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dispatches from the new world of work

Good Debate

Tom was hoping to continue the debate that started in the comments under "Built to Last. Built for Impact." But he's off to Norway/Sweden sans computer and so asked me to put some of those remarks into their own post. So here we go:

Brett: So Tom why didn't you stop writing after "In Search of Excellence"? Why are you still involved in business when you could have long retired? Because we all want to last long ... it's a trite premise of human nature and a company is a human organisation.

Tom: Actually, wrong. I have never had a plan, and that is no lie. I just go from speech to speech and Post to Post and book to book—with no thought about "impact." Your question is interesting, because the idea has never crossed my mind. (E.g., after every book I write I vow never to write another. Then something new pisses me off—and away I go.)

Years ago I named my power boat (sold long ago) "Cromwell." It was because of a Cromwell quote I love/loved: "No one rises so high as he who knows not where he is going." (Or something close to that.) For example, I get fanatic about design or women's stuff for a few years. It's not because it fits a framework—it's because some inadvertent remark/s gets me going. You must believe me about this—as you know, I am blunt and personal and truthful to the best of my ability in these Posts.

Brett: And thank God you do get fanatically about various subjects or the rest of us would be the poorer without it.

But I still don't think that diminishes the fact that we all believe we can last long producing at an "impact" level. Those pilots didn't go up with the goal of having an "impact" and then dying, they went up to have an impact AND with a great desire to live but they accepted the risk of death. If they all had lived perhaps we can hypothesize that war could have been shorter? Having a goal of lasting long is not a bad goal in any aspect of human endeavour as long as you couple that with the goal of, to use your phrase, "having an impact".

Tom: I do not care about longevity for longevity's sake. Period. Amen. I would like to be around awhile—ASSUMING I AM IN GOOD HEALTH PHYSICALLY & MENTALLY—so that I can enjoy my family and farm. But for today (AND THAT IS ALL THERE IS) I will throw in my lot with Bernardo Bertolucci, who I quoted in a post a couple of days ago: "My only goal is to have no goals. The goal, every time, is that film, that very moment." It, to me, is not a "good quote"—I agree operationally.

(PS This is a good debate.)

Arun: The thing is—I agree. But I also think that my definition of impact is very different from that of someone else. I define impact as "Value added per unit time"

If one added value to an organisation, society, herself or whatever at one point in time, and didn't do any more, the value added by that person per unit time falls. The others in the organisation see her as not having much impact.

So you need to keep working harder, re-imagining the world, finding ways & means and influencing people to execute on your imagination.

That's how you have impact. (long lasting impact :-)

On the flip side, you keep raising the bar for yourself, and your work life balance starts getting skewed. You then owe it to yourself to pull back perhaps?

Tom: Arun, I agree. 100% in fact. But my rejoinder, Zennish as it may sound, is that longevity is a nearly inadvertent effect of "living in the moment," or Bertolucci's focus on "this film." Too many only see today's project as a stepping stone to tomorrow's promotion—that to me is a guaranteed path to non-impact. I heard General Powell say that the "big two" are (1) "taking care of your troops" and (2) "applying yourself 100% to today's task, not tomorrow's probable opportunities." (I've put Powell's stuff in quotes—though actually it's from memory—but damn close.)

Plus, my own words notwithstanding, how do you "live for impact"? Impact on what? Warren Bennis says leaders don't set out to be leaders—it's that they have something they "must say" and thence must lead to say it. That fits me to a T. I JUST GOT SOMETHING/S I GOTTA SAY!! But, per Cromwell, the message shapes itself—it's not the product of a Grand Design/strategic plan. Southwest Airlines' Herb Kelleher: "We have a 'strategic plan,' it's called 'doing things.'"

Arun: Your rejoinder isn't just Zennish, the idea is the central theme of a 3500 year old ancient religious/social/execution oriented Hindu text called the Bhagwad Gita.

The Lord Krishna tells the soldier Arjuna: "Do what you're expected to do—your duty. Do not worry about the rewards, for I will reward you for it."

This is basically you're theme of "work on the job at hand and don't think of it as a means to a reward/promotion/money"

I think if you put your heart mind soul and passion into something, you'll automatically learn something new about it. Like the character Jonathan Livingston Seagull in the eponymous book by Richard Bach, you elevate your own abilities to new levels and gain fresh insights.

These insights give you something to say, which others agree to (eventually) and they in turn execute on it.

Everyone who's part of this then has a shared impact on the world.

But one key thing I've learnt is this—you need to keep learning—not just from books, but from any and every person you meet or interact with. But I guess that's where Passion plays a role in getting that motivation to put in that kind of effort.

Erik Hansen posted this on 08/10/06.

Comments

Here's the Oliver Comwell quote...

â€œNo one rises so high as he who knows not whither he is going. Not only strike while the iron is hot, but make it hot by striking. Do not trust the cheering, for those persons would shout as much if you or I were going to be hanged.â€

Posted by Peter Cranstone at August 11, 2006 8:27 AM

thanks, peter.

Posted by Erik Hansen at August 11, 2006 8:53 AM

Build to last is a BRAND deal to me. Built to MORPH may be more like it - get BIG like Starbucks with beverages - then MORPH into Music Distribution as MAIN revenue stream.

Built to MORPH for Sean BRAND too - income streams from Salary mainly - MORPH to cashflow from consultation AND as business owner / Real Estate investment manager.

BUILD TO MORPH it might be said.

Posted by sean at August 11, 2006 9:22 AM

Ricardo Semler's book The Seven-Day Weekend points out that "nothing grows indefinitely. In nature, growth is only temporary."

He goes on to point out that only cancers exhibit perpetual growth...

Posted by Dan Ward at August 11, 2006 10:51 AM

Sean: Except, statistically, Big Companies (and management gurus) usually get all morphed out surprisingly quickly--courtesy size per se, growing risk aversion following success/es, mini-morphs that look like maxi-morphs to an insider (IBM circa 1985), or Rushmorean egos.

Posted by tom peters at August 11, 2006 12:43 PM

The danger of any form of longevity is staleness and getting stuck in a rut, whether that comes from size or habit - the end result a "death" in some form.

But if I understand Collins correctly he argues for various forms of innovation to avoid the "staleness" and to achieve the longevity. If I understand Tom correctly, he argues that longevity in itself is not a worthy goal.

My initial arguement was at a personal level but I would now like to move it a societial level using Italy as an example. If you look at the history of the country, two of the highest points of its creativeness and innovation came in the Roman and Renaissance periods. These were periods of relative cultural and political stability (longevity) coupled with properity. The Dark Ages were the least creative and stiffling for societal development(people didn't built Cathedrals that would take 600 years to build, life was only for the survival of the day).

So to go back to using Tom as my chopping block, if Tom were to wake tomorrow and the corporate environment as we know it started to disintergate and there was NO goals of longevity out there - Coke thought their goal of having every tap in every home strouting Coke was unachieveable, people were moving away from fizzy drinks so let's close shop, and Immelt wanted to close up because he couldn't achieve the same results as Welsh using Welsh's methods. Tom himself thought....50 million blogs, this TomPeters.com is in a stale environment! Where would Tom (and the rest of us) be - the Dark Ages?

We need a firm degree of stability and longevity within which to acheive on whatever front.

Bottom line longevity is a neccesary and good goal!!!

Posted by Brett at August 12, 2006 4:26 AM

I am 22 years old, finishing school and trying to decide how I can have a positive impact each day of my life for the rest of my life.

The bigger and longer lasting the impact the bettter.

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I am deciding and taking action to build a foundation of networks and competencies so that I have a better chance of having impact every day. I am building to last.

Mr. Peter's remarks are striking when you consider the companies and executives that have hung around too long, past their best before date.

Think Sony. They have done their mission and they should have called it quits. Now their current renown work, the Sony Playstation, has contributed to many problems with youth (obesity and many other things). If Sony remembers and uses the foundation of which it was born from, they will be the first company to mass produce an impactful nanotech product.

Mr. Peters can jump between different focuses because he indeed does have a framework. His experiences and abilities gained throughout his life give him the ability to be able to jump from design to women's stuff.

As for a company, take 3M. It has built to last so it can consistantly and continually have impact.

alex_mcaulay@hotmail.com

Posted by Alex McAulay at August 12, 2006 11:40 AM

For me impact comes from letting the imp act.

The imp is a foolish archetype perfectly symbolizing the chaotic, unpredictable fluctuations of our time and the little "magic" suprises that happen a lot now - faster then ever....
His demanding advice: Playfoolness: go, do things, fall, fail, learn, stand up, grow - step by step, day by day, project2project from moment2moment. (Do I sound to Newagy? or ancientagy?) brand viagra 50 mg

The more we let go of the Outcome the more we make and see our Income and from there comes out the impact.

Letting the imps act...in this film...

Posted by Andre at August 13, 2006 1:56 PM