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dispatches from the new world of work

Depends on What the Meaning of "Is" Is:

Or, Why I Don't Watch the Evening News. Or, the Speech Is the Thing.

Katie Couric is quoted as follows in BusinessWeek's "What Makes a Winner: The Competition Issue" (08.21-28.06): "Television is one of the most competitive arenas anywhere. I think the only way to thrive and survive in that atmosphere is to have the love of competition in your blood."

(For the record: As an avowed, vociferous champion of women in leadership roles, I'm delighted that Ms Couric has become the first solo woman anchor on network evening news.)

That quote helps me realize why I don't watch evening news. If your ultimate goal is to "compete," presumably for ratings supremacy, in my opinion you are/one is doomed to mediocrity.

Start here: I am an obnoxiously intense competitor, and have been for a half century, with no let up in sight. Among other things, today I regularly Google myself against the "competition" in "speaking world"—weekly vs Jack Welch and Rudy Giuliani. (Mostly keepin' the lead, though RG will nail me as the presidential election campaign approaches—but then he won't be on the circuit.) I want badly to "win" in comparative speakers' ratings at big conferences—and I'm in despair for days when that doesn't happen. I track book sales; etc; etc.

But ...

But the fact of the matter is that the only person I truly compete against is myself. Is it the best damned speech I could give? Did I push "them" hard enough, too hard? Did I connect in a way that makes a difference in a few attendees' lives? Is there enough genuinely new material in the speech? Did I take risks with new-provocative material? (Risks that might clobber those evaluations after the fact. OH LORD, I SHUDDER AS I RECALL TWO RECENT EXAMPLES—I survived 'em both, and one led directly to a Big corporate change.) Was the entire two hours or whatever spent, without a second's letup, living on or near or past the edge? Were they scared-aroused? Was I scared? Was I literally sick with mental & physical exhaustion when I staggered off the stage? Can I sincerely continue to claim, even if only to myself, that I am perpetually re-imaging the entire world of management thinking & business practice (yikes)? Etc.

When Rather "competed" against Brokaw and Jennings for ratings, the competition per se was the thing—and the product for all three, while competent, was and long has been same-same. Take a true risk, and perhaps watch ratings wobble for 6 months? What a joke!

In late 2003, Dorling Kindersley and I published Re-imagine! Did I want good sales? Damn right! But if "good sales" had been the principal goal I would have penned the "big book" that other publishers wanted. I went to DK because of one and only one thing (surely not the advance!): I wanted to re-imagine the business book! (And they were game.) Did I track sales? Of course. (We—publisher and I—were moderately happy.) But I mostly loved the Amazon reviews: Nothing in the middle! People loved the book, and indeed its attempt to change the genre. Or hated it. (NB: As a speaker, I far prefer 1s or 10s in my evaluations to a bucket of 7s.)

Renée Mauborgne and Chan Kim, authors of Blue Ocean Strategy, tell us: "To grow, companies need to break out of a vicious cycle of competitive benchmarking and imitation." "Value innovation is about making the competition irrelevant by creating uncontested market space. We argue that beating the competition within the confines of the existing industry is not the way to create profitable growth." (As usual, Churchill more or less got there first: "The short road to ruin is to emulate the methods of your adversary.")

Here's the sort of thing I dearly wish Ms Couric had said: "Ratings are the least of it. Evening TV news is stale, in the tank, even laughable. It doesn't need a 'cool' or 'refreshing' 'female' anchor. It needs to be blown up and re-thought from the ground up. If the program I anchor looks or smells or feels anything at all like evening news of the Cronkite-Rather era I will have failed miserably and horribly abused a golden opportunity, even if I do edge out the guys at the other networks."

Kim and Mauborgne dote on Cirque du Soleil. (Me too.) Our Montreal pals re-imagined the whole idea of "circus"—and took an insane risk in the process. And they indeed turned their and our world upside down—in fact they unequivocally invented a new planet within the larger solar system of entertainment. That's the idea!

In On Becoming a Leader, Warren Bennis makes this intriguing claim, based on his muscular research: "No leader sets out to be a leader per se, but rather to express him- or herself freely and fully. That is leaders have no interest in proving themselves, but an abiding interest in expressing themselves."

I burst at the seams, at 63.8, as I anticipate the opening of the 2006 "fall season" in Adelaide 10 days from now. I want to "express myself"—to bore in deeper to the souls & hearts & minds of my participants, to make my renovated message of Excellence resonate and act as a clarion call to "risky" action in halls and boardrooms across the/all lands.

Will I read the evaluations from Adelaide? Of course! Will I still Google Welch & Rudy & me? Of course! But the-speech-is-the-thing! My "competition," my hypercompetitive-need: Will it have been the best & most provocative & original & troubling & exciting speech I have ever even attempted to give? If not, as 'tis said, it will be a long plane trip back from Australia!

Please, please Ms Couric—don't "compete" with those other predictable saps. Stun us with the audacity of your effort to help us understand anew and cope with the bizarre world in which we are trying to somehow make our way.

Tom Peters posted this on 08/28/06.

Comments

Katie and all CBS/NBC/ABC news leaves me cold - secretly hoping she fails, preferred Bob Schiefer who boosted post Rather ratings significantly.

Posted by sean at August 28, 2006 11:57 AM

When you're on the platform, there can't be any room for whether you're better than your strongest competitor. If that happens you're playing while you look at the scoreboard and performance suffers. You've got to be there, with that very audience, right then, giving them every bit of your energy and passion. But afterwards, ah, that's different. Then looking at those audience ratings gives you ideas about what to work on to get better and finding out how the competition is doing fires the boiler for the competitive engine.

Posted by Wally Bock at August 28, 2006 12:13 PM

This is one of the best things I have read. your work continues to inspire me each day. Your right, its about taking care of what we do, not worrying about the others.

Posted by Michael Lombardi at August 28, 2006 12:38 PM

Of course Tom, I doubt that the leadership of CBS News hired Katie Couric to Re-imagine! their news broadcast. I haven't watched the Today Show with any regularity for many years, but the few times I stumble across it in the morning, the format looks remarkably similar to 10 or even 20 years ago. Perhaps the stunts and outdoor concerts have gotten more outlandish. That's about it.

Anyway, isn't Katie's most crucial customer Madison Avenue and the hundreds or at most several thousand traditional media advertising buyers who expect a certain format and audience when they place an ad on a certain network at a certain time of day? I expect those folks would want a SERIOUS discount on their ad slots in order to take a flyer with some radical rethinking of the format.

Katie could not take on all that financial responsibility without huge support further up in the organization.

Is any of that impossible? Absolutely not! Still, I think it unlikely.

Posted by BT Hathaway at August 28, 2006 12:43 PM

My previous Golf partner used to play â€˜chipâ€™ shots over bunkers particularly well. I asked him how one day how he did it when I (14 handicap) and many other average golfers often fluff our shots into the bunker. I asked how his ball never ended up in the bunker like mine ... his reply?... what bunker?

I am with Wally - ignore the opposition and just concentrate on get better yourself. I also love the advice ... take notice of 1's and 10's only!!! â€“ That is brilliant

Posted by Trevor Gay at August 28, 2006 1:56 PM

My favorite quote and one that I try to honor:

"Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you, never excuse yourself."
Henry Ward Beecher

There's a reverse to this as well. If you're always leaving yourself to be measured by someone else's standard, you'll never be at peace with what you have and who you are.

Posted by Doug Karr at August 28, 2006 2:28 PM

Once again, 10 stuff... when you really think about - someone who gives you a 7 probably thinks you were good, but not outstanding and probably won't remember you... I teach a graduate course in sports marketing and I get more juiced up over the bad ratings because at least the student thought about (or was pissed enough) to put a 1, instead of the person who just checked 4's across the board (scale 1 to 5)...keep up the passion.

Posted by Al Carbone at August 28, 2006 2:38 PM

Tom, I've been reading your stuff for 25 plus years. I've seen you speak. I am continually blown away by your passion. It's your greatest asset. Even though we don't always agree, I'll always listen to someone who cares so much. Your recent posts seem to be on an upswing. I loved the history thing. You haven't lost a thing buddy.

Posted by Paul Ambrose at August 28, 2006 8:42 PM

Hi Tom. I had a different reaction to Katie Couric's quote and this is interesting to me as I specialize in men, women and competition. After training elite athletes for over 25 years (and I'm a woman), I've noticed that men and women approach competition differently and they often have different shades of meaning when they talk about it.

I thought Katie Couric was saying that if you want to be successful in the intensely competitive environment of television, you have to be the kind of person that thrives when you're challenged...that challenges have to excite you, and that you respond by getting fired up and more determined to improve yourself and your work.

Your take was that competing meant getting consumed by the race for ratings superiority (which, I agree, kills performance, creativity and leads to mediocrity).

I find this interesting because men often talk about competition in terms of keeping score and dominating in the outer world, which fits in quite well with left brain functioning and the cultural messages given to males.

But scoring and domination do not fit so well into the girl world. To compete well, women focus more on challenging themselves and competing for something greater than themselves. And to continue competing, it has to be fun. And what makes it fun is the challenge, the sense of accomplishment, and the relationships with the people you are working with.

Herein lies the challenge. To perform your best in an intensely competitive situation, it requires that you focus more on playing the game well rather than on the score. While winning by the score is important, focusing on it increases stress and triggers fear which kills your ability to perform well.

But today's corporations focus too much on scoring and far too little on what it means to play the game well. And the more you are in that environment and the more you move up those steps to success, the easier it is to lose your way.

So Tom, keep speaking, keep reminding us to play our best game, to keep reinventing the game, to design with WOW! and to support each other in the process.

Posted by Cheryl McLaughlin at August 29, 2006 1:39 AM

Re-imagining Evening News: Analysis, Newsiness, Customisation

To begin with there are precedent to Re-imagining this -
1) Periodicals versus newspapers.
2) Bloggers versus periodicals

Newspapers were used in times gone by to "catch up with the latest, that happened the day before". Periodicals were used to crunch that out - analyse it from different angles and offer balanced opinions on both sides.

The TV evening news started taking apart the "newsiness" of the morning newspaper. Things that had happened during the day had already been covered in the evening news, so newspapers focused on those items that had occured the night before while giving editorials on issues whose newsiness was lost.

CNN and other 24 hour news channels are now doing to the evening news what the evening news did to the morning newspaper.

Periodicals stayed the same all through the TV onslaught, since they focused on analysis.

The Internet and blogging put paid to that: Now you can get analysis quicker than the periodical.

I think this is how the evening news should evolve. It should split into two parts:

Part A should be a common program - giving the highlights of the day along with quick analysis. (The BBC morning show where they discuss newspaper articles is a good example)

Part B should be a la carte - Depending on the preferences of the viewer, as measured by a TiVO, or some other device, the Part B will contain "newsy and analytical" content that is relevant to the viewer.

It's just a thought, but let me know what you think of it, and how Katie can use her tremendous brand to push such a concept.

Posted by Arun Sadhashivan at August 29, 2006 6:07 AM

You really aren't the target audience for network news. The mind-numbing sameness of it is exactly what they strive for, it doesn't happen by accident. Networks decided long ago not to compete with cable, so they go out of their way to be unoriginal. Unfortunately, that's what the majority of the viewers want (not you, not me, but the vast majority if the 300 million US population).

Posted by Mike at August 29, 2006 6:36 AM

Cheryl, brilliant analysis, great points--more later.

Oh lord, guys and keeping score ..... (mea culpa)

Posted by tom peters at August 29, 2006 8:25 AM

I agree that imitation means nothing and gets you less...I grew up as a daughter of TQM (David Luther, Corning Inc.)and believe in constant creation with your eye on past successes! Keeping all of that in mind I have started the Business Smart Tools conference through my company Creative Concepts. The conference is geared towards showing the business community how to use the internet in order to acheive pr and marketing goals and to better internal communications....we show companies how to use a blog, a podcast, video and game technology to futher their business goals...also within this conference we have tech start ups demo their products that are geared toward the corporate arena...we had GE, Hearst, BusinessWeek and more speak last year...we have IBM, GE, Xerox, Techcrunch and others speaking in May 2007...I am writing because this conference is very innovative...companies are just starting to understand the power of the new media...I am writing because you are innovative and creative and I feel you would understand all that I am trying to accomplish here...I am writing to make contact to see if there is a way to join forces for this conference. We are not yet a big budget production but we do have big ideas!

Thank you for your time,

Valorie Luther

Posted by valorie luther at August 29, 2006 9:44 AM

I'm a guy--a three-letter guy in HS and an all-star military baseball player. Scores matter in competitive sports.

That said, my intellect, emotional center and soul resonate with Cheryl's post. And perhaps I have chosen well or simply been lucky, but in my corporate experience (12 years, three large and successful corporations), we did not keep score based on what our competitors did. We kept score based on how well we met our customers' and our potential customers' wants, needs and desires. And that, today, is how I continue to keep score.

When I make a presentation, I don't root against other presenters, I cheer for them because it is about giving to our audiences not competing against each other. With my four previous books, I cared about book sales because they helped to feed my family but I didn't obcess over them. My goals were set around providing good experiences for my readers and my goals are the same for my next book. Although I am a business consultant, sometimes I recommend other business consultants to potential clients because I think the fit is better.

In other words, my work and my life aren't all about me, and they certainly don't focus on products and services. Work and life are about those I touch. In my forthcoming book, I call it "The Happiness Quotient." How can I help make others' experiences the best that they can be? May seem corny but it works for my business, my family (been marrried 32 years) and my clients, and I sleep well and easy at night.

Posted by Lewis Green at August 29, 2006 10:30 AM

Adrenaline literally was released in my body while reading this post.

Allow me to quote you in my blog. WOW!

Posted by Dennis D. Balajadia at August 29, 2006 10:48 AM

Tom,

Simply, a brilliant post! I honestly feel that adding to it would be superfluous.

Thank you!

Posted by Stephen Spencer at August 29, 2006 4:49 PM

Lewis,
I agree the score matters in business and sports. But the key is what you choose to focus on. The score is a result of how well you play the game. If you focus on the score, it creates tension and fear which kills performance. But if you focus on playing "the game" well and to continually improve yourself in the process, you'll perform better, which will give you the best chance to win by the score. Cheers!

Posted by Cheryl McLaughlin at August 30, 2006 2:28 AM

Cheryl,

I agree, sort of. Both business and the sports I play(ed) are team sports and are not necessarily about improving one's game performance they are about improving one's contribution to the team, which may mean sacrificing instead of swinging away or passing instead of shooting. Many are unable to make those sacrifices.

Posted by Lewis Green at August 30, 2006 12:45 PM

Hi Tom,

Do you ever tire of hearing "Thanks?"

As you seek to have impact on the Universe, know that lone individuals here and there are being totally transformed, and through them your message that so resonates in their very beings and the passion it ignites bleed on.

Thanks, much.

Reid

Posted by Reid Wilson at August 30, 2006 12:58 PM

You've grasped the zen of competition Tom. It's so much more than the win or the loss - it's what you experience in the process of competing that really pays the dividends.

Posted by Roxanne Darling at September 1, 2006 4:55 AM

This entry reminded me of this quote :

Our Business in life is not to get ahead of others , but to get ahead of ourselves - to break our own records, to outstrip our yesterdays by our today, to do our work with more force than ever before.

- Stewart B. Johnson

Posted by Namith at September 5, 2006 12:19 PM