dispatches from the new world of work

"Hard Is Hard"

Bob Waterman and I got our 15 minutes of fame in part by the assertion-slogan-axiom that "Hard is soft. Soft is hard." In the Age of Strategy, circa 1982, we said it's the "hard" plans and budgets and #s that are in fact "soft" (fast forward, think Enron); and it's the "soft" people-customers-relationships-entrepreneurial culture that are truly "hard," that is, the Bedrock of Excellence.

Well, there are exceptions to every rule, even ours. Big ones, in fact.

Prime Minister Emeritus Lee made miracles in Singapore. The keystone: Singapore works! And work it does, starting with friendly and efficient immigration services in Singapore's sparkling airport. PM Lee unabashedly micromanaged his island, and at the heart of the matter was ease of doing business—and that started with immigration controls, baggage retrieval, and the speed with which one could get settled downtown and get down to business.

And if the trains and planes don't run on time? It's possible that the Greatest of "Soft" (service economy-based) Economic Marvels may face life-threatening consequences.

It took me 2+ hours (!) in snarled traffic yesterday to get from the airport to my hotel just outside of São Paulo. A transit strike turned SP's nightmarish traffic into whatever is worse than a nightmare. And this on the heels of the air traffic fiasco that led to the sacking of Brazil's Defense Minister a couple of weeks ago. Perversely, as I rode to town, or the outskirts thereof, I was reading the 0802 International Herald Tribune, which featured on P1 an article titled, "Trains, Planes and Tube: It's a Right British Mess." In short, the infrastructure in the UK is broken, shattered actually. And some of the experts quoted in the article argue, correctly as I see it, that the British Economic Miracle is threatened by F$%^ed up infrastructure. PM Lee would doubtless nod in hearty agreement. Wee case in point: I, for one, now effectively refuse to fly to Heathrow. My 300K FF miles I saw on my latest Lufthansa report attest to the fact that I've done a damn good job of avoiding Jolly Olde England for the last year. (The cost to British Air is in excess of $50,000 in my solo case. E.G.: On Susan's and my July trip to Botswana-Kenya, we would normally have left a day early and visited with her stable of English relatives—and spent a few or more pounds on everything from taxis to tea at Fortnum & Mason. Instead we went via KLM through Amsterdam—where, among other things, we spent $800 at the airport on German-made binoculars.)

More perverse still, as I waited in Dulles for my plane to São Paulo, I watched on CNN the first reports of the bridge collapse in the U.S. of A.—another entity beset with Big League "basic" infrastructure woes. And on the more "modern" front, even Dubai, home of the instant construction miracles, is suffering from health that is too rosy—last month's short trip from downtown to the airport, well, sucked. (Like Singapore, Dubai's magical strengths also depend on "stuff that works," which indeed also starts with friendly, efficient immigration services upon arrival.)

"Soft" (people, customers), is indeed "hard"—that Bedrock of Excellence. But let's never underestimate the fact that "Hard is Hard" too! PM Lee, where are you when we (all) need you?

Tom Peters posted this on 08/03/07.

Comments

right on the ball here Tom

It's lots of little things that can really make things grind to a halt. Not only does it slow things down it wears people out emotionally (I would say this has a bigger impact)

It goes back to my oft repeated mantra about hard vs soft costs. Yes your IT dept may save a few $m by outsourcing but if the rest of the company spends more time and effort trying to get their PCs to work how has the company saved anything?

Posted by PaulH at August 4, 2007 3:09 AM

"The starting point of all significant change is mindset." Tom Peters

I see, you're getting ready for a change. You're going to start writing messages for Fortune Cookies. Or are they planning a new
movie version of the old Kung Fu' TV series.
Either way, you are ready.

Posted by ralph at August 4, 2007 9:20 AM

1. August 11, 1964 - "Hard Day's Night" when McCartney & Lennon starting playing with my mind man - that is when one knew "hard" took on a whole new meaning & a click below lights it up ... O'Leary has never been the same.

Posted by Sean at August 5, 2007 11:13 AM

Here is a something I just read that sums up my feeling about
most of the stuff I see at this website -

The philosopher Isaiah Berlin once said that the trouble with academics and commentators is that they care more about whether ideas are interesting than whether they are true.

Posted by glenOrGlenda at August 6, 2007 10:08 AM

1. HARD - to take is Nardelli back & at the Daimler pillage & plundered Chrysler ... enough to put O'Leary in a LSD-like flashback trance!

Posted by Sean at August 6, 2007 1:33 PM

I could not agree more on that article and economic remarks. I experience the same about Heathrow airport and avoid it whenever possible, having a much better, and predictable, experience in Schipol Amsterdam. Unfortunately in post-olympic Barcelona - Spain, we are suffering similar non-investment problems like airport, motorways, railways (non high speed EU linked yet) and finally big power cut in the city. Do governors really know what matters to us & our companies?

Posted by Pedro Puig Deu at August 6, 2007 2:17 PM

We do have our own example of infrastructure failure here in the US - the 35W bridge collapse.

Posted by Steve Prevette at August 6, 2007 6:20 PM

Tom: (Agree 100% about Singapore, where I had 15 hr layover that was fun--it works!!) Just back from two-week business trip in Bangalore. Infrastructure there is below minimal. Traffic is considered the worst in any part of India; there is NO clean water, and serious polluted air in the city. The super growth and glam has happened without comensurate buildup in the supporting infrastructure. Few of the glowing articles about all that is exciting in Indian IT address this very serious problem that impacts productivity significantly. They definitely have the brainpower to address this but political systems may not be up to the challenge, as we also see in US.
Live well
John

Posted by John L Warren at August 7, 2007 12:26 AM

I agree with John Warren...The sad thing about India is that there is a very minimal political will (consensus) to do something fruitful that will add-value to the society (common man), despite being a democratic country. Countries like Japan, HK & Sâ€™pore were pretty much like (the then) India during the early 1940s-50s but a few years/decades later Japan, HK, Sâ€™pore have moved forward like crazy (economically, infrastructurally, socially) leaving India much behind. However, that being said, India is a diverse & chaotic land to implement organized change! India grows at its own pace (chaotically & non-linearly!)

Posted by K.Sriram at August 7, 2007 2:40 AM