Comments

Thank you Tom, for another installment! True, simple, and graceful (although those hand movements can be pretty forceful! ;-)

one caveat, can the video not load itself when rendering the page? (Should be on demand) I like the video, I have watched it more than once, but I don't need it to load each time I come to the site. Thank you.

Posted by Martin Koning-Bastiaan at May 16, 2008 1:28 PM

We believe the book Tom mentions in the video is actually The Manager's Book of Decencies by Steve Harrison.

Posted by Shelley Dolley at May 16, 2008 2:03 PM

Another fabulous video Tom with customary passion – thanks. My question is; Whose bright idea (not) was it to invent the boring, clinical, meaningless management jargon ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ to describe being nice to one another? When these silly labels are produced the next step will be selling expensive training packages about how to teach good manners, respect, politeness, integrity etc.- is that sad or what? Sorry but I become more disillusioned and cynical by the day as we try to make complex the simplicity of being nice to one another.

Posted by Trevor Gay at May 16, 2008 5:01 PM

Judith... "Social Responsibility" is a set of actions not just two words so where better to acknowledge your great contribution to this 'Chattering Cluster' that forms to comment on tompeters! than here when Tom is imploring us all to be 'socially responsible'...

I believe you have turned this comments forum into a Clan (a collection of people who share some common interests) or a Tribe (a collection of people who have a sense of purpose)... You certainly have made it more an "online community" than it was previously.

You have done this by simply modeling your sense of 'social responsibility'. You say thank you! You show tolerance to those you disagree with by raising the possibility that you misunderstood them. You encourage people to be creative with their opinions. You acknowledge that people might find it difficult to be transparent about their opinions and views by simply saying that their 'words count'. You make a space, an online community, where people can feel they belong without having to take out a 'membership card' to some or other ideology. You demonstrate 'thought leadership' by expressing your strong opinions and views but recanting part or all of them if someone within this community has a better take on the situation... Etc, Etc...

Tom acknowledges that we live in an internet world of hustle and bustle BUT he implores us to take time to be human. Their is no greater act of human kindness than civility, tolerance, grace, and compassion. These are not words these are ACTIONS!

Judith I applaud you for your simple ACTIONS of social responsibility that I have witnessed here.

Trevor my friend you love Simplicity so this is for you - I tell my kids repeatedly (because I am the dumb one I seem to have repeat myself) that as a manager or leader or teacher you can demand and even expect "accountability" from your charges HOWEVER responsibility can not be forced onto people. Responsibility is something they have to accept for themselves - they also must accept all the consequences it brings!

Richard.

Posted by Richard Lipscombe at May 16, 2008 7:29 PM

Richard...I most gratefully, humbly thank you for your very kind and encouraging words. Blessings to you. I only try to be the very best that I can be. I often fail miserably. But at least I have tried which is for me always better than having not tried. This I could not bear.

While I am rarely at a lost to speak of others or express opinions, I am often most uncomfortable in talking about myself or why I personally do what I do. It is others who make me. I simply respond to stimuli with actions; sometimes they are good and at other times they are not so good. However, I forever seek to rectify situations quickly when I have missed the mark. Social responsibility as I see it begins with me.

As there is something amiss with my laptop, I am unable to watch videos, so I am unable to look at this clip, Social Corporate Responsibility. Bummer! Hopefully, I'll have time to look into the problem tomorrow and check it out. It sounds like a topic of import. But which here haven't been?

All the very best to TP, Erik, Cathy and all who write comments on this blog. You have caused me to think and act and for this I offer a heartfelt thank you. May God bless you all...continuously.

Posted by Judith Ellis at May 16, 2008 8:52 PM

I fully agree that CSR must be more than branding tactics if its really a CSR. However its nice if companies fund charity, cultural events etc. as a part of their branding.

I remember controveriseis around dove advertisements. when unilever started promoting axe's ads which seemed to be antifeminist what demonstrated that being profeminine is not any brand value or company's value but branding trick(what is an important CSR question - models of feminity in advertising and fashion, commercial culture are very oftex sexist, dominated by macho approach).

CSR might be treated like a companys value. not a function but a "competence". We can see CSR in companys mission, customers satisfaction (i think that this+ employment are the real foundations of companych social responsibility though nobody speaks of them as of such), employment, taxes and other things like caring of diversity, charity actions etc. companys can say what makes them truly responsible for the society they operate in. not just how it imapcts market through a metafor on an advertisement or a promotional campaign that helps them connect with customers

Posted by Ana at May 17, 2008 7:48 AM

businesses work for us in many areas of their activities. actually they could present somehow the value they create for the society, not just for the investors

I mean - that CSR is not always against P&L account. There are several aspects that are fully coherent with companys mission, employing people, infrastructuring new worlds like India and China etc (and this is a huge contribution to the society).

There is an always new set of things (undiscovered opportunities like)- like new sources of competitive advantage that could also diminish losses society makes on the way companies work like things mentioned in Re-imagine (women, markets for older population) or by Prahalad and Yunus

and these efforts company can justify with good branding

and investing in the community - employees satisfaction (its a place they live in) but also all partners and customers which is also ofter treated as a hidden source of future profits (satisfied employee works better, customer/partner comes back and promotes you etc.)

Posted by Ana at May 17, 2008 8:10 AM

Outstanding! I see a linkage here with the "Charity begins at home" mindset...the belief that family members are more important than anything else and should be the focus of our efforts. Corporations who make an investment in the folks they employ will make dramatic difference in improving the quality of life for every citizen in the communities where they live and work...not to mention their profitability.

Single working parents or two working parent famliIies...working is the operative word...are a group that falls thru the cracks. The fact that they are employed disqualifies them from being the beneficiary of most of the housing, health, education, and insurance programs their tax dollars provide others who are not working at all. Have you seen the cost of childcare lately? Many companies have tuition assistance programs yet have attendance and scheduling policies that make it impossible for folks to access them. In essence, they can't take advantage of the very thing that can enable them to progress financially and strengthen their families.

The list could go on. The effects of poverty are well researched and if something can be done to break that cycle, everyone wins! The problems that all communities deal with, crime, drugs, under-performing schools, disillusionment and distrust are rooted in socio-economic status. The solutions aren't difficult, pay a "Living Wage", look at your scheduling and attendance policies, build an internal "support system" that can enable folks to share information and resources...relatively simple and certainly not cost prohibitive. The return...increased employee retention which can decrease costs, which can lead improved customer satisfaction and profitability, and so on, and so on.

Company walls are full of words that say, "People are our most important resource", "We are the employer of choice", "work life balance". How many have strategies place to move the words from the wall to the floor? How many have policies based directly on feedback and participation of the folks who are to be the beneficiaries. A top -down perception of what needs to be done does not often match the front line reality of what the real issues are.

Posted by Dave Wheeler at May 17, 2008 12:24 PM

I clicked once....PROMISE!

Posted by Dave Wheeler at May 17, 2008 12:27 PM

'A top-down perception of what needs to be done does not often match the front line reality of what the real issues are.'

Amen - Dave - with you 100% needless to say

Richard - I totally agree with you. We all must accept personal responsibility first. I have mentioned this wonderful example before so please forgive me for repeating.

GK Chesterton wrote a letter to The Times in answer to their question in the reader’s letters section – What is wrong with the world?

His letter was the shortest of the lot ….. It read as follows:

Dear Sir

In answer to your question what is wrong with the world – I am.

Yours sincerely

GK Chesterton

Posted by Trevor Gay at May 17, 2008 3:11 PM

Peter Drucker once said that the purpose of a business enterprise is "to create a customer."

Tom, As I listen to you speak, it makes me think the purpose of a business enterprise is first "to create or maybe better said, enhance or enable or grow the character of those who serve it. Then, or at in the process of, "to create the customer."

My question to you, is that plausible? Unless I am off in the corner of the universe, which I usually am, that is what I hear you saying.

And, I AGREE 100%!!!! The function of business is to serve the people who serve it. First, foremost, always and forever...get that right and the rest takes care of itself!!!

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M

Posted by Mike Brewer at May 17, 2008 4:27 PM

Mike Brewer.. Thank you - you raise a very good question - one that got this 'guru junkie' thinking about the very different approaches taken by a few of them on what matters in corporations...

Peters is talking in this clip about his absolute passion for a 'people' focused approach towards the business of running a corporation.... get the people thing right and the rest will follow...

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Drucker had just two questions for all of us... "what business are you in?" "how's business?" he noted that he rarely got to ask the second question... he recalled on one occasion how some senior executives, in suits, came to his modest house in California and the first thing he did was have them strip off and join him in his pool... after the swim all their important issues seemed less so...

Collins once had a bunch of people over from Starbucks where he asked them a simple question - "what is your Big Hairy Audacious Goal?" they replied proudly that it was to have x outlets around the world by 20xx... he told them to go away and to come back when they could answer his simple question... they came back 3-6 months later... to be the best BRAND in the world ... yeah that is a BHAG! let's get to work...

Hamel and Kanter like a more academic approach with case studies... Kanter likes to have us think we can make elephants dance... Hamel wants to know why he stands in line at a bank when he has a mortgage as big as an elephant????

Bennis uses his incredible and truly superior intellect to inspire us to believe in whatever we think is possible...

Richard.

Posted by Richard Lipscombe at May 17, 2008 5:42 PM

All Heaven is partying when Tom Peters is talking!

Sunshine of America.
http://starchildglobal.com/

Posted by Ina Matijevic at May 18, 2008 2:55 AM

Thanks for letting us know about the problems some of you have had with the videos. We're trying something new. Instead of using simple embed code, which allows your computer to choose how to view the video (what we tried first), we're uploading the videos to Vimeo and then embedding them. Hopefully this will be an improvement for everyone.

Posted by Shelley Dolley at May 19, 2008 5:05 PM

This video is simply beautiful. Thanks, TP!

There are so many precious things here to harvest that I hardly know where to begin. Immediately when TP spoke of the law and grace, I thought of the following:

"For where there is no law there is no trangression...therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace." Romans 4:15-6

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The law is for the lawless and where there is no law, external law that is, the internal law of responsibility reigns best.

This internal law is one of character, value and grace, forever considering ourselves as we too have gained unmerited favor (grace); therefore, we endow this same grace to others, whether they are lovely or not. "This I believe."

Posted by Judith Ellis at May 20, 2008 2:12 PM

CSR = Companies Should Realize ………

Posted by K.Sriram at May 21, 2008 2:30 AM

Walked into one of the oldest family owned- plumbing stores in the metro Detroit area, Tenney Plumbing, and came across the words of the plaque below.

Tenney's is a cool place; there seemed to be millions of tiny and not so tiny shining silver, copper and porcelain objects neatly aligned row after row with interesting names of body parts. I was fascinated by the pride, history and the old world charm of none less than a plumbing store. Everything seemed to sparkle in a store that has probably not been renovated since it was built. But is has held up well.

I had to pick up gerbers and I hadn't a clue. The pleasant attendant said to me after after explaining their function and seeing that I was completely clueless repeating, "you're looking for gerber as in the baby food." Indeed. Now there were plumbing parts named after human anatomy and food brands too. OK. I can perhaps see how they all might properly fit in a plumbing store.

Anway, don't know if the plaque has direct relevance to the post, but I sure wanted to share it. So, here it is:

IT IS NOT EASY

*To Apologize
*To Begin Over
*To Take Advice
*To Be Unselfish
*To Admit Error
*To Face a Sneer
*To Be Charitable
*To Keep Trying
*To Be Considerate
*To Avoid Mistakes
*To Endure Success
*To Profit By Mistakes
*To Forgive and Forget
*To Think and then Act
*To Make the Best of Little
*To Subdue an Unruly Temper
*To Shoulder a Deserved Blame
*To Recognize the Silver Lining

BUT IT ALWAYS PAY. viagra alternative australia

Posted by Judith Ellis at May 21, 2008 12:37 PM

Mr. Peters plus talented team. It’s great you allow us to embed your designated videos. This, without a fail, allows to disseminate (in a win-win mode) more of the topics coming from you and the honorable participants at tompeters.com. Thanks again.

Posted by Andres Agostini (Andy) at May 22, 2008 3:21 PM