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dispatches from the new world of work

Everything That's Not Important

Bob Waterman and I did a ton of research for In Search of Excellence. The first presentation was a two-day affair for the entire exec group at Siemens. For "the Germans" (I am one!) we used a monster presentation book, about 400- or 500-slides long. The result was "Okay." A few weeks later I got invited to give a one-hour version at the annual "offsite" that PepsiCo held in those days. One morning, and I actually remember it well, I came into my office in McKinsey's San Francisco office, as usual around 6 A.M., closed the door and tilted way back in a near trance for several minutes (5? 10? 20?). Then I tilted forward and wrote down a list of eight Items—total word count probably 35 or 40. Three years later, unchanged except for a preposition or two, they became the "Eight Basics" that were the guts of In Search of Excellence. In effect (in reality?!) I "dumped the data" and "saw" what the thing was, almost in full flower.

A couple of weeks ago I got a book, The Nuts & Bolts Guide to Rigging, a more or less technical book by Washington College (Eastern Shore, Maryland) crew coach Mike Davenport. He said he'd heard I was a rower, and that my books had been of some use to him. Since this is summer, and this is my VT rowing season, I sat down at this computer and wrote "Tom's Rowing Career: 1946-2006." It ended up two pages long. It was fun to do. It was my return present to Mike. I went for a row a couple of days later and it dawned on me, like a shotgun blast, that the 2-pager was ... All Wrong!! It was an accurate description of my rowing "career," but captured about 0 percent of why the love affair goes on. When I got home, I again went to the keyboard and, this time, wrote a succinct paean to Rowing. (You'll find it attached—FYI.)

The latter exercise caused me to look up a paragraph in In Search of Excellence—a quote that I think Bob had discovered 23 years ago. It's from John Steinbeck:

The Mexican Sierra has 17 plus 15 plus 9 spines in the dorsal fin. These can easily be counted. But if the sierra strikes on the line so that our hands are burned, if the fish sounds and nearly escapes and finally comes in over the rail, his colors pulsing and his tail beating the air, a whole new relational externality has come into being—an entity which is more than the sum of the fish plus the fisherman. The only way to count the spines of the sierra unaffected by this second relational reality is to sit in a laboratory, open an evil-smelling jar, remove a stiff colorless fish from the formalin solution, count the spines and write the truth. There you have recorded a reality which cannot be assailed—probably the least important reality concerning the fish or yourself. ... It is good to know what you are doing. The man with this pickled fish has set down one truth and recorded in his experience many lies. The fish is not that color, that texture, that dead, nor does he smell that way.

The point of this rather lengthy recitation is obvious. We often "miss the forest for the trees." Nice saying, but it too misses the boat, damn it. My point here is damned profound. We count spines and create a rowing chronology and miss ... The Whole Damn Point.

And we do so ... MOST OF THE TIME. And we do so when we design Logistics systems and Customer Service procedures and write HR manuals as much as we do when we get the rowing bit or the fish bit all wrong.

All I ask is: Think about it ... Every Damn Day. "Forests" and "Trees," sure—but the essence of life, professional and personal, is more like it.

(A farm picture that has nothing to do with boats, but maybe a lot to do with "parts and wholes," is above.)

Tom Peters posted this on 07/28/06.

Comments

Thanks once again Tom for two things, your views on life and another book to head over to Amazon to buy this morning. Many people have been overheard saying, "what did we ever do before Google?", my reply is, what did I ever do before you started to blog? Thanks again.

Posted by Michael at July 28, 2006 9:29 AM

Tom, Thank You! I've spent a week dealing with tree finding, forest missing corporate types who "work" at their "jobs" but have little passion for what they do. It was refreshing to come in this morning and read something, once again, that was about passion and perspective.

Posted by Andrew Hayden at July 28, 2006 9:49 AM

COOL - forest, trees, olde growth - Waterfalls - rowing on water - Ocean - vigorous exercise = ALL produce positive energy and chemistry = negative ions, seratonin - endorphins = why I run - maybe why you row & walk.

Posted by sean at July 28, 2006 10:10 AM

As an Oxford rower a long, long time ago, I loved your description of the perfect stroke.

Here's something for you to aim for on your travels: I once had the chance to row on the Nile down in Luxor. The river is impossibly wide and worringly fast-flowing, but you have the Temple of Luxor on one side, the Valley of the Kings on the other, and feluccas gliding by. Truly magical.

Incidentally, it's never Oxfordians. It's Oxonians (from Oxoniensis). And Dark Blues call Light Blues "Tabs", from Cantabridgians.

Posted by Lance Knobel at July 28, 2006 1:12 PM

Tom - reading your description of rowing made me recall a trip down the James River in Virginia several years ago. As the sun was rising and the fog was lifting off the river bed I was transfixed by the fact that everything was as it should be. All was right with the world in that moment. Thanks for the reminder.

Posted by Walter White at July 28, 2006 6:41 PM

I love how you mandarins wax poetic about the joys of rowing a boat. Most people in this world who row boats do so because they have to--they are too poor to own a boat motor. "Rowed for Oxford, but then didn't we all? Dipped the perfect stroke while taming the worringly fast-flowing Nile, you see..." (Gag)

Get real, all of you experts, consultants, and gurus--real people in the real world think this sort of behavior is self-serving and pompous.

And frankly, so are the wonderfully bucolic "farm views." The shop foreman in Brooklyn trying to figure out how to turn his worklife into a WOW endeavor isn't interested and can't relate. Such scenic pastoral climes are, after all, reseved for the rich.

Posted by Grumpy Old Man at July 28, 2006 8:17 PM

Tom and everyone (especially you, Grumpy Old Man),

I am an engineer. My field is energy efficiency in buildings. Yesterday I attended a seminar. (Actually a "webinar" over the internet.) One speaker talked about the vast amounts information you can gather in today's electronic control systems, and the FUN of analyzing it looking for energy-wasting problems. I was right with him in spirit. When systems work smoothly and I had a part in it, I get a peaceful feeling in my soul. It is one of my passions. Hey Grumpy--that is what a "WOW endeavor" in my worklife looks like. What kind of day gives you a good feeling?

Posted by Richard at July 28, 2006 9:10 PM

Well, at least we now have a brilliant definition of "grumpy." Ray Kroc found "beauty in a hamburger bun"--and created McDonald's as a result thereof. Yo Grumpus, try Dominick Pierre's "City of Joy"--about the amazing and frequently successful efforts of Calcutta's street people to bring richness to a life that almost all of us would imagine was beyond hope. And, read my damned attachment: I rowed a boat because my family didn't have enough money to buy an outboard motor. And my "Oxford" was a great school called Cornell--every penny of my tuition was paid by the United States Navy; and I willingly paid them back with, among other things, two tours of duty on the ground in Vietnam. (Good Lord, Grumpy--you've made me grumpy!)

Posted by tom peters at July 28, 2006 10:52 PM

My only comment is to thank Tom for the beautiful Steinbeck quote, reminding us all that truth is not found in sterile analysis but in life and passion and action!

Also, I am reminded of Tom's Success Tip #52 -- Work Like a Dog on Your Writing! Maybe we all can't be Steinbeck, but we can sure try!

Posted by Richard Cauley at July 28, 2006 10:52 PM

There will be grumps and those who choose to look beyond them.

Posted by Eric Lapp at July 29, 2006 7:14 AM

I commented about my "WOW endeavor" in sifting data at work. I have another comment about finding the WOW in life. I have a 19-year-old son whose mental capacity is about equal to a toddler. He can't really talk, he can't tie his shoes, he is slopply at the table. But he finds joy, I mean JOY, in some very simple things. For example, he loves things that move automatically. Elevators were just transportation to me before I rode them with my son. Going one floor to the basement, or 50 floors outside with a view are equally thrilling to him. And his enthusiasm is contagious. Many people have told me that watching him enjoy life has brightened their days. He has inspired one college term paper and one recorded song that I know of. Sometimes I wish my life was as good as his. My life is better when I use his philosophy of just seeing life as an adventure! And hey, Grumpy--if you can't find adventure in New York City then you need to find a handicapped kid to point it out.

Posted by Richard at July 29, 2006 11:51 AM

Old is as old does - lovely revenge that old stays old - while zillions bask in riches and affluence per fatherly design baby - seratonin UP.

Posted by sean at July 29, 2006 12:20 PM

Richard: Wow!

Posted by tom peters at July 29, 2006 1:00 PM

Life's rich tapestry means there REALLY ARE people around like 'Grumpy.' It's ok to hear what they say, after all - they too have a view and thank God we have free speech. But we donâ€™t have to listen â€˜too hardâ€™ and, best of all, the good news is we know cynics wonâ€™t change your style anyway Tom :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at July 29, 2006 3:25 PM

The other day, there was a post about a general who didn't trust his underlings when they laughed at his jokes.
Is Tom a general?
If he's not, how come so many people contantly agree with everything he says.
Grumpy has a point -

Posted by pete stafford at July 29, 2006 7:11 PM

"The shop foreman in Brooklyn trying to figure out how to turn his worklife into a WOW endeavor isn't interested and can't relate. Such scenic pastoral climes are, after all, reserved for the rich."

Interesting viewpoint Grumpy, albeit limiting and self-defeating. I've been told before that it is easy to have the positive viewpoint I have in "my position." Yet my viewpoint might something to do with how I was raised and my attitude. At age 11 I rode a bus 40 miles each way each night on weekends to shine shoes in the bars of a larger town, branded cattle all day (dawn to dark for $12), bought groceries for my family during a brief period of our lives when we were forced to go on food stamps because my mother was too embarrassed to use them and my stepfather was searching for a job in another state. I was the first in my family to go to college and at one time was working three part time jobs while taking an extended course load. Never once did I feel something was unachievable because of my income level. I thank God for parents that didn't spout "disadvantaged" drivel. You may not be able to relate to the environment but you can extrapolate the message and learning to your own world. Inspiration and ideas are found everywhere. One only has to look. Seldom is learning served up when, where and how you would like it.

Posted by Walter White at July 30, 2006 11:13 PM

Ok I don't agree with Grumpy's outlook on life - but do we need to think (and act) more about how we get this stuff across the the average person in the street. If the gap between where he is and where we are is too great people give up on the attempt

Posted by PaulH at July 31, 2006 7:30 AM

Great comments about rowing Tom -- and about Washington College -- and on being passionate about something. I'm a Washington College graduate and a former rower there. There was really nothing like putting in a hard couple of hours on the Chester River every afternoon. The brain and the body benefited immensely.

Posted by Drew Gruenburg at July 31, 2006 2:25 PM