Comments

Great quotes. Thank you much. They're needed today. Embedded in both quotes seems to be the necessity of being fearless. But being fearless is not the absence of fear, it's moving forward in spite if it.

The conscious thought of moving forward in spite of our fear of failure or our desire for perfection seems to create magic.

Here is the great German writer Johann Wolfgang Goethe on the subject: "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."

Failures and mistakes that lead to "genuis, power and magic" require beginning often in uncertainty.

We're good at beginning and beginning again. This I've done a lot.

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 5, 2009 2:29 PM

and over at flickr, a photographer wonders: "Do you ever end up liking some of your technically inferior frames the best?"

http://is.gd/eCOd

Posted by erik at January 5, 2009 3:07 PM

As good as it gets!!!

Pastor Rick Warren (Saddleback Church) will speak at Barack Obama's Inauguration - could this be the start of a new 'culture of innovation' within US politics?

As good as it gets???

There are 20,000 Israeli troops fighting on The Gaza Strip - where is the 'culture of innovation' to fix this inter-generational issue?

Welcome to 2009....(to be continued)

Richard.

Posted by Richard Lipscombe at January 5, 2009 5:01 PM

Tom - great quotes. When John Frusciante recorded the guitar parts on the first Red Hot Chili Peppers album, he had all the parts down pat before he went in to the studio. When he came back after his "absence", he realized that learning his parts was the worst thing he could do when making an album. The most beautiful parts come from mistakes and exploration. Great stuff!

Posted by steve cunningham at January 5, 2009 5:16 PM

"Competitive advantage" - hilarious - more like critical meltdown! Tom - in a time of 18% approval rating of your Democratic Congress - they must fail forward ever faster to surf the age of your "Greatest Corruption Generation"! Thanks for the innovative reminder of failings & trying to romanticize liberal mistakes - bravo! :>)

Posted by Contraire at January 5, 2009 6:20 PM

mistake=impact=consequence=excuse=learning=pah!

Posted by patrick at January 6, 2009 6:03 AM

As a musician I appreciate Steve's comment. Having a background in opera the interesting thing is that even when you have to sing what's on the printed page, save those operas from the Bel Canto period, there remains the necessity of creating the music anew each time the role or aria is performed. Maria Callas was pure genius at this. By sheer musical and dramatic interpretation she created the role anew every time. She sang a lot of Bel Canto and other styles too. By the way, Bel Canto, the period of beautiful singing, was a vehicle to showcase the voice. (Back in the day approval or disapprove was immediate. Singers were met with tomatoes or rose petals. How's that for immediate customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction?!)

The same, I guess can be said about the necessity of innovation (a kind of improvisation of trial and error) in the business world. There is the necessity here to begin anew without constrictive preconceived notions of how things are to be done while moving within a certain necessary structure. It's like singing Bel Canto arias, where the use of continuous improvisation to showcase the voice is obligatory for a job well done. Here coloratura, improvisation with the use of extensive ornamentation and fast scales, is not on the printed page but within the same tonality. Singing coloratura was always risky but thrilling and exciting for the singer and audience.

Business seems similar to music. As music needs improvisation and dramatic impetuses to breathe, business needs continuous innovation to live. TP says, "Innovate or Die."

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 6, 2009 9:30 AM

Alas, there are times when I think the days of this Blog are numbered. I have tried assiduously to avoid being just another invective-strewn political Blog, much as I enjoy the best and worst of the political blogs, from far right to far left. Since economics is politics, and economic issures are paramount at the moment, the management-business-politics line is sometimes blurry.

As I look at this set of comments, I must admit I am befuddled. I can imagine nothing much less political than the assertions made in this Post by Geoff Moore and the late Robert Altman. So if these true innocents can bring forth mindless political invective, hope dwindles. What in God's name does Moore's comment on the role of failure in innovation in Silicon Valley or Altman's take on extra takes have to do with the apparent popularity rating of a Congress that isn't even in session yet?

We shall see ...

Posted by tom peters at January 6, 2009 9:37 AM

Tom - by creating a blog and allowing comments, you open what has always been a sprawling, eclectic and insightful dialog on a diverse set of topics to everyone. You don't control what is posted, so we all separate the wheat from the chaff when we read these. The give and take has always been enjoyable.

Your quotes are well taken. But as I recall, you managed to capture the same thoughts in four words: "Ready, Fire, Aim. Repeat."

Posted by Bruce at January 6, 2009 9:51 AM

Tom - your Blog is – and always has been - a fantastic source of learning. One aspect of the learning - as Bruce puts so well – is the ability we develop, over time, to ‘sort the wheat from the chaff.’ Because your Blog is an open and public forum that you do not moderate there will always be frustration about some content. I know your intention is to offer this forum in the spirit of openness, constructive debate and learning and as a 'commenter' since its inception I thank you for it.

Posted by Trevor Gay at January 6, 2009 10:11 AM

A little fear is healthy - otherwise there would never be courage. However, that said, nobody ever got to success by being safe. (Hmmm...I feel a blog post coming on...;-)

As for the totally irrelevant political comments on what isn't a political blog post - ah well. That's the problem with a free and open blog. It's a sure bet that the nastier the comment - the less likely the person would actually say such things to your face. ("Romanticize liberal mistakes?" What the???)

Some of my favorite Tom P posts are the quotes and references to great books. Great perspective and reminders. Thanks, as always.

Posted by Mary Schmidt at January 6, 2009 10:30 AM

TP - The days of strict demarcation of most things are soooooo over. Your blog shall continue to be prosperous and have long life. Your posts are a constant source of inspiration for which thank you seems rather inadequate.

I completely agree with Mary about "totally irrelevant political comments on which isn't a political blog post." But I also appreciate that such are not blocked or deleted. That speaks well for the team here. Thank you.

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 6, 2009 1:32 PM

I loved the quotes, Tom. Over the last few years I've gotten more and more worried about the need to have everything right the first time out. Companies I've worked for and with don't budget either time or money for experiments. The result is that when we try new things someone wins and someone else loses and that means that efforts are more likely to be defended or attacked than analyzed.

Posted by Wally Bock at January 6, 2009 3:01 PM

1st - comments I make are about the comments here & not the people or names attached to the comments - the people may be avatars & me too for all we know! :>)

2nd - please scan the TP! Wire Service 1st 2 articles of today - this from the 2nd one (Tom's Greatest Corruption Generation & pay for play crowd knows no bounds - that is the real as "Good as it Gets! That is the real "failing & mistakes culture" thank you very much!:

"AMERICANS enter the New Year in a strange new role: financial lunatics.

We’ve been viewed by the wider world with mistrust and suspicion on other matters, but on the subject of money even our harshest critics have been inclined to believe that we knew what we were doing.

They watched our investment bankers and emulated them: for a long time now half the planet’s college graduates seemed to want nothing more out of life than a job on Wall Street. This is one reason the collapse of our financial system has inspired not merely a national but a global crisis of confidence.

GOOD GOD, the world seems to be saying, if they don’t know what they are doing with money, who does?"

Soon Malcolm will have a new book (with a chapter) about how if Tom's mom was Jamaican he'd be the exiting president January 19th - the pay for play president! >:)

Posted by Contraire at January 6, 2009 8:30 PM

When I was 13, in 1972, I became mesmerized by Jethro Tull's new album, Thick as a Brick. I was amazed at how the entire album came together as one, integrated piece. I was amazed at how they organized the whole 40 minute piece so well. Thick as a Brick was one of the key pieces of music that got me interested in music composition, which I studied in college.

I just listened to an interview the other day with the members of Jethro Tull, talking about the making of Thick as a Brick. What I learned was that the project started out as an album of individual songs, with the band's leader, Ian Anderson, frantically writing music in the morning for that day's session. The overall contiguous, integrated concept emerged through iterations and creative twists and turns as the band collaborated in the studio.

Planning doesn't mean mapping out each step. It means being so in tune with what your doing and what you want to be that you can create as you go, and it all comes out well in the end.

Posted by Steve Yastrow at January 6, 2009 8:52 PM

Then again...perhaps the IP address of some should be blocked.

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 6, 2009 9:25 PM

According to Woody Allen, Uncle Sam had an orchestra.
Somewhere before Sarbanes Oxley someone must have noticed a seizure in the band. Be it classical or jazz.
Integrity is vital, and moral absolutes seem to be vital, too.
Now talent and improvisation, the garage as a weapon, to mention Disney an Bill & Dave, are also fundamental, but everybody seems to agree that some rules on some specific aspects must be respected.
Transparency in this particular point may save the day, if people can undestand what went wrong.

Posted by GB at January 7, 2009 8:56 AM

Happy New Year. On the role of failure, I couldn't agree more. I wrote the following back in September about (the project I am running) Massar and "Massar-ness".

We have started a very basic and simple excellence programme inside the project. The aim, and method, is to get everyone without exception to think about what excellent means for just one element of their work, then to find a way to work towards it, and then expand from there. We discussed this at a team meeting recently and I suggested one component of excellence - for us - was Massar-ness, doing things in a way that complemented and reinforced Massar's values. Which of course prompted some reflection on what Massar-ness was. viagra 800 mg

I had chatted earlier with the senior team about this, and to some extent the results were as you might have expected. Massar-ness was seen as including attributes such as - collaborative, involving, inspiring, fun, celebratory, learning. But there was one element which struck me as both different and very defining of Massar in its Syrian context - being unafraid to fail. Fear of failure, both individually and organisationally, is completely corrosive. It inhibits an essential characteristic of creativity, in which interim failure is such an innate contributor to eventual success that it has not only to be accepted, but welcomed and sought out.

In Syria, avoidance of failure is culturally embedded in young people and their parents by the very traditional school system. So one of the most important things Massar can provide for them is a space where failure is okay, where they can learn from it and recognise its value. Failure happens; it's how we go on from it that defines us. And that is true of us as a team too. We are doing new things, often they are going to be messy, and sometimes they won't work. That's fine. That's what we want. That's Massar.

Posted by Rob at January 7, 2009 9:30 AM

Judith, I agree with you here! :>)

Posted by Bruce at January 7, 2009 10:08 AM

We would never block. (Never say never.) It does seem, per several comments, that the way we read now is to simply ignore what doesn't interest us, not fret about it, and attend to what does interest us. It's jumpy as hell, for us engineers, but seems to work. I am always interested when some set of rants is in full flower that someone will jump in with a marvelous comment refering back to a simple comment 15 comments ago that is totally unrelated to the current rant. Of course that's what I do 99% of the time; I comment on whatever I want to comment on and don't give much thought to what immediatedly precedes my remark. I guess that's why we all have ADD.

Posted by tom peters at January 7, 2009 10:24 AM

Who has ADD??? OK! :-)

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 7, 2009 10:32 AM

Happy New Year, Rob! Thank you for your words. It is incredibly interesting how culture outside the workplace affects how things are done inside, especially when there is a regime of mistrust. It is also interesting how our families and communities shape who we are, both in good and not so good ways, in the workplace and outside of it.

As adults we weigh the things which were significant in families and communities and in the culture at large and release those things that may be inhibitive; we especially have this choice in more open societies. Even in other societies I am sure there is a variance of the same. People are the same.

But there is no this is just who I am when who I am at home or work negatively impacts others; there is no just me-ness.

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 7, 2009 11:15 AM

'I am always interested when some set of rants is in full flower that someone will jump in with a marvelous comment refering back to a simple comment 15 comments ago that is totally unrelated to the current rant.'

'Thriving on Chaos' still rules Tom :-)

Trevor
Proud ADD sufferer!

Posted by Trevor Gay at January 7, 2009 12:49 PM

I receive the words of Tom Peters regarding blocked messages and did not mean in any way to be presumptuous or directive in my comment. I was responding as a community member, perhaps not very well.

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 7, 2009 5:29 PM

"On Second Thought ..." Sharon Begley in the current Newsweek article linked to my name below - to me fits the thread here:

"But if you are allowed to change your mind, you ruminate on both the positive & negative aspects of the choice, which makes you less happy."

For most I'd say that is true - whereas I try to live in a discomfort zone closer to the Truth - whereas political party members seldom stray from the party line - because that is their happiness - the "happiness" of not having to change their mind - is that not mindless & perhaps the self-destructive madness of liberal thought with no discipline to do the right thing right?

Posted by Contraire at January 7, 2009 6:38 PM

Judith, my comment was a general reflection on my part. You may in part have triggered it, but you are not the target.

Posted by tom peters at January 8, 2009 3:09 PM

Thank you much, TP. My last comment was actually in response to an email I received. Just wanted to be clear to the community that it was meant for a discussion of negativity here and not directive by any means. Better clarity than confusion. Thanks again!

Posted by Judith Ellis at January 8, 2009 9:42 PM