Query?

Yup. Tom does get off on taking gratuitous whacks at business schools.

The latest. Remember, a couple of days ago, my "Sales90"? Now, it's "Sales111." It got me thinking: Why don't B.Schools (or, at least the so-called "elite") teach ... SALES ... anymore? We've got marketing up the gazoo—and marketing is indeed important—but by and large no bloody sales. Obviously sales are important. (Duh.) And we do "know some stuff."

'Nuff said.

(Whoops: and, remember, no Innovation to speak of, no Creativity, no Implementation (à la Bossidy's book/Execution), no Presenting & Listening/Interviewing ... the two most important practical Tools. 'Nuff said redux.)

So: Please explain the above. Anything Goes: "Sales is a given." "Sales can't be taught." "There's not one bloomin' prof who'd know his left foot from his right on the topic." Etc.

Premature Aging

A rather prominent pal who usually goes to Davos [The World Economic Forum] didn't this year, but he's pretty closely following the proceedings by WEB TV. When I caught him he was watching a panel with "Chambers [Cisco], Gates, and a Google guy," as he described it. His take: "The Google guy is great; the other two are like old industrialists." He said that he'd just gotten off the phone with another hot shot, who is in attendance, and had labeled the attendees in general "globalization's dinosaurs."

Who knows ... but an interesting commentary.

Breakthrough!!! (For me.)

Thanks to my noodling prior to my Dubai speech last week ("Arab Health Conference 2006"), I have come to a "definitive" conclusion:

STOP ... using the term "healthcare."
START ... using the term "health."

Better HEALTH is the goal—and if we did "it" (focus on "health"), then "healthcare" would be far, far, far less necessary. (Understatement.)

"HOW YESTERDAY" OBSESSION: healthcare.
"HOW NOW/TOMORROW" OBSESSION: health.

A Fruitless, Nay Dangerous, Search

Read two superb articles in the Arts section of the New York Times yesterday. One, on the playwright-director David Mamet (whom I've loved since Glengarry Glen Ross). The other, "Ms. Monk's Master Class," on the successful composer Meredith Monk. Both are indeed supremely successful, and both have moved beyond solo paper-and-pencil work to leading artists who perform their works. Forget the details, the two have very different "leadership styles." Which got me thinking about Francis Coppola, Dwight Eisenhower, George Patton, TR, FDR (cousins no less) and the fact that the pursuit of the "one best way" of leadership is sheer madness, and a great disservice. Jim Collins and I agree about a lot of stuff but depart over the leadership issue. He prefers "quiet, humble, stoic" (though determined) leaders. I lean toward the Welches, Gerstners, Churchills, and those for whom words such as "quiet" and "humble" are rather inappropriate. Well, obviously, there's room—lots of—for both. But surely there are some constants—e.g., the way the winners treat people. Well, I'd love to think so, but even that's far from the truth. Lord Nelson was beloved. Gerstner was feared. The same guy is different—even in the eyes of those closest to him. The two most famous people who died with Robert Falcon Scott in Antarctica were Titus Oates and Dr Edward Wilson. Oates on Scott: "I dislike Scott intensely. He is not straight. It is himself first, the rest nowhere, and when he has got what he can out of you, it is shift for yourself." Wilson on Scott: "There is nothing I would not do for him. He is a really good man. He is thoughtful for each individual, and I have never known him to be unfair." Try to distill "Scott's Leadership Principles" from that!

And the point? Just this: Beware of "universal prescriptions" for anything—but perhaps leadership topping the list. (But you knew that already—it's just that these two NYT articles, and my re-immersion in Scott following my Christchurch NZ visit, led me to remind myself; so I thought I'd pass it along.)

If You're So Smart Why Aren't You ...

If Drucker and Bennis and Collins and Peters and Co. (charter members of Guru Nation) are/were so damn smart-wise, why is corporate performance so shabby in general? Hint: "'They' [biz leaders] don't listen" is no kind of answer. If "they" don't listen, then the "solutions" were not actionable by "real people" under stress.

Just a [crappy] thought. (It came to mind when I took part in a Drucker tribute last week. "Ahead of his time" was a constant refrain—well, if you're so far ahead of your time that few do anything with your stuff, then ...)

Location, Location, Location

No, it's not just real estate. Despite cyber-this and virtual-that, "location" remains perhaps the most under-rated variable-tool in the boss's kit.

Last week in New England was mostly devoted to "Theo's return"—that is, the return to the Boston Red Sox of recently dis-affected "Boy Genius" General Manager Theo Epstein. One of the things that had most irked Epstein, and prompted his earlier departure, was that in his mind the business side of the franchise was given more consideration than the player side. In the negotiation for re-entry, a host of changes were made. One of which was, per the Boston Globe: "Before, baseball operations was situated in the basement. Now, it will move upstairs and join the rest of the business operation." As I said, this was hardly the whole story, but it was/is a reminder that such stuff matters. I'm a design freak. So where does the design group, and especially the chief designer, nest? Is design's Main Man/Woman on "executive row" with finance and marketing, or on the "7th floor," light years from the Big League action? In my experience, the answer to these questions is the answer to a lot of the "strategic direction" issue. In days gone by, the HR folks lived planets away from the Big Boys. As talent takes a front seat, the HR chief is within screaming distance of the power players.

Etc.

One implication of this is that it really is worth going to the mat politically for the political position/space you think you deserve. Or the opposite: If you are up to something subversive, getting several galaxies away from the power center is (professional) life & death—in my case, In Search of Excellence only passed conception because Bob Waterman and I were 3,000 miles from "corporate" HQ at McKinsey (and even that was almost not enough). For the Big Cheese, pouring over space design, the smallest details thereof, is worth the effort times 100 at times of transformation. Want to underscore innovation? The product-developers and their boss should be brought in from the cold.

Think about it.

H5N1: More Sunday New York Times

I recommend "Why Revive a Deadly Flu Virus?" in the magazine section of yesterday's Times.

HC21.J1

I am becoming "health-obsessed." No. Not (just) my own, but the centrality of health-writ-large to our "survival of civilization" concerns today and in the years ahead. Concerns range from ... H5N1; to the acute-care quality catastrophe; to wellness M.I.A. (e.g., the diabetes, obesity plague in developed countries); to man-machine genetic re-engineering; to more-or-less near term, accelerating environmental degradation; to the aftermath of a WMD event. These are, mostly, multiplicative problems. (Also, from a crude business sense, incredible market opportunities—witness Immelt at GE.) Am I late to the party on most of this? Yes, alarmingly and embarrassingly so! Nonetheless, I do believe heartily in "better late than never." The following, in absurdly shorthand form, is my "starter list." (It's also attached, what else from me, as a 2-slide PP.) I've titled it "Health: Century 21, Job #1," or "HC21.J1":

HC21.J1

Quality
"Evidence/Outcomes-based" medicine
Prevention
Wellness
Med-school re-orientation
"Public health" emphasis
Mind-boggling 15-(20-?) year social-moral-technological impact of life sciences ("the Singularity"?)
H5N1
WMDs
Environmental degradation
Risk assessment (private, public)
Public vs/+ Private responsibilities & partnerships
Africa!

Tulipmania & Football

With one week to go, Superbowl advertising is nearly sold out at $2.5 million for 30 seconds.

I'm in the middle of a great book, Michael Pollan's Botany of Desire, which gives us an interesting take on what might cause this kind of absurd spending. We've always looked at the domestication of plants and animals as a symbol of humanity's power over other species. Pollan turns this idea on its head, showing how four species of plants have exploited different human desires to help them thrive. The four plants and the related desires are the apple (sweetness), tulip (beauty), marijuana (intoxication), and potato (control). We have to ask, who is the domesticator, and who is the domesticated? Makes me think of Superbowl advertising. (Read on ...)

[read more]

Replay: Drucker Tribute

As you may know, Tom took part in a Tribute to Peter Drucker presented by Microsoft©Office Live Meeting on Wednesday, January 25. The talk is now archived on their site, and you can get to it through this link. If you have any difficulty, you can use my detailed instructions for getting to the recording by going to "read more" below.

[read more]

Cool Friend: Burlingham

Bo Burlingham is editor-at-large at Inc. magazine, and he's a long-time friend of Tom's. We're glad to add him to the Cool Friends upon publication of his new book, Small Giants: Companies That Choose to be Great Instead of Big. In it, he profiles 14 companies that deliberately decided not to expand, such as Zingerman's (still based solely in Ann Arbor, Michigan), Anchor Brewing (start of the microbrewing trend!), and Righteous Babe Records (Ani DiFranco's bid to produce music her own way). Read the full Cool Friend interview here, or visit Burlingham's book site here.

Top 10 Sources

Our friend Halley Suitt is up to something new. She is the CEO of a just-launched website called Top 10 Sources. It's sort of a first filter for all the information out there. If you want to know about a topic, you can go to Google and get 11,700,000 hits, or go to Top 10 Sources and get the top ten. A group of editors on staff compile the lists. They are subjective, but well thought out, updated regularly—and fun! Top 10 Sources is a good starting point, whether you agree with their judgment or not. And you might learn something new by scrolling through their lists. A podcast linked from the Top 10 Sources front page tells more.

Pixar, Ford, and the New (Whoops, Old?) World Order

My friend Andy Pearson, when he was president of PepsiCo many years ago, sat next to me at a head table in a moderate-size hotel ballroom somewhere. In the middle of some discussion or other, he pointed to a spot about halfway up the wall and said, as I recall, "Up to there is about the amount of syrup we make. The rest of Pepsi's market cap [several billion, even then] comes from marketing and execution." Which is to say we've actually lived in a "soft" economy for a long while, perhaps since P & G invented modern branding, maybe three-quarters of a century ago.

I indeed have the utmost sympathy for the soon-to-be-laidoff Ford manufacturing families, and the devastated communities that will be deserted by "solid" "industry." But speaking with my economics-growth hat on, the Pixar-Disney deal seems far more important than the Ford layoffs. Like it or not, and many don't like it or at least feel uneasy with it, we live in a "Pixar World."

By the way, I like it.

I've been a Design Freak, until recently a lonely one, for about 15 years. The $7B+ Pixar-Disney tango was basically a "design deal." Steve Jobs and his team will essentially be the key movers in the hoped for revival of America's premier "imagination company." Such meldings are nigh on impossible, but Steve has a strength of character and a steely temperament that may allow him to do exactly what he hopes and thinks he can—namely use his Emoryville CA team to wake up a slumbering, dusty giant. Incidentally, Steve's effort to revive the amazing spirit of Walt is not far in spirit from Jeff Immelt's gargantuan effort at GE to revive the Edisonian, innovative spirit lost as GE turned its mammoth attention to operational excellence. Getting on the bandwagon, Davos, just underway, this year is focused on innovation—and rightly so. All the established economies' cost-cutting thrusts, no matter how effective, won't get us within spitting distance of China.

But back to Andy Pearson and the anonymous ballroom with the figurative marker on the wall. On my recent spate of 14-hour flights, I began reading a superb book by James Twitchell, Branded Nation: The Marketing of Megachurch, College Inc. and Museumworld. My attention was captured by an amusing (whoops, profound) chart on page 11. The book was written in 2004, when the price of gas at the pump was a scant $1.75 a gallon in the U.S.A. Twitchell compared that to some other per gallon prices. To name a few: Lipton Iced Tea ... $9.52 per gallon. Ocean Spray ... $10.00. Diet Snapple ... $10.32. STP brake fluid ... $33.60 pg. Scope ... $84.48. Pepto-Bismol ... $123.20. Vicks NyQuil ... $175.13. Oh, and Evian water ... $21.19 per gallon.

To be sure, there is surely "substance" to these products (except if you're a cynic, like me, Evian); nonetheless the "other," beyond the syrup mark in the ballroom, is the "soft stuff" of the so-called "new" economy. From Harleys to iPods to Nyquil to the $46 billion value-added water market, we are miles and miles—and then more miles—beyond the "stuff" economy. And while I lament the fact, well worth lamenting, that China and India already turn out more engineers than we Yanks, I am not ashamed of our tidy lead in "other"—the intangibles that come out of the heads of freaks-in-animation-labs, and stoke the fires of the dominating "soft economy." Like it or not, we live in a Steve Jobs World. And in fact, though few were willing to acknowledge it, we have for half a century or so. Now if only we could get the schools, including B.Schools, to move beyond the industrial, rote-learning age ... and embrace the age of intangibles-creativity-innovation I really would feel better—I might even skip my appointment with my shrink this afternoon.

Meanwhile, I shall look with great interest at the Pixar-Disney dance, despite my skepticism of all big combos of divergent corporate "cultures"—especially when some one small becomes a "full partner" with someone big.

Repeat! (Mostly.)

I edited the GE posts from yesterday, taking out "GE" and touching up a little bit. So what you'll find here are "pure" versions—that we'll also put in our Special Presentation page and field (in the right-hand column).

The "89" list was a labor of love launched on the spur of the moment during a Rain Delay at JFK—another piece of work that ended with an all-nighter, about 2:30 a.m. to about 8:00 a.m.The stuff is obvious—but I believe one of my principal roles is to remind busy folks, caught up in corporate rituals, of the obvious. I damn well know I need it!

(As to the numerical discrepancies in a couple of cases—write it off to a pair of all-nighters, two 14+ hour flights, and the after-effects of thin mountain air. I will fix it when the tank is full.)

(I must also report that the presentation went well. I was nervous as can be. GEers are tough crowds—they are the best when it comes to BigCo performance, and don't suffer fools. I think I successfully evaded the "fool" sobriquet—and ended up having a great time in the process, including catching up with some old friends from around GE.)

Links:
41 Favorite Quotes and 42 Quotes (PDF)
Lists: Important Stuff
89 Ridiculously Obvious Thoughts About Selling Stuff and 90 Thoughts (PDF)

Event: GE Infrastructure

There are nine files to download for this event. How could Tom do less for GE? The links are below. All are in PowerPoint format except where noted.

41 Quotes
41 Quotes (in PDF form)
GE: Dramatic Difference
89 Ridiculously Obvious Thoughts About Selling Stuff
90 Ridiculously Obvious Thoughts on Selling (in PDF form)
GE: Lists
GE: Titles
GE: All You Need to Know
GE Master

!!!

Tom was in the Southern New Zealand Alps, and he found this!

1030 PM. United Arab Emirates.

14 hours+. Sydney to Dubai (aka AMAZING DUBAI). Jet lagged. Exercise for 1.5 hours. Hard. Asleep at 630pm local. Up at 1030pm local, to spend an hour or so tidying up tomorrow's (01.22) speech to a pan-Middle East health leaders conference. (I'm the final act.)

Hate the speech. Start over. Up from 10:30 p.m. to 09:30 a.m. ... rebuilding. Two parts. Posted yesterday. Speech was apparently well received.

Hop on a plane at 1:30 a.m. following the Dubai gig. (01.23.) Another 14 hours+ to NYC (and thence to Orlando for a GE confab). Sleep for 3 hours. Wake up determined to revise both parts of yesterday's speech. Why? Hey, that's what I do.

Hence these two "Special Presentations"—that I'm very happy with. (For now.)
Enjoy.
Feedback welcomed.

(Will comment later on stuff of the last two weeks.)

(You can download the special presentations here: All You Need to Know and Toward Health(care) Excellence.)

Event Slides: Dubai

The year begins. Tom gets started in a big way with four slides presentations for one event, and now he's sending us pictures from the road! That's the main street in Dubai, where Tom is speaking to Leaders in Healthcare. You can download the presentations here:
Part 1
Part 1, long web version
Part 2, version 2
Part 2, All You Need to Know

The Emperor's New Homepage

Last September college student Alex Tew launched a new business to fund his college education. It was called "The Million Dollar Homepage." His scheme was to sell advertising space on a 1 million pixel homepage to advertisers for $1 per pixel.

Believe it or not, The Million Dollar Homepage is sold out. Most of the ads are tiny (the minimum was a 100 pixel ad), so the result is a visual cacophony of banner ads like none you have ever seen. If it's true that the average American is exposed to 5000 advertising and promotional messages per day, you can get your minimum daily requirement just by going to The Million Dollar Homepage every morning.

I can easily imagine the thoughts and discussions people concocted to convince themselves to make this marketing investment. "Just think of the PR value." "We'll capture so many eyeballs." "It'll be so hot, we gotta be there."

How anyone could think this is great marketing is beyond me. It represents the worst of clutter culture, where the customer is so overwhelmed by noise that nobody (except Alex Tew) can possibly get something out of it.

And, of course, most of the ads it has attracted are pretty junky. Sure, the Times of London is an advertiser, but its ad is in the vicinity of one for "Busty Mousepads" and another one for "Revenge," where a mouseover reveals this copy: "Get revenge on ANYONE quickly—send them a (fake) poo today!" Great proximity for the Times. There are, of course, the obligatory ads that are nothing but a micro picture of an attractive woman. Put your cursor over one and it will reveal "STRANGE DISEASES—Bizarre Medical Pictures." Another female picture brings forth the copy "Medical writer/pharmaceutical and sales training." Wow, now that's effective advertising.

So Alex Tew seemed like the only winner, until some extortionists threatened to hack his site if he didn't pay them. He refused and they shut down his site for 5 days, and now he's being sued by advertisers whose ads weren't viewable during that time. Yes, these litigants are just looking for more "PR value."

Women on the Board

A recent study by the United Kingdom's Equal Opportunities Commission reckons that it will take 40 years for women to gain parity with men in the Boardroom, if current performance continues. In a comparative study of the top 50 companies in European countries, the UK has 14% of women on the Board. (The worst was Germany with 12% and the best was Norway at 21%).

This makes me wonder whether the Norwegians are onto something with their new legislation that requires companies to have 40% women directors? Quotas do seem to have made a difference in the USA, where 100% of the United States' Fortune 100 companies have at least one woman on their Boards.

But quotas seem to me to be a blunt instrument to solve the "problem" and could lead to the appointment of women in jobs because of their gender rather than their capability to do the job.

I wonder whether one of the reasons that we are struggling to get women into the Boardroom, is that this is a very male/hierarchical career path, which many women simply cannot be bothered to pursue. Is the rise in the number of women-owned businesses a sign that they actually prefer another way of doing business?

Is there an alternative to quotas? Should we be worrying about getting more women into the Boardroom? And I'm presuming that the poor representation of women is nothing compared to the representation of ethnic minorities.

Hats Off to Marriott!

Re-imagining Lodging

As a woman business traveler who spends considerable time away from home, I applaud the news that Marriott is paying attention to the needs of women business travelers. Working with IDEO (whose founder and GM are among our Cool Friends), Marriott has redesigned their Residence Inn in Manhattan for women!

In a recent article [registration required], we find that Marriott is out to change the world of lodging. They have established a 45-story facility that is completely non-smoking! Marriott has also created a "great room" concept that allows space to be used by travelers as they see fit—no more formal living rooms. (That no one uses.)

Marriott acknowledges that the women's market is driving these changes. What else do you think the hotel industry should do to ride the trend of women, baby boomers, and geezers?

Drucker Tribute

Tom will take part in a Tribute to Peter Drucker, a web seminar on 25 January 2006. Hosted by Microsoft Office^© Live Meeting, the tribute will also feature Marshall Goldsmith, Frances Hesselbein, and David Maister. 12 Noon Eastern U.S. time.

You can learn more and sign up for the event at the Live Meeting website.

Yahoo! He's In Jail!

An editorial in today's New York Times says Yahoo admitted that it "helped China sentence a dissident to 10 years in prison by identifying him as the sender of a banned email message." The Times also says that Microsoft, at the Chinese government's request, closed the blog of someone criticizing the government, in addition to enabling the Chinese government to censor MSN searches and blogs.

The Times calls this "obvious disregard for users' privacy and ethical standards," suggesting that Microsoft and Yahoo are willing to do this to make it easier for them to do business in China. Microsoft responded to criticism by saying, "We think it's better to be there with our services than not be there," as if it's worth sacrificing some freedom in order for the citizens of China to have access to the wonders of Microsoft.

Comments?

Playstation Power

I just picked my 13 year old son up from a friend's house, where he was watching the Chicago Bears lose an NFL playoff game. He is really bummed out.

The entire way home I heard about poor play from the Bears' cornerback, missed calls by inept refs, and the unfortunate interception near the end of the game. And then he told me the worst part: "Now the Bears are going to be rated low in Madden 2007." "Why does that matter so much?" I asked. "Now when I want to be the Bears they won't win very often."

Solution to My Solution Issue, Please!

I've just finished a session with a CEO client of mine, and his team, on the nature of the transformation they want to lead their business through. We were much challenged by the debate around what a "solution" is as opposed to a product. If the customer believes your product is what they need, then it is a solution for them—isn't it? Is all this "solution speak" just management b&*s£@t? Has anyone done any serious work on what solution is? Everyone seems to talk about delivering solution ... what do they deliver that the excellent product provider does not?

I said that I knew just the community who can throw some light on this. Hope you can ...

What a Story

Just finished Matt Ridley's book Genome, which is billed as an "autobiography of a species in 23 chapters." The book format follows our 23 chromosomal pairs, focusing on a human characteristic in each chapter that is related to a particular chromosome.

The book has been out a few years, so many of you may have read it, but if you haven't I highly recommend it. Basic genetic literacy is becoming what basic geographic literacy has been for 150 years—basic knowledge needed for everyday understanding.

New Zealand

Susan and I are off to celebrate her birthday in the New Zealand Alps. (She needs a serious break from her stressful small-business life!!) Hiking is the order of the week. And of course, escapist reading—except for a 1954 Drucker book I'm rereading in prep for my 25 January Webcast retrospective on P.D. I have PROMISED (!!!) not to open my computer, let alone boot up, even if the issue is Life and Death. Hence I will be silent until I emerge in Dubai on the 22nd.

Cheers!

New Slides

Catching up. Attached are New Slides as of today. Enjoy!

One of the new ones also makes a great addition to our recent "41 Quotes":

"There are people who prefer to say 'Yes,' and there are people who prefer to say 'No.' Those who say 'Yes' are rewarded by the adventures they have, and those who say 'No' are rewarded by the safety they attain."—Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up, Patricia Ryan Madson

(" ... yes I said yes I will Yes."—James Joyce, Ulysses)

Best First Job

I'm off to the Cold Stone Creamery annual franchise meeting to lead workshops on what it means to provide the "Best First Job."

What do you think makes a Best First Job? Anybody have any great (or not so great) memories of early jobs?

Mac Love

I knew when I switched from Windows back to Apple (after 11 years away) I'd end up being one of those insufferable anti-Windows people. But I didn't know it would take .5 nanoseconds.

A few months ago my Dell laptop had its 3rd hard drive crash, so I promptly went to the Mac Store and bought an iBook. (When you work for yourself you have to pay for everything, but you don't have to ask permission. It's well worth it.) All I can say is that it is really nice to be away from all of the cumbersome things and problems that Windows makes you endure.

What's making me happy right this minute? Well, my Dell used to act funny anytime I put it to sleep, so I was constantly shutting it down and waiting through the long Windows boot-up process, multiple times each day. I just close my iBook when I'm done using it, and it wakes up instantly refreshed and ready to go. I just went through security at O'Hare, popped into the Admiral's Club, and I can write this post in the time it would take my old Windows machine to start up.

And ... my battery says 4 hours and 12 minutes left to go. (After working for a while.) Plenty to get me to Vegas tonight.

Spring Is (Almost?) Here

For those of us in the Far North (Vermont) there are a series of Signs of "Spring." Earliest, and my wife's favorite, is the Winter Solstice ... the day after which the days start getting longer. Next, Groundhog Day, Feb 2. For baseball nuts, it's the day the Batteries (pitchers & catchers) report to Spring Training, in mid-February. For Vermonters there's First Day of Sugaring (sap starts running, for maple syrup). The Guarantee one has survived the Winter is Opening Day (baseball), around
April 1.

Personally, I can't go as far as Susan, honoring the Winter Solstice as the Indicative Turning Point. However, I've got a new Marker which I just read about in a push email from the San Francisco Giants. Next Tuesday, February 10, Spring Training tickets go on sale! Halleluiah! Spring is here, or at any rate only 4 days away!

Scale Limits? "Built to Last"?

BusinessWeek reports in a Cover Story that Intel is undergoing a complete post-Andy Grove makeover: Value-added, marketers and decentralization are the new flip-flop watchwords—along with a more or less dramatic rebranding initiative.

The Intel article inspired me to look up the 5-year stock prices for the last two decades' Defining Four: Intel. GE. Wal*Mart. Microsoft. As many others have reported before, the news is that there has effectively been no share price increase for these "market-makers" in the last five years. Is there such a thing as "too big"? Must agility and innovativeness always be victims of scale? One could make that argument rather persuasively.

Re limits to giantism, here's another little tidbit that just showed up in my end-of-year "convert to slide" pile: "The slumping giant needs to put more pep in its funds. ... But size remains a handicap."—Fortune on Fidelity Magellan/11.28.05 ("There's a practical limitation to running a fund of that size."—Chris Traulsen, analyst, Morningstar)

Is this a "Tom Rant" topic?
Yup.
(So be it.)

Web Love!

An unwanted (I thought) Web email I just received just offered me a "FREE 90-day supply of Serenity." Wow! How could one resist?

Best Book, 2005!

My choice as my favorite Biz Book of 2005 is Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, by Larry Bossidy (& Ram Charan). Fact is, it's a 2002 book, but I just read it word-by-word this year as I prepared to do a gig with Bossidy. Amazingly it is, as I see it, the 1st & only book wholly devoted to "getting things done," and the 1st and only book that suggests that there is a describable, "systematic" "discipline" (and "culture") of getting things done. I'm doing a seminar on change in a few weeks, and when the Client asked me for a pre-reading assignment I bypassed my books and recommended Bossidy/Execution.

(I'm not fully into dissing myself. I arrogantly think that our 1999 "Work Matters" troika—The Project 50, The Brand You 50, The Professional Service Firm 50—are far more relevant, and still inadequately appreciated & implemented, than in 1999. We are all under attack—"There is no job that is America's God-given right anymore"/Carly Fiorina—and the reason is summed up exquisitely in this terse quote: "'Disintermediation' is overrated. Those who fear disintermediation should in fact be afraid of irrelevance—disintermediation is just another way of saying that you've become irrelevant to your customers."/John Battelle/Point/Advertising Age/07.05. Answer—"the" answer?—to the "irrelevant" question: Cool Projects from Insanely Great, Value-adding PSFs which are stocked with Imaginative-Entrepreneurial Brand You Talent.)

Story Line in 100 Words or Less

A prospective Client asked me to summarize in as few words as possible (imagine!) my "message" based on Re-imagine! Here's what I said:

1. Wildly altered context (technology, China-India, global terrorism, etc.)
   
2. Only answer: Adaptive skills and bold-breathtaking innovation (top-line focus rather
   than cost-cutting focus)
   
3. Race way, way up the value-added curve (implemented "game-altering solutions"
   rather than "services," "experiences" rather than "transactions," and more)
   
4. Radical (!!!) use of IS-IT
   
5. A "Roster" of Weird & Wondrous & Entrepreneurial "Talent" engaged in
   "Wow Projects"
   
6. "Metabolic Leadership" (Passionate Leaders who instill a Discipline of Execution,
   a Quick Tempo Culture and an appetite to "Eat Radical Change for Breakfast")
   

(80 words by my count)

Brand Galapagos

How frequently the payoff pales next to the promise! You hear of a product, from an ad or a referral, and then you're let down when you actually experience it.

I've been hearing about the Galapagos Islands for years, building up a fabulous image in my mind. Ecuador and Celebrity Cruises had a tall order to fill, living up to my expectations. They did it!

Ecuador has preserved the national park in an admirable way, and I can't rave enough about this as a vacation destination. You are inches from sea lions, penguins, giant tortoises, iguanas, countless birds, etc. My son and I snorkeled by a (safe) shark and played with a sea lion in the water. Of the 80 people on the ship, half were kids, and I never saw one kid who looked bored or distracted, even while hearing an explanation of how marine iguanas protect their territories.

And, in a great example of "symbiotic" branding, Celebrity Cruises created an experience that perfectly complemented the nature experience. The cruise experience perfectly fit into the character of the destination. Great Brand Harmony. Highly recommended. Their naturalists were some of the best guides I've ever seen.

I've marketed some of the world's best vacation destinations in my career. Galapagos (and Celebrity) should be a model for all. Go there!

Anyone else witness some great vacation brands over the past few weeks?

Inventory Time! The cup is full!

Sure, the Vermont weather leaves something (a lot?) to be desired as the year turns. Sure the world is saddled with a vast array of apparently intractable problems. But here I am, still standing.

It's always time for "the first time." Hence an exercise I undertook on New Year's Eve. Just came to me out of the blue as I sat before a raging fire. I had no idea how to do "it." No guide. Nothing.

Went to my nearby home office. Grabbed an empty notebook. (Far too many of those around.)

And I started scribbling a list of all the things I had to be thankful for on 12.31.2005. Included were, of course, the obvious, like the gift of 95+ years of love my Mom gave me. But I also tipped my hat to the thousands of scientists who had worked ... for me! ... on the discovery of the drug that manages my hypertension. The flowers that bloomed in VT last May. The incredibly hard work that the authors of the books I read in 2005 put in for the sole purpose of making my day. Airline mechanics, pensions severed, who were still determined to make my 200+ flights in 2005 safe.

And on.
And on.

The real point is that the "exercise," in only the first 10 minutes, resulted in 14 pages of dense, scribbled entries.

There is no "religious message" here, no "meta-point." The simple point is that shit does indeed happen, and will happen again. Yet so many, many, many wonderful-wondrous-amazing things around us are invisible but worthy of down-on-one's-knees thanks.

Whew!
Wow!

(Try it.) (Works better than Valium or Jim Beam, I'd aver.)

Excellence!

EXCELLENCE!
Wrote about it in 1982. ("Searched" for it, actually.)
LOVE ... the word.
Love what "it" conjures.
What better!

Love it wherever I find it!

Excellence found: Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance in Capote.
Why bother to even have the Best Actor vote?
Retire the trophy!

"Stuff" such as PSH's performance inspires me in general. If I were trying to "motivate" a group of people, I'd suggest we all take the afternoon and go to Capote, and then discuss ... EXCELLENCE.

Excellence Sought ...

Somebody asked me what I was "up to" this year. Been there; translation: "Got a book in the works?" Me: No! In fact, No! No! No!

What am I "up to"? First and foremost, I have 60 priceless opportunities "on the books." Speeches-seminars-events. Starting with a healthcare gig in Dubai in a couple of weeks. My Aim.2006 is to: Make each event a Masterpiece, a Meticulously-crafted & Relevant & Provocative & Startling & Passionate Call to Dramatic/Revolutionary Action/Re-imagining. Will I bat 1.000? Of course not! Will I change the course of the lives in those 60 audiences? Of course not. But I will have the incredible-amazing-gadzooks opportunity to directly confront about 90,000 people with my vision of the energetic, Wow-engorged, change-hungry life. Suppose I somehow manage to dent the consciousness of 5%, and lead 5% of that 5% to take some pretty significant steps down Revolutionary Road. That would add up to 4,500 folks affected-infected, and 225 folks marching smartly to a different drummer. Wow! What a year it would have been!!

What am I "up to"? In our NCF (New Cool Friend) Stephen Shapiro's Goal-Free Living there's a chapter epigraph I loved:

"My only goal is to have no goals. The goal, every time, is that film, that very moment."—Bernardo Bertolucci

That film!
That speech!
That audience!
That individual in my sights!
That particular point!
That moment!*
(*There is no other.)

Boston?

Soft? Liberal? (Okay, the entire Congressional delegation consists of Democrats.) Anti-business? Pro-tax & Big Government?

If all these things are true, then why did recent research indicate that Boston has a higher percentage of millionaires than any other metro area in the U.S.? The top six: Boston: 4.8%. Philly: 4.0%. D.C.: 4.0% (a little less now that Jack Abramoff has copped a plea?). L.A.: 3.7%. NYC: 3.7%. Chicago: 3.7%.

Go figure.

Whoops?

I am a big Jack Welch fan. With his combination of energy and intellect and straight talk, he woke up a very sleepy giant, GE circa 1980. But before we join the ranks of the likes of Fortune, who breathlessly in 1999 dubbed him Manager of the Century, we might at least glance at the 26 December issue of Barron's. The magazine, in its cover story ("Jack's Magic"), argues that there was more than a small dose of "financial engineering" going on at GE as Welch (like all last-term U.S. Presidents) rushed to polish his legacy-to-be. Specifically, GE under-funded its insurance reserve by about $9.4 billion during Welch's last 5 years. GE stock soared ... and now it's in the doldrums as Jeff Immelt, Jack's successor, absorbs a $9.4 billion profit hit. (During Welch's last 5 years, earnings leapt from $0.72 per share to $1.37 per share, or 90%—some deal for a behemoth. Subtract the insurance under-reserving and the earnings would merely have gone from $0.72 to $0.76 over the same 5 years, according to Barron's.)

Are there no clothed emperors?

Susan & Grant

My wife Susan Sargent is "one of them." One of those people who will do the most insane things to make sure she never has to backtrack when she's going from point A to point B. For example, I'll take a flight "backwards" a few hundred miles from point A if it allows a connection that will make it easier to get to point B. She'd sooner die.

Turns out Susan has some good company. I just read a short, marvelous book on one of my heroes, U.S. Grant. (Michael Korda, Ulysses S. Grant.) Consider this snippet: "This [adolescent] incident [of getting from point A to point B] is notable not only because it underlines Grant's fearless horsemanship and his determination, but also it is the first known example of a very important peculiarity of his character: Grant had an extreme, almost phobic dislike of turning back and retracing his steps. If he set out for somewhere, he would get there somehow, whatever the difficulties that lay in his way. This idiosyncrasy would turn out to be one of the factors that made him such a formidable general. Grant would always, always press on—turning back was not an option for him."

Guess I'd better pay more attention to Susan's "peculiarity."

Boomers & Geezers Rule!

AOL News headline (12.31.05): "States Rush to Lure Wealthy Retirees." Start: "The senior sweepstakes kicks into high gear this weekend as the first baby boomers turn 60 and states, cities, and small towns mount ad campaigns to attract up-and-coming retirees and their spending power."

As Re-imagine! readers know, the pursuit of the boomer-geezer market is one of my hobbyhorses. So: What, precisely, are your boomer-geezer product-development and marketing-distribution plans? Despite the staggering #s (80M boomers in the U.S. alone, commanding Trillion$$$ in dollar-power), damn few firms have made a ... Strategic Commitment ... to this market. Hint: This is not a "Citigroup issue" issue/opportunity. It is an opportunity for almost all of us!

Essentials Giveaway

Our friends over at inbubblewrap are giving away five sets of the Essentials Series books today. Sign up, take a chance.

Cool Friend: Shapiro

Out soon! Our new Cool Friend, Steve Shapiro, has a book that should hit stores next week: Goal-Free Living: How to Have the Life You Want NOW! It's already been featured in O, The Oprah Magazine.

In 2001, Steve launched The 24/7 Innovation Group, a management education and research organization concentrating on innovation and breakthrough thinking, after publication of his first book, 24/7 Innovation: A Blueprint for Surviving and Thriving in an Age of Change. His website is goalfree.com.

Read his interview here, and get a preview of what you'll find in Goal-Free Living.

Ruminating on '06

As is my more or less habit, I informally took stock of 2005 and wondered about 2006 a bit over the last few days. You'll find my "spurs to rumination" attached as a pdf. It's "TP's 'Top 41' Quotes." Perhaps they'll be of some assistance to you if you undertake a similar exercise.

Update: What I've Done

Tom took the Top 41 Quotes that he offered to you above and added them into his self-assessment for the year that we'd posted a couple of months ago. Here is the revised What I've Done This Year, updated 3 January 2006. (That's the first time I've had to type 2006 in the blog. Welcome to the new year, everybody.)

Two New Year's Questions

In the last month I've been chewing on the question an audience member once asked Tom: What have you done this year? For a New Year's Eve exercise with friends I switched the question to: What's the most IMPORTANT thing you've done this year? (This clarifies your values, as you sort through what makes something important to you.)

So, I thought a fun way to start this New Year is to invite you to answer the following two questions (publicly if you
dare, concisely if you can):

1. What's the most important thing you've done in the last year?
   
2. What's the most important thing you'll do in the next year?