Comments

Pithy indeed! Love the contra attitude - HOWEVER - disagree:

1. university experience is magnificent - a. be a pro student forever - b. connect with the alums forever

2. the golf analogy is totally whack -

a. the older golfer doesn't "hit it as far".
b. the older golfer is just that - an older animal that CAN'T perform as well physically and especially neurologically - i.e. the main diff is putting falls off for the elder - nerves baby - nerves - too many 3 putts -
c. and late in the round they get tired and decision making suffers
d. [this from a once younger 3 handicap golfer that would love to get it back!]

I respect the drift here but when analogies are false ... it loses me.

Posted by Sean at May 31, 2006 5:13 AM

Ayn Rand is turning in her grave!!

Posted by Paul at May 31, 2006 8:01 AM

Uplifting! I got canned from my day job a week ago, and he's right. It's the best thing that could have happened.

Posted by Stephanie Q at May 31, 2006 11:28 AM

What is the "V&A" ??

And should that last quote be "CAFE" instead of "CAFF" ??

Thank you.

Posted by Ben at May 31, 2006 1:07 PM

ben, yes, it should be Cafe with an e. we'll get that fixed. thanks.

Posted by Erik Hansen at May 31, 2006 3:31 PM

I have to disagree on the golf analogy as well. My dad can still whip my tail at the age of 65. Good golfers will tell you that what looks like aggressive play is actually more along the lines of a calculated risk.

Give me two golfers with the same handicap; one is retired and the other is in his 20’s or 30’s. My money will be on the senior citizen every time. Why? First, they are more honest about reporting their true handicap scores instead of inflating them. Some would say they even have a greater tendency to sandbag their scores. Second, aggressive behavior may gain a stroke here or there but that’s like betting against the house. Senior golfers that do nothing but hit it down the middle, hit it on the green and make putts may sound boring but the last time I checked there isn’t a place on the scorecard for indicating aggressive play.

Posted by RTodd at May 31, 2006 3:40 PM

Erik, ever eaten "bikkies" (biscuits); it's "caff" in the book, typical Brit (I love it), and "caff" it stays!

Posted by tom peters at May 31, 2006 5:12 PM

wow i like this: "The problem with making sensible decisions is that so is everybody else."

Posted by crazyshaim at May 31, 2006 11:01 PM

i just ordered:
- It's Not How Good You Are, Its How Good You Want to Be
- Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite

cant wait to recieve them.. thanks for sharing TP

Posted by crazyshaim at May 31, 2006 11:14 PM

Ben - "V&A" is the Victoria & Albert museum in London. (Please don't tell me you don't know who they are...!) And it's "caff" because this is London slang for cafe.

Erik - no need to fix it, caff is correct.

Posted by Mark JF at June 1, 2006 1:55 AM

Isn't the "sensible decisions" bit basically a re-run of Kjell Nordström and Jonas Ridderstråle's "Funky Business" i.e. similar companies, similar ideas?

I've also got a problem with the way he talks about "bad decisions." A bad decision is bad. Period. Unless you're lucky, it leads to Troublesville and I'm not going there.

On the other hand, exhort me to take some whacky, left field, gut feeling, oddball, counter-intuitive, off-the radar type decisions and I'm all ears.

Posted by Mark JF at June 1, 2006 2:04 AM

Mark, I disagree on the wrongfulness of "wrong decisions" part. While a continuous dose of "wrong decisions" may be harmful to one's immediate health and short-term earnings stream, I believe that most of the eventually good things that have happened to me in life (personal as well as professional) have been byproducts of wrong-to-the-point-of-stupid decisions ... which tossed me onto paths I would never have dreamed of following and places I would have never dreamed of going. One of the primary reasons that big companies and successful people have difficulty in sustaining their success is that they became "famous" because of doing the "wrong thing"--then they become sensible ("right decisions") in an effort to maintain their success. "Sensible" is the kiss of death in insensible-dynamic times.

Three hearty cheers for "wrong decisions," even stupid decisions! I guess the reason I'm so keen on the book is that I feel so strongly about this!

Posted by tom peters at June 1, 2006 2:34 AM

Mark, my alternative take: All roads to greatness go through Troublesville.

Posted by tom peters at June 1, 2006 2:37 AM

The great thing about decision making is post rationalisation

Very few people REALLY look back at decisions and evaluate them objectively. Consequently thinking about right or wrong decisions is flawed. It's like strategic planning. Were you succesfull because of your strategic plan or in spite of your plan (i.e. you were in a great environment and you could have done even better with a better plan)

Posted by PaulH at June 1, 2006 2:42 AM

big oops! there's my americ-centrism at work again. so CAFF it remains. sorry. hadn't actually seen the text of the book. and you know, i haven't actually had any "bikkies." my loss.

Posted by Erik Hansen at June 1, 2006 2:46 AM

Tom - maybe I'm hung up on the language when I should be letting the general point hold sway. I'm in total agreement about not following the herd but I simply don't like the use of "bad" or "wrong" to mean "good" or "right". By the time this idea percolates from the lab to the wider world, it's going to be confusing and mis-interpreted. Then it's likely to flounder.

Maybe I am just hung up on the language (isn't a leader's language important though?) but I'd be a lot happier if it was presented as being about whacky, contrary, oddball, provocative, far out, againt the grain, bold, bet the ranch, differentiated decision-making.

PS: re your piece on new rules for a new business world, how do you have clearly defined rules in one context and "bad or wrong = good" in another? How do you manage when one wrong decision leads to glory and the other wrong decision to jail time?

Posted by Mark JF at June 1, 2006 3:28 AM

Tom - my neighbor [front page of local paper] is being told by the state he owes $5.25 million for medical overbilling - Troublesville man [no criminal charges though] - one should - don't you think prefer to surf the edge of Troublesville - rather than dipping in?

Mark - I'm in tune with the concepts of the book too - but I agree the language and analogies discredit - kind of like "Blink" didn't make it for me because it wasn't presented in a coherent "here is how you learn" fashion.

Posted by Sean at June 1, 2006 4:12 AM

Mark & Sean: Mark will respond later. Sean: Absolute "No" to "surfing the edge." Getting myself fired, via sticking too many thumbs in too many eyes, from my dream job as partner at McKinsey in '81 was taking Main Street Troublesville. And the best thing that I've ever done professionally--but when my immediate income stream became $0 I surely thought for a while that I'd been the stupidest person on earth who had taken the worst decision imaginable. (Remember at that point there was no book, and the publisher hardly imagined that the book-to-be was going to sell worth a damn.)

Posted by tom peters at June 1, 2006 7:38 AM

"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."
George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman: The Revolutionists' Handbook.

Posted by Mike L at June 1, 2006 1:14 PM

I got as much fuel for the journey from the comments and Amazon reviews as from the slides themselves..."great for breaking out of a cognitive rut"...love it.

As for the title...I like putting it this way:

When in doubt, 'pull a Costanza...'

Costanza as in the bald, living-at-home, no job, no girlfriend George Costanza (of TV's Seinfeld fame...) Why? Because on the day he decided to do the exact opposite, things changed for him for the better, in an instant. (It all started with him ordering chicken salad instead of his usual tuna fish, by the way...)

So maybe instead of bikkies and caff...it's time to astonish ourselves with tea and a slice of pear? :-)

Posted by Andrea J. Lee at June 1, 2006 7:55 PM

Andrea, excellent pop culture reference. 'Pull a Costanza' has a good rhythm to it.

Posted by Erik Hansen at June 2, 2006 2:22 AM

It’s great to be back fully ‘online’ (thanks to BT) after 5 weeks, 2 days, 12 hours, 15 minutes and 32 seconds off line with my internet connection - who says I am obsessive about numbers and lists :-)

After 35 years 'locked up' in the institution of healthcare management in the UK National Health Service and then ‘escaping’ 18 months ago I feel in my 'new world' that I am often doing the opposite of what I used to do in corporate life ‘mindset.’ And it feels wonderful. I now realise that in my old workplace more time was wasted on stuff of processes that are totally unnecessary.

With the benefit of hindsight I would say this about my old life – push hard enough, stretch the rules or break them enough to get sacked and you probably won’t get sacked. Stay in 'required' 'normal' ‘routine’ complex processes and systems and you will get tired and dull - guaranteed. Many people including me for years – donlt even know they have become dull until they are out of it. ‘Can’t see the wood for the trees’ is an old saying and it feels true …

Just a personal observation – I wouldn’t have the arrogance to suggest this is the truth for all.

Posted by Trevor Gay at June 2, 2006 3:07 AM

Hey Trevor ... back from IT cyberworld Voidsville.

Seems though much can be said for going with the flow and finding a healthful wealthful happy ROUTINE that one might flourish with - sheer minimalism if you will - love it.

Routine and flow are the basis of professional sports' multi-millionaires - in that the LESS we [they] have to think about the better. Going forward with 1000 directed thoughts per day vs. "noise" of 2500 random chaotic thoughts per day that don't shut down come bedtime.

Personally some of us have nervous systems that can't adapt to too much STRESS and change so a visit to Troublesville is avoided. Admit wimpiness - but it is dictated by chemistry and not choice. Two cents.

Posted by Sean at June 2, 2006 3:53 AM

Good observations Sean and I can see exactly what you are saying ...

The ironic thing for me is that I feel far more ‘relaxed’ and ‘in control’ and ‘mentally healthier’ now than I ever did when ‘inside the institution.’ Something about being in control and making my own rules I guess.

I am not ‘anti routine’ – in fact I am a control freak. What I think is we get too used to 'the way things are around here' and it stops all chance of innovation, change or progress because the other seemingly (but not really) more risky alternative just looks 'too difficult' from our comfort blanket. I wrote something about this elsewhere - if you want a copy I will send it. Let me know.

Actually I am as 'conservative' as the next manager but I now realise just how ‘dull’ and risk averse I had become. The system had beaten me. That is my fault and not the fault of the institution. My decision was to get out. My course of action doesn’t suit everyone of course and I fully appreciate that.

This stuff is all about personal decisions and - to some degree - simply how we see our own present and our own future. In the words of one of my Gurus, Nicky Gumbel 'The past does not have to define your future.'

Great exchange my friend - thanks for your observations. :- )

It’s good to be back by the way!

Posted by Trevor Gay at June 2, 2006 4:43 AM

Picked this up yesterday at my local Borders and thoroughly enjoyed it! Sent out one of the risk quotes via text message to my mobile phone contact list, too.

Interesting note: I bought his first book in Charlotte, NC, on vacation two years ago. When I pulled it out to re-read it last night, I noticed that it's price was about half of the cost of the new book - looks like taking risks is paying off!

Posted by Earl at June 2, 2006 5:11 AM

Great stuff all. Welcome back Trevor.
For bemused US readers, “caff” is old UK slang for café, but it’s not a word you hear much these days. It connotes the old fashioned Brtish café, a simple unadorned establishment, where one might enjoy a mug of strong, non-fancy tea, with a plate of eggs, sausage, beans, and chips (fries). Those wanting a cappucino, or cup of Earl Grey, and delicate pastries will not find them there. Try a café instead. Happy w/e all.

Posted by Michael from UK at June 2, 2006 6:05 AM

michael, thank you for the clarification on the caff/cafe issue. my/our education continues.

Posted by Erik Hansen at June 2, 2006 6:36 AM

Michael - I disagree. Down in the rough old neighbourhood I live in, anywhere that sells coffee is a caff. Even Starbucks...!

Posted by MarkJF at June 2, 2006 1:04 PM

Eggs, sausage, beans, and chips..what, no spam?

Posted by Stupid Viking at June 2, 2006 1:57 PM

Hi Michael and Mark. 'Greasey Joe's Transport Cafe' a regular haunt for years. Can't beat that fried bread soaked in fat :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at June 2, 2006 2:09 PM

Tom - Thanks for this blog.... I have included your Paul Arden quote (attributable to your blog and to him of course) because it could be so useful to my readers... Holding two contradictory ideas in your mind at the same time is a very practical exercise for your mindset and for your thinking...

Richard Lipscombe.

Posted by Richard Lipscombe at June 4, 2006 5:31 AM

A relevant quotation I heard recently:

"By your stumbling, the world is perfected."
(Sri Aurobindo)

Posted by Paula at June 7, 2006 1:44 PM