Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

Just when I was beginning to wonder whether another great experience was going to surrender to the short-term gains of operational excellence, Howard Schultz gave me faith. I love this memo to his executive team laying out his concerns that the Starbucks brand is in danger of commoditization. I started noticing this some time ago, and I often mentioned to my colleagues that Starbucks was beginning to feel a lot more like a fast food restaurant than a cool place to hang. I support being a good steward of the business by watching costs, but not at the expense of losing the brand equity gained by being distinctive. Starbucks recently took another hit when the coffee at fast food staple McDonald's won a taste test conducted by Consumer Reports. While I wouldn't argue that the Starbucks brand is in its death knell, I would argue that efficiencies and economies of scale have introduced a virus in need of serious care. And it looks like Howard Schulz just might be the healer they need.

As I make this note, I am sitting in my local coffee shop. The owner told me about a new shipment of Peru Norte Especial beans he just got in and how he had roasted it to City+ to bring out its subtleties. Like an expert sommelier, he described it in wonderfully delicious detail. I can smell the breads baked on site and hear the wonderful hissing of the espresso machines. Howard would like this place. Oh, and by the way, I am sending in this dispatch using the FREE wireless connection from this wonderful coffee shop. Now this feels like a third place! Go get 'em, Howard!

Event: International Paper

The event of the day is International Paper. Tom's speaking to them in Ft. Myers, FL. I wonder if he'll get a chance to see the Red Sox in Spring Training while he's there?

If you attend the event, please let us know your impression in the comments to this blog entry. And if you'd like to download the slides, you can do so here:
International Paper, Ft. Myers, FL
International Paper, Long Version

Reinforcing the Need for a Sense of Personal Urgency

Three Reviews: Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9, Strategy + Business Magazine, and Sunday's Academy Awards

Links:
NaturallySpeaking 9
strategy + business
Academy Awards

TP Wire Service Staff Update

The TP Wire Service editor and TomWorld denizen, Shelley Dolley, is taking a hiatus. She and her family are expecting a new addition. Shelley will return from maternity leave in a few months. In the meantime, we will continue to bring you the latest news and keep you plugged into the stories we think will interest you most via the TP Wire Service.

Glam vs. Grey

Hollywood has woken up. Women film purchasers over age 35 are BIG business. Check out the nominee list for best actress. Speaking as a Brit—it looks like for the first time in 10 years (I think?) a mature woman (not a silicon enhanced, self-obsessed tissue eater) will win Best Actress. Hooray!!

This is in stark contrast to the stupidity I saw this week in a business. Eighty percent of the sales force are women under 35. (Selling to a predominantly male population—you figure it out!) NONE of the sales managers were female. ALL of the exec population were OWM. And they are asking me why they have such high turnover. They also got upset when I described it as the least of their problems!

Are you/your organisation truly talent focused ... or is memory substituting for thinking? Has anyone got a great example of a maniacal obsession with talent, to the point of being blind to prejudice, in their organisation that can cheer us all up?!

Renewing the Brand Promise

Clearly what happened last week with the JetBlue travelers was not fun. People were stuck, stranded—unable to get answers, to their destinations, or even off the planes! A lot of people were/are angry and upset. I understand all those sentiments. But I tip my hat to David Neeleman, founder and CEO. The letter he published to his flyers was authentic and forthright. I don't know of too many businesses that haven't made mistakes, some bigger than others. JetBlue is admitting their errors, putting in place methods and processes so that this doesn't happen again, and they are trying to do everything to bring their brand promise back to life.

JetBlue understands where they failed, but they are renewing the brand promise and owning the problem of improving the customer experience. I would love to hear your thoughts about this letter.

Can We Handle the Truth?

Our Michigan first gentleman, Dan Mulhern, lit up the pages of the Detroit press when he gave praise to Toyota's culture in recent writings. Daniel Howes, a very good Detroit News columnist, took the Governor's husband to task for "gushing over Toyota's way." He makes the point that the governor's husband is sending the wrong message about Detroit and the auto companies that call it home. Mr. Mulhern wrote that at Toyota the predominant thought is that culture beats strategy every time. As a Michigan resident, and one who has benefited greatly from the auto industry, I question why stating this is being "disloyal." It is the message that Big Detroit Auto has to hear. Loud and often!

Decades of success have deeply rooted a culture of entitlement at the Big Two. However, a culture built in the 60s doesn't fit the business world today. They are talking the right talk about change at GM, Ford, and the UAW, but they may not be willing to abandon the old to make room for the new. GM and Ford executives continue to ask for the government to address trade policies and CAFE restrictions. The UAW has to understand that benefits gained in the glory days can't be paid for in these difficult times. Employees, both blue- and white-collar, must abandon any notion that they are entitled to lifetime employment and lifetime benefits in retirement.

Organizations that have the passion and discipline necessary to change their culture rely on the truth. And they welcome the truth tellers. In today's Detroit News, another fine columnist, Laura Berman, drives home the truth, that we become "enablers" of the current, and ineffective, domestic auto culture. I fear she may have a point.

I grow concerned that a new debate may break out on who is to blame if Ford cannot survive, or GM employment numbers continue to tumble. The question I would pose to our community here is this: Is it possible for large companies with a long history to change their culture? Examples? When people offer criticism are they being disloyal? I do hope we can discuss this without turning it into a "who is to blame" thing. Can the truth set the Big Two free?

Cool Friend: Rod Beckström

How is the power distributed in your org chart? Top-down or spread around evenly? Are you a Spider or a Starfish? Read Rod Beckström's Cool Friends interview to find out. We talk with him about his book, written with Ori Brafman, The Starfish and The Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations. I think this is one you'll want to read and a book you'll want to own. You can also read more at his website, www.beckstrom.com, or the book's website, www.starfishandspider.com.

Excellence, 25 and Still Counting!

About three days from now, if history is a teacher, coach Skip Kenney will chalk up his 26th (TWENTY-SIX!) consecutive Pac 10 swimming championship. When he won #14, legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden made the presentation—Kenney had broken coach Wooden's Pac 10 consecutive championship record. At 25 in a row, Kenney's feat stands alone in the annals of NCAA records—and the Pac 10 is as competitive-tough a playground (pool) as exists.

The current issue of Stanford's alumni magazine, which tells us that Ronald Reagan was in his first term when the streak started, features Kenney in an article titled "Master Stroke." It more or less begins this way: "The first thing you need to know about Skip Kenney, the 63-year-old coach of the Stanford men's swim team, is that he never swam competitively. Since he arrived at Stanford in 1979, Kenney has won seven NCAA titles, coached 100 different All-Americans, served on three Olympic staffs and won an astonishing 25 Pac-10 titles in a row. A generation-spanning community of swimmers and former swimmers would all 'lie down in traffic for him,' according to one, Adam Messner, class of 2001. But he has never swum a 3000 for time, never churned out 100 kicks on 90-second intervals, never spent so much as an hour with his face in the water, staring at the black line. 'I can't even imagine,' he says."

Kenney's secret, if you must call it that, is turning an individualistic sport into a team sport—no mean feat. Every team member is evaluated first and foremost, the article says, on his special contribution to the team.

Hats off to a performance and a process that defines Excellence—and as a Stanford alum, good luck this weekend!

Tough Trekking!

Susan and I spent 3 days in New Zealand on the fabled Routeburn Track, arguably one of the world's great treks. (She was antelope, I was ... whatever.) I'd say "I couldn't have made it without my trusty Leki pole," but as you'll see below (photo credit to Susan Sargent), it let me down mid-trek. We've reported it to the manufacturer.

Event Slides: Atlanta

VNU Expositions presents the National Jeweler Network's CEO Summit in Atlanta, GA, today, and Tom is there to talk about Excellence. If you were in attendance, let us know about the event in our comments. We'd love to hear from you. If you'd like to download the PPT from the event, you can use this link:
National Jeweler Network's CEO Summit

Thanks!

"Mr Thank You Note" (me) is indeed remiss in thanking all of my colleagues who Posted while I was away. From the number of comments and quality of comments, let alone the content, it seems to have been a smashing success!

Hooray!
Thank you!

(Rick Semler, management guru and Semco [Brazil] founder, once offered a revision of MBWA/Managing By Walking Around. His MBWA was Managing By Walking Away. He almost religiously took a 6-week vacation in a place where he couldn't be reached (ever more difficult). His logic: Only by being truly out of touch could he truly delegate. I like that. And that's what seems to have occurred here. My colleagues, in the absence of Old Motormouth, outdid themselves!!! Well, New Zealand is on the planning boards already for January 2008.)

(A little more New Zealand below.)

Some Pile of Books!

A few days ago I mentioned a new-to-me book, One: The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership, by Manpower Inc. founder Lance Secretan. Recall: Consider: "What would happen if we looked at a customer and saw the face of God in them? To most people it sounds like a lofty idea. But if you see the face of God in a flower, why wouldn't you see it in the face of a customer?" (My interpretation, by the way, was that "God" per se need not be/is not the point—but, more generally, the idea that each person we come in contact with is an extraordinary & precious human being in his or her own right.) (More Secretan: "What is important is not whether I'm remembered, but that I do my best every day. I want to be the person my dog thinks I am.")

Then I came across "just another manuscript" ... but wait. I was hooked (hook, line, and sinker) by the title alone. Adecco exec Steve Harrison offers The Manager's Book of Decencies: How Small Gestures Build Great Companies.

Yes!
Yes!
Yes!

As I said in the fawning blurb I provided, the book is worth twice the cover price for the title alone! The innards live up to the outwards. Stories galore, suggestions galore. Among many other things, Mr Harrison insists, correctly in my view, that you can "smell" a "culture of decency" (or the absence thereof) in but a moment.* He adds that it's one helluva competitive advantage—and if you don't pull it off, at the very least you'll feel better about yourself.

[*This holds for a job interview—both ways. And for a 3-person team or solo contributor as much as for an enormous corporation. And for ... And for ...]

Decency as the heart of managing.
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!

Add to the pile my very recent rediscovery of Robert Greenleaf's Servant Leadership ... and you have a trend!

The face of God in a customer.
Decency.
Chief as Servant-in-Chief.

Quote of the Day

"Costco figured out the big, simple things—and executed with total fanaticism."—Charles Munger, Berkshire Hathaway (Barron's, 12 Feb)

All I Can Say Is ... WOW!

Thoughts on the word WOW!

Life on the Edge! 6 or 16 Months to Live

Tom's back from the road, but he's still sharing some of his thoughts in audio format.

President's Day 2007 Post #1

As we celebrate President's Day, it seems appropriate to look back at 09/11, courtesy my New Zealand trip. On 0211, we were in Christchurch, heading home. On a short walk, I spotted an odd sculpture on the street. Turns out, see above pic, that it is a tribute to 09/11's firefighters; moreover, it is made of twisted beams from the Twin Towers—sent by request to NZ's Christchurch firefighters. The next morning, on more or less the same walk, I came to realize that the memorial was but a block from the HQ of the Christchurch firefighters battalion. Though it was 6 a.m. (light in NZ!), I decided to knock on the door, figuring that the HQ would be manned 24/7. Indeed it was, and I spent an emotional 15 minutes thanking, as a U.S. visitor, the firefighter who answered the door and, via him, his colleagues for their thoughtfulness. Fact is, I was to my surprise in tears for most of the conversation—as (good God) I am as I type this. The memorial is one of just five such artifacts in the world. In 2002, Christchurch was hosting the world firefighters games (their Olympics); since they were the first such games since 09/11, Christchurch decided that a memorial was in order—and NYC cooperated, as you can see.

Commander Kurt Wendelken, SC, USN, was seconded to CENTCOM's HQ in the Middle East. We have been irregularly corresponding—which started with the tompeters.com Blog. Kurt recently honored me with a CENTCOM soldier's cap, with my name inscribed in English and Arabic. As you'll see below, I posed with the cap—photo credit to Abbey Bishop, our VT major domo. I figure it's not dishonorable for me to don the cap, in part because I was a ground fighter (builder-fighter working with the USMC) in I Corps Vietnam in 1966–68.

P-day should remind us all, regardless of present turmoil, what the 207-year-old U.S. experiment is all about.

President's Day 2007 Post #2: All Men Are Created Equal

Pres W and Pres L, the birthday duo, guided us to a sort of freedom and autonomy that the World had never seen before. Permit me to link that to the 22 January Fortune's annual cover story on "The 100 Best Companies to Work For." (I only read it upon return from NZ.)

The #1 spot went to Google—which is appropriate enough; they are attempting to innovate in organization-people practices as much as in the marketplace. But it was #s 3, 4, & 5 that caught my attention—Big Time. The likes of Google and last year's winner, Genentech, are pretty obvious "types"—at least in retrospect. But retail, which employs huge #s of folks in less than a Goldman Sachs-like pay bracket? Well, #3 was Wegmans (a previous #1), #4 was Container Store, and Whole Foods bagged the #5 slot.

Yes! Retail took 3 of the top 5 slots! Which means to me that "we the people" (not only "cool" Googlers and Genentechers, #2 this year), can find seriously Cool Places to Work in surprising places.

Hooray, say I!

(Also in the top 27: David Weekly Homes at #12—builders are not normally "great places to work"; Nugget Market as #13; Starbucks as #16; and REI, Recreational Equipment Inc., at #27. Thus, 7 of the top 27 in mundane, mass employment retail, are Top Dogs. As I said ... very, very nice.)

Presumably, the lesson here is obvious. No "excluded categories" in the world of Top Employers. (Incidentally, the research methodology behind these rankings is Top Drawer.)

Happy President's Day.

"Unacceptable"

Sure, don't believe everything you read. But if it's true, as I read yesterday, that Jet Blue called an 11 hour wait in a plane on the tarmac at JFK "unacceptable" ... well may the Big Guy damn them to the Eternal Fires of Hell ... at broil. Whoops, forgot to mention the refund or free flight JB is also apparently offering.

11 hours? No kidding, I'd be in federal custody for having attacked JB employees and having tried to chew my way out of the plane. I simply know ... FOR SURE ... that I could not have handled that.

Words matter!

The situation was an outright, stretch-the-mind disgrace-horror, but the use of "unacceptable" is also a total travesty.* Assuming the CEO couldn't have stopped it (he could have), then he should have been on hand at the end to beg forgiveness in person and to have called the situation "an incredible, horrible, disastrous, disgraceful, unconscionable occurrence."

Jet Blue are idiots!
No more Jet Blue for me!
Ever!
Period!

"Unacceptable," my tush.

(*"Free flight" ... how about a top defense lawyer to help me appeal my federal charges for what I did on board—plus weekly cookies in the high-security pen I'll be entombed in?)

Acceptable!

I gave two biggish tips on my trip to people who had not done anything for me. During a coffee stop at a boonies café-2 room motel (see picture above) in New Zealand, I took a toilet break. The restroom was literally spotless to the point of gleaming—and featured a nice bowl of fresh flowers to boot. As you can doubtless tell from the pic, it wasn't the Four Seasons. So on the way out (I'd purchased my coffee a few minutes earlier), I stopped at the register and dropped a $20 bill in the tip jar—and told the employee, "That's for the sparkling loo!"

On a ferry ride to Doubtful Sound (see pic below), I went to get coffee. The ferry-service clerk was making a latte for the guy in front of me. She put heart and soul into the effort, was incredibly careful, and made it all look like a performance art piece. He didn't tip her (tipping is uncommon in NZ), so when I got to the front of the line I gave her a $10 bill. "I only want a 'long black' [Long Black NZ = Black U.S./Short Black NZ = Espresso U.S.]," I said, "but here's a tip for the wonderful job you did on that guy's latte."

I love the "little" touches that not only "stand out," but also shout "I/We care." They are the essence of "selling" "experiences"—today's hot topic.

Consider: "We do no great things, only small things with great love."—Mother Teresa

Consider: "What would happen if we looked at a customer and saw the face of God in them? To most people it sounds like a lofty idea. But if you see the face of God in a flower, why wouldn't you see it in the face of a customer?"—Lance Secretan, founder of Manpower, Inc., and most recently author of One: The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership

Life 101

See pictures above and below:

Top: attacked (no exaggeration—it happens) by a sea lion on Stewart Island, NZ, on February 10—I was in his space, and he wanted to nap on the beach after ingesting a large fish (and, yes, I was that close—no telephoto lens!).

Bottom: Home in VT, February 14—2.5 feet of snow, temp minus 4º F., wind gusting to 40 mph.

(More NZ commentary-pics to follow.)

What's Culture Got To Do with It?

A beautifully crafted strategy can fail when the employees in various divisions within an organization clash. Logically, we think that strategy should drive behavior, but, in reality, it's the culture—underlying norms, values, belief systems—that dictates how effectively people work together. Employees' behavior has direct impact on the bottom line, costs, revenue streams, level of productivity, customer satisfaction, even the brand—every aspect of the business is affected. If strategy and culture are not aligned, the culture may support behaviors that conflict with what has to get done—and actually block execution of the strategy.

If your strategy is to create synergies and economies of scale, while the culture is one where people work autonomously and in silos, the strategy could be impossible to achieve. And it only gets more complicated in a world where mergers, acquisitions, and alliances shape the corporate landscape. We know all too well that even with a respectful courtship, the expected benefits of merging two corporate cultures often fail to materialize. If only companies could simply snap together like plastic building blocks!

The most important asset in every company is the esprit de corps: the motivation and passion of each employee ... and ... their willingness to collaborate together on whatever strategic projects are critical for growth. At a time when 55% of the U.S. workforce is "actively disengaged" in their work at an annual productivity cost of $328 billion, understanding this esprit de corps element can greatly increase financial success. (Gallup Research, 2005.) How do you change this and bring culture into alignment with strategy?

Talent Fatal Flaw

At one time it was the executive parking lot that was coveted, and over time, many organizations moved to open parking. A story appeared in the New York Times last week about Bob Nardelli, former CEO of Home Depot, and how he used to provide daily catered lunches for the company's officers on the executive floor, free, while the talent, aka "worker bees," ate in the cafeteria. This separation of leadership from the people who do the work is a fatal flaw for an organization. It sends the wrong message—it reeks of elitism. If we believe in our talent, if those we hire are people with brains, skills, and potential, why would we separate ourselves from them? Why wouldn't a leader see the advantages of getting to know the people who carry the brand of the organization and are vessels of great ideas? As Tom says, "If we would only bother to ask, the answers are on the front lines." Frank Blake, the new CEO of Home Depot, is quietly changing Nardelli's stance. The executives will take the elevator down to the cafeteria and eat with everyone else. I certainly hope that they don't all sit at one table and create a different kind of divide. Having lunch with associates is the best way to build a relationship, to get to know people, and to find out what is really going on in the "world" of your organization.

Apparently, the value of talent wasn't clear under the old regime at Home Depot. Older, experienced workers were "alienated," and Home Depot lost its edge on knowledgeable staff. It would appear that the ambition of the company got lost in the desire to make faster profit, the value of talent was lost in an attempt to save dollars, and, therefore, it should come as no surprise that the performance of the organization began to suffer.

As the New York Times wrote, "People who have met with [Mr. Blake] since he became chief executive, or have been briefed on these meetings, said he planned to improve the retail business by single-mindedly focusing on employee morale and customer service in the chain's 2,000 stores." Mr. Blake is going to focus on the talent and reset the ambition of Home Depot back to the basics of providing service and a great experience to shoppers. It's to be hoped that he can correct the talent problem, because until the talent can trust leadership and get on board with service as defining the brand again, any other changes won't matter much.

Some key questions to ponder: Are there any elitisms in your organization? What are your opinions on how leaders should interact with the talent of the organization? If you were an employee at Home Depot, what would it take for you to believe?

Alignment: Is There Such a Thing?

There is a lot of talk about getting organizations in alignment. What does that really mean? Is there an expectation that everyone lines up and acts the same, is the same, talks the same? That may be the definition that some use. But organizational alignment isn't quite that "stiff." The dictionary gives us a couple of different definitions on alignment. The American Heritage Dictionary says that alignment is an "arrangement or position in a straight line or in parallel lines." The definition I prefer from the same source is that alignment is "the process of adjusting parts so that they are in proper relative position." Organizations aren't in a straight line; however, the various departments (parts) must be in a fitting relative position to each other.

My belief is that when you are in a culture where there is alignment, you do get a sense that everyone is clear about the purpose/ambition of the organization and how their role contributes to that. When people understand how what they do connects to the organization, and if the right systems and processes are in place for the work to get done, alignment can start to happen. On the flipside, I recently visited an organization, and depending who I spoke to, I got a different sense about the company. It felt as if the company had a split personality, maybe multiple personalities. It was clear to me that people were not focusing their energies towards the same goal. The departments weren't in "relative position," but rather opposition to each other.

I am not so naïve as to think that every person in an organization will head in the same direction. However, I get concerned when an organization seems scattered, vs. being drawn or pulled in the same direction.

That's my view. What's yours: Is there really such as thing as organizational alignment?

Push or Pull

I have been thinking about the various blogs on leadership lately, and it strikes me that there is a difference of opinion amongst our community on whether employee performance is best improved by pushing or pulling. I believe the best leaders incorporate both into their style. Two sources of data influenced my recent thinking: an oldie but goodie, Daniel Yankelovich and John Immerwahr's 1983 research report, "Putting the Work Ethic to Work," and SuperBowl XLI! Yankelovich and Immerwahr discovered that there was approximately 70% discretionary effort available in most employees. The discretionary effort being the difference between what they have to do to keep their jobs and what they could do if they brought forth all their talent and effort. Then, I was thinking about the difference between the Colts and my team, the Detroit Lions. The Lions have been in the enviable position of having first shot in the draft since I can remember. But largely, the talent they have recruited has been less than stellar. The results stand as a testament to that. [The Lions have never played a Super Bowl.—CM]

It seems to me then, that a leader or manager's first job is to pull out that discretionary effort. This starts with clearly identifying the ambition of the organization and helping each and every employee see their part in realizing that ambition. I still believe that one thing we want from our talent is the sense that they make a difference. In my years as a first-line supervisor, I was always amazed at my weakest performers on the job who did amazing volunteer work after hours. Clearly they had the work ethic; we just didn't define an ambition for them worthy of their best efforts.

Then, there's the Lions. In recent years we have witnessed round one draft picks missing practices, reporting overweight, battling off-field demons, engaging in various criminal behaviors, etc. It seems a little push is in order here. Creating a culture of engagement does not mean letting everyone do their own thing. There is a need for discipline and standards, and for strong management efforts to insure everybody lives up to them. For many of us, our best performance has benefited by a friendly push now and then. Tony Dungy doesn't yell at his players, but he does instill a performance culture. Play your best, or you won't play at all.

So, I would argue for balance. Our talent has to be engaged in a cause, and we must manage performance closely to move in the quickest and straightest line towards our ultimate ambition.

What do you think? Push, pull, or both? Examples? Advice for the Lions?

What's the Framework? (For Anything!)

I "opened" my e-paper yesterday to be bombarded by three front page stories. All of which show us struggling to work out our new world.

First, inadmissible, web posted, cockpit video footage of a U.S. jet firing on British troops by mistake (and killing one). The coroner held up the trial because he did not "officially" have the video released from the Ministry of Defence 1 year after it was published on the Internet. Crazy, right? Is it just me?

Second, two perverts (monsters) meeting in an Internet chat room and openly planning the rape & murder of two young girls. Crazy, right? Is it just me?

Finally, on a serious news site the British politician doing an advertorial/party political broadcast web video clip thinly veiled as a serious interview. He was even asking himself the questions ... No sign of balance at all. Crazy, right? Is it just me?

So what are the new rules for chat room privacy, mobile phones on trains, personal carbon footprints/aeroplane travel, DIY political interviews? Truth is, nobody knows. As with most things in life we're making it up as we go along. Why then would business be any different? Next time someone (i.e., a boss and/or his tame consultant) says they know the answer. Please laugh ... not too hysterically ... you'll get locked up. Our business leaders reflect our political leaders. In the same way our Nation is over-managed and under-led—so are our businesses.

What I think we need from our political/business leaders is less legislation & control and more leadership. We need a framework within which to consider our businesses (& society) NOT the action-by-action legal manipulation of behaviour. A reminder of our guiding reference systems of Business/National aspiration and Shared Values would be a good start. Even if it just helps us to work out if we want to stay and contribute.

What do you think will help us navigate our businesses in the future?

On Time, On Budget, but Was It Wow?

viagra brand online

Am I the only person who is frustrated at the wave of negativity in the UK media about the 2012 London Olympics? It has been almost sixty years since the UK hosted a Games, and even then the IOC asked London to host the 1948 games when the world was recovering from six years of carnage and in economic turmoil. Well, the celebrations of July 6, 2005, after the London bid beat Paris' by 54 votes to 50, have long since abated, and we now have general carping and scoring of political points about the eventual cost of staging the Games and who will have to pay. But what about the benefits?

If cleaning up and refurbishing one of London's biggest industrial wastelands and installing a world-class array of sports facilities with a supporting transport infrastructure isn't a Wow! Project, then I don't know what is. Then there is the challenge of the events themselves and the inspiration that having the Games here has already given to youngsters dreaming of their own future sporting prowess. It speaks to a level of ambition that seems to be sadly lacking in many of our public and private enterprises. I recall Tom Peters speaking in London about the Channel Tunnel being THE civil engineering project that he (as an ex civil engineer) would love to have directed. That project went a little over the original budget forecast, too, as I recall!

To transform our flagging businesses and run-down communities will take bold ambition, and a willingness to pitch, win, and deliver projects of vision and magnitude. At the end of the day, the only success criterion that really counts is "Was it Wow?"

Is It Just Hot Air?

The debate on global warming is, shall we say, heating up? Ominous warnings seem to be coming in from everywhere these days. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report last week claiming at least a 90% probability that rising temperatures are due to increased carbon emissions, while a "call to action" was heard at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, stating "in the last five years the situation has gone from bad to worse." Many agree that we have the technology and talent to deal with it, but wonder if we (in the U.S., at least) have the ambition.

Yet before we get ahead of ourselves, there are scientists who remain skeptical that greenhouse gases (human-caused) are the major source of global warming. They argue that this warming is due to natural cycles or other variables, such as sunspot activity. While the number of these skeptics is shrinking faster than the polar ice caps, we shouldn't forget that a majority opinion is no warranty of scientific truth (ask Copernicus). And ideological claims ("they're all paid off by Big Oil") are no substitute for fact-based discourse, even if the big clock is ticking.

So, a couple of questions for this esteemed business community:
1. Are you convinced that human activity is causing global warming? Why or why not?
2. If yes, what would make the biggest impact in reducing CO2 buildup?

Last Call for Manchester

There is still time to join the 370 people who have already booked for Tom's next UK public conference at the Hilton Deansgate Hotel in Manchester on 7th March.

Tom is sharing the platform with his long-term friend, Charles Handy, who is widely recognised as Europe's best known and most influential management thinker. Although their work has been constantly cross referenced since their Skunk Camp and Age of Unreason days, they have never before shared a conference platform. It will be a very special day.

Full conference details are at www.benchmarkforbusiness.com. We hope to see you there.