO

Sam’s Secret #1!

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

try. Miss. try.

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

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

EXCELLENCE. 4/40.

4/40

De-cent-ral-iz- a-tion!

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

The True Logic* of Decentralization: 6 divisions = 6 “tries” 6 divisions = 6 DIFFERENT leaders = 6 INDEPENDENT “tries” = Max probability of “win” 6 divisions = 6 very DIFFERENT leaders = 6 very INDEPENDENT “tries” = Max probability of “ far out ”/” 3-sigma ” “win” *“Driver”: Law of Large #s

“ Best practice” = ZERO Standard Deviation

Ex-e- cu-tion!

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

“ Execution is a systematic process of rigorously discussing hows and whats, tenaciously following through, and ensuring accountability.” —Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/ Execution: The Disci p line of Getting Things Done

Goal (“Vision”) = Projects = Milestones = Rapid Review + Truth-telling = accountability

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

Ac-count-a-bil-ity!

“ GE has set a standard of candor. … There is no puffery. … There isn’t an ounce of denial in the place .” —Kevin Sharer, CEO Amgen, on the “GE mystique” (Fortune)

6:15A.M.

DECENTRALIZATION. EXECUTION. ACCOUTABILITY. 6 :15A.M.

EXCELLENCE. VALUE ADDED. UP THE LADDER.

EXCELLENCE. VALUE-ADDED LADDER I. SOLVE IT.

$55B

“ Big Brown’s New Bag: UPS Aims to Be the Traffic Manager for Cor p orate America ” —Headline/ BW /2004

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

The Value-added Ladder/ STUFF ‘N’ THINGS Goods Raw Materials

The Value-added Ladder/Stuff & TRANSACTIONS Services Goods Raw Materials

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

“ The business of selling is not just about matching viable solutions to the customers that require them. 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 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/ OPPORTUNITY-SEEKING Im p lemented Gamechanging Solutions Services Goods Raw Materials

Hu g e : Customer Satisfaction versus Customer Success

Department Head to … Managin g Partner , IS [HR, R&D, etc.] Inc .

Answer: PSF

Core Mechanism : “Game-chan g in g Solutions” PSF (Professional Service Firm “model”/The Organizing Principle ) + Brand You (“Distinct” or “Extinct”/The Talent ) + Wow! Projects (“Different” vs “Better”/The Work )

HCare CIO : “Technology Executive” (workin’ in a hospital) Or/to: Full-scale, Accountable (life or death) Member-Partner of XYZ Hospital’s Senior Healin g -Services Team (who happens to be a techie)

Big Idea: “Corporation” as Mega-“PSF” (Professional Service Firm*) * “Virtual” Collection of Entrepreneurially-minded Professionals (“Talent”/“Roster”) Creating/Applying Intellectual Capital (“Work Product”)

EXCELLENCE. VALUE-ADDED LADDER II. EXPERIENCE IT.

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

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

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

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

C X O * *Chief e X perience Officer

EXCELLENCE. VALUE-ADDED LADDER III. DREAM IT.

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

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

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

C DM * *Chief Dream Merchant

“ Dreams Come True”: IBM UPS

EXCELLENCE. VALUE-ADDED LADDER III. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE.

“ Brands have run out of juice. They’re dead .” —Kevin Roberts/Saatchi & Saatchi

Kevin Roberts: Lovemarks !

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

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

C L O * *Chief Lovemar k Officer

EXCELLENCE. NEW VALUE EQUATION. NEW “C-levels.”

C R O * *Chief Revenue Officer

C X O * *Chief e X perience Officer

C DM * *Chief Dream Merchant

C F O* *Chief Festivals Officer

C PI * *Chief Portal Impresario

C W w M* *Chief WikiWorld Maniac

C C O* *Chief Conversations Officer

C L O * *Chief Lovemark Officer

C S O* *Chief Seduction Officer

C ST O * *Chief Storytelling Officer

C D O * *Chief Design Officer

C ta O * *Chief talent acquisition Officer

C FA O * *Chief freaks acquisition Officer

C Q O * *Chief quest-meister

C T O * *Chief Thrills Officer

C W O * *Chief WOW Officer

C ! O * *Chief ! Officer

women. BOOMERS. GEEZERS.

women. BOOMERS. GEEZERS.

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

Women’s Trifecta+ * Buy * Wealth * Lead + ECLIPSE OF MALES (Old/Retire; Young/Poorly educated)

Not Just America … “Boys Falling Seven Years Behind Girls at GCSE Level” —headline, Weekly Telegraph , UK, 10.25.06

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

The Perfect Answer Jill and Jack buy slacks in black…

“ She knows more about the [Volvo] than the sales man who greets her at the door. But how is she treated? As if she has a low IQ , is slightly hard of hearing , and really has no right to be buying a luxury car; and if she brought a male friend with her, odds are 10:1 that the clueless salesperson spent most of his time speaking to him .” —Selling to Men, Selling to Women , Jeffery Tobias Halter

“ Women don’t buy brands. They join them .” EVEolution

Selling to men: The TRANSACTION Model Selling to Women: The RELATIONAL Model Source: Selling to Men, Selling to Women , Jeffery Tobias Halter

Week #8: testosterone time! * *Louann Brizendine, Neuropsychiatrist, The Female Brain . Week #8/Testosterone surge kills : communication cells ; grows : sex & aggression cells . Also/E.g.: 10X to 20X, F eye contact/look for emotional signals by 3 months. Later: F, more sentences that begin with “Let’s …”; more likely to take turns

1. Men and women are different. 2. Very different. 3. VERY, VERY DIFFERENT . 4. Women & Men have a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y nothing in common. 5. Women buy lotsa stuff. 6. WOMEN BUY A-L-L THE STUFF . 7. Women’s Market = Opportunity No. 1. 8. Men are (STILL) in charge. 9. MEN ARE … TOTALLY, HOPELESSLY CLUELESS ABOUT WOMEN.

10. Women’s Market = Opportunity No. 1.

Cases! Cases! Cases! McDonald’s (“mom-centered” to “majority consumer”; not via kids) Home Depot (“Do it [everything!] Herself”) P&G (more than “house cleaner”) DeBeers (“right-hand rings”/$4B) AXA Financial Kodak (women = “emotional centers of the household”) Nike (> jock endorsements; new def sports; majority consumer) Avon Bratz (young girls want “friends,” not a blond stereotype) Source: Fara Warner/ The Power of the Purse

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

“ Since 1970 , women have held two out of every three new jobs created.” — FT , 10.03.2006

10 UNASSAILABLE REASONS WOMEN RULE Women make [all] the financial decisions. Women control [all] the wealth. Women [substantially] outlive men. Women start most of the new businesses. Women’s work force participation rates have soared worldwide. Women are closing in on “same pay for same job.” Women are penetrating senior ranks rapidly [even if the pace is slow for the corner office per se]. Women’s leadership strengths are exceptionally well aligned with new organizational effectiveness & value-added imperatives. Women are better salespersons than men. Women buy [almost] everything—commercial as well as consumer goods. So what exactly is … the point of men ?

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

Women’s Strengths Match New Economy Imperatives : Link [rather than rank] workers; favor interactive-collaborative leadership style [empowerment beats top-down decision making]; sustain fruitful collaborations; comfortable with sharing information; see redistribution of power as victory, not surrender ; favor multi-dimensional feedback; value technical & interpersonal skills, individual & group contributions equally; readily accept ambiguity; honor intuition as well as pure “rationality”; inherently flexible; appreciate cultural diversity . —Judy B. Rosener, America’s Competitive Secret: Women Managers

New (4 of 7) Value-added “Ladder”: Plays to Women’s Inherent Strengths! Lovemark/ F Dreams Come True/ F Spellbinding Experiences/ F Gamechanging Solutions/ F Services/ F Goods/ M Raw Materials/ M

women. BOOMERS. GEEZERS.

Boomers’-Geezers’-Women’s Trifecta+ *Buy/ all *Wealth/ all *time left/ lots *Eclipse of males/ retire - die

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

Average # of cars purchased per household, “lifetime”: 13 Average # of cars bought per household after the “head of household” reaches age 50: 7 Source: Marti Barletta, PrimeTime Women

44-65 : “New Customer Majority” * *45% larger than 18-43; 60% larger by 2010 Source: Ageless Marketing , David Wolfe & Robert Snyder

EXCELLENCE. BEDROCK. TALENT.

Hire ver y good people!

“ We believe companies can increase their market cap 50 percent in 3 years. Steve Macadam at Georgia-Pacific … changed 20 of his 40 box plant managers to put more talented, higher paid managers in charge. He increased profitability from $ 25 million to $ 80 million in 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”

SO YOU’RE A “PEOPLE PERSON”? PROVE IT .

< CAPEX > People!

The Value-added Ladder/ OPPORTUNITY-SEEKING Implemented Gamechanging Solutions (People intensive) Services (People & Capital intensive) Goods (Capital intensive) Raw Materials (Capital intensive)

LIVE FOR TALENT!

Our Mission To develop and manage talent; to apply that talent, throughout the world, for the benefit of clients; to do so in partnership; to do so with profit. WPP

Brand = Talent.

EXCELLENCE. BEDROCK. LEADERSHIP. 9Ps.

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

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)

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

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

“ Whenever anything is being accomplished, I have learned, it is being done by a monomaniac with a mission.” —Peter Drucker

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

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

“ 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

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

25

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

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

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

“ 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 peculiarity of his character : Grant had an extreme, almost p hobic dislike of turnin g back and retracin g his ste p s . 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 of 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

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

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

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

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.

“ 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?

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

Kevin Roberts’ Credo 1 . Ready. Fire! Aim. 2. If it ain’t broke ... Break it! 3. Hire crazies. 4. Ask dumb questions. 5. Pursue failure. 6. Lead, follow ... or get out of the way! 7. Spread confusion. 8. Ditch your office. 9. Read odd stuff. 10. Avoid moderation !

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

On NELSON: “[other] admirals more frightened of losing than anxious to win”

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

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

“ Excellence can be obtained if you: ... care more than others think is wise; ... risk more than others think is safe; ... dream more than others think is practical; ... expect more than others think is possible.” Source: Anon. (Posted @ tompeters.com by K.Sriram, November 27, 2006 1:17 AM)

&quot;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)

EX CELLE ALW AYS .