Competition

Sitting out a snowstorm recently (in Michigan, winter is not done with us yet), my wife and I watched a couple of great documentaries. First was Murderball, a chronicle of the quadriplegic rugby international games. Then it was Mad Hot Ballroom, a doc on the ballroom dancing competition for 11-year-old New York public school kids. Both brilliant films. And because I find it difficult to completely disengage from my love of organizational dynamics, I observed a great lesson for our enterprises in these gems. In both situations, the talent involved had personal, and even physical, challenges to overcome. But what drove the players in each documentary was good-old, plain, in-your-face competition. They wanted to win. Not make this a better world, not meet some greater societal obligation, not satisfy shareholders ... they just wanted to beat their competition. In the case of Murderball, that can be taken literally.

In my work, I have sensed that "winning" hasn't commonly been the driving force for performance. I've seen a lot of attention paid to conformance to specifications, quality indices, productivity measures, etc., but without answering the question "compared to whom?" In both films, the players and dancers had to win several qualifying events before they got a chance to go for the championship. Shouldn't the metrics in our organizations mirror this? Might employees be a bit more engaged if they knew how they were doing against the competition? Shouldn't business literacy include understanding the competition and knowing their game? And the big, somewhat ethical, question: Is it okay to want to put your competition out of business by beating them in the game? I remember the first mission statement from Saturn ... it was simple and clean ... "produce a car that was higher in quality and lower in cost than the Honda Civic." Know the competition and engage the team in beating them?

Open Mouth, Insert Foot?

Boomer & Geezer Women = Many, Many, Many People = Major-Primary Market for Everything = Primary Market+ For Everything Expensive = In Their Prime And Gathering Steam = Seriously Cool = Money, All Of.

No issue.
Period.

So, please explain why last Sunday's New York Times Women's Fashion Spring 2006 section did not even include one model that (I would think) a Boomer-Geezer Woman would identify with? I am sure-as-hell not suggesting that Boomer-Geezer women are not stylish. To the contrary, speaking as a 60-year-old+ male, there's no one sexier than a seriously cool 45-, 55-, 65-year-old woman! She's in her prime. (I'm not.) And she looks confidant and ready to take on & take over the world. But she (sure-as-hell) doesn't look like any of the humanoids sporting clothes in that fashion section of the Times. I'll be the first to admit that I am not "allowed" to be a judge on this topic—except for the stupendous nature of the market opportunity. Somebody/s—preferably women—please, please, please explain!

More Reading

I'm not ready to acclaim the following book "best of." And I'm just starting it. But agree with it or not, I think the hypothesis is fascinating and well worth pondering. "It": Daniel Nissanoff, FUTURESHOP: How the New Auction Culture Will Revolutionize the Way We Buy, Sell, and Get the Things We REALLY Want.

Web Power Redux

Not that any of what follows will surprise you. Nonetheless it as usual reminded me that it is a spanking new world. Speech to Aetna tomorrow. Long Google search. Great stuff, sure. But to get a flavor of "Aetna world," I even found myself reading legal documents from wee lawsuits from single individuals about a tiny topic (not to the litigant, of course) involving some aspect of claims handling or settlement. The "flavor" I picked up was priceless—and so, so easy to obtain.

A+ in Usability. Motley Fool. I wanted to dig pretty deep, and as is often the case (and fair, as I see it) I had to register to make an archival search. The registration and confirmation process took less than 30 seconds—and I'm a very slow typist. Kudos!

Re PowerPoint discussion of a couple of days ago, fonts.com is very cool.

Web = Ubiquitous = Duh.

Chocolate ... and More

I fell in love with Tom Peters when I saw him on a webcast with Kevin Roberts of Saatchi & Saatchi, back in December '04, talking about Lovemarks. I, too, am incredibly passionate about branding and delighted when I come across a company that "gets" the customer experience and knows how to have fun.

My new love is Graffiti Zoo, a chocolate and spice company. I discovered Graffiti Zoo while touring the chocolate exhibit at the History Museum in Atlanta a week ago. At the end of the exhibit, there was a room full of chocolate ... lots of different brands offering lots of different flavors. Not your everyday M&Ms, but unique products not sold in your typical grocery store. As I strolled with delight contemplating eating everything in sight, Graffiti Zoo jumped out at me—its name and packaging struck me in a unique way. Unlike most other chocolates that were in the form of bars, this chocolate was in a little white bag with simple black and white text. "Hmmmm, I wonder what's inside?" I thought. And, "Where does the name Graffiti Zoo come from?" Then, I saw that they "donate a percentage of [their] profits to The Conservation Endowment Fund of the American Zoo & Aquarium Association. ... the CEF has greatly advanced the mission to serve & protect the wonders of the natural world." Not only am I a certified chocoholic, but also a lover of animals and nature. It's a match made in heaven! Then I explored their different flavors: Zebras, Espresso Geckos, Barking Dogs, Bohemian Tree Frogs, Chilean Fire Ants, Moroccan Elephants, and, the one I picked, Pink Flamingos ("Crunchy Milk Chocolate, with the Tropical Flavors of Red Cherries & Fresh Coconut"). Mmmmmm ... those didn't last long.

I was so excited about the product, I decided to send some to my parents (I inherited my sweet tooth from my mother). I ordered several different flavors and had them shipped directly to their home (I considered stopping off at one of the local retailers, but I was afraid I'd eat it all before I could get it shipped). Two days later the box arrived at their doorstep. My mother couldn't wait to tell me it arrived ... packaged in a black bag with 3 different colors of tissue paper and a bright blue bow, each flavor of chocolate individually wrapped inside, each with its own story. I asked my mother to share her favorite, which it turns out is from the package of Moroccan Elephants (smooth milk chocolate with the passion of orange zest & spicy ginger):

The tree frog & elephant were an unlikely pair, as they traveled the world together. The elephant lumbering quietly along, with the frog riding high in the air. The tree frog would perch on the elephant's ear and whisper so softly, "go this way my dear" ... pointing out the trees & succulent leaves for the elephant to munch upon ... Because the poor elephant, as smart as she was, had misplaced her spectacles & could only see fuzz. Her world was a blur, but it didn't deter the elephant from exploring new lands. ... So off they went, to travel the world for they were the best of friends ...

I hope you'll discover Graffiti Zoo, too.

The Big Read

Haven't done a "What I'm reading" in a while. Embarrassed at how much stuff is sitting in the nearby pile, and the fact that I'm not comfortable going on so short as a two-day trip (tomorrow, to CA) with less than a dozen books. (But what if I were hijacked or ended up in the hospital?)

Hence, in three categories ...

Incredible/Life-altering!

Stephen Jay Gould, Full House: The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin. Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets. My (not so) secret passion-compulsion is statistics. Reading these two books honestly (heaven help me) makes my hands shake with excitement.

Forget means, medians, and modes—all three are downright dangerous. It's looking at the whole distribution of data that leads to the great insights (and helps us avoid the stupidest of errors). Taleb is new to me, and stunning; but I'm re-reading Full House for perhaps the 6th or 7th time—what a collection of dog ears! (Love this: Taleb is the Dean's Professor of the Sciences of Uncertainty at the Isenberg School of Management at U Mass/Amherst—my God, signs of intelligent life in a B.School!)

One practical implication in my-our world: We pay far too much attention to the giants of industry, and far too little attention to the far more numerous pygmies which rarely even make it into our data sets; consider China, whose productivity is a wee fraction of ours, and not really catching up all that fast—its jillions of farmers, for example, are among the world's least productive people while our farmers (and hair salons and tanning salons and spas) are by and large computerized relative marvels of productivity. As to the "life altering" in the title, I can no less than guarantee that if you train yourself to look at and assess full distributions instead of the likes of simple-minded trend lines that ignore 98% of the data, your life will never be the same!

Non-fiction

Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander, The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life. (Opening epigraph: "A shoe factory sends two marketing scouts to a region of Africa to study the prospects for expanding business. One sends back a telegram saying, SITUATION HOPELESS STOP NO ONE WEARS SHOES. The other writes back triumphantly, GLORIOUS BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY STOP THEY HAVE NO SHOES.") Frank Smith, The Book of Learning and Forgetting. Derrick Jensen, Walking on Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution. (These two set the conventional wisdom about how we learn on its ear—now, if only some of the "teach-to-test" goons were listening!) Robert Crease, The Prism and the Pendulum: The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments in Science. (Hey, I love the history of science—it's so, so far from the "logical," "emotionless" process that most conjure up.) Fred Siegel, The Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York and the Genius of American Life. (Goes beyond 9/11 to examine the 75 years of decay in NYC that Giuliani successfully faced down against all odds—reminds me of Margaret Thatcher's "turnaround" in the UK.) Tom Lewis, Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio. (Radio's impact was arguably as great as the Internet—watching this technological and social revolution unfold is both instructive and fun; I love stories of unintended consequences.) Sir Ranulf Fiennes, Race to the Pole: Tragedy, Heroism, and Scott's Antarctic Quest. (I'm a "Scottie," and one could argue we have more than enough books on the subject and the man—this one, however, is the first by an explorer, probably the most intrepid explorer of the last 75 years.) Fara Warner, The Power of the Purse: How Smart Businesses Are Adapting to the World's Most Important Customers—Women. (This is a re-re-read; I simply need to absorb these "first ever" detailed cases on one of the most important opportunities business faces or, rather, fails repeatedly to face.) Kerry Patterson et al., Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. (Crucial Conversations and Crucial Confrontations are arguably the two most powerful business books of the last 10 years—if you take them aboard.)

Fiction

Marshall Browne, Inspector Anders and the Ship of Fools. Bill Eidson, The Repo. Mark Helprin, A Dove of the East and Other Stories. (Helprin is an amazing writer who can develop character in a paragraph better than most can in 400 pages; his A Soldier of the Great War may be my favorite work of fiction.) John Lawton, A Little White Death. Carl Hiaasen, Double Whammy. (I'm late to Hiaasen, but hell bent on catching up.) Juris Jurjevics, The Trudeau Vector.

Yes, Virginia, There Surely Is a "New Economy."

Still doubt there's a "new economy"? Harvard's endowment is so mighty it makes university bosses worldwide quake in awe. A Harvard prof-pal, returning from a research stint in Silicon Valley, reports that Sergey Brin and Larry Page's net worth exceeds that fabled Haaavaad endowment. (Maybe deposed prexy Larry Summers is angling for a Google job ... with options?)

Washington (G.) in Winter

Those of you who inhaled, as I did, David McCullough's 1776 will remember that 230 Februarys ago George Washington and his ragtag, disease-ridden army were holding the British at bay during a very nasty winter in Boston. Saturday I was traversing the Boston Public Garden as snow began to fall. I thought of a snowy February 1776 as I walked past GW's statue.

By the way, Washington looked about as good on a horse in reality as he does in statues like this. The uncommonly tall & perfectly postured General was one of the Colonies' best and most graceful-elegant horsemen. I mention this because Washington's purposefully self-managed demeanor was essential to the Army's success—the General's bearing per se went a long way toward convincing the British that we were a force to be reckoned with. (Hint: We weren't.) Thus Washington's "Brand You abilities" carried the day those 230 winters ago! (Or that's the way I see it.)

Lessons from Ray & David

I loved the movie Ray, not least for its wonderful lesson about staying power. Though Ray Charles faced any number of hurdles, some self-inflicted, he sustained largely by continually re-inventing himself in a fundamental way. To his handlers' and sponsors' chagrin he'd scrap a successful genre and try something completely different that had captured his fancy. This Saturday I went to see a magnificent show of David Hockney's portraits, opening in Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. As with Ray, I was struck by the fact that Hockney had abruptly and radically changed direction on a half dozen, if not a dozen, occasions—and he too had left something very good-productive-lucrative behind, that had in no way petered out, to follow that new and untried path.

Though the sample discussed here is just two in number, I believe there is a significant truth at work. Those (individuals, institutions such as Apple) who have the nerve to move in a very new direction while the "cash cow" is still producing a vigorous torrent of milk mightily enhance the odds of lasting success.

More Big Ben!

Seems as though Ben Franklin invented most everything worth inventing including effective American diplomacy. A couple of wonderful comments on an earlier post suggest that he merits these two additional accolades: First Blogger. Father of Open Source.

Nice!

Craigslist

I assume that virtually everyone on this site finds discriminatory housing practices to be abhorrent, and thinks the 1968 Fair Housing Act is a good piece of legislation. That certainly sums up my opinion.

But what do you think of this:

Craigslist, the online do-it-yourself classified forum, is being sued because some apartment rental advertisers have used language on the site such as "No kids allowed," "No minorities," or "Africans and Arabians tend to clash with me."

The advertisers are clearly doing something wrong. But should Craigslist be sued? Is Craigslist more like a commercial newspaper, which is responsible for the content of classified ads, or more like a town square? If I hear people saying terrible things on a park bench, I can't blame the city which provided them with a place to sit.

Craigslist carries 8 million new classified ads per month, with a staff of only 19 employees, making it impossible to police all ads with its current low-price model. (However, readers are able to flag offensive ads, and the "No minorities" ad was caught in this way and removed with two hours.)

This presents us with an interesting challenge for the Internet age. Are we willing to allow some things we find repugnant to happen, in order to allow the frictionless, inexpensive communication the Internet enables? Or are we willing to give some of that up to prevent these types of situations? Comments?

Tom at Work

The picture was taken as Tom met the press during his recent trip to Madrid. We hope you like it! There are more at Flickr.

Oops!

Now that Tom has switched back to a "normal" font for his PowerPoint slides, it did occur to us here at tp.com that a few of you may have purchased the new font specifically to view/read Tom's slides. If that means you, our apologies for the switcheroo. And to make some small amends for your having spent money on a font no longer needed here, if you email a receipt for One Stroke Script dated February 22 or 23, we'll send you one of the Essentials Series books as a way of saying sorry for the inconvenience. (But hey, now you've got another font to play around with.) One caveat: short time frame for making good on this offer. You've got until midnight, Eastern Time Zone (USA) Tuesday, February 28, 2006, to send us the receipt. Please email it to tom (at) tompeters.com. And as always, thanks for your avid participation.

Peace Returns to PowerPoint Valley

Call it "The Day of the Client." (More accurately: "The Night of the Client.") That is, you. Call me tired! Not only did I give a 2-full-day seminar in Madrid 4 days after I got out of the hospital, but after arriving in Boston yesterday afternoon I confronted the revolt against the new slide format—and ended up pulling a no-bull "all nighter" to re-do every one of the roughly 1,150 slides in the "workingmaster."

I came to loathe the Lucida Handwriting Font that was ubiquitous in my PP presentations. While preparing for my teleconference-seminar for Targeted Learning Corporation last week, their presentation guru, Dave Walzer [from D2 Productions], introduced me to One Stroke Script LED. After vociferous initial resistance, I went ape over the font, and after my TLC presentation I used half my hospital stay to incorporate it in the "workingmaster." And I used it in Madrid. IT IS BEAUTIFUL.

But ...

As you know, thanks to its odd size it creates a godawful mess if you don't have it—and almost nobody does. My first response, "Screw them." [I.e., Screw you!] It is wonderful in a presentation room—and that's what I do first and foremost!! You yelped—appropriately. I fumed. (I after all had just spent 16 hours getting home from Madrid.) But I read the comments—and pondered on the roll of the Posted PPs at the site.

About 8P.M. last night, after soul searching and Font research, I decided to replace the mis-sized One Stroke with Arial Rounded MT Bold. It is a standard Windows Font, and, more important, it is the standard size, so it will default to Arial if you don't have it.

At 8P.M. I walked to Starbucks, ordered 2 Ice-coffee Ventis and got to work. When S'bucks closed at 10P.M. I came home (I was in Boston, Susan was in Vermont) and worked until about 3A.M. I once again made several hundred, or perhaps a thousand, other changes in addition to re-sizing with Arial Rounded MT Bold. I went to sleep at 3A.M., got up at 4:30A.M., and finished about an hour ago, at 9:30A.M. (Whew.) So, attached, you will find the "new and improved" 1,131-slide "workingmaster.0224.06" PP.

(Incidentally, you'll find some other cuckoo Fonts in the presentation, such as Chiller and Jokerman. They, too, are Windows standards, and more important standard size—so their absence should not screw up the presentation if you don't have them.)

Listening to you all is/was important to me for several reasons: (1) I think it's the right thing to do—and I preach it from every podium I can find. (2) It's your site and our community. (3) You were right. (4) I learned something—don't get cute. ["Simplicity," Trevor would say.] (5) In the end I-we have a better product. And (6) sleep is for Wimps.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going for my 6-mile or so Power Walk (from PP to PW, or some such.)

Cheers ...

Good As It Gets!

Lovely (& incredibly tiring) 2-day seminar in Madrid is in the bag. I was advised, "Spaniards are unlikely to ask questions." Which Spaniards? We interacted at high volume and density from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. for two straight days! (What I love about seminars like this is that, true or not, I really feel as though I've made some fast friends despite the short time. I think that's what really keeps me stirred up.) Finished Day 2 in time to sneak in two hours at the Prado. (Ye gads, the raw power of Goya's "the black paintings" is intimidating.) The photograph is Velazquez guarding the entrance to the museum.

Cool Friend: Daniels

Aubrey Daniels, founder and Chairman of Aubrey Daniels International, is our new Cool Friend, and I think you'll appreciate his subject. He's the coauthor with James Daniels (any relation, I wonder?) of Measure of a Leader: An Actionable Formula for Legendary Leadership. His book and his consulting practice are based on measuring the effectiveness of a leader by examining the actions of his followers. I.e., he offers a practical approach to answering the question, "How effective is this leader, really?" You can read his Cool Friend interview here. Or visit his website here.

New Format and Font

Tom has done a lot of work on his master slides. He changed the size, and he's using a new font. The size should not give you any problems, but you may have to install the font on your computer to see the slides the way Tom intends them to look. The font is called One Stroke Script. You can read them without that font, they'll just look different. Here's the file: Working Master 2006.

Bad News, Good News

Well, "Google world" or not I seem to have blown Ben Franklin's birthday. January 17, not February 24. Thanks for alerting me in a Comment ... and for not ripping me up for such a glitch.

That's the bad news. The good news is that old Ben is indeed 300 this year, and I'm glad I had an excuse to do the Post. He is a "brand you" extraordinaire, and hence I do declare that Brand You is indeed 300 years old! (What lengths one goes to NOT to take credit for an idea! Ben beat me by 290 years, and I'm delighted!)

Event Slides: Madrid

As he told us yesterday, Tom is in Madrid today speaking for IIR, the Institute for International Research, at a public event. You can get the slides presentation here.

[Addendum: The PPT linked above is the long version, which includes everything Tom would like to say, and the shorter final version is here. It contains only what he has time to say.—CM]

Not Quite There

"Design" is "in." Hot. A done deal.

Not quite so fast. Susan and I bought a new high-definition TV for our Boston house, and an accompanying DVD player. Problem: It/they come/s with three (count 'em) controllers—sporting (count 'em) 117 buttons. Okay, subtract the 0 through 9 on each of the three ... and you're still left with 87 buttons.

87 = A lot. (87 = Useless. For me.) (To be fair, my 8-year-old niece, Honor Sargent, mastered the whole thing in minutes.)

Design, thou art the fairest of maidens—but please, for us Boomers-Geezers with the $$$, get the "usability" right!

Happy Birthday, Brand You!

The Big Week is here! Brand You turns 300!

Thursday. February 24, 2006. The 300th birthday of my favorite American ... Benjamin Franklin. Born 24 February 1706. Boston.

I'm in the midst of re-reading Ben's Autobiography, a marvel and perhaps more apropos today then when he wrote it. Franklin, born to humble circumstances and subsequently a polymath who was the toast of Europe and America, oft considered the world's most famous citizen, arguably did more than anyone to define and shape the American character. He believed in frugality and decency and hard work. He was the ultimate self-made man, and made no bones about it. Though indeed a champion of frugality, he was also a champion of commerce and welcomed the profit therefrom. He became in Philadelphia a wealthy man, and then at about 40 "retired" to doing four decades of good deeds—such as inventing America and in his 70s taking on some of the thorniest tasks associated with the Revolution.

As to the "brand you" bit, Professor Kenneth Silverman, discussing, in his "Introduction," Franklin's youth, notes, "He not only worked hard, but also arranged to be noticed doing so." Throughout his long life, Franklin arranged his reputation with the same meticulous care that he applied to his many businesses and his scientific experiments; in fact, over the years he carefully constructed many different personas to be trotted out as needed—and was the unmistakable manager of his own legacy, of which the autobiography is an essential part.

(His attention to persona went so far as to encompass his peculiar dress—and its impact on others. The "father" of "dress for success," or "dress-for-impact," too? Doubtless so.)

As one who has been on the sharp end of much criticism that my Brand You idea is "self serving," I can at least take solace from the fact that Franklin, too, was repeatedly excoriated for being too self-centered and oriented toward "material success" and reputation.

Also, many dismiss the Covey-Robbins sorts of "formulas" for self-guided development as "simplistic." Maybe, but again Franklin got there first. He unfailingly began his carefully planned and productive days, Silverman reports, by asking himself, "What Good shall I do this Day?" and ended his day, at 10 o'clock sharp, with the follow-up self-assessment, "What Good have I done today?"

Happy 300, Ben.

(NB: In re Brand You, consider this headline in the "BostonWorks" section of Sunday's Globe: "The Ladder Isn't the Only Way Up: More grads eschew the entry-level job in favor of working for themselves." Not your father's world. On the other hand, Ben's world.)

(NB: My favorite Brand You quote, courtesy the author Isabel Allende, "You are the storyteller of your own life, and you can create your own legend or not.")

Calling Daniel Goleman!

Boston-Cambridge is buzzing at the possibility of Harvard president Larry Summers stepping down before being subjected to a second "no confidence" vote from the Arts faculty later this week. (Perhaps it will have happened before this Blog sees the light.) "Some" are saying that if he steps down it will prove that Harvard is ungovernable; "some" are saying that the general faculty-spurred unrest is a symbol of its unwillingness to deal with Summers' vigorous change agenda. All the above, and more, doubtless have many grains of truth enclosed. But my take, based on utterly no inside knowledge, is that Summers is, as he long has been, "abrasive" (a repeatedly used descriptor) and notably lacking in Daniel Goleman's EQ/emotional intelligence.

It is axiomatic that a change agent will meet resistance, in Cub Scout Troop #349 or when attempting to lead Harvard. And the thin-skinned had best not attempt such change. On the other hand, determined change agents are not allowed to claim that the mountain was impossible to scale because of "their" recalcitrance—it is up to the leader to muster as much "emotional intelligence" as relentless determination to get the job done through those who will be subjected to the newfound approach. Summers' manner apparently borders (crosses the border) on rude and demeaning. Frankly, I think his change agenda is long overdue at Harvard, and I am saddened that he seems to have been born, or developed along the way, such a ratty, haughty, even misanthropic, attitude toward his fellow men and women.

The larger lesson is obvious: "Revolutionary approaches are needed in revolutionary times"—but they'd better be accompanied by first-rate "political"/people skills.

(Come to think of it, Summers in his 20s could have benefited mightily from having read and absorbed the lessons of B. Frankin's autobiography. America's most successful man at its most perilous time had, along with an incomparable vision, people skills to burn.)

Viva Madrid!

After three days in Virginia in the hospital (Inova Fairfax, Wow!) adjusting to my new pacemaker (ah, 63!), I am off to Madrid for a two-day seminar that, I hope, allows for enough downtime to visit the Prado to see my favorite, if grim, Brueghels. Then a few U.S. speeches—and off to Romania, Mauritius, Siberia (no kidding), and Pakistan. Ah, we Brand Yous have to keep on truckin' if we aim, per our soon to be 300-year-old, to ... Do Good Each Day!

Design Saved From Trash

Ok, I'm risking jabs for being one of those ex-Windows-Macophiles, but hey, what can I say? I deserve it!

Did a major office cleaning the other day, muttering a mantra of "get rid of it" as I tossed just about everything in sight. Old client files, articles, extra pens—you name it, I threw it out.

Despite this urge to purge, two things survived that seemingly shouldn't have: The box to my iBook and a plastic shopping bag from the Apple Store. I found myself identifying future functions for them so they wouldn't have to go. They're so pretty!

Who Has to "Be the Brand"

I was speaking yesterday morning to a group of HR-types about how to encourage employees throughout a company to support a brand strategy, i.e., how employees can "Be the Brand." One participant asked about how to deal with outside contractors who represent your company.

Then, later in the day I received a telephone call from Sears that really brought home how important this is.

[read more]

Display of self-confidence

Last line of voiceover in a commercial for Grape Nuts Trail Mix Crunch Cereal:

Tastes so good you won't believe it's Grape Nuts!

Marcus' Big One

Re-reading Marcus Buckingham's The One Thing You Need to Know. I blurbed it early, but hadn't picked it up for a while—until I got a recent question about it. It is a fabulous book—good research and genuine wisdom. Attached you'll find a little PowerPoint I pulled together from the book.

Cool Friend: Madson

Patricia Ryan Madson is our latest Cool Friend. She's the author of Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up. According to its advance press, the book is "an irresistible invitation to lighten up, look around, and live an unscripted life." Tom's quote from it is this: "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." Madson discusses her 13 maxims for getting the most out of being more spontaneous in your life in her Cool Friend interview here. You can also see constructiveliving.com to learn more about her ideas.

Judge Posner on Surveillance

It is always a pleasure to read the lucid prose that flows from the keyboard of federal Judge Richard Posner. His "A New Surveillance Act" op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal is masterful.

(Judge Posner also has a marvelous Blog done jointly with Chicago economics Nobel Prize winner Gary Becker. I.D.: The Becker-Posner Blog, becker-posner-blog.com.)

Wow: More on Women's Purchasing Power

In a Page 1 story today, USA Today offers yet another powerful statistic concerning not only women's purchasing power, but women's growing purchasing power. The article, "A Dream House Sans Spouse: More single women buy their own homes," offers these startling numbers: Fully 20 percent of today's home buyers are single females, up from 10 percent in 1981. Meanwhile, single males represented 10 percent of home buyers in '81—and 9 percent today.

(Hmmmm. Wonder what percentage of home builders are female?)

The Blog Establishment

"The Blog Establishment" is the title of New York magazine's cover story this week (February 20). Associated articles include: "Ranking The Top 50" (BoingBoing is no. 1, Andrew Sullivan no. 50), "The Traffic Racket," "Blogonomics." There's a nice timeline of Blog history, starting with Links.net, the first Blog ever, created in 1994 by Swarthmore student Justin Hall. For me, at least, the article was fun and informative.

Sexy Boomers!

"Sex & the Single Boomer" is Newsweek's cover story this week. Didn't do much for me other than to reinforce one of my main themes of the last five or so years, starting to become accepted as conventional wisdom. Namely, our 80 million Boomers are the biggest market for ... everything. For instance, Boomers are the fastest growing segment of the on-line matchmaking market.

While Boomer-power is making it to the mainstream, at least in marketing consciousness, my gripe remains—re Boomers and the Women's Market—that damn few companies are "betting the farm" strategically on these two, clearly largest market segments for almost anything you can name. Or, as my pal Marti Barletta puts it, these are not "market segments," these are the market!

Europe in Inexorable Decline?

Beyond the current cartoon madness, Europe may have a larger problem—irrelevance. That's the issue addressed by commentator Fareed Zakaria in Newsweek: "The Decline and Fall of Europe." The trigger for this gloomy assessment is a just-released report, "Going for Growth," by the OECD/Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, a rather sane and sober group with, typically in my opinion, a pro-Europe bias. Typical observations: "Talk to top-level scientists and educators about the future of scientific research, and they will rarely even mention Europe. In the biomedical sciences, for example, Europe is not on the map, and it might well be surpassed by much poorer Asian countries. The CEO of a large pharmaceutical company told me that in ten years, the three most important countries for his industry would be the United States, China, and India." The demographic story is, of course, a disaster. In 25 years, Zakaria points out, the number of working-age Europeans will decline in absolute numbers by seven percent, while the over-65s will "grow" by an unimaginable 50 percent—yet the citizenry continues to steadfastly rebuff labor-market reforms.

All in all, not a pretty picture. As Zakaria puts it, in summary, "These days we all talk about the rise of Asia and the challenge to America, but it might well turn out that the most consequential trend of the next decade will be the economic decline of Europe."

Bottoms Up!

With imagination, one can add value to, literally, anything. While we know that, we seem to ignore it when we fret ceaselessly over what happens as we lose our underwear factories to China. Answer: Turn to water! Consider this news item from AOL last night: "With 600 brands to choose from, bottled water now outsells soft drinks. However, instead of buying a beverage made from a secret formula (Coca-Cola), we're spending $100 billion annually worldwide to drink what pours from our own taps. ... In 2005, the Beverly Hills company Bling H20 introduced its limited edition spring water selling for $34 a liter that's become a Hollywood signature."

Not the basis for a "sound economy," you rebut! Well, it has been for about the last 60 or so years as branding of mundane stuff has become the main engine of value-added. Perhaps the only news is not water, but the fact that, in a wildly competitive global economy, we now have to brand ourselves to survive. You know, the "brand you" bit.

The Wonder of the Wild Blue Yonder

Because of my perceived need for the freedom to pop up whenever I want, I'm a confirmed aisle-seat guy. But yesterday I was at the bulkhead window for my short hop from Boston to D.C. As we rolled down the runway, my nose was literally pressed to the window. I was amused to realize—after about 6,000 flights and 6,000,000 air miles—that I'm still taken by the whole amazing fact of flight!

(I guess that's a good thing, since Siberia, Pakistan, and Mauritius are among the near-term stops that appear on my calendar.)

The IMAOA

I'm thinking of founding "ima-o-a," or IMAOA.

As you know, I'm ordinarily an enemy of incrementalism, and an ally of the Bold Leap. In almost every presentation I quote my old pal, Roger Enrico, former PepsiCo chief: "Beware of the tyranny of making small changes to small things. Rather, make big changes to big things."

Well, I'm not ready to recant and rebuff Roger, but I have been thinking lately about relative national productivity, the sources thereof. It occurs, and I blogged this briefly before, that we spend far too much time focusing on the Fortune 500 (or some other nation's equivalent), and far too little time on the "other 90 percent" of the working population. Bottom line: If you want to improve national productivity, a measure of output per working person, you might be smarter to focus on janitors and waiters and plumbers and electricians than biochemists and software coders—i.e., there are a lot, lot more of the former than the latter. For example, if you could nudge (right word: nudge) productivity up for the folks who, by the thousand, scrape gum off the platforms in Japanese subway stations, you could do more for productivity than by adding another robot in the Toyota factory.

Hence my proposed "institute." I'm calling it the Institute for Modest Advances in Ordinary Activities, or IMAOA. I think I'm onto something here. Any economists among our visitors who'd care to comment?

(In a way I'm stealing this from my old friend, the late Ren McPherson, legendary/Fortune Business Hall of Fame CEO of Dana Corporation, featured 100 years ago in In Search of Excellence. Ren used to say that, "The high-flyers will take care of themselves, and I'll eventually weed out the losers. My real job is to engage the 'middle 60 percent.' If I can induce a modest productivity boost from them, I can move mountains." I think he was right—and his track record surely supports that conclusion.)

DDMP, or "D-squared MP"

I had several press interviews yesterday for a forthcoming event in South Africa. The conversation invariably turned to entrepreneurship. I was repeatedly asked what the "secrets" were to starting a successful business—any business, not some Silicon Valley or Cambridge software or biotech hottie.

I'm sure I'd been asked the same thing before, but the repetitiveness of the question got me searching for a repeatable answer. And I homed in on "D-squared MP."

D-squared, or Dramatic Difference: Too many people risk their life savings on a not very original idea. No, I don't mean that you have to start a Google, but I do mean that you must be clear, very very clear, about how your new Italian restaurant or real estate agency will be "dramatically different" from the current offerings in your locale-market. Far too many folks "bet the farm" on, in effect, a "me too" proposition—too sad.

M, or Money: And far too many people with a genuinely rippin' idea forget to get the "money guy," the "businessperson," on board from, more or less, day one. I'm less talking about the funds raiser here (for the moment, I assume you'll use your carefully squirreled away war chest of $175,000, and another $50,000 borrowed from Aunt Matilda), and more focused on the person who "gets off on business" as much as you get off on your genuinely better-startling idea for a financial-planning boutique in Upper Podunk. Decent, if simple, systems for doing business, for instance, must be in place pretty much from the start. Bottom line: "Business sense" is as "cool" as "it" (the prime idea).

P, or People: Obvious? Of course! Not so fast! That inspired dreamer, that finance aficionado ... are often wretches when it comes to hiring and inspiring, day in and day out, the waiters and waitresses or receptionists who will "Wow" the clientele—or not.

I contend, or at least I contended to the folks I talked to yesterday, that all three pieces are imperative to solving the entrepreneurial puzzle—and that almost no one combines them in one head. In fact, the three disciplines are so intellectually and emotionally different that they can't spring from the same soul.

So that's my nickel, the product of years of observation, as well as too much time and money spent as an inattentive student at the University of Hard Knocks.

Micro-sabbatical

I'm on a secret mission for the next few days, but I will return next week.

3Es

In looking at the "Challenge Cup" post, I suddenly realized—uh oh—that each of the pull quotes started with an "e." Hence: "The 3Es."

Enthusiasm.
Execution.
Excellence.

Not too shabby. PPT version is here.

Event Slides: TLC

This is a good name for a Valentine's Day event, though, in this case, it stands for Targeted Learning Corporation. Tom is speaking in a web seminar for their Executive Leadership Series. You can download the slides here. Happy Valentine's Day!

Duh!

DO NOT FORGET VALENTINE'S DAY. (This is a guy-to-guy message.)

Comments on Coretta Scott King Post

There was an interesting exchange over my CSK post. For the "last word," I highly recommend Peggy Noonan's op-ed piece in last Friday's Wall Street Journal. Here's how she starts: "Listen, I watched the funeral of Coretta Scott King for six hours Tuesday, from pre-service commentary to the very last speech, and it was wonderful—spirited and moving, rousing and respectful, pugnacious and loving. The old lions of the American civil rights movement of the 20th century were there, and standing tall. The old lionesses, too. There was preaching and speechifying, and at the end I thought: This is how democracy ought to be, ought to look every day—full of the joy of argument, and marked by the moral certainty that here you can say what you think." (Ms Noonan was President Reagan's principal speech writer.)

Your Nickel

For a forthcoming event, I was asked to provide some possible "sayings" on leadership, six words or less, fit to go on coffee cups distributed as gifts. Well, I got a little carried away. (That's not news.) The results are listed below.

"Passion!"
"Energy!"
"Enthusiasm!"
"Passion! Energy! Enthusiasm!"
"Enthusiasm! Enthusiasm! Enthusiasm!"
"Enthusiasm Moves Mountains!"
"Nothing Matches Enthusiasm as a 'Motivator'!"
"Enthusiasm, the Ultimate Virus."
"Technicolor Times Demand Technicolor Actions."
"Technicolor Times Demand Technicolor People."
"Wow. Now."
"Re-imagine!"
"Re-imagine! Re-do! Re-vise! Re-vo-lu-tion!"
"Respect!"
"Leaders 'Do' People. Period."
"Credibility. Asset No.1."
"Tell the Truth."
"Truth Wins."
"Challenge. Challenge. Challenge."
"Two Big Goals. Tops."
"Focus. Your Calendar Never Lies."
"Good Story. Good Leader."
"Best Story Wins."
"Live the Story."
"Change the World. Accept Nothing Less."
"Dream!"
"Dream. The Only Worthwhile Reality."
"Beware Those Who Agree With You."
"Seek Dissidents. Nurture Dissidents. Cherish Dissidents."
"Excellence!"
"Demand Excellence!"
"Demand Excellence. The Greatest Gift."
"No Less Than Excellence. Ever."
"Excellence, Life's Gold Standard"
"Stop Talking! Start Doing!"
"Execute. Execute. Execute."
"Do. Do. Do."
"'Good Execution' Beats 'Good Strategy.'"
"Agility Trumps Size."
"Women make the best bosses!"
"Women Rule. Believe It."
"You must care!"
"Listen."
"Ask. 'Why?'"
"'Different' beats 'Better.'"
"'Distinct' or 'Extinct.'"
"Innovate or Die."
"'Me Too' = 'Me Dead.'"
"Talent Time!"
"Best Talent Wins."
"Moderation Fails in Immoderate Times."

If you were given the same assignment, what other pithy, world-changing, cup-suitable pearls would you suggest?

(A PDF version and a PPT version are attached.)

Addendum

Starbucks clarification. I made a big deal out of the "Starbucks Smile." Let me add that, to me, these smiles (and sparkling demeanor, even a 6:30 a.m.) are ... The Real Thing. That is, we've all been "subjected to" "training program smiles"—those stretched-lip phantom "smiles"/face-contortions that bear no trace of genuine human emotion. Erik Hansen and I were talking about this. (He's the one who made me a Starbucks Maniac.) We conclude that the not-so-obscure secret is breaking one's back to hire ... folks with naturally sunny dispositions. Any other criteria come in a (very) distant second!

My firm belief: Such people do exist, in fairly sizeable numbers, but you must be determined to make this the Clear & Unmistakable No.1 Criterion! (And, to understate, it doesn't exactly hurt if the person/ doing the hiring is, um ... sunny & sparkling. Message: Sparkle begets sparkle. Sparklers sign up to work with sparklers.)

Rock On, Erik! (And Robert!)

More Erik. I love his Cool Friend interview with Robert Coram. I knew Boyd just a little—and I am mesmerized by his life, his research, his conclusions ... and his lasting impact. And, boy oh boy, do these ideas ever hold 100% for business, circa 2006!

Bang!

Has anyone pointed out that this is the first time a VP has shot anyone since VP Burr offed A. Hamilton?

Message to Ad Execs

John Stratton, chief marketing officer at Verizon Wireless, spoke at a gathering of 400 ad agency and entertainment executives last week. His message: He is not happy about spending $1 billion a year on "overvalued, inefficient, rapidly eroding mass market advertising platforms that continue to under deliver."

He offered 8 points of warning to the audience, which are included in the extended entry. (Reprinted from adage.com) Do you agree?

[read more]

Coretta Scott King

After yesterday's Atlanta speech to the leadership of NAPA (a very down-to-earth, energetic, and enjoyable group), and before I headed to the airport, I stopped for a few moments at the King Center to pay my respects to Coretta Scott King. I came of age at the same time the Civil Rights movement did; in fact, one of my Cornell classmates was murdered in Philadelphia, Mississippi. At any rate, it was quite stirring to see both Kings, about 20 yards apart, at the Center. And about 100 yards from the Kings is the same simple neon sign that's been around for ages: Ebenezer Baptist Church. The epicenter!

[Note: Tom took the picture above, and we'll have more of his efforts soon showing at Flickr.—CM]

He Has a Point. (A Damn Good One.)

While passing the time in the Atlanta airport, I picked up a book on making presentations, The Exceptional Presenter, by Timothy Koegel. Though self-published, it's garnered endorsements from everyone from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to Roger Staubach. My reasons for the purchase were selfish: I figure that the odds are high that I'll find at least one, small, operational piece of advice ... and indeed I did find a couple of new ideas and a ton of always useful reminders.

But there was one enormous point Koegel makes that is ever-so-obvious ... except that I've never seen it made with such impact and clarity. Are you breathless with anticipation? Well, you should be. Here goes: "Those who practice improve. Those who don't, don't."

Obvious. Golf. Fishing. Cabinetry. Biking & hiking. So: Why not presenting-communicating? In Koegel's seminars, he asks participants how much time they spend communicating—including formal presentations, meetings, interviews to collect information, and even voice mails. The answer, and he cites other research with like numbers, is 50 percent to 80 percent of one's professional time. (Which makes perfect sense to me, as I sit here at a keyboard ... communicating.) Then Koegel asks how much time people spend practicing and evaluating their communication skills. A very, very fair question, eh? The answer is: 0/zero percent to 2 percent ... mostly zeroes.

This result is no less stupid for the fact that it's not surprising.

Whether you get Koegel's book or not, you must/ought to admit he has one helluva point. Call it, even, a "dirty little/BIG secret."

I am a professional communicator—from this Blog to my books to my 75 speeches a year. I'm not bragging (much), but my "practice" & "prep" is bizarrely time-consuming and of course invaluable. E.g.: spending the 2+ hours on my flight yesterday from ATL to BOS, at the end of a long day, after speech #2,400 (roughly), reading-absorbing Koegel's book!

(Re-read the above paragraph. TP: "I am a professional communicator ..." Hint, not to be condescending: So are you!) (But ... do you think of yourself that way? Hint: The answer to that question may be a "life or death" professional issue.)

One of Koegel's greatest contributions is suggesting-revealing the fact, the great news, that we have many, many mundane opportunities to practice! He offers numerous ideas. Using people's names in conversations is very powerful. So practice it at a party this weekend. Smiling is a matchless "weapon" for winning over audiences ... so be aware, in family communications, the degree to which you smile, or don't. In my case, and my wife laughs at me over this one, I spend as much time spell-checking and working on grammar-word choice on emails to old friends as I do when writing something formal to a prospective Client: Every time I communicate with anybody is an opportunity to improve my communications effectiveness.

(NB: While in the D.C. airport a couple of days ago I picked up Drucker's The Effective Executive, the book of P.D.'s that most influenced me as a "starting manager" in the Pentagon in 1968. The one thing I underlined as I re-read it was a vignette about General George Patton ... literally standing in front of a mirror and practicing his "command face" every morning! Makes sense to me!)

My "bottom line" on this is less an endorsement for the book than a hearty 2-million cheers for "the big idea/s": (1) We spend most of our time communicating. (2) Our career success or failure depends to an extraordinary degree on communications excellence ... or the lack thereof. (3) The overwhelming majority (perhaps 90 percent) of experimentally measured communication effectiveness comes from the "soft stuff" (do you project energy, etc, etc). (4) We rarely systematically "work on" communications effectiveness. (5) As leaders, we seldom have our troops work on their communications effectiveness. And (6) "Those who practice improve. Those who don't, don't."

Comments, please!!! For starters, do you buy Koegel's argument, and by extension mine—e.g., the centrality of the relationship between communications effectiveness and career/life effectiveness, and the thence odd fact that we rarely work systematically or assiduously on this paramount skill and success-failure determinant.

FYI: As I review this, I think it has the makings of a Top Ten post in my last 18 months of active Blogging.

AirX. (Airport Exercise.)

Sometimes, all too often, my schedule makes it difficult to get in my 5-mile-daily-minimum exercise (power walking). Why it occurred to me at this late date I don't know. Since many of us, post 9/11, get to the airport early, there is a matchless opportunity to log an easy mile or so of decent, borderline aerobic exercise.

Many of you have been to the Atlanta airport, I suspect. You ride an underground tram to your gate. You can, in Atlanta and several other airports, walk if you wish. Yesterday I left from the B concourse, but I walked from security out to the end, the E concourse I think, and then back to B. As I casually measured it, I logged about 1.25 miles ... at a very brisk pace further enhanced by carrying a heavy backpack and pulling a roller bag. Even in smaller airports (e.g., Nashville, recently) I've discovered that if you "do" every concourse from end to end, and maybe but no more than twice, it's pretty easy to log a mile while receiving only a few odd glances. You get in some pretty effective exercise, relax pretty effectively from a perhaps stressful day ... and the only price I've found is being a little sweaty for a few minutes when you're done.

(To state the obvious, on longer flights I am a big, big advocate of the in-seat stretches! Most airline mags offer rather complete suggestions—and hats off to British Airways for the best "program," in my opinion.)

Okay, I'll Shut Up. (Maybe.)

I am at least aware that I'm a broken record ...

News item today about 1,000 layoffs to be announced at Oracle, pursuant to Siebel acquisition. Buried in the story: Oracle has now spent about $20 billion on PeopleSoft and Siebel (synergy, synergy, synergy) ... and its stock price is down about 15% from 2004.

Two days ago Carl Icahn and Lazard produced a 343-page plan for busting Time Warner into four pieces. The report contends that such a move would jack TW's stock price up nearly 40%. Who knows? What we do know is that TW, in constant pursuit of "synergy," has seen its stock stall for the last four years.

So, I ask again, why do these ego-maniac CEOs keep merging (think Jerry Levin at Time Warner)? Why do their boards sign off? Why does Wall Street go along? (I guess at least the later is obvious in one word ... fees.)

The only saving grace: By merging, the Big Guys make themselves more vulnerable to incursions from the outside (think Big Pharma mergers and the subsequent biotech assault), which in turn speeds the wholly beneficial process of Creative Destruction—so imperative in turbulent times. I guess I can tolerate the Big Mergers more if I just think about them as unassisted suicide.

Amusements

From "WhatIveLearned," an Esquire interview with William Shatner:

"You have to create your life. You have to carve it, like a sculpture."

"We meet aliens every day who have something to give us. They come in the form of people with different opinions."

"Being an icon is overblown. Remember, an icon is moved by a mouse."

Well, It Turns Me On ...

Was in D.C. (for a Baltimore speech—see slides below). My absolute favorite pastime is my long morning jog in Georgetown, along the historic C & O canal towpath. Well, I love it throughout the year ... though I do admit it looked pretty dreary & lonely at 6:30a.m. yesterday.

[Note from Cathy: I cut down the photo so it wouldn't take up too much space on the front page, but Tom's original is much more impressive. You can see it and more recent photos by clicking here.]

Redux

So ... HOW DO THEY DO IT?

Walking this morning, finishing up. Stop. 14th Street. Downtown Atlanta. Starbucks. Shaken ice-coffee venti. AND THEY ALL SMILED!*

They do. They r-e-a-l-l-y do all smile. M Street Georgetown/DC yest'dy. 14th St Atlanta today. Charles St Boston tomorrow.

And they all smile.

(*Shame on Microsoft, a Seattle corp. like S'bucks, for having Venti get ... THE DREADED RED UNDERLINE. Surely, by now, it's entered the realm of "common parlance.")

Event: NAPA

In Atlanta today, Tom's speaking to NAPA, the automotive parts supplier—words that fail to describe their business. Take a look at their website, where you can not only buy auto parts, but also find out how to become an AutoCare center, get access to owner & service manuals, see recommendations for maintenance & repair, find job opportunities, etc. etc. etc.

To download the slides presentation, click here.

The Farm

For all of you who've ever wondered what Tom's farm looks like, he sent us this photo so you can get the full effect of the beauty of his place in Winter.

Cool Friend: Robert Coram

When Tom first read Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War, he launched a campaign to send it to about a hundred friends and relatives as a gift. He'd been discoursing on Boyd's OODA Loop in presentations for years, and the book struck a chord with Tom. He devoted a special presentation entirely to wisdom from the book (download the PPT here). We are happy to add the author of Boyd, Robert Coram, to our roster of Cool Friends. Read the interview to learn more about Mr. Coram and about Colonel Boyd, his engrossing subject.

Event: Constellation Energy

Constellation Energy Group in Baltimore is Tom's event for the day. You can get the slides here: Presentation Version and Long Web Version.

Absorb It!

You simply must spend some serious time examining (bigger word than reading) the 13 February BusinessWeek cover story, "Why the Economy Is a Lot Stronger Than You Think: In a Knowledge-based World, the Traditional Measures Don't Tell the Story."

"We" "know it." Economic-evaluation measures are lagging reality in the economy. Badly. This landmark article supports that idea with incredible clarity—and eye-popping statistical support.

E.g.:

"Business investment in intangibles such as product development and training is critical for long-term profitability, but it doesn't get counted in GDP." The unreported annual sum was most recently $978 billion, almost as much as the reported investment in physical capital. Re-calculate, and "investment as a share of the economy is rising rather than falling."

"Household outlays for education, the most important investment in the future of the next generation, are improperly counted as consumption." Re-calculate, adding in this uncounted $224B, and "personal savings were positive, not negative."

BW also offers an "Intangibility Index," the ratio of R&D to Capital Spending. It suggests that many companies "get it." Since 2000, R&D spending at the 10 largest companies that report R&D (e.g., GE, P&G, J&J, Microsoft, Intel) has risen 42.1% while capital spending is up but 2.1%.

Fascinating, well-researched, and important reading.

A Cool Friend's Cool Project

London Business School Professor Donald Sull is the first presenter in a new online course series at www.ft.com. His program(me) is titled "How to Manage in an Unpredictable World." Don tells us that the course runs all week, and each day includes a short video lecture, recommended readings available as PDF downloads, a worksheet to translate ideas into action, and other features. Take a look!

You can also see Sull's Cool Friend interview here.

NYT's Blog

Finally! The New York Times has joined blog-world. To the more cynical among you, this may be ho-hum, but to me it is a BIG validation of what we do.

Very Short and Very Sweet

It's only 140 undersize pages long. And it only takes an hour or so to read cover-to-cover. But the point is actually in the re-reading, as I see it. Maybe once a month? At least!

The slim volume, Corporate Canaries,* claims, perhaps correctly, to be alone as a biz book about ... defense. The author's overarching point: "The Big Lesson: Defense Matters." (*Why "canaries"? Recall that canaries were placed in mines to be the harbingers of escaping poison gas—the end to the canary's song would alert miners to problems of the worst sort.)

Turnaround exec (and what a record!) Gary Sutton laments the fact that almost every management book is about offense—e.g., searching for excellence (no, he didn't mention my book—but he well might have). Nothing wrong with offense or excellence, per Sutton, but bad things do happen to good people all the damn time. And you've got to do the right thing when the yoghurt hits the fan or threatens to hit the fan—and indeed you must expect said yoghurt to occasionally or more than occasionally to hit the fan. Message: On guard!

There are parables and such, but the bedrock notions are simple, profound, frequently ignored—and use-able starting today. There are just 5 key ideas. The first, "You can't outgrow losses." E.g.: "New business is a great thing, an important thing, and critical for success. But trying to sell your way out of profit problems only magnifies the trouble. Fix profits first. Then add business." Margin (profit) problems won't be solved by selling more low-margin, no-margin stuff. The malaise, "trying to sell your way out of losses," Sutton claims, "is the most common cause of business failure." (Yikes, does that strike—again and again—close to home.)

Another of the Big 5 is, "Any decision beats no decision." Sutton offers this example: "When Microsoft decided online computing was real, Bill Gates refused to talk with employees for three months unless they prefaced the conversation, about anything, by explaining how it related to the Internet. That's focus. No waffling. And the company immediately shifted direction." I.e., if you've got a problem or incipient problem, don't screw around and around doing analysis aimed at producing the "perfect answer"—just get the hell on with something, anything directly & unmistakably related to the issue at hand.

The last Big Point is: "Markets grow and markets die." I.e., eventually ... shit happens. Don't imagine you can avoid it.

Longtime Editor of the Wall Street Journal, Bob Bartley, blurbed the book this way: "If managers could read only one book, this would be it." Frankly, I'm not sure that's hype. Neither is this: Run, don't walk, to Amazon or wherever to get this book. Then keep it at hand. Close at hand.

(Canaries applies to GM ... and a new one-person business ... equally.)

A Billion Is Not a Billion

Steve Rushin's column in Sports Illustrated this week is titled "A Billion People Can Be Wrong." He quotes a number of publications that claim the Super Bowl will be watched by 1 billion people in 225 countries. He then provides stats that show only 93 million people watched last year, with 98% of them in North America. As he points out, we're only 907 million people short of a billion.

Why is the Super Bowl such a hype magnet? Why are the advertising rates and the viewer stats so inflated? (Maybe this is where football's steroid use can be found). Yes, 93 million is an awful lot, but it sure isn't a billion.

Event Slides: Bandag

Bandag is a worldwide provider of "tire management and vehicle maintenance solutions" (quote from the vision statement posted prominently on their website). Tom is speaking to them today in Phoenix. You can download the slides here: Presentation Version and Long Web Version.

Updated Re-imagine 1-Hour

Tom updated the 1-Hour version of his Re-imagine master slides. You can download the file here.

Cool Friend: Frank

Our latest Cool Friend, Ze Frank, comes to us not because he wrote a book recently, but because Erik saw him do a very funny presentation at Pop!Tech last year. In the interview, they discuss how Frank makes a living "making stuff." Don't go to zefrank.com unless you have some time to kill playing with/looking at stuff with names like googly, matrix, playing with food, gyro, and more—much more. You can read about Ze and his creations in his Cool Friend interview here.