"Creativity-by definition-comes from mixing things up." Tom Peters
I'm in London. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in deep doo-doo. He shook hands in public with bloody dictator Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Caught out, he complained that, well, the light had been bad. (All press pics as clear as a bell.) Is the lesson, "Don't shake hands with wretches?" No! No! And NO!! The lesson ... THE LESSON ... is don't be a total jerk and engage in a clumsy cover-up.
Foul up. Fess up. Fast. Fastidiously.
SHIT HAPPENS.
SHIT HAPPENS TO YOU AND ME BECAUSE WE SOMETIMES DO STUPID SHIT.
WE RARELY GET IN TROUBLE FOR THE SHIT THAT HAPPENS AS A RESULT OF THE STUPID SHIT WE DO.
WE OFTEN GET IN TROUBLE FOR THE STUPID SHIT WE DO TO AVOID TELLING ABOUT THE SHIT THAT HAPPENED BECAUSE OF THE STUPID SHIT WE DID.
MESSAGE.
FOUL UP.
FESS UP.
FAST.
FASTIDIOUSLY. (Tell the Whole Truth.)
TO ANYONE YOU CAN FIND TO FESS UP TO.
BOSSES.
SUBORDINATES.
THE GUY AT THE BAR.
OR IN THE WEIGHT ROOM.
THEN GET ON WITH LIFE.
I am not a moralist.
I am not arguing that "telling the truth is a ... GOOD THING. (Though I generally think it is.)
I am arguing that telling the truth ASAP is a ... USEFUL-PRAGMATIC-CAREER ENHANCING THING TO DO ... BECAUSE THE BOOGEYMAN IS GOING TO GET YOU IF YOU DON'T. (I.e. bloggers cornering Dan Rather. Rather has a habit of being chased by weird people, come to think of it.)
And, actually, people think it's "cool" when you/me tell the truth—foul up, fess up, fast, fastidiously. (Soooo Cool, that maybe you should fess up to things you haven't done?) (Just a thought.)
Seriously: PEOPLE HAVE VAST RESERVOIRS OF FORGIVENESS FOR SINS INCLUDING STUPID SINS ... AND ARE THIN-SKINNED AS ALL GET OUT ABOUT EVASIVENESS AND CONVOLUTED EXPLANATIONS.
("It depends on what the meaning of 'is' is.")
"I screwed up with the customer" beats (by a country mile): "We lost the customer because the customer's people tripped all over themselves and couldn't come to a decision ... blah blah blah."
Or: "THE LIGHTS IN THE ROOM WERE TOO LOW BY WHICH TO SEE MURDEROUS DICTATORS." (Hey, even, "I like the old brute, used to go water skiing with him ..." would have been better. Right?)
FOUL UP.
FESS UP.
FAST.
FASTIDIOUSLY.
My colleague Dini Coffin (Enterprise Media) faxed me a Cingular ad on September 21st, with a cover note that cryptically said, "What's wrong with this picture?" The ad's tagline was "4 of the top 5 commercial banks use Cingular for wireless email." Below was a pic of 5 folks—4 doing wireless email, 1 obviously not playing. Dini's point: ALL 5 WERE MALES! Her follow-up line, "I guess Cingular doesn't want women buying their services." Go Dini! Hisses & Boos to Cingular! (Idiots!)
Three hours later I was reading my latest issue of BusinessWeek, and came across an ad for "The BusinessWeek 50 Forum," an October 7 event billed as the "one event that can make a difference in your pursuit of high performance." There are 15 "best of the best" speakers listed (including Jack Welch and Starbucks honcho Howard Schultz), plus two BusinessWeek moderators. One of the BW folks is Senior Editor Mary Kuntz, but among the "content providers" ... 15 out of 15 are ... MALES. My reaction: Sick!
Or, rather ... IDIOTS!
NB: Welch was never all that great on putting women in top slots at GE, plus he's retired. But in my opinion Starbucks' Schultz is insulting all the women in his company by speaking—he should opt out. (We'll perhaps do next week's poll on "Should Schultz Speak"? What do you think?)
[Note: We re-dated this entry, originally posted 22 September, to make it move up our page because it's generating such a great discussion. Join in!]
Tom Peters posted this on 09/29/2004.
Whenever I ask a new or prospective client to describe the issues that confront his or her business, they inevitably describe forces from the outside world that stand in the way of success. These forces could include competitive threats, fickle customers, economic conditions, intransigent unions, the weather—you name it.
Later, once we have gotten deep into our work together, an interesting thing happens ...
Tom's been encouraging us to think about implementation. Please have a look at a new article I've written that helps us address the biggest obstacle to implementation: Ourselves.
Steve Yastrow posted this on 09/29/2004.
"Corporate graveyards all over the world are filled with companies that have innovated themselves right out of business." So says Sergio Zyman, bestselling marketing expert and former chief marketing officer at Coca-Cola in his new book, Renovate Before You Innovate: Why Doing the New Thing Might Not Be the Right Thing. Zyman singles out Tom and other "innovation gurus" and warns against adopting "Destruction is cool. Innovation rules!" as a growth strategy. The book comes out next week; perhaps Tom will add it to his reading list and we can look forward to his response.
Linda Fatherree posted this on 09/28/2004.
Three days without Blogging. I began to get the Keyboard DTs!
But I'm back.
First things first ...
My Mom's birthday was terrific! Thanks to those site visitors who took the time to say Happy Birthday! (I passed it along—though my efforts to explain Blogging left something to be desired.) (P.S. Don't you get tired of the hated-red-line that shows up under "blog" and "blogging" in MSWord?)
Query: Ever seen 95 candles, plus one to grow on, on a moderate-sized cake? (We nearly needed a burn permit, as we call it in Vermont.)
Energy/Enthusiasm/Sparkle is all! There are indeed aches and pains at 95. (Understatement.) Yet my Mom looked 35, not 95, on the All-important Vitality Index. (Even considering my bias.) The sparkle in her eyes lit the room! (And her passion for the Orioles is unabated, too—she insisted on updates from the TV room regularly.) And I know you were dying to know: A lifelong, active Democrat, she likes neither Kerry nor Bush, but is an admirer of Laura B.
The Perfect Gift: My personal and professional pal, Harry Rhoads, founder of the Washington Speakers Bureau (which represents me) ("exclusively," as he's fond of adding), came bearing Gift. THE GIFT! Harry/WSB represents Willard Scott, and HR brought an autographed WS picture inscribed, "Evelyn, five years to go!" Susan (my wife) had just given my Mom a picture of me, which was prominently displayed. Upon arrival of Willard S's pic, I vanished in a flash! (Rhoads to Peters: "Humility is a cardinal virtue.")
Notes on Miscellaneous Excellence: The Ford Focus I rented at BWI had a comfortable back seat—and an ENORMOUS trunk for a small car. Nice design job! I'd almost move to Bethesda MD (my brother-in-law Alec and sister-in-law Lee Sargent live there) just for Balducci's/Sutton Place, the premier food emporium. Food: Amazing! Service: Amazing! Employee ATTITUDE: Off the charts! On the way home to Albany/VT, a youngster had a seizure on my SWA flight—hats off to the crew's quick, but not panicked response, and the way they handled the rest of us.
Can't wait for 100! Go, Mom!
Three loud cheers to Newsweek for its HUGE special report, "Health for Life." Issue: September 27, 2004. Meditation Rules! Yoga Rules! Breathing Right Rules! And, increasingly, we have the hard science to prove it! This is a "must read"—and a Great Reminder when one is on the way to Mom's 95th!
As those who read my "Summer of Soul" know, I am a True Believer. We must Take Charge of our own healthcare!* (*Don't you think it's odd that we spend ages picking a "contractor" to perform a trivial biz activity—but accept the doc-next-door as our health guide?) We must find docs whole buy the Wellness Act! Docs whose Last Resort, not first resort, is Chemicals! Coincidentally, my 2004 physical was the day after my Mom's 95th. Thanks to the sorts of stuff the Newsweek report touts, I came off both my Univasc (hypertension) and Lipitor (cholesterol). I've had hypertension since age 17 at least. (My girl friend's dentist Dad snuck me hypertension drugs so I could get my blood pressure down—and get into the Navy.) Thence, at 61, I have emerged from a 40-year "intractable" problem courtesy a belated focus on prevention-over-patchup: breathing, diet, etc—in COMBO! As to the passing of Lipitor, my "bad" cholesterol is charted at 57! BREATH ON! FLAX SEED RULES! WELLNESS FANATICS UNITE! NIX "FIX IT." EMBRACE "PREVENT IT."
Tom Peters posted this on 09/28/2004.
Part of my services at this site: Parade stats on the ... Amazing China Story. Between 2000 and 2003, foreign companies opened 60,000 factories in China.* That's right ... SIXTY THOUSAND. Source: Edward Gresser, the Progressive Policy Institute/Washington, courtesy the Wall Street Journal/09.27.2004.
(*I keep re-reading the WSJ article, because I'm sure I read it wrong. 60,000?? 3 years?? Nope. Got it right.)
An election analysis in Sunday's Washington Post has wider applicability, as I see it. "To win this race," Kenneth Baer wrote in the Post, "Kerry needs to stop focusing on Election Day and start thinking about his would-be presidency's last day. What does he want his legacy to be? When sixth-graders in the year 2108 read about the Kerry presidency, what does he want the one or two sentences that accompany his photo to say?"
LEGACY!
Beautiful word!
Forget the election. Instead consider your current assignment as head of a 7-person branch in an IS/IT department. (Or whatever.) Suppose you move on in 18 months. WHAT WILL THE ONE OR TWO MEMORABLE SENTENCES THAT SUMMARIZE YOUR "TERM" BE?
Please!
Take this exercise seriously!
Think (Obsess) Legacy!
Consider this a variation on our recent debate over the number of priorities a person can have. Well, I'm settling it.
One!
Here's the deal. It's 5 a.m. (09.28.2004) as I write. I have a day crammed full of miscellaneous (that dreaded word!) activities ahead, ending with a flight from Boston/Logan to London/Heathrow. But the ... THE ... Pressing Question is: WHAT WILL (in One Sentence) THE LEGACY OF THIS DAY HAVE BEEN FOR TP?
Yes, I believe a Single Day can have as much of a "legacy" as a lifetime. In fact that had better be the case! Why? Because the day ... stretching out before me ... filled (at the moment) with limitless opportunities ... is ... ALL I HAVE!
Right?
Just another day?
Hardly!
THIS IS IT!
All those things ... grand and mundane ... I want to do with my life will either be abetted or thwarted or put off or ignored in the course of ... THIS ONE, UNFURLING DAY.
So: What (One Sentence) will Today's Legacy be ... for You?
My one sentence. (See above.)
EVERY (big word) "THING" I DO TODAY WILL HAVE A DIRECT, UNMISTAKABLE ONE-TO-ONE RELATIONSHIP TO MY MEGA-LEGACY-TO-BE: NAMELY, INDUCING PEOPLE TO MAKE EACH DAY ANOTHER SPRIGHTLY STEP ON A TECHNICOLOR ADVENTURE TOWARD "WOW" IN WORK AND LIFE.
If No "Wow," No Go!
Does "it" Pop?
Does "it" Sparkle?
Does "it" make you Grin?
Is "it" ... WOW?
If "it" (grand or mundane) isn't WOW ... re-do it! Or don't do it!
This is ... Your Day.
Not "their" day.
This Day belongs ... ULTIMATELY ... to You.
Not "them."
Cubicle slaves Unite!
Technicolor Titans rejoice!
Throw off the shackles of Conformity!
Just say/shout a throaty "No!" to Non-WOW!
So ...
WOW!
Now!
(No bull. This is do-able.)
Three enterprises have of late really turned me on. See my summary descriptions thereof in our new Special PP Presentation, Ex2004: Excellence Found. Hint: My new No.1 is headquartered in Montreal ...
Note: This presentation later expanded to cover four enterprises, and became X04.
Tom Peters posted this on 09/28/2004.
Here's a quiz from Mail Frontier to test your "phishing radar." The article at darwinmag.com says that 28% of U.S. adults inaccurately identify phishing or "spoof" emails, which is why the number of phishing attacks keeps rising. (The Anti-Phishing Work Group reports a 52% increase in unique phishing attacks in just one month.) So take the quiz, or pass it on as a warning to someone more gullible than you are.
Target #1: Me!
Stand in front of the mirror ... Smiling. Saying ... "Thank you." Doing ... Jumping Jacks. Whatever. (See below.)
Fact: "It" begets "it."
Fact: "Not it" begets "It-less-ness."
Smiling begets a warmer (work, home) environment.
Thanking begets an environment of mutual appreciation.
Enthusiasm (those Jumping Jacks) begets enthusiasm.
Love begets love.
Energy begets energy.
Wow begets Wow.
Optimism begets Optimism. (I've been devouring Martin Seligman lately.)
Honesty begets honesty.
Caring begets caring.
Listening begets engagement.
Etc.
Etc.
How do you "motivate others"? Take a B-school course on Leadership?
No! (You were joking, right?)
Answer: Motivate yourself first.
By hook or by crook.
Call it: Leadership By Unilateral Attitude Adjustment.
Are there things that can be labeled "circumstances"?
Of course.
Do bad things happen to good people?
Doubtless.
Is there such a thing as "powerlessness"?
No!
No!
No!
Take charge now!
Task one: Work on ourselves.
Relentlessly!
If you can figure out how to go to work with a smile today, I (trained as I was as an engineer, and indeed carrying the baggage of an MBA from a "quant school") will guarantee you that you will not only "have a better day," but will (eventually) infect others! (And, uh, "productivity" will soar ... once "they"—your boss, your peers, your subordinates—get over the shock.)
John Kerry looks exhausted. (He has every right to be.)
But his look of exhaustion, more than words or deeds or shrewd analytic explications, dramatically reduces the odds that I'll go to headquarters tonight and man the phone banks.
So it goes, whether the issue is the fate of a nation, the progress of a project team or the likelihood of getting your way with a reluctant Motor Vehicles Department clerk.
"Effective Leadership" (and "Gettin' Things Done" in general) Step # 1: Work on yourself!
Smile!
Enthuse!
Thank!
Wow!
Win!
Now!
May not blog this weekend. Busy celebrating my Mom's 95th birthday in Annapolis. She's a pistol!
Stats from Tom Friedman in an interview on MSNBC, regarding international patents from 1980 to 2000:
The 280 million citizens of Arab countries: 270 international patents
South Korea: 16,000 international patents
Hewlett-Packard: 11 international patents per day
Is there anyone who thinks this is insignificant?
What causes it?
How does it hurt these 280 million people?
Is so, how can it be remedied?
Tom speaks to Astral Media in Montreal, 23.Sept.2004. See the slides.
Cathy Mosca posted this on 09/23/2004.
MAKE THE CALL! TODAY! NOW!
Only a sad few seek out contention. Then there's another group (I'm a Charter Member) that goes to almost any length to avoid it ... and routinely lets little, salvageable messes fester into big, intractable ones.
Answer: MAKE THE CALL! TODAY! NOW!
In short, a 5-minute call made right now to deal with a "slightly bruised" ego or a "minor" misunderstanding can avoid a situation tomorrow that leads to divorce court, a lost (major) client, an employee law suit, etc.
I've learned that invariably "there was a moment" when the situation (DAMN NEAR ANY "SITUATION") was reversible. In fact, easily reversible. But pride or embarrassment or unwillingness to further mess up an already nasty day led to "just one more day's" evasion & delay ... and that day becomes a second day ...
No, I've not joined a Busted Relationships 12-step Program. But I have done one, for me, little Big Thing. As part of my morning priority-setting meditation I go to an item on my desktop labeled "NOT TOMORROW!" It's simply a list of names, or perhaps situations, that I must remain conscious of ... and work on in the course of the day. I try and confront myself brutally about what I'm putting off. AND ADD TO MY LIST ONE (no more than one ... do-ability is paramount) UNPLEASANT CALL I MUST MAKE TODAY. We're all different, but I've found that just having the damned "NOT TOMORROW!" de facto flashing at me is a spur to action. (Incidentally, it's right next to another doc/icon labeled "VITAL SIGNS"—that's the one, a PP slide, with red on black, that heralds the results of my most recent weigh-in and the number of consecutive days I've exercised.)
By the way (we all know this, too), don't let me make this sound so grim. I find that in 9 of 10 cases the call goes far better than imagined (maybe it's just relief?); not only does it "deal with" a thorny problem, but it also often launches a positive trajectory for a fraying relationship; and it always makes me feel better about myself, makes me feel a bit of a hero, actually.
MAKE THE CALL. TODAY. NOW.
Join the thread around the 0920 post "Alas (Barf)." It's a great discussion about the presence and absence of "Wow" in the World of Work and beyond!
Christopher Buckley is one of the funniest (and shrewdest) writers alive, founding editor of Forbes FYI and author, among other things, of the anti-PC Thank You for Smoking. He's at it again, with a fearsomely un-PC, fearsomely funny, trenchantly observant tome called Florence of Arabia, about a fictional State Department factotum who decides on her own to liberate women in the Middle East.
All I can say is ... I LOVE IT!
Tom Peters posted this on 09/22/2004.
THE RAREST OF GIFTS ...
The rarest of gifts: THANK YOU!
Alas, it (a nod of appreciation, a hastily penned, 2-line T-note) it is so rare. (And thence ... ever so powerful!)
Among TP's favorite quotes: "The two most powerful things in existence: a kind word and a thoughtful gesture."—Ken Langone, VC and Home Depot founder. "The deepest human need is the need to be appreciated."—psychologist William James. "We look for listening, caring, smiling, saying 'Thank you,' being warm."—Colleen Barrett, president, Southwest Airlines, on hiring criteria.
Think: THANK YOU POWER! (And "power" it is!)
Hints: (1) Make it "permanent"—send a note. (2) HANDWRITTEN notes beat emails!!!!!!! (3) This applies equally at age 18 in a "powerless" job, as well as at age 48 as Honcho. (4) Do this especially when you "don't have time"—at the end of a stressful day. (5) Make it a "formal" habit—do it at the end of the day, say, every 2 or 3 days. (6) If you can't think of anything or anyone to say "Thank you" to—I suggest you go see a shrink.
(Remember: "Performance" stems from Engagement ... Encouragement ... Passion ... Appreciation ... Public recognition ... Respect. "Thanking" is a big part of that.)
Uh, Thank You for taking the time to read this!
Tom Peters posted this on 09/22/2004.
A colleague and I are signed up for an adult education course to learn Adobe InDesign software, which we'll be using when we work with Tom's publisher, Dorling Kindersley, on a set of spin offs (the Brits say "spin downs") of Re-imagine! Show up at the computer lab last evening. 12 students. 10 females. 2 males (me and my colleague). Teacher a female as well. It gets you thinking. Our friend Dan Pink (Free Agent Nation) is working on a new book titled A Whole New Mind (coming in February from Riverhead Books) and one of his points is that the M.F.A. (Master of Fine Arts) is the new M.B.A. People who are learning the design technologies are the ones who will be creating the visual images (thus stories) of our culture. And I realize I'm basing this on a ridiculously small (statistically irrelevant) sample, but, still, you gotta wonder.
One other thing. The teacher told us how glad she was to be teaching people who really wanted to be there. Because her day job is as a corporate trainer where she'll ask her students why they're there and she's actually heard people respond, "I don't know, my manager told me to show up."
Talk about not-Wow.
Interesting article from U.S. News & World Report. Those who support John Kerry are frustrated with his campaign, and those that support Bush are elated with Kerry's campaign. This article describes, essentially, how Kerry's brand is muddled through a series of disjointed, dissonant messages, while GWB's messages are much more in sync.
Irony ... in 1992 Clinton crafted a very clear brand while Bush the elder couldn't weave together a clear and compelling story.
Steve Yastrow posted this on 09/22/2004.
PRONOUN POWER ...
Was editing a trainer's manual, replete with suggested dialogue, for a friend today. Good stuff! (Content: A+) But one "small" thing caught my attention. Most of the scripts for trainers addressing their charges read like this: "I [Trainer] suggest that you [Client/Student] approach the Objection as follows ..." What's my problem? Simple. I/trainer am the Subject, the teller of truth. And the Student/Client is the Object, the recipient of my pearls of wisdom.
NO! NO! NO!
Here's the Big Word I want us to obsess on in today's Tip: WE! (And: US!)
Here, for example, is my re-write of the above script: "We often hear the following Objection blah blah blah. What if it weren't an objection at all? What if it provides us with an Opportunity to get our oar in about this blah blah blah [product benefit, say] ..." Note, obviously, in my rewrite the three uses of "we" and "us." From long experience, I suggest that this changes the Fundamental Nature of Community-Interaction between the Instructor and the Student. Instead of being an imparter-of-knowledge to the Unwashed, I/trainer am now a fellow-toiler-in-the-trenches hunting for a fruitful solution to "our" shared dilemma. Right?
Student and teacher are now—via Pronoun Power!—engaged in a Joint Venture toward Excellence. (Or some such.)
This trick (more on who gets "tricked" in a moment) was taught me by my first McKinsey partner-mentor back in 1974. "Tom," he said, none too gently, "when you address the Client, never fail to use the word 'We.' As in "The way we might get at this blah blah blah.' The idea is it's us and the Client foraging mightily as a Team in hot pursuit of the truth."
I'll be the first to admit that this is indeed a "trick." But beginning in those McKinsey days, I contend that it was me who was mostly tricked! I used "we" and "us" enough ... and I began to feel I was on the Client's Team, not vice versa.
To this day, 30 years later, by instinct, I religiously use "We" and "Us"—and a team of wild horses could not elicit "I" or "You."
It is a trick ... and it is a Fundamental Value concerning Groups on Joint Ventures in Quest of Better Understanding.
We agree, right?
NB #1: Also observe, Trick #2, the "religious" capitalization of Client. Another McKinsey fruit that makes a big difference to me.
NB #2: Back to yesterday's Tip on cleanliness. I mentioned in passing, regarding Team Tidy, "sparkling restrooms." I simply want to underscore the idea ... worthy of status as 1 of my 100, in fact. There's no greater giveaway to the I CARE (or don't) query than the status of the Restroom. Movie theater, gas station, McDonald's, $75-an-entrée restaurant ... check out the Restroom. "Messy" gets a C-. "Dirty" gets a D. "Foul" gets an F. (I'd guess 70% of Restrooms get a D or F in my experience.) Give a B- to a "clean" Restroom. And a B+ to a "squeaky clean" Restroom. And reserve the rare A/A+ for the squeaky clean Restroom that becomes "an experience" in and of itself. Great furnishings! Flowers! A (Great) chair in which to take a 30-second respite! Etc.
Once again, I apologize for turning to the sports pages for data. But, you know, I am an "Excellence Freak." Can you believe it? Jerry Rice had caught a pass in every game he played (274) since ... 1 December 1985! YE GADS! ALMOST 20 YEARS! NFL ball is injurious to the body, TO PUT IT MILDLY, but into his 40s Jerry R achieved a Level of Excellence ever-so-rarely seen. WOW! The streak was snapped this past Sunday, but I contend it hangs in there with DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak. (Full disclosure: I'm an avid 49ers-Raiders fan. For us West Coasters, it's allowed to love both hometown teams.)
Tom Peters posted this on 09/21/2004.
FOUR days a week (if humanly possible), 25 weeks running. That's my promise. (Or, at least, my Goal.) One hundred short but (hopefully) sweet Blogs, collectively titled: 100 Ways to Help You Succeed/Make Money. "It" was all triggered by a "trivial" experience this past Saturday ...
THE CLEAN & NEAT TEAM! (TEAM TIDY?)
I've been preaching the "Experience Thing" for a few years. ("Not just a 'Product' or a 'Service,' but an 'Awesome Experience.'") I believe my act. But ...
I was in a giant retail mall last Saturday. Visited a renowned retailer's space. "Experience Marketing"? No one does it better. But ...
THE PLACE WAS A MESS.
Got me thinking. I "go off on" various tacks, like the Experience bit. But let's not forget the Boring Basics along the way! Such as: Clean-Neat Rules! (Or, at least, Messy-Sloppy-Dirty is a Top 5 Turnoff.)
I'm not a "neat freak." To the contrary, I'm a slob. But that's home. Not my profession. I select hotels in large measure based on whether or not they have 1-hour, 24-hours-per-day pressing services. I get paid (very) well for what I do. I don't get paid to show up for a speech looking like I slept in my clothes!
The retail space in question was crowded with customers and visitors. (Good for them.) But it'd gotten very messy in the course of the day. Goods scattered, or at least untidy stacks of goods. Trash on the floor. Boxes stacked unattractively near the checkout desk. Etc. (Etc.) To me the space ... SCREAMED ... "We Don't Give a S___." (I started to use "We don't care." Or: "We don't give a hoot." But that's not it. It is: "WE DON'T GIVE A SHIT.")
There's a lot to Great Retailing, or great whatever. But right near the head of the line is: "WE CARE!" And near the head of the "We care" line is "Looks like a million dollars."
Hence ... THERE IS NO EXCUSE WHATSOEVER FOR SLOPPINESS, UNTIDINESS, LESS THAN S-PA-R-K-L-I-N-G RESTROOMS, ETC., ETC.
Money-maker Message #1: KEEP IT CLEAN! Kudos to ... TEAM TIDY. Brickbats to ... the Dirty Dozen.
Was doing a radio interview earlier today. Heard the following slip from my lips: "I'd rather be 'interesting' than 'right.'" My remark launched a lengthy exchange. Upon second thought ... I'd say exactly the same thing again.
Am I nuts?
Maybe. But: Maybe not. My shtick, in these madcap times, is that True Distinction/Dramatic Difference rules! The whole idea of "right" implies that we know what "right" is. And there's my point of departure. I think the old rules and the old paradigms are busted ... Big Time. We need to be playful, to try damn near anything to stand apart from the herd. Hence I personally believe my role—my only reason for being—is to Provoke. I believe that interesting-but-wrong at least triggers a discussion of off-the-beaten-track ideas and projects and approaches. Better, in 2004, to fall flat on your face trying a breakaway from the pack ... than to spend your days on a dab of "continuous improvement" here and a dollop of "Kaizen" there." CI will not defend you from a Wal*Mart or, as an employee, from a Determined Chinese Engineer after your job.
Tom Peters posted this on 09/20/2004.
There are things I'm simply incapable of understanding. And I don't mean quantum mechanics. I took part in a discussion with colleagues about the idea we so cherish: Turning every task, no matter how humble, into a "Wow Project." I think it's possible. And I think it is, moreover, a Minimum Survival Skill in the insane times in which we participate. But, I was told, "Tom, a lot of senior and middle managers flat out don't understand what 'Wow' is."
Ye gads!
Alas, I trust their reports. But ... YE GADS!
What happened? Where did "We" go wrong? (As parents?) (As a society?) How could any idiot not understand the meaning of (AND APPROPRIATENESS OF) "Wow" in the context of Business Process Redesign ... as readily as in an Olympic venue?
Could it be true (TELL ME IT'S NOT SO) that there are human beings who aspire to Less-than-Wow?
"Wow" may not be the universal result (there's many a slip ...) ... but to aspire to less than Wow? Ugh! Fool! Sad soul! Pathetic person! And, no, do not (DO NOT) try to tell me there are people who don't even know what "Wow" ... MEANS!?!?
Aargh!
Tom Peters posted this on 09/20/2004.
My friend the educator Dennis Littky (see my 09.07 Blog on his boffo new book, The Big Picture) reports on graffiti that one of his students left on the side of a teacher's truck: "Teaching = Listening. Learning = Talking."
I love that!
TEACHING = LISTENING.
LEARNING = TALKING.
Same for "bossing," I'd vow. Or how about: "Leading is Listening." Or: "BAD 'leaders' have all the answers. GOOD leaders have the best Questions."
Whatever.
If "engagement" is the heart of education or developing a Wow Team, then there is no doubt that top leader kudos go to the top listeners. Axiom: The best ... ONLY? ... way to truly engage someone is to listen to them. (Right??) And ... Part 2 ... engaged people are ... duh ... ENGAGED ... THAT IS, TALKING.
So, until further notice:
TEACHING = LISTENING.
LEARNING = TALKING.
What do you think? (TALK TO ME! I'M LISTENING!)
I spent the day today with a fascinating guy named Mark Levy, the author of Accidental Genius. Mark has an intriguing concept called "private writing" that involves free, uncensored writing that you mean nobody but yourself to see.
The idea is to get out of your own way and just write non-stop with no editing, no self-judgment and, importantly, no worry about the judgments of other people. This allows you to let your "creative quirks" come out as you see things from different angles. Mark says this process creates wonderful "accidents," resulting in "bursts of exceptional insight, or—genius moments."
Need to generate some new ideas today? Try private writing!
Steve Yastrow posted this on 09/20/2004.
Should the government pay for airline marketing programs?
In the past few years, special lines have appeared at airline security checkpoints, reserved for the "elite" members of airline frequent flyer programs. Is this right? Should government-funded employees give special treatment to the best customers of private companies?
Full disclosure, that may open me up to criticism: I sometimes take advantage of this service. Yesterday, at the American Airlines terminal at O'Hare, I encountered a Disneyworld-esque snaking line at security. I was able to avoid the wait and walk right up to the special taxpayer-funded station reserved for AAdvantage Gold members.
Yeah, I'm confused about whether I should do this or not ... maybe I'm being a hypocrite. But I can tell you this with certainty: I would rather see this go away, and give up my occasional privilege. The big airlines should pay for their own marketing programs.
What do you think?
Steve Yastrow posted this on 09/18/2004.
I love words. Felicitous phrases. There's one I can't get out of my mind. You know, it keeps rolling around and rolling around like a favorite line or two from a song. In this case: "chimera of a moonstruck mind." This hyper-critical phrase was used almost exactly 200 years ago by the "conservative" Federalist newspaper to describe the, in their minds, totally whacky latest move by the hated (by them) Thomas Jefferson. The dastardly deed by the "moonstruck" Jefferson? The Louisiana Purchase ... in retrospect one of the Top 10 All-time Strategic Moves made by an American President. In terms of a near-spontaneous Presidential act which Changed Everything, maybe it's a "Top 1" Strategic Move!
At any rate it reminds me—and I always need reminding—that the decisions that cause the world (of business, politics, whatever) to do backflips are almost always immediately judged as a "chimera of a moonstruck mind." The re-evaluation as genius can take months to years to decades.
Which in turn reminds me, and admittedly it doesn't take much, of my "deep concern" about most MBA programs—and consultants, for that matter. MBA programs, even those that nod in the direction of entrepreneurship, aim to throttle emotional decision making. (The label on the course package reads something like: Advanced Expected Value Analysis, 5 credit hours.) Consultants in turn (many suffering the aftereffects of MBAs!) offer rational, fact-based, "measured" advice. Consider: Hypothetical consultant to Steve Jobs, circa 1980: "Don't mess with IBM, you idiot." Consultants to Sears (on combating Wal*Mart ... this truly happened): "Clean up your business processes." MBA, considering whether or not to join Lewis and Clark on another of Jefferson's "misguided" "chimeras": "I'll take the McKinsey offer instead. I'll go hiking at age 40, when I've put a few mil away."
(AND THE CATCH-22 OF GROUP THINK) ...
Here's a tip of Awesome Value, adapted from James Surowiecki's magnificent The Wisdom of Crowds:
You've got a huge marketing decision to make post haste. (Or a decision about War & Peace if you're, say, President.) You gather 10 experts in the field. Lock them in a room for 72 hours. Ask them to come up with a best estimate of, say, success of a New Product you're close to launching. The process is better than nothing—maybe.
Alternate: Select 10 experts from disparate fields, some closely associated with the decision at hand, some not. Tell each one to stay isolated in his or her individual office, lock and bar the door, turn off all phones and computers—and come up with a best estimate in 72 hours, which will then be emailed to you. You, in turn, average their estimates and take the result as the collective output. This process/result is likely to be ... Solid Gold!
Surowiecki's argument (supported by a ton of evidence and research, from every field you can name and some you can't) is that crowds, even crowds of non-experts, are wise beyond measure. IF JUDGEMENTS ARE TRULY INDEPENDENT ... AND 100% PROTECTED FROM PRESSURE AND GROUP-THINK. It's a lot more complicated than that, of course. (Read the book!) But the second—successful—approach I described is an adaptation of a process Surowiecki reports the U.S. Navy first used in 1968 to find the lost submarine Scorpion. (And, alas, the questionable first approach is not far from the 9/11 Commission's group-think conclusion that centralizing intelligence activities & power in a Mega-bureaucracy with a solo Czar who reports directly to POTUS is the answer to getting piercing, imaginative, independent results that thwart wily, inherently unpredictable terrorists.)
The way I laid this out makes it sound as if you've got to be a Big Cheese to take advantage of it. Not so. At all. You are running a 6-person project team, and you'd like to get an estimate of something or other of monumental importance to your work. Use your network (ever so relatively easy to do in WebWorld), and dig up 5 disparate experts or interesting folks in general, reward them with a dinner for their trouble, and ask them to work solo and send you their Best Guess in 24 hours; you, in turn, process their answers-estimates. (In the lost sub case, experts were betting bottles of Chivas Regal over who would come closest to being right when the job was done.) Just don't gather them in a conference room, real or virtual, and ask for a "consensus view"!
Tom Peters posted this on 09/17/2004.
(OR: Gorging on Junk Food for the Mind) ...
Building on my last Observation, let me get personal. My wife thinks I'm nuts ... or, worse yet, lowbrow. I regularly buy the New York Post and the Daily News. Tabloids! And me, a Stanford MBA!
Well, it's my little version of the "Independent experts" idea above. The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times and the Washington Post are hardly kindred spirits. Or are they? I'd say they are. Their editorial views are surely at odds, but mostly their reporters went to the same ("good") schools and report the news according to the Best Practices (occasional slips notwithstanding). In fact I read all three newspapers religiously. But ... I also "religiously" read the New York Post and Daily News, the Boston Herald, People magazine ... and I never miss Matt Drudge or Andrew Sullivan or 10 to 15 others of their ilk on the Web. What I'm doing (hats off to Mr. Surowiecki) is seeking the "wisdom of crowds." I AM A PROUD (self-righteous, even) "JUNK READER." I figure that skimming Many Disparate Sources beats delving deeply into just one or two of the Perceived (Big Word ... perceived) Best.
I heartily recommend my Gourmand's Junk Food Diet for the Mind!
I happened upon the Entrepreneur Almost Daily blog and thought I'd pass it on. Billed as "Fast News for Fast-Growing Companies," it's composed primarily of summaries of articles from other sources. Recent posts such as "Male-to-Male Sexual Harassment Up," "Are CEOs Villainous?" and "Fridge Wars" are quick reads with links for more detail. It's not about innovative, thought-provoking discussion (no commenting capability) ... just an easy way to get highlights of some interesting stories.
Linda Fatherree posted this on 09/17/2004.
Rolf Jensen is Director of The Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies, one of the world's largest future-oriented think thanks. In the latest Cool Friends interview, he talks to tompeters.com about his book, The Dream Society. Be sure to visit his website, www.dreamcompany.dk, too. It leads the way to putting The Dream Society's ideas into practice. It's very beautiful, and it has an English-language option. Note especially Mr. Jensen's title: Chief Imagination Officer!
Cathy Mosca posted this on 09/16/2004.
I spent last evening making phone calls at the local headquarters of my chosen presidential candidate. The sole purpose of this particular effort is to identify undecided voters for follow-up contact. My assignment was to ask them only one question: Which candidate would you vote for if the election were held today? It was very tempting to try to engage the "undecideds" in a longer conversation, but the folks who said "I won't vote for any of 'em" were the ones I wanted to shake some sense into.
I should add that we're in Ohio, not a state that's already "in the bag" for anyone. This weekend, I'll be knocking on doors and I hope to run into some of those non-voters while I'm out. I'd really like to ask them why they're abdicating their authority.
Linda Fatherree posted this on 09/16/2004.
I LOVE ... India.
I LOVE ... being in a nation very different than my own.
I LOVE ... my country.
I LOVE ... being reminded that my country is not the only country in the world.
I LOVE ... being reminded that there are countries much bigger than mine.
I LOVE ... being reminded that there are countries with much longer histories than mine.
I LOVE ... being reminded that there are people who are as proud of their heritage as I am of mine.
I LOVE ... devouring every word, including the ads and Personals Columns, in other nations' newspapers.
I LOVE ... walking the streets in distant lands. (Motto: Walk-run on the streets. Ditch the Treadmill.)
I LOVE ... being exhausted at the end of the day because I've seen so many new things.
I LOVE ... people who love Americans.
I LOVE ... people who think America is nuts.
I LOVE ... Indian food.
I LOVE ... Indian entrepreneurial energy.
I LOVE ... the insane amount of progress that India has made in the two decades I've been coming here, especially the last six or seven years.
I HATE ... to sleep or otherwise waste a single moment when I'm out of the U.S.A., especially by more than 5,000 miles.
I HATE ... to leave.
Farewell, India.
Tom is in India, on a tear. We're posting three more Special Presentations today—on Education, Healthcare, and Implementation. Tom suggests you take a peek at "The Power & Implementation 34" ... only 9 slides long.
Cathy Mosca posted this on 09/16/2004.
YOU'LL DO THIS MORNING ...
I just read a comment about "roadmaps" and "process maps" and "project management software"—which helps us move from Abstract Strategy to Concrete Action. I am not opposed to "process maps," and certainly acknowledge that you need some damn good PM software to direct Boston's Big Dig. But I want to focus on something "simpler"—and far more important—THE ONE TOOL WHICH WILL MAKE OR BREAK YOUR CAREER.
Namely the ... To-Do List.
I rarely "guarantee" ... but in this case I guarantee that the most important thing you'll do today is to spend some quality time (normally I hate that phrase) on Carefully & "Strategically" Constructing your To-Do List.
Consider these Four Cardinal Principles: (1) Time is more important than money. (It is the only truly constrained resource.) (2) You = Your Calendar. (You are What You Spend Your Time On as much as ... you are what you eat.) (3) "To-Don'ts" are as important, or more important, than "To-Dos." (What's not on the list is perhaps more important than what is.) (4) Your To-Do List must never be more than 4 items long. (Okay, you can have an "errands list" that includes replenishing the stock of toilet paper and such—but the Big Yo Mamma To-Do List must ... MUST ... never run beyond four.)
The To-Do List ... is who you are today! This morning (long ago, I'm still in India, 9.5 time zones from EDT) I woke up, as usual, "with a hundred things to do"—every damn one of them important. But also as usual I meditated for 10 minutes to calm my dream-induced frenzy (malaria pills), and then spent 15 quiet minutes on my list. Many of my "crucial" "priorities" are not in fact consistent with my dreams for the next six months. They must mercilessly be edited out of my day—now. Some stuff that's unavoidable is crap that I, like you, must do for "political reasons." (There's always a backside or two to kiss. Welcome to Life 101.) But figuring where I want to spend a crucial 3-hour block that's "open" from 7AM to 10AM is all-important. So, I made my choices and made my list. (Three items.) It sat and sits dead-center on my Windows desk-top. (Sometimes I ink it on my right hand—I'm left handed.)
Of course my day did not go according to plan! For heaven's sake, whose does? But, still, I did zealously hold on to 2.5 of those crucial 3 hours for the project that matters to me most. And the bigger point is that the Process of early meditation-TD List construction subconsciously guided my day in the hours that followed.
So you're welcome to "process map" until you're blue in the face, or whatever. Just don't screw up the To-Do List. It really is "all you have"!
From the Physicist/Nobel Laureate Niels Bohr to renowned physicist Wolfgang Pauli: "We all agree your theory is crazy. The question, which divides us, is whether it is crazy enough."
Ever so apt for these times!
Operational suggestion: When you're considering a hypothesis or a course of action at a project meeting today, ask yourself and the group, "Is it crazy enough?"
Reminded of this again. Google Niels Bohr to confirm, for the above Post, that he won a Nobel. (He did.) Sixty seconds later I am immersed in the Complete Text of his 1922 Nobel acceptance speech. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nearly a third of managers and executives are regarded as severely lacking in their abilities to manage other people. That's according to a Business Wire report on a survey of human resource managers from 133 organizations. The survey also reports that about 40% are considered excellent leaders, indicating that the other 60% could use some improvement. Chris Gay of Right Management Consultants notes that communication skills are both the most-desired management trait and one of the top three areas that need to be improved.
Knowing how to communicate in a way that encourages commitment and an understanding of how to be successful is vital to being a good manager ... This involves understanding how to personally model the business strategy and culture, and tell powerful stories that help translate that strategy into action for each person.
This calls to mind a powerful line in The Leader's Voice: "The biggest problem with leadership communication is the illusion that it has occurred."
Linda Fatherree posted this on 09/14/2004.
Am I repetitive? Yes? Good! Today's International Herald Tribune just grabbed from my New Delhi hotel room door at 5:30A.M. I don't have to go far. Page 1. Topic ... an EXPLOSION (right word choice) of ... foreign corporate R & D labs in ... where else ... China ("Global Firms Flock to China's Brainpower"). Chinese ministry officials estimate that there are already 600 foreign-company Labs in China, such as a 170-scientist Microsoft facility (Microsoft Research Asia) in Beijing. That total is growing at the rate of about 200 labs per year, and one pundit projects that in the next five years China will surpass Britain, Germany and Japan to quickly become the #2 corporate R & D power, behind (FOR NOW!) the U.S.A.
All of which gives special relevance to a great quote I recently came across from New York Times columnist Tom Friedman: "When I was growing up, my parents used to say to me: 'Finish your dinner—people in China are starving.' I, by contrast, find myself wanting to say to my daughters: 'Finish your homework—people in China and India are starving for your job.'"
The only question: Is it funny?
Tom Peters posted this on 09/14/2004.
WPP Group, a mega-ad agency conglomerate is merging with (read: buying) Grey Global for $1.5 billion.
viagra for women in australiaMy contention: Any ad agency this big can't do great marketing for its clients and still make money. Being this big, there will be an even bigger bias towards a brute force approach to marketing, because mega-media commissions are necessary for survival.
Corollary: The only way they can make money is if enough clients buy bad advice from them.
Debate me on this one!
Steve Yastrow posted this on 09/14/2004.
Tom gives his side of ALL arguments. I'm convinced. See what you think. Download his "Them vs. Me" midnight ramble here: tomAtoTOMaTO.pdf. Or just read it at Halley's Comment. It's also available as a PowerPoint presentation if you prefer it that way.
Cathy Mosca posted this on 09/13/2004.
The Economic Times arrives at my hotel room door in New Delhi at 5 a.m. on September 13. Headline: "Airport Traffic Racks Up 26% Growth in 4 Months." By all measures, including air cargo, air traffic in India is up 26% during the period April-July 2004 compared to last year. (That's a hellluva number, eh?) Adjacent P1 headline: "EMPLOYABLE GRADUATES IN DEMAND." The article begins: "The BPO [Business Process Outsourcing] sector is facing a roadblock of sorts, a human one. BPO companies are struggling to hire new employees in sufficient numbers ..." You get the drift, eh? Move on in to P11, and the story is repeated. Headline: "Tourist Arrivals Surge 26% in Lean April-Aug." The "lean" refers to the fact that this (APR-AUG) is not the tourist season in India. None the less ... (You get the drift, eh?)
Consider this from Forbes Global (09.20.04): In 1989 China had but 168 miles of Expressways. By the end of 2003, that number had "grown" to ... 18,500 miles. The Forbes Global article, "When the Silk Road Gets Paved," tells the (incredible) tale of China's rapid inland development, after 20 years of focus on Shanghai, Guangzhou and other coastal cities. Intel is taking advantage, starting a $200 million factory way inland in Chengdu. Never heard of it? At pop 9.9 million, it's merely bigger than New York. And you thought Chinese labor costs would eventually rise? You were right! But there's China ... and then there's More China. Intel will pay the Chengdu workers but one-third of what it pays Shanghai employees! And as to those 18,500 miles of expressways, by 2008 the number will be 51,000 miles ... topping our Interstate system's 46,500.
(Halley's Comment)
I wrote "Tom's Re-imagine Manifesto" this morning ... and e'd it to a bunch of friends. To my delight, one of them, Halley Suitt, insta-posted it at Halley's Comment. Go see it there ...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, according to Forbes publisher Rich Karlgaard (09.20), reports fewer than 500,000 jobs added to corporate payrolls since the end of the recession in November 2001. Not an impressive number. But there is another survey done by BLS, the Household Survey. It calculates that no less than 3.25 million new jobs have been created since 11.01. Karlgaard concludes, "In other words, millions of people are not reporting to work. They're starting businesses. Technology makes it easy to do so. ... Traditional payroll jobs are not coming back in big numbers. Automation and outsourcing are modern facts of life. [There are numerous] disincentives for Big Employers to create jobs. To make up for this shortfall, America needs to have its entrepreneurs and home businesses succeed." TP comment: Amen ... on all scores.
Sticking with Forbes and this subject, Editor-in-Chief Steve Forbes reports on a "little" detail that is the sort of thing that will make—or break—Karlgaard's dream of a more entrepreneurial America. Representative John Shadegg has proposed legislation (the Health Care Choice Act) that would "permit consumers to buy health insurance policies offered anywhere in the country." Bypassing Byzantine state restrictions would open up competition with a bang ... and most certainly lead to dramatic reductions in insurance costs. Steve Forbes tells us, for example, that an average family policy in New Jersey runs $1,250 per month, compared to $450 in Oklahoma. Add in legislation to allow full policy tax deductibility and tax-free Health Savings Accounts, and you boost incentives to start that new business significantly.
India's Health & Nutrition magazine offers a tip sheet for cutting debilitating office stress. It's simple and powerful: Cut out coffee! (I reluctantly did this 4 months ago, dropping a 45-year habit. It makes a whale of a difference.) (I now do Tea ... a dramatically reduced caffeine load, and I don't drink more than a couple of cups in the mornings.) "Spy on yourself!" Pay attention to how hunched up you get. Then do something ... SIMPLE ... about it. You can forget "Office Yoga" (though that's what I've taught myself) ... just invent some stretching exercises and repeat them every 30 minutes or so—90 seconds at a shot will do just fine. Take your vitamins. The article reports on research that shows Multivitamins heavy in B and C help reduce anxiety. Juggle! This was my favorite. The authors suggest you try juggling pens, spoons, or anything at hand. You'll surely screw it up, but almost assuredly start laughing in the process ... the best de-stressor around!
Tom Peters posted this on 09/13/2004.
(MONTH, YEAR, LIFETIME) ...
One more from Health & Nutrition: "Trying to control others is futile. The only person you can change is yourself." Check out my "Summer of Soul," reporting on my recent Inner Adventures. This one is about at the top of the list. My lifestyle is tough on those around me. My pace has inevitably led to irritability. (Understatement.) I chose to work on a couple of relationships in particular—one personal, one professional. But in fact I did NOT "work on the relationship." I ... WORKED ON ME. "Unilateral disarmament" was the slogan I used on myself. I paid special attention to the quick retorts I'd make ... that would trigger a downward conversational spiral. (And worse.) I learned to ... BREATH (1 ... 2 ... 3) ... before I made a remark-retort-rebuttal. The simple "1 ... 2 ... 3" was usually enough to defuse me. Try it. (Hint: You gotta work like hell at it if you're wired anything like I am—you've first got to learn to "attend the moment" and be conscious of what we're usually not conscious of.) Bottom Line, per this powerful quote/idea: I changed myself ... and both sides of the long-term relationships changed ... DRAMATICALLY ... in the course of just 60 days. If you're looking for miracles, you need look no further. (No bull.)
Hats off to PricewaterhouseCoopers' Ulysses Program, as reported on in the 09.06 BusinessWeek. Fast-tracking partners, 44 so far (20 in 2004), are sent on 8-week service projects in developing countries. Many have found that even this brief exposure to a world-away-from-PwC changes their life perspective. They do some good, learn about themselves, and in several cases profoundly alter their "back home" management styles. Listening skills get better (or else), as does a renewed emphasis on face-to-face communication in a world previously marked by electronic estrangement. While assignments for 44 of 8,000 partners doth not yet a revolution make, it's a terrific idea as I see it.
I am an Advocate of Destruction ... in Crazy Times. (Like ours.) I don't think that, say, "continuous improvement" is nearly powerful enough a Survival Tool. (See Re-imagine!, Chapter 2, "Control Alt Delete: The Destruction Imperative," for more on my view.) Well, it appears my Hawaiian friends agree. October 2004's National Geographic cover story is on the Big Island. (Hawaii.) Pele is the volcano Goddess. One Pele worshiper, Keola Hanoa, states the case (perhaps not shared by all real estate developers): "We don't see Pele's work as destruction but as cleansing. She's a creator. When she comes through she wipes the land clean and leaves us new fertile ground." Now if only we could get MBA-toting corporate strategists and merger-maniacal CEOs to become Pele worshipers!
I try to Go Lite on political commentary in this space. (There's more than enough on the Web without me; and, moreover, it's not my agenda.) And I'm a Vermonter, who mostly buys the right to bear arms. But I am, this day, simply dumbfounded at the expiration of the Assault Weapons Ban. What the hell ...
Accenture claims that their ads featuring Tiger Woods are designed to reinforce their promise to help clients become high-performance busineses. The ads show Tiger Woods in different situations on the golf course with the tagline "Go, Be a Tiger."
I don't think the ads make this connection very well, and I think that to most people it must look like a gratuitous exercise in celebrity worship. (I'd bet big bucks that the contract between Tiger Woods and Accenture includes guaranteed opportunities for Accenture executives to meet and hang out with Tiger Woods.)
Somehow, I don't think that the kinds of businesses Accenture wants as clients will be motivated when told to "Be a Tiger."
What do you think? When can a celebrity endorsement be a good idea to support a business-to-business marketing effort?
Steve Yastrow posted this on 09/12/2004.
According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), Apple customers are more satisfied than users of any other personal computer brand. Apple's score of 81 (out of 100) put them in the lead, with Dell taking a close 2nd after being at the top of the list for the past five years. In an article at InfoWorld, ACSI director Claes Fornell cites one explanation: "Just about every other PC vendor received technical support scores that were less than the scores they received for the quality of their products, but Apple was the only company that received high marks for both quality and support."
Recalling recent complaints here about Dell support, I particularly enjoyed this validation of my 18 years of unwavering Mac devotion. Although I admit to drooling over the new iMac G5, we really don't buy our Macs entirely because we like their looks.
Tara Calishain has always been our resource for finding something on the Web that no one else can find. She's been sharing her tricks with the world in a series of recent books: Spidering Hacks, with Kevin Hemenway, and Google Hacks, with Rael Dornfest. Now she has one of her own:
Web Search Garage. Tom called it the "bible" on the subject of searching. Buy it now!
Occasionally I like to post a few websites that have come to our attention through the emails addressed to tom at tompeters.com. Here are the recent notables:
Gary Zamchick has innovation galore to offer. And diversity (tho' not in the traditional sense): He's a cartoonist!Cathy Mosca posted this on 09/10/2004.
OnePageBusinessPlan.com. Tom loved the book by Jim Horan; now it's a system.
Vermillion.com.au in Australia. They only want to work with people who give a damn. With a motto like that ...
Finally, constructiondurable.com. In French, but beautiful to look at no matter what language you speak.
You asked, and asked, and we've finally brought it to fruition. See our RSS link in the right-hand column of the front page. Note: You must already have RSS software for the XML link to work.
Erik Hansen posted this on 09/09/2004.
Off to India this afternoon. Back on the 18th. Hope my Delhi hotel has decent Web connection, even if not DSL. Going to accompany my wife, Susan Sargent, on a sourcing trip. (Glad you asked. Her new book, The Comfort of Color: Inspire. Transform. Create., is off to a good start. Always delighted to find an excuse, any excuse to "give it a hyperlink"!) Also going on a side trip to Bangalore to the Nerve Center of Infosys ... see my earlier, glowing Blogs on them.)
As you may recall, the New York Times ran a recent biz travel piece on me, which underscored how long I spent selecting books for trips. For the amused or interested, I include a semi-final reading list for this trip:
Non-fiction: The Americanization of Ben Franklin, by Gordon Wood; Authentic Happiness, by Martin Seligman; Learned Optimism, also by Martin Seligman; Mullahs, Merchants, and Militants: The Economic Collapse of the Arab World, by Stephen Glain; The Wisdom of Crowds, James Surowiecki; Free Your Breath, Free Your Life, by Dennis Lewis (previously blogged); The Rise of the Creative Class, Richard Florida; The Achieving Society, David McClelland (a 1961 classic, on why some people-nations strive for high achievement, and some don't); Full House, Stephen Jay Gould (see Steve Yastrow's and my comments on the recent Barry Bonds blog); The Beak of the Finch, Jonathan Weiner (a masterpiece on evolutionary theory and adaptivity); Certain to Win: The Strategy of John Boyd, Applied to Business, Chet Richards.
Fiction: The Peregrine Spy, Edmund Murray; The Dogs of Riga, Henning Mankell; Birds of a Feather, Jacqueline Winspear; The Hamilton Case, Michelle de Kretser; The Laments, George Hagen; Shanghai Station, Bartle Bull; The Dante Club, Matthew Pearl; In Times of Siege, Githa Hariharan. (A few of these will be painfully weeded out in the next 4 hours.)
French philosopher Michel Foucault (the Financial Times of London called me the Michel Foucault of business): "In my folly I show how mad reason itself is."
The "Paradox of Control," per psychologist Michael Popkin: "The more you try to control a teen the less you can influence that teen. ... Control eventually leads to resistance, and resistance to rebellion." (Hint: holds for adults in organizations. Right?)
Victory does not always go to the biggest, even in life and death matters like war. Here's a sample of little guys who beat big guys: Arabs beat Persia, Byzantine Empire, etc. (633-732); Mongols beat China, Russia, Moslems, etc. (1211-1260); American colonists beat Great Britain (1775-1781); Germany beats France and England (1940); Israel beats Arab states (1948-1973); Algeria beats France (1954-1961); Vietnam beats the United States (1958-1975); Afghanistan beats the USSR (1980-1989); Chad beats Libya (1987). Source: Certain to Win: The Strategy of John Boyd Applied to Business, by Chet Richards.
Politics rules, and boys-will-be-boys ... even in wartime. These, from David Irving's The War Between the Generals (on tension among the Allies in World War II): "A man of great mediocrity"—General George Patton on General Omar Bradley. "A third-rate general"—General Omar Bradley on Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery. "If you want to end the war in any reasonable time, you will have to remove Ike"—Montgomery on General Dwight Eisenhower. "One thing that might win this war is to get someone to shoot King"—Eisenhower on Fleet Admiral Ernest King. "Eisenhower, though supposed to be running the land battle, is on the golf links at Rheims"—Sir Alan Brooke on Eisenhower. "If the unhelpful British attitude continues, then I shall go home."—Eisenhower.
Tom Peters posted this on 09/09/2004.
Not sure you can believe what you hear in political ads? Check out factcheck.org, a non-partisan site that exposes misleading campaign ads.
Check out their report on how easy it is to get away with lying in political ads.
Now, about those cellphone ads ...
I'm convinced that awareness is the most overrated branding characteristic.
Many (most) companies are compelled to spend money to "get our name out there,"as if getting someone to recognize your name inherently leads them to become your customer. Vast resources are wasted on "spreading the word," with the result that many people have heard of the company, but few can attach any meaning to the name.
Companies would be better served not to focus their resources on getting large numbers of people to know their name, but on getting the right people to love what stands behind that name.
Branding isn't about getting your name out in the market place. It's about getting individual customers to say, "I get it, I want it, and I can't get it anywhere else."
Branding—one customer at a time!
I'm enjoying my role as partial BlogHost at tompeters.com. I want to notch it up a bit: How about your ideas for topics I should blog? I have no idea whether there will be 0 or 1,000 suggestions. But I will look at the requests, take a shot at a couple ... and with luck initiate an exciting thread or two.
Tom Peters posted this on 09/07/2004.
I'm going way out on a limb. BEST WEB SITE I'VE VISITED: http://www.buildabear.com. (And, related: buildabear.com/buildaparty.) LOVE IT! Passes all the tests: ENGAGING!! EASY TO USE!! INFORMATIVE AS HELL!! INTERACTIVE AS ALL GET OUT!! COOL!! FUN!! (And so on.) In 1997, after a grand 25-year career at May Department Stores, Maxine Clark opened her first Build-A-Bear Workshop location in the St Louis Galleria. Seven years later, she's heading a $300 million firm growing like Topsy, at home and abroad! I'll keep heading out that limb: (1) Best Web site. (2) Grand Prize: Sell a SUPER-COOL ENGAGING EXPERIENCE ... not merely a "service." (3) Nominee ... Coolest Company around. (That's two for me in a month: Infosys in Biz to Biz markets; Build-A-Bear Workshops in retail-consumer-experiences. Wow!)
After four years of absence, I choke on the "compassionate conservative" line. But the "ownership society" idea is exactly right (and not that far right) for the years ahead. As some semi-conservative commentators like David Brooks have said, the Republicans are shifting from "get the government off our backs" to "have the government provide the tools to support the transition toward greater personal autonomy and away from an economy based on traditional, more-or-less lifetime jobs." [Not direct quotes.] Bill Clinton actually articulated and championed this idea, but "nab the offshoring bandits" seems to be the election theme of Kerry & Co.
I've had the True Privilege of reviewing galleys of two remarkable books in the last week. (I gave them both deserved over-the-top blurbs.) First up Dan Pink's A Whole New Mind.
Fundamental premise: "The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind—computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind—creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers. These people—artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers—will now reap society's richest rewards and share its greatest joys." Pink makes a sound analytic argument for all this, based on the Rise of Asia and the New Technologies, among other things. One other zinger I cotton to: "The MFA is the new MBA."
The other book is The Big Picture, from the person I consider to be the most innovative educator in America ... Dennis Littky. Dennis considers the current school system a disaster. He's working on a new model, piloted in Providence, RI, and now spinning out across the nation courtesy a big grant from the Gates Foundation. Littky's work dovetails brilliantly with Pink's. He believes we need to get beyond the rote learning and teach-to-test shackles ... and get kids to engage in activities that mean something to them. Consider: "From the media, we hear these great tearjerker stories of kids who succeeded despite the odds. But all of our kids are instead facing the odds of an education system that is all wrong. The odds are against them because the system works against them instead of with them. ... I see it every day: kids who people have dismissed as 'dumb in math' or 'uninterested in science' or 'nonreaders' doing incredible things in these exact same areas because they were (finally) allowed to start with something they were already interested in. A 9th-grade kid who 'hates science' sees a movie about freezing people, then decides to read a college biology text on cryogenics, and then gives a presentation on it that blows your socks off."
In trying to get the two authors together, I claimed that the issue they address is, over the long-ish term, as important as terrorism. (If we get this wrong, the economy tanks and our international "standing" tanks with it.") I guess we've got two decades to get this right. You'll find posted, as of today, a Special PowerPoint presentation—"Pink & Littky" that gives you some highlights from both forthcoming books. I don't think I'm crazy: I think this is the equal of security concerns ... perhaps the ultimate security concern?
Reminded again of "The Power of 'Why?'" Meeting with a client. Client: "The events have to be in the evening." Me: "Why?" Client: "Because that's the only time our clientele is free." Me: "Says who?" Later ... Client: "But we can't have an 'End of season sale'." Me: "Why?" Client: "Because the season is over." Me: "Says who?" Me (later): "Why not invent your own season?" I'm no genius. The client is no idiot. It's mostly that I'm naive. The client is grooved in industry-company-personal tradition. And ... Mom & Pop or CitiGroup ... it's damned hard to break out. So the consultant (OR GADFLY INSIDER!) earns his or her keep X10 by doing such things as saying again & again: (1) Why? (2) Says who?
The long and short of it: I'm a baseball fanatic. And lived in the SF Bay Area for 25 years. Montana? Sure! Rice? Sure. And ... BARRY!! I'm also one of those annoying baseball statistics fanatics. And I'm going to tell you something that is ... unbelievable. BARRY BONDS IS ON TRACK TO GET ON BASE OVER 60 PERCENT OF THE TIME FOR THE 2004 SEASON. That is ... UNBELIEVABLE. As of 2 September, with 30 games to go, his "OBP" (On Base Percentage) was SIX-O-SEVEN (.607). He has 189 walks so far, and sixty percent of his hits (63 of 114, including 38 home runs) are for extra bases.
What's that have to do with my normal beat? Who knows? (WHO CARES?) It's so phenomenal that ... everyone should know! At a stretch, it reinforces an earlier blog about the fact that some Talent truly stands out; recall that the former head technology guy at Microsoft says a Great programmer is 10,000X better than an average dude.
As our Blogging moves along, Comments are picking up. But I noticed something interesting. I got several responses to my "Revisiting My 'Respect' Blog." And then there was a real blowtorch ... with truly intemperate language. (Aimed at me.) There are blog sites and there are blog sites, but for us it seems that the Blast stopped the Comments cold. I'm at a loss. Our policy is that we won't drop any comment unless it's really offensive, bigoted, etc. I'm not sure what to do in instances like this. Any advice? What's your take on blogging civility?
I've been noticing DHL's new billboards around town and found myself looking forward to spotting more of them. Since merging with Airborne last year, the global leader in international shipping is going head to head with FedEx and UPS to increase its share of U.S. domestic shipping. While performance will ultimately determine customer shifts in loyalty, this striking ad campaign is bound to stir some interest among potential customers. You can check out the multi-media campaign at DHL's web site. Great looking graphics, on-point messages, lots of personality ... and definitely not brown. It's enough to get me to give them a chance, and I think that's the idea.
Linda Fatherree posted this on 09/07/2004.
It's Labor Day weekend here in the U.S., and many of you are still laboring instead of relaxing—checking your email or voicemail, or working on a project. So here's a little word fun to give you a short respite from the new world of work.
Aptronyms are personal names that reflect a person's occupation. For example, I knew a woman in advertising, whose husband was in sales. Their family name is Liebig. Or, the Buffalo NY funeral home run by the Amigone family. Here's an amusing list of medical aptronyms, where you can read about Dr. Aikenhead (allergist), Dr. Yankum (dentist) and Dr. Ow (pain management.)
Steve Yastrow posted this on 09/05/2004.
It's been a while since we posted new slides. Tom's been concentrating on blogging and saving up those comments—to turn them all into slides at once. See the collection of new slides since 5 July 2004 here.
Cathy Mosca posted this on 09/05/2004.
Download this PDF, Tom's latest: "Everything You Need to Know About Strategy: A Baker's Dozen Eternal Verities."
Cathy Mosca posted this on 09/03/2004.
... then you're way too politically correct!
A client walked into a meeting with me this morning wearing a t-shirt that had picture of a pirate on it. Underneath the picture it said, "We prefer to be called Buccaneer-Americans."
Steve Yastrow posted this on 09/03/2004.
Here, courtesy of Audi's Never Follow web site, are some "rules for people who never follow rules."
"Never mind the stares."
—David Bowie, rock legend
"Never let reality get in the way of imagination."
—Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran
"Never be afraid to take a hit."
—William H. Macy, actor and writer
I especially love this one from teenage soccer phenomenon Freddy Adu: "Never bite off less than you can chew."
Interviews with all four include more nuggets about what it means to "Never Follow." Who knows more about that than Ziggy Stardust?
Linda Fatherree posted this on 09/03/2004.
Have you noticed? If you have ever posted comments to one of our blogs, there is a good chance that Tom has responded to your comment. The point of transforming our front page to blog format was to generate some discussion. And Tom wants to stay in the middle of it. So, if you post a comment here, be sure to check back. You might find that the comment under yours is signed "tom peters." To see what we mean, check these out: "Yesssssss!!!!!!" and "This Just In ..."
When I speak, people often ask me to name some great brands. I know they're expecting me to say "Nike" or "Southwest Airlines," which are, of course, great brands.
But I don't. I usually say "The Cherry Pit." Then the audience looks at me funny.
The Cherry Pit is a small diner in my town, Deerfield, IL. Most people in Deerfield don't even know about The Cherry Pit. But those that know it love it. In fact, they love it so much that The Cherry Pit is always busy, though they never spend a dime on purchased marketing activities. The Cherry Pit has such definite character and such a rich personality that its customers give it a disproportionate amount of business and referrals.
A brand's strength isn't measured by how many people know its name. It is measured by how intensely people attach a rich meaning to that name that motivates them to act. Look around you—you'll see that it is often the smallest companies that are able to arouse the most emotion and meaning in their customers' hearts and minds.
Try this: Ask some friends to name their favorite restaurants. (Hint: You won't hear the names of a lot of chains.)
Steve Yastrow posted this on 09/01/2004.
Waited an eternity in road repair traffic this afternoon. (Mostly forgivable in Vermont, since the construction season is about 10 days long.) Then I realized what they were doing. Building a lengthy guardrail where none had been. Which screws up a glorious view. And: IS TOTALLY UNNECESSARY. Sure, there's a bitty embankment nearby. But I am bloody well tired of being covered in swaddling clothes at Taxpayer expense—where no fix is needed/no problem exists. While there are numerous things that government must do (protect us from terrorists), there is a lot of help I don't need. Leave me—and my view and my wallet—alone, damn it!
I don't know about you, but for me falling in love with a new pair of hiking boots is one of life's true highs. Just finished my 3rd or 4th walk in a new pair of Merrell's. Doesn't get much better than that. May put them under my pillow tonight.
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