The Tom Peters Weblog

Audio Addition

2010-03-17T15:40:05Z

Today we posted four more items in the audio section of The Little BIG Things page of our website. The four book pieces read by Tom make up the second section of the book, titled "Excellence":

#5 If Not Excellence, What? If Not Excellence Now, When?
#6 Whither Excellence? Or: Asleep at the Wheel.
#7 "Quality": You'll Know It When You See It.
#8 Excellence Is ...

You can hear Tom by clicking on the titles above, or go to the audio player on the book page to see the list of audio selections.

TLBT: Online Interview

2010-03-15T16:39:37Z

It's not easy to get Tom and an interviewer in the same place, so David Meerman Scott made a video of himself asking questions, and we made a video of Tom giving answers. Apply a little digital sleight-of-hand, and voilà! We present an interview between David and Tom. Also, David gives a good intro to the conversation on his blog, where he lists parts of the video you might want to seek out. Thanks to David for his effort!

Link Roundup #14

2010-03-12T20:50:33Z

There are a few books by Cool Friends:
Jason Fried has written Rework with David Heinemeier Hansson, his co-founder at 37signals. The back of the book states, in part, that "planning is guessing," and "inspiration is perishable."

Dan Heath and his brother Chip wrote Switch: How to Change When Change is Hard. They explain how the chances of sustaining change are increased if both sides of the brain are satisfied ... the emotional side as well as the logical side.

Richard A D'Aveni is a friend who hasn't yet become a Cool Friend. In Beating the Commodity Trap, D'Aveni points out that commoditization can happen to any business or product, even the most iconic.

Cool Friend Sylvia Ann Hewlett has an article on Bloomberg.com by way of HarvardBusiness.org, "Why Women Are the Biggest Emerging Market." We appreciate her adding her voice to Tom's.

Then there are a couple of quirky messages we got in the emails:
In response to Tom's video about First-line Supervisors, Marko Gregori directed questions to Tom about managing negative talk if you're working on a good product under a bad boss. Marko ended up by posting a blog asking for input, and you might help him out by contributing some thoughts on the subject.

Finally, Shed Simove, a creative consultant whose memoir is titled Ideas Man is offering ideas for bid on eBay. Please don't take this as a recommendation or advertisement. We enjoy putting some unusual web links in front of you. You can judge them for yourselves, and I'm sure, let us know if they're of interest or way off base.

Audio Update #2

2010-03-11T21:57:45Z

The Little BIG Things is now available as an audio download through Amazon.com (although the link points you to Audible.com since Amazon now owns Audible). And as Erik mentioned, you can find it at iTunes. One fan alerted us that if you try to search by Tom Peters at iTunes (and some booksellers), you may have trouble finding The Little BIG Things as the author listed is Thomas J. Peters or Thomas Peters (who knew that search wasn't smart enough to do that yet?). We recommend searching by the book title.

Strategy: Be Extraordinary

2010-03-11T21:28:45Z

The video series continues with Tom describing a meeting with Barry Gibbons, former chief of Burger King. Asked to speak to the collected BK managers, Tom sparks Barry's realization that anything is better than being ordinary.

You can watch the video (time: 3 minutes, 5 seconds).

Or get a PDF of the video transcript: Strategy: Be Extraordinary.

Listen Up! (Audio update)

2010-03-10T16:14:55Z

The Little BIG Things is available as an audio download. At iTunes ($26.95), from Audible.com ($30.61/$7.49 [promo]), and other places we haven't tracked down yet.

Oh, and we're going to put audio files up at tompeters.com. One section a week or so. (There are roughly 40 sections in the book.) The four 'Ways' in the first section are up now.

Happy Publication Day!

2010-03-09T13:56:00Z

We have a book! The Little BIG Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence. It's for sale in stores! It's for sale online! We're excited! We're happy! We're relieved. Many many thanks to Cathy Mosca, Shelley Dolley, Joy Stauber, Richard Weaver, Mike Slind, Sarah Rainone, all the folks at HarperStudio, Abbey Bishop, Shannon Waite, Charlie Macomber, Su (at House of Pretty), the community at tompeters.com, and countless others (check out the Acknowledgments on p. 511). And, of course, thanks to Tom for writing the book.

Frequent commenter MarkJF is hankering for an autographed book, and we're sure he's not alone. Since we no longer sell books at this site, Tom has signed a number of book plates. Send an email to tom@tompeters.com with your mailing address and we'll send you one to put in your own copy of The Little BIG Things.

Tom did record an audio version as well. It won't be available on CDs but will be a download. Not abridged. He read the whole book. We'll keep you posted on that.

Seth Godin added The Little BIG Things to his latest off-the-wall book list.

Our Cool Friend Chris Brogan reviews! it! here!

More info on our own The Little BIG Things page.

The Financial Times Weighs In

2010-03-04T15:49:56Z

We thought you might enjoy reading an early review of The Little BIG Things by Stefan Stern, management writer for the Financial Times (sorry, registration required). Turns out, he liked it. And he penned one of my favorite descriptions of Tom: "[T]his 'wizard of wow!', this 'emperor of excellence' wins you over with his irrepressible energy and verve."

Strategies: First-line Supervisors, the Video

2010-03-03T21:56:57Z

On 24 February Tom gave us his "First-line Manager20/1LM20" and declared the choice and nurturing of first-line supervisors a Peerless Strategic Opportunity. In this video, Tom explains why choosing first-line supervisors is among the most important decisions a business can make.

You can watch the video on YouTube (time:
2 minutes, 38 seconds) or download a PDF transcript.

Leadership Quality

2010-03-01T14:05:52Z

[Richard King, Managing Partner of Tom Peters Company, UK, has this commentary on the BloombergBW/Hay Group study we included in Link Roundup #13 last week.]

Commenting on their recently published study of the Best Companies for Leadership, Hay Group's John Larrere said, "Rapid changes in the world are impacting how organizations do business, and as a result, the old rules of how organizations select, develop and retain good leaders have been turned upside down causing the future of leadership to look very different. ... It's about getting them (people) to be passionate about their work and grooming them to handle the challenges ahead."

These findings fall in line with those of leadership researchers Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner who highlight "Inspiring" and "Forward Looking" as two of the four key leadership characteristics people look for in leaders they would chose to follow (see their book Credibility). But here's a twist, Credibility was published in 1993. So ... some might argue that it's not particularly earth-shattering news that "The Best Companies for Leadership" have now worked this out!

But I think there are more important characteristics to building contemporary leadership effectiveness. For example, Kouzes and Posner's classic research highlighted "Honest" and "Competent" as the other two characteristics people predominantly look for in leaders. I wonder whether these Top 20 Best Companies in the Hay study have figured out how to select, build, and maintain people's belief that they are being honestly and competently led in today's unpredictable business world? Or are we all now so bashed about and cynical that these latter characteristics no longer matter as much?

Link Roundup #13

2010-02-26T14:09:20Z

International Mentoring Network Organization, a nonprofit organization aimed at making professional mentoring available to all, has launched the Get in Their Shoes 2.0 Campaign, the longest Mentorship Auction ever conducted. You can submit a bid for your chance to be mentored by Guy Kawasaki, Caterina Fake (co-founder of Flickr), Aaron Magness (director of Brand Marketing at Zappos), or many others. The winning bidder gets a session with the mentor of their choice; for example, the first winner got a half hour on the phone with Dan Pink. Each week a new mentorship opportunity will be posted, so you might want to bookmark the link.

BloombergBusinessWeek and the Hay Group have collaborated on a study of best leadership practice, and they've identified the Top 20 among the Best Companies for Leadership. Here are links to study findings that we found of interest: Women Leaders: The Hard Truth About Soft Skills, and How Infosys Leads the Way in Leadership. And here are the Top 20 (advance the slideshow to see details on each one).

Cool Friend Andrea Learned has made women consumers and the green/sustainability trend a major topic of study. See this blog entry from February 18 at her website: Working Women: Key to Promoting Energy Efficiency. That led her to try to find women at the forefront of the sustainability movement. If a name comes to your mind, she wants to hear from you @AndreaLearned, with the hashtag #sustywomen.

In the emails to Tom we got this on-site account from Haiti. The CEO of Timberland arrived there among the first responders to the earthquake, and one of his former employees sent us his report as an example of leadership qualities to emulate. We think you'll find it riveting to read for many reasons, of which leadership lessons may be the least compelling.

Fast Company published its list of the Most Innovative companies. We're happy to point out that HarperStudio, the publisher of Tom's new book (out soon!), made it into the media list. Online, the article is supplemented by this slideshow of the Top 10.

Also at FastCompany.com, best experienced online with the volume turned on: The Top 10 Addictive Sounds. We think some may surprise you.
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Tom loves the Olympics' display of Excellence. To help you keep score, The Huffington Post offers the Olympic Medal Tracker. It's fun!

Re-Set: The Business Models of Tomorrow

2010-02-25T13:41:16Z

Tom's publisher HarperStudio and Vanity Fair are putting on a breakfast on April 20th in New York that we think might interest you. It's called Re-Set: The Business Models of Tomorrow. Seth Godin will moderate and the panelists are Tom, Anna Bernasek, Michael Eisner, and Gary Vaynerchuk. (Sounds like something you don't want to miss, doesn't it?)

Find out more at www.resetbusiness.com or download the invitation.

Leadership: Don't Use Standardized Forms

2010-02-25T13:00:33Z

The latest in Tom's Little BIG Things video series is "Don't Use Standardized Forms." You can watch the video on YouTube to see Tom present his case that you should be choosing and assessing your talent like an NFL team or a Symphony Orchestra. Those groups would never use a standardized assessment vehicle, and Tom contends that neither should you.

[The video is 3 minutes, 14 seconds in length, and you can get a PDF transcript here.]

A Peerless Strategic Opportunity:The First-line Manager20/1LM20

2010-02-24T13:52:19Z

The evidence is clear: Employee satisfaction and like variables are significantly, even overwhelmingly, linked to the employee's relationship with her or his first-line manager. While first-line managers are considered to be of great importance, in my experience few companies truly obsess on every aspect of their care and feeding. In fact, my observations suggest that such things as first-line manager training regimes are often of questionable quality. This is a strategic mistake. More important, a lost strategic opportunity.

What follows is a long way from the "last word"—in fact it is the "first word" from me, and simply an indicative list aimed to stir your analytic juices.

Herewith, my First-line Manager20:

The selection process for 1st-line managers (1LMs) should be as rigorous as that of, say, vice presidents. "360" evaluations are a must. Perhaps a selection committee should be appointed, which includes other 1LMs.

New hires should be selected in part on the likelihood of subsequent promotion to 1LM, and this goal should be formally emphasized from the start of their tenure.

1LM slots that are open should not be filled until an appropriate (superior beyond a shadow of doubt) candidate is found.

1LMs should be given long probation periods—perhaps 6 months.

New 1LMs should "shadow" senior 1LMs for a significant period of time.

1LM training programs should be evaluated far and wide, and, based on "best practices," a stellar/"Wow" 1LM training program should be developed. The "basic" course and intensive continuing-ed curriculum should aim to win "best in class" awards.

1LM designees should receive superior evaluations in "basic training" or be put on probation.

Given the abiding importance of cross-functional communication and coordination and synergy, 1LM selection and training and subsequent evaluation should emphasize measurable performance on this dimension. (Poor marks on XF performance should be cause at any time for probation or, after fair notice, removal from the job.)

Senior officers (including the CEO) and highly rated-regarded 1LMs should present parts of 1LM training modules, especially the "basic training" program.

"People development" should be the central element of 1LM training. (The "people development" training modules should be award-winning.)

Success as precisely measured in "people development" should be the central element of 1LM evaluation.

"Business" training should also be a central part of 1LM training.

1LMs should be treated as the company's principal "culture carriers" and principal "change agents"—and be treated and trained and "used" accordingly.

The abiding importance–Excellence of our portfolio of 1LMs should be considered a formal "core value" of the enterprise.

A portfolio of "outside" training courses for 1LMs should be available during the entire tenure in the job.

Every 1LM should have two assigned mentors, one from within the 1LM's department, one from outside. One of the two should be a fellow 1LM. The mentoring process should be carefully constructed, not "catch as catch can;" mentors should be evaluated on their results.

1LM reviews should be monthly during the probationary period, quarterly thereafter; these reviews should be carefully designed and rigorous by any standard.

Every department head should evaluate her or his "portfolio" of 1LMs regularly; the quality and continuing development of the 1LM portfolio should in turn be a central element in the evaluation of department heads and division heads.

A senior HR exec and a senior "line" exec (and perhaps an outsider) should formally evaluate the company's 1LM portfolio annually.

After the 1st year of 1LM service, the 1LM should be trained for and become a mentor of new 1LMs. Henceforth, mentoring success or failure should be a central measure of the 1LM's performance.

The Little BIG Things book page

2010-02-22T21:14:39Z

We're getting very excited about the launch of Tom's new book, The Little BIG Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence. We've created a landing page for the book. You can find out where to pre-order the book, check out what people are saying about it, watch a video, and (yes!) get a sneak preview of the book. We'll be adding audio excerpts soon as well, so stay tuned!