Comments

The story is now up and available at FT.com

Posted by Bruce at November 21, 2008 5:01 PM

Yes, nice interview - and I was struck by Tom's assertion that Management is Not Getting Harder.

We, of course, have the financial crisis running which management has now to deal with - but as our Queen (who normally never says anything even slightly controversial) said to a London School of Economics professor - "It's awful. Why did nobody see it coming?"

As well as the financial crisis, we also have a few other things going on:-

*climate change,
*chemical pollution,
*biodiversity and eco-system losses,
*fisheries depletion,
*water deficits,
*energy deficits,
*rising global population (all eager to use more resources than they did last year),
*natural disasters increasing,
*the arms trade,
*global poverty and widening gap between rich and poor
*little understanding of how to get undeveloped countries to develop without invading, bombing or giving aid that doesn’t help long term.

Business has a major impact on most of those in the way it chooses to operate - or in how it uses its influence on Governments and world trade bodies.

And I think business needs to take this on - all of it. Who else will?

We need a new level of integrity and morality and vision for business where it's no longer acceptable to make money out of doing things that hurt people or planet. Where managers would not need to be told why it's not OK to take the corporate jet to Washington to ask for bail-outs!

Which would be a harder job for management - much harder.

And yet in a funny kind of way, the financial crisis may make this feasible. It's partly the expectation of the markets for more money that pushes senior managers to put the money first for their jobs and bonuses - much easier than looking at all these uncertain and often scary issues.

My fear is that business people haven't the will to take a full and open-eyed look at what's really needed - there's little sign of them taking the full impact of all this seriously. But whatever we ignore won't ignore us.

This is a practical question really for the human species as a whole - not just business - given where we've got to in our history (which doesn't quite seem to have ended) - and where we are in our occupation of this nice planet. Are we going to take a next step that really improves things for everyone and the planet or are we going to carry on trying to make last centuries systems work?

All of the problems above have the probability of causing major problems sooner or later. When one of them does happen, will the Queen again say "It's awful. Why did nobody see it coming?"

And you ?

Posted by Mike Bennett at November 22, 2008 5:14 AM

Yes, I was pleased to open the pages of the Weekend FT today and see 'Lunch with Tom Peters' (which I enjoyed reading over my own lunch: chicken soup with my wife and 2 kids!) . An interesting read, and I will also check out the restaurant venue: http://www.roussillon.co.uk

Posted by Ian Sanders at November 22, 2008 11:58 AM

The interview was good. I liked the story about Dick and Dan, the doer and writer. Set in Vietnam it made the do or die scenario more relevant. But I guess when you actually think of it the same can be said anywhere with regards to business. Perhaps this was TP’s point, precisely.

Thank you for your service, TP. Reading the interview I couldn’t help but to think of my dad who was a medic in the Korean War. Although he did not carry a gun, I’d suspect that his experience was just as harrowing. He never spoke of his time in the war—never. But I have asked other medics from the Vietnam War who confirmed my suspicion. My father was a gentle intelligent man, not wanting to kill others. But I can only imagine the horror he saw and internalized as a young man. Thanks again.

How was the eel, by the way? I see you didn’t have the pigeon, a delicacy in London I suspect?

Posted by Judith Ellis at November 22, 2008 7:19 PM

Mike - If you put some cool tunes with your list and a nifty story line set in a large city in America or London you might have a major hit the likes of Happy Feet. But the tunes are really important. Are you into funky music? I appreciate your words.

Posted by Judith Ellis at November 22, 2008 7:24 PM

The eel was lovely, as was the pigeon (Tom had fish). Impossible to say whether the pigeon was a true Cockney (Londoner), as try as I could I couldn't get a comment out of it.
Thanks for reading and responding. It was a huge pleasure to meet Tom.

Posted by Stefan Stern at November 24, 2008 7:16 AM

Thank you, Stern, for the interview. I am most happy to be a registered FT reader now. Lunch with the FT is a good series. I have read a few other interviews of non-business persons and they are really good too. Toni Morrison is one of my favorite authors and I really enjoyed her interview as well as the one with His High Highness the Aga Khan. The interviewer was pretty brave and funny too. Bravery might be a bit of a trait, as there seems to be a fair amount of chutzpah in many of the interviews. You guys do good work. Thanks Again!

Posted by Judith Ellis at November 24, 2008 8:49 AM

No disrespect, Mr. Stefan. The desired handle on with your name above was mistakenly not added.

Posted by Judith Ellis at November 24, 2008 8:57 AM