Brand Viagra 50 Mg

In Search of Excellence, Thoughts On, 25-year Perspective

[TP note: What follows, in shorthand-outline form was written by me to prep for an interview on a new book about the "halo effect"—which, as so many since 1982, takes aim at In Search of Excellence—which, of course, is immensely flattering 25 years later, when the book and I, by all rights, ought to be on the shelf gathering dust. Why did I take it so seriously? Simple, because it's interesting to think about "all this."]

*Book was impetus for:

    Excellence "Industry"
    Anti-Excellence "Industry"
    Multi-billion $$ "Management guru" INDUSTRY

*Don't take yourself too seriously!!!!! (Read Nassim Nicholas Taleb's Fooled By Randomness—my bible.)
*MANAGEMENT IS NOT NOT NOT A "SCIENCE" (!!!!)
*TP to audiences: "If you followed In Search to a T you were obviously an idiot and deserved your sorry fate; it's simply meant to be 'helpful,' no more and no less. It's entirely up to you and your judgment as to how far to go, if anywhere." (Any idea/s taken to its/their extreme will get you in trouble—e.g., religious ones.)
*TP: "'Halo effect?' I WISH IT WERE TRUE!" (I.e, that "everyday" service industries treated their employees like Wegmans does.)
*Conjectures lead to refutations. (Duh.) (Popper, philosopher of science, Conjectures and Refutations) (Success stories vs failure stories; Freud/broken personalities vs. Maslow/healthy personalities)

*FYI, or, rather, for what it's worth, perhaps not much):

Excellence Index: 1982-2002/Forbes.com
[20th anniversary of Search]

DJIA: $10,000 yields $85,500
EI: $10,000 yields $140,050

(Forbes/Excellence Index/Basket of 32 publicly traded stocks from In Search of Excellence)

(Ever so many management book authors feel it's necessary to begin with "Most of the companies in In Search of Excellence failed." This is hardly "proof" that such an assertion is wrong, just "a little counter-evidence.")

* The "stuff" can't hurt (e.g., women, design, customers, people, MBWA, X-functional co-operation, soft is hard [numbers "soft," people-customer-execution orientation/obsession "hard"], EXCELLENCE per se as aspiration, action beats talk, screw-ups normal & necessary, flowers, "thank you," Enthusiasm, hire enthusiasts) "Tom, it [YPO seminar in '83] was a blinding flash of the obvious"—Manny Garcia, Burger King's #1 franchisee at the time)
(McKinsey "7-S model" [strategy, structure, staff, etc.] 8 "basics" of Search)

*Not RULES, but a little motivation/some "stuff" to get you (seminar attendee) going
*TP, 2007: "My principal goal is to remind you of stuff you already know, but which often gets lost in the course of taxing everyday affairs."

*CONTEXT! CONTEXT! CONTEXT! (1982's "Strategy obsession" vs our emphasis on Execution-"Organization"-"Organizational effectiveness")

*Didn't purport to be "Hard research." (Instead, "exploratory research"; i.e., taking a first look at an interesting notion)

* * * * *

*FYI:

Comment @ tompeters.com/June 2, 2007: "As an attendee of the CO-OP Financial Services Conference, I had the opportunity to see Tom's presentation on 6/1/07. For me, the man and the message were both truly inspiring. Tom helped remind me of why I decided to accept the CEO position at my credit union nearly seven years ago. His presentation also served as a much needed slap in the face by showing me how much I have unintentionally strayed from the original vision I was given. I have allowed the influences of generally well intended external forces to move me, and therefore my credit union, off track. As a result, we have become entirely too wrapped up with trying to be 'one of the big guys,' way too risk averse, afraid to fail and slow to act as a result of 'paralysis by analysis.' It's time to change all of that! Thanks very much and God bless!" (Posted by Wally Murray at June 3, 2007, 9:16 AM)

NOT MEANT TO IMPLY A "TYPICAL COMMENT," SIMPLY TO SUGGEST WHAT "THEY" CAN GET OUT OF "IT." (Will he follow up? God alone knows. And, sorry, not my problem—I live to stir things up; hey, one can only do so much, especially at 64 [64 = me, Harrison Ford, Paul McCartney—a little left in us old boys?])

[CM note: The article we link above is an excerpt from Knowledge@Wharton.]

Tom Peters posted this on 06/05/07.

Comments

I became aquainted with ISE in the early 90's when I was working on my undergraduate degree in Business while I was on active duty with the Air Force. Whether or not companies failed or not does not detract from the truth found resident in ISE and PFE. The Air Force was focused on Total Quality Management at the time. TQM as a concept failed in the military only because of the culture, not the concept. Colonel's have too much of an ego to allow an enlisted person to have a say in much! I want to say that the principles of ISE have stayed with me and work their way into my philosophy. Thanks Mr. Peters and God bless.

Posted by mmcdaniel at June 5, 2007 1:28 PM

The key takeaways I have about ISE, and which so many people seem to miss, is that "excellence" is a moving target, a bias towards action, a focus on people and an attitude.

I've no problem with Mr. Rosenzweig taking the line that readers should approach management books with a degree of skepticism. Isn't the biggest problem that so many people seem to think that there are easy, pat answers to every problem? And that if you read the book and slavishly implement the idea then everything will magically transform into eternal sunshine and joy?

It's inevitable that every book will go through phases when it's seen as a great insight, then it gets discredited, then someone points out that the core ideas are timeless, then it's cited as part of a long chain in management thinking that brings us to where we are today... etc etc. Don't lose heart, Tom: you're on the right track. And keep stirring!

Posted by Mark JF at June 6, 2007 1:41 AM

MMcDaniel, where were you in the Air Force? In my opinion, GEN Bill Creech, heading what was then called TAC, did a good job with quality. He and I became pals, and I wrote about him in, I think, Thriving On Chaos. (And he let me hitch a ride on an F-15; I did the throwing up part all on my own.)

I certainly agree that 9 of 10 applicaions of such programs in government fail. (I lived through PPBS,Program Planning and Budgeting System, Secretary McNamara's baby, imported from Ford, during a Pentagon tour in 1969-1970; then MBO misapplied at OMB in 1973-74.) Of course 9 of 10 applications of the flavor du jour also fail in big private sector firms. These efforts merely add another layer of bureaucracy.

Posted by tom peters at June 6, 2007 3:31 AM

there is so much written, so much noise that it can be hard to find the right voice. TP is one along with Farber and a few others who make sense. companies fail - you could overlay any one of the 8 and find the failure directly attributed to missing the point. don't take the all to frequently applied approach of "it failed therefore you're wrong". at the end of the day it all depends - 8S, 4P, 5S - but never should thinking be taken out of the process.

free viagra sample pack Posted by tom wilson at June 6, 2007 12:35 PM

Wow! Thanks for the response! I have been serving with the Air Force Chaplain Service since 1983...I was a Chaplain Assistant for 12 years, and have been a chaplain since. I was not a part of TAC, mainly SAC (7 years at Grand Forks AFB ND, where I received my degree)...the SAC Culture probably prohibited many innovations demanded by TQM and ISE. Thanks so much for all you do...My copy of ISE is faded and worn, but I display it proudly with my Management books and promote the concepts where I now teach (Arlington Baptist College, in Arlington, Texas). God bless.

Posted by mmcdaniel at June 6, 2007 6:22 PM

viagra with overnight shipping

I first met "In Search" as a reference in an article about entrepeneurship at Chemical Engineering Magazine, in 1983. It was writen by a Swedish psychologist named Eugene Raudsepp. This was a cover article - then I got to read the book. The biggest shock was to think that administration had to do with creativity, and that a book on this subject could be so fun to read. I think it is more impressive than Sgt Peppers - sorry for the comparison - but it provokes a lot and challenges "reality" all the time - imagine > reasoning by stories (!) - the perfect failure - the mexican sierra - cinc us - that reminds me of a story. Simply amazing.

Posted by Gerson Barbosa at June 11, 2007 7:05 AM

buy viagra no prescription australia