Tom Peters on Action

Slide 1: Tom Peters on … Action Only Find Oil If “You You Drill Wells”

Slide 2: CONTEXT

Slide 3: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, the one most but responsive to change.” —Charles Darwin

Slide 4: Pathe tic!

Slide 5: “too TP/BW on BigCo Sin #1: much talk, too little do”

Slide 6: “Ninety percent of what we call ‘management’ consists of making it difficult for people to get things done.” – Peter Drucker

Slide 7: “Forbes100” from 1917 to 1987: 39 members of the Class of ’17 were alive in ’87; 18 in ’87 F100; 18 F100 “survivors” underperformed the market by 20%; just 2 (2%), GE & Kodak, outperformed the market 1917 to 1987. S&P 500 from 1957 to 1997: 74 members of the Class of ’57 were alive in ’97; 12 (2.4%) of 500 outperformed the market from 1957 to 1997. Source: Dick Foster & Sarah Kaplan, Creative Destruction: Why Companies That Are Built to Last Underperform the Market

Slide 8: “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 myself?’ The answer seems obvious: a very large one and just wait.” —Paul Ormerod, Why Most Things Fail: Evolution, Extinction and Economics

Slide 9: A BIAS FOR ACTION

Slide 10: Excellence1982: The Bedrock “Eight Basics” A Bias for Action 1. 2. Close to the Customer 3. Autonomy and Entrepreneurship 4. Productivity Through People 5. Hands On, Value-Driven 6. Stick to the Knitting 7. Simple Form, Lean Staff 8. Simultaneous Loose-Tight Properties”

Slide 11: “Never forget implementation boys. In our work it’s what I call the ‘missing 98 percent’ of the client puzzle.” —Al McDonald/McKinsey

Slide 12: “We have a ‘strategic plan.’ It’s called doing things.”— Herb Kelleher

Slide 13: “This is so simple it sounds stupid, but it is amazing you how few oil people really understand that 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 (80%)

Slide 14: “We made mistakes. 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 No. 5. By the time our rivals are ready with wires and screws, we are on No. 10. It gets back to version planning versus acting: We act from day one; others plan how to plan—for months.” —Bloomberg by Bloomberg

Slide 15: "I think it is very important for you to do two things: act on your temporary conviction as if it was a real conviction; and when you realize that you are wrong, correct course very quickly.” —Andy Grove

Slide 16: S.A.V.

Slide 17: Screw Around Vigorously

Slide 18: Sam’s Secret #1!

Slide 19: “Fail faster. Succeed sooner.” David Kelley/IDEO

Slide 20: Fail. Forward. Fast. –High-tech Exec/PA

Slide 21: “Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.” Phil Daniels, Sydney exec

Slide 22: Boyd on TEMPO

Slide 23: “The most successful people are those who are good at plan B.” —James Yorke, mathematician, on chaos theory in The New Scientist

Slide 24: He who has the quickest O.O.D.A. Loops* wins! *Observe. Orient. Decide. Act./Col. John Boyd

Slide 25: OODA Loop/Boyd Cycle “Unraveling the competition” Quick Transients/Quick Tempo (NOT JUST SPEED!) Agility “So quick it is disconcerting” [adversary over-reacts or under-reacts] “Winners used tactics that caused the enemy to unravel before the fight” (NEVER HEAD TO HEAD) BOYD: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War (Robert Coram)

Slide 26: “The stuff has got to be implicit. If it is explicit, you can’t do it fast enough.” —John Boyd BOYD: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War (Robert Coram)

Slide 27: Tempo!* 70-10 *Boyd/O.O.D.A. Loops/Mike Leach/Texas Tech

Slide 28: 70-10/Nebraska/Unk QB 643 yards K.State/ Linemen spread wide/All legals go out for pass/Defenders confused & tire (Boyd/Tempo is not speed/“Re-arrange the mind of the enemy”—T.E. “By changing the geometry of Lawrence)/ the game, and pushing the limits of space and time on the gridiron, Mike Leach is taking Texas Tech to some far out places.” —Michael Lewis (NY Times Magazine, 12.04.05, on Mike Leach/Texas Tech)

Slide 29: “In war, delay is fatal.” —Napoleon “The only way to whip an army is to go out and fight it.” —Grant “ … demonstrating the tactic that would become his hallmark: the immediate move to seek out the enemy and attack him” —John Mosier, on Grant “A good plan executed right now is far preferable to a ‘perfect’ plan executed next week.” —Patton

Slide 30: Relentless!* *Churchill, Grant, Patton, Welch, Bossidy, Nardelli (GE execs), UPS, FedEx, Microsoft/Gates-Ballmer, Eisner, Weill, eBay, Nixon-Kissinger, Gerstner, Rice, Jordan, Armstrong

Slide 31: “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 Grant had an extreme, of his character: almost phobic dislike of turning back and retracing his steps. 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

Slide 32: “METABOLIC MANAGEMENT”

Slide 33: The Leadership11 1. Talent Management 2. Metabolic Management 3. Technology Management 4. Barrier Management 5. Forgetful Management 6. Metaphysical Management 7. Opportunity Management 8. Portfolio Management 9. Failure Management 10. Cause Management 11. Passion Management

Slide 34: “The secret of fast progress is inefficiency, fast and furious and numerous failures.” —Kevin Kelly

Slide 35: “Active mutators in placid times tend to die off. They are selected against. Reluctant mutators in quickly changing times are also selected against.” —Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

Slide 36: “How we feel about the evolving future tells us who we are as individuals and as a civilization: Do we search for stasis—a regulated, engineered world? Or do we embrace dynamism—a world of constant creation, discovery and competition? Do we value stability and control or evolution and learning? Do we think that progress requires a central blueprint, or do we see it as a decentralized, evolutionary process?? Do we see mistakes as permanent disasters, or the correctable byproducts of experimentation? Do we crave predictability or relish surprise? These two poles, stasis and dynamism, increasingly define our political, intellectual and cultural landscape.” —Virginia Postrel, The Future and Its Enemies

Slide 37: “If things seem under control, you’re just not going fast enough.”—Mario Andretti

Slide 38: “I’m not comfortable unless I’m uncomfortable.” —Jay Chiat

Slide 39: “If it works, it’s obsolete.” —Marshall McLuhan

Slide 40: Bossidy on EXECUTION

Slide 41: “I saw that leaders placed too much emphasis on what some call high-level strategy, on intellectualizing and philosophizing, and not enough on implementation. People would agree on a project or initiative, and then nothing would come of it.” —Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

Slide 42: “Execution is the job of the business leader.” —Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/ Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

Slide 43: “Execution is a systematic process of rigorously discussing hows and whats, tenaciously following through, and ensuring accountability.” —Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/ Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

Slide 44: “Realism is the heart of execution.” —Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

Slide 45: “robust dialogue” —Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/ Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

Slide 46: “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)

Slide 47: “The person who is a little less conceptual but is absolutely determined to succeed will usually find the right people and get them together to achieve objectives. I’m not knocking education or looking for But if you have to choose dumb people. between someone with a staggering IQ and an elite education who’s gliding along, and someone with a lower IQ but who is absolutely determined to succeed, you’ll always do better with the second person.” —Larry Bossidy/ Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

Slide 48: Duct Tape Rules! “Andrew Higgins, who built landing craft in WWII, refused to hire graduates of engineering schools. He believed that they only teach you what you can’t do in engineering school. He started off with 20 employees, and by the middle of the war had 30,000 working for him. He turned out 20,000 landing craft. D.D. Eisenhower told me, ‘Andrew Higgins won the war for us. He did it without engineers.’ ” —Stephen Ambrose/Fast Company

Slide 49: The Leader’s Seven Essential Behaviors *Know your people and your business *Insist on realism *Set clear goals and priorities *Follow through *Reward the doers *Expand people’s capabilities *Know yourself Source: Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan, Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

Slide 50: Action8/VPMR+/Peters on Bossidy *External Focus (Competitors/Customers) *Realism/Truth-telling *Vision *Projects (Must add up to Vision) *Milestones *Commitment/Energy *RapidReview *Consequences (+/-)

Slide 51: M+P=V

Slide 52: TACTIC #1

Slide 53: Culture of Prototyping “Effective prototyping may be the most valuable core competence an innovative organization can hope to have.” Michael Schrage

Slide 54: EXCELLENCE. 4/40.

Slide 55: 4/40

Slide 56: De-cent- ral-iz- a-tion!

Slide 57: Ex-e- cu-tion!

Slide 58: Ac-count- a-bil-ity!

Slide 59: 6:15A.M.

Slide 60: K.I.S.S.

Slide 61: 450/8

Slide 62: “I wanted GE to operate with the speed, informality, and open communication of a corner store. Corner stores often have strategy right. With their limited resources, they have to rely on laser-like focus on doing one thing very well.” —Jack Welch/Fortune/04.05

Slide 63: Lee’s Rule: Run It off a Blackberry!

Slide 64: “The art of war does not require complicated maneuvers; the simplest are the best, and common sense is fundamental. From which one might wonder how it is generals make blunders; it is because they try to be clever.” —Napoleon on Simplicity, from Napoleon on Project Management by Jerry Manas.

Slide 65: BIAS

Slide 66: Excellence1982: The Bedrock “Eight Basics” A Bias for Action 1. 2. Close to the Customer 3. Autonomy and Entrepreneurship 4. Productivity Through People 5. Hands On, Value-Driven 6. Stick to the Knitting 7. Simple Form, Lean Staff 8. Simultaneous Loose-Tight Properties”

Slide 67: Importance of Success Factors by Various “Gurus”/ Estimates (Unreliable) by Tom Peters Strategy Systems Passion/ Execution Leadership 45% Porter 20 20 15 30 Drucker 35% 15 20 35 Bennis 20% 20 25 35 Peters 30 15% 20

Slide 68: MBWA

Slide 69: MBWA

Slide 70: 25

Slide 71: 5,000 Mark McCormack: miles for a 5 min. meeting!

Slide 72: “The first and greatest imperative of command is to be present in person. Those who impose risk must be seen to share it.” —John Keegan, The Mask of Command

Slide 73: LET US MARCH

Slide 74: A man approached JP Morgan, held up an envelope, and said, “Sir, in my hand I hold a guaranteed formula for success, which I will gladly sell you for $25,000.” “Sir,” JP Morgan replied, “I do not know what is in the envelope, however if you show me, and I like it, I give you my word as a gentleman that I will pay you what you ask.” The man agreed to the terms, and handed over the envelope. JP Morgan opened it, and extracted a single sheet of paper. He gave it one look, a mere glance, then handed the piece of paper back to the gent. And paid him the agreed-upon $25,000.

Slide 75: 1. Every morning, write a list of the things that need to be done that day. 2. Do them. Source: Hugh MacLeod/tompeters.com/NPR

Slide 76: Do them!

Slide 77: “In classical times when Cicero had finished speaking, the people said, ‘How well he spoke,’ but when Demosthenes had finished speaking, they said, ‘Let us march.’” —Adlai Stevenson

Slide 78: Let us march.

Slide 79: “[Other] Nelson’s secret: admirals more frightened of losing than anxious to win”

Slide 80: “A year from now you may wish You had started today.” —Karen Lamb

Slide 81: You only find oil if you drill wells. —T he Hunters, by John Masters, Canadian O & G wildcatter

Slide 82: “I don’t know TP/Chile: if ‘it’ is possible.’ I do know it’s ‘necessary.’”