You Know It's Been ...

You know it's been a long trip when your day's highlight is doing three full loads of laundry.

March 7-March 28:

VT-Boston-London-Abu Dhabi-London-Boston-VT-Miami-Bogota-Houston-San Antonio-Dallas-Boston-Frankfurt-Vilnius-Tallinn-Helsinki-Frankfurt-Boston-VT.

Roughly:

40,000 miles (I know, nasty carbon footprint).
30 time zones.
Total home time 18 hours.
1 Sinus infection.
2,500+ uniformly delightful people from 6 countries on 4 continents including U.S.A./N. America.
Lucky me.* **
(*Dunno why, but a couple of guys bitching loudly about Lufthansa boarding about 5 minutes late, on Saturday morning in Frankfurt, really pissed me off—I said, "We should all be so lucky as to be here." Americans criticizing a German airline for a 5-minute deviation was amusing.)
(**I won't deny I'm so damn tired I feel near tears.)

Some Stuff ...

#1/A couple of weeks ago I offered up a document called "The Heart of Strategy." It was a list of 48 ideas about the essence of what I see as strategic excellence—or some such. The word count was 538. I thought it was worth fleshing out, so attached as a pdf you will find the annotated version, now 57 items ("The Heart of Business Strategy: 57 Things That Matter"), with a word count of 5,051.

[04.01.09 version: "Heart of Strategy" is edited once more, now 56 items.—CM]

#2/You will also find on offer a "collection" I'm calling: "Tom Peters' Thoughts About Getting Things Done, in Good Times and Bad." It includes a somewhat updated version of "Recession45: Forty-five 'Secrets' and 'Clever Strategies' For Dealing with the Recession of 2008-XXXX," which appeared last week; the aforementioned "The Heart of Business Strategy: 57 Things That Matter;" "The 'Have You 50;'" and, from among last year's offerings, "Attending to the 'Last 98%': The New 'Management Science,' or 'Hard Is Soft, Soft Is Hard.'"

All yours ...

Event: Helsinki

Tom's ferry voyage took him to Helsinki, where he had a presentation today. Please leave us a comment if you were there, and you can get the PPT slides here. Pictures from the trip are above and below. As you can see, it's a long way from Spring in Helsinski, also. Additional photos are at Flickr. Brrr!

Link Roundup

A lot of remarkable or informative or curious things are brought to our attention at tompeters.com, so we're starting a new feature called the Link Roundup. On an occasional basis, we'll point to things we think you'll find interesting.

Cool Friend Todd Sattersten interviewed Ian Sanders (Ian's been a frequent commenter at tompeters.com and is author of Leap! and Juggle!).

Blogger Ron Hurst has taken on the daunting task of commenting in depth on each of the 50 items in Tom's 2001 Fast Company article, "50 ways of being a leader in freaked-out times." Read what Ron has to say here.

Taking open source to a new level, Influx Insights pointed to a software firm turning itself into an open company.

Don't miss reading about the analog blogger in Liberia or the shipping containers being used as healthcare clinics, as noted by our friends at PSFK.com.

"Dealing with Recessionary Times"

I am constantly asked for "strategies/'secrets' for surviving the recession." I try to appear wise and informed—and parade original, sophisticated thoughts. But if you want to know what's going through my head, read the list below:

You work longer.
You work harder.
You may well work for less; and, if so, you adapt to the untoward circumstances with a smile—even if it kills you inside.
You volunteer to do more.
You always bring a good attitude to work.
You fake it if your good attitude flags.
You literally practice your "game face" in the mirror in the morning, and in the loo mid-morning.
You shrug off shit that flows downhill in your direction—buy a shovel or a "pre-worn" raincoat on eBay.
You get there earlier.
You leave later.
You forget about "the good old days"—nostalgia is for wimps.
You buck yourself up with the thought that "this too shall pass"—but then remind yourself that it might not pass anytime soon, so you re-dedicate yourself to making the absolute best of what you have now.
You eschew all forms of personal excess.
You simplify.
You sweat the details as you never have before.
You sweat the details as you never have before.
You sweat the details as you never have before.
You raise to the sky the standards of excellence by which you evaluate your own performance.
You thank others by the truckload if good things happen—and take the heat yourself if bad things happen.
You behave kindly, but you don't sugarcoat or hide the truth—humans are startlingly resilient.
You treat small successes as if they were Superbowl victories—and celebrate and commend accordingly.
You shrug off the losses (ignoring what's going on inside your tummy), and get back on the horse and try again.
You avoid negative people to the extent you can—pollution kills.
You eventually read the gloom-sprayers the riot act.
You learn new tricks of your trade.
You network like a demon.
You help others with their issues.
You give new meaning to the word "thoughtful."
You redouble, re-triple your efforts to "walk in your customer's shoes." (Especially if the shoes smell.)
You mind your manners—and accept others' lack of manners in the face of their strains.
You are kind to all mankind.
You leave the blame game at the office door.
You become a paragon of accountability.
And then you pray.

[This post sent to you from the business lounge aboard the M/S Star, en route Tallinn to Helsinki—and fully wired, or, rather, wireless, at Sea, crossing the Gulf of Finland. Photo above.]

[The list is also available in PowerPoint.—CM]

The "Human" Race

Sitting in the lounge of a sea ferry crossing the Gulf of Finland from Tallinn to Helsinki. Big screen TV, Sky News. Watching a sickening, endless parade of missile-laden military vehicles in North Korea. Thousands of "volunteers" creating a sea of red in the background by "spontaneously" waving red pom-poms.

Why, Dear God, why?

Cool Friend #135: Chris Brogan

Our new Cool Friend Chris Brogan is a social media expert. He uses tools like Twitter to help organizations build relationships. In the interview, Chris discusses the advantages of social media tools along with the responsibilities that are associated with having a large audience and how attention is a form of currency. His book, written with Julien Smith and to come out in August is Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust. Here's his interview, and, of course, you can find Chris blogging at his own website and on Twitter at twitter.com/chrisbrogan.

Event: Tallinn

Tom's tour of the Baltic states continues in Tallinn, Estonia, where he's again appearing for Baltic Management Conferences. This is a part of the world that Tom has not spent much time in before now, and I know he must be enjoying meeting new people there. If you were at the event, please let us hear from you in the comments. Or, get the PowerPoint presentation here.

[Tom re the photo, above: "Tallinn, Estonia, still not Spring—my plane approaches the city." If it helps ... it's not quite Spring in Vermont, either.]

2009 Recalibration: Part 4

So, what's your story?

Consider this: Your customers are living in a totally different world than they were a year ago. I don’t care what business you're in, your customers have new things to deal with, new ways to make decisions, and new uncertainties in their lives. Their worlds have been reset.

So, (I ask again) what’s your story?

How has your brand story changed?

Have you assessed, with intense scrutiny, how your story has to evolve to match everything new in your customers’ lives, the new ways they make decisions, the new things they care about, the new ways they behave?

Have you recalibrated your brand story so that it will interest and motivate your customers, with their new perspectives?

What compels and motivates your customers is different now, so let's discuss how your brand story must change.

I’ll start this discussion with a harsh, but true, point: Your customers don’t care about your story. They care about their own stories. Now, more than ever, it is critical to elevate your branding perspective beyond the "Look at me" chest-beating that characterizes so much of marketing, and focus on a way to make it easy for your customers to bring your brand story into their lives.

For this reason, recalibrating your story requires you to address this incredibly important question: "What do I want customers to think about me, now, considering all the changes that have happened in my customers' lives?"

Imagine a customer raving to a friend or colleague about your company, saying how she needs you more than ever in this time of economic turmoil. What would you want to say? What do you want your customer to think about you, right now, that would compel her to do more business with you?

I did this exercise with a client last week. We had the top managers from the company in a room, with the purpose of recalibrating the company's approach to customers in these crazy times. This company sells a business-to-business service, and in recent months has noticed that its buying contacts have become paralyzed with fear, panicked that each purchase decision could lead to a job-losing disaster. We imagined one of these buyers raving to her boss about my client's company, describing the kind of results they were producing for her and why she needs them now, more than ever. We imagined what she could say, with passion and conviction, that would represent undying loyalty to this company at a time when her job has become difficult, challenged, and scary.

By doing this exercise, we quickly identified opportunities to recalibrate the company's brand story, focusing on issues that were much more important than last year's brochure headlines.

What do you want your customers to think about you? This is your most important branding question. My observation is that most companies aren't addressing it. They're "tweaking" last year's ads and sales pitches, ignoring one of the most important facts that faces us all:
Our customers are different, so our stories better be.

[This is Part 4 of a 6-part series. To read the other entries in the series, you can find them at these links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. You can also read more by Cool Friend Steve Yastrow at his website, yastrow.com.]

"Entrepreneurial Society"

That's what Adrian Wooldridge and the Economist call our emergent global economy, current madness notwithstanding. The Americans are still the undisputed leaders, and they're likely to hold the top slot for quite a while, but both the Chinese and the Indians understand the game almost as well as we do. And the Europeans and Japanese border on hopeless.

I heartily commend to your attention "Global Heroes: A Special Report on Entrepreneurship"—in the 14 March Economist.

Gone!

Say all you want about Big Media's Big Gloom—I've said a lot in this space. Nonetheless, I found Floyd Norris' "The Money Is Gone, Now What?" [International Herald Tribune 03.19.09] very thought-provoking on a personal plane.

The best may well be yet to come, etc., etc. But the fact is, Norris says, the money is g-o-n-e. That is, yours and mine, and a lot thereof, whether the starting point was modest or immodest.

It may come back.
It may not.
Sooner.
Or later.
Or not at all.

So, act accordingly, that's Norris' message. He finishes this way: "It is not an easy reality to adjust to. But simply assuming that we deserve to live as if it had not happened will only make things worse."

Suit yourself. But it hit me right between the eyes.

Event: Vilnius

The day finds Tom in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, speaking to the Baltic Management Conference. You can get the slides here, and we look forward to your comments if you were there.

Photo from Tom above, "not quite Spring in Vilnius."

Three Plus Cheers for Bonuses!

Wal*Mart has increased its annual bonus to 1,000,000 "rank and file" U.S. workers. That's up almost 50% compared to last year.

Bravo!

Spring Is Here!

Along with a new banner at tompeters.com. Yay!

[See all the past masthead banners at our Banner Archives page.]

Roadwarrior Tip #1:
DIY!

What's the last thing I do before leaving a hotel room? Make two [lengthy] trips around the room, searching ceaselessly for stuff I've left behind; since I work a lot sitting on the bed, tossing the sheets once or twice is also an important part of the ritual.

But that's not the tip.

The tip, #1 in this new series, is not aimed at lightening your burden, but adding to it. And the tip is mostly "boys only."

My next-to-last activity, after my last pre-trip pee, is to clean the toilet. This need not apply to you, but as for me, I'm disgusted that anyone would be burdened with wiping up the near guaranteed pee stains that boys-of-all-ages leave on (or near, or nearly near) the toilet. I do the same thing at home before our folks who clean the house weekly show up. (I told them that if I missed the toilet—they were not under any circumstances to clean it.) And despite the added exposure to germs, I do it in an airplane if my aim had turned out to be worse than usual.

(FYI, I've also observed that 1st class toilets are generally messier than those in coach—draw your own conclusions. And this is not only when AIG execs are on board—now that is unfair.)

(Above, TP prepping for a San Antonio speech—no PowerPoint allowed. For note cards, I made a PPT slide presentation, printed it two-slides-per-page, snipped the pages in half with my trusty Swiss Army knife, and created a stack of editable notes. You'll also see, along with coffee, my Coke Zero—I had to walk a mile to find a convenience store with CZ. And, no, Coke did not fork over $$$ for this prominent product placement. Also ... OF COURSE ... you will see Ziplocs around and about—a world without ZLs is a world not worth contemplating!)

Larry Rocks!
Methodist Rocks!
(And They're Not Alone.)

I was ecstatic to see that Larry Ellison had a damn decent quarter at Oracle—enough in the black to initiate the company's first ever dividend payment! The same day I read the upbeat Oracle story, I was taking care of a nasty sinus problem (on a stop between Colombia and Lithuania) with a couple of visits to Houston's awe-inspiring Methodist Hospital System.

Oracle and Methodist got me thinking about how much is working and moving in the U.S. economy, though you sure as hell wouldn't know it from the press and its pundits—or the President's schedule-of-gloom.

We are getting the tar beaten out of us, to be sure, but the "American narrative," circa 2009, does not begin and end on Wall Street and/or Detroit.

The good news keeps pouring out of our research universities and medical centers. The good news is marked by venture-funded startups in every aspect of information technology (from materials research to devices to the Internet and other media) and biotechnology and renewable energy and green enhancements and materials science and medical devices. (And. And. And.) The good news is that the race is still on and excitement is still high in the likes of Houston and Austin and San Antonio and Seattle and Silicon Valley-SF-Berkeley and Boston-Cambridge and Madison and Raleigh-Durham and Champaign-Urbana and Northern Virginia-Bethesda and San Diego and LA. (And. And. And.)

No, my glasses have not acquired a rose-colored tint. But they haven't entirely fogged over either. Give up on the U.S.A. for the next 10 years? Fill your wardrobe with hair shirts? What a joke. The best may or may not be yet to come—but there's a lotta "best" going on around us every minute of every day.

I don't recommend a Grade A sinus infection as an excuse, but c'mon down to Houston Methodist Med Center—and watch America shine at what we shine at. You'll be blown away!

Event: Trinity

Tom's the last speaker of the year at Trinity University's Policy Maker Breakfast series, in San Antonio. He is not using PowerPoint, but he put most of the material together in PowerPoint format as a way of organizing his thoughts, and he offers the PPT to you here. Please let us know about the event if you were there.

Southwest Gets a Good Rap

Through good times and bad, Southwest Airlines stays on brand as a no-frills, low-cost, wacky-humored carrier. Here's a video of a SW flight attendant on a flight to Oklahoma City last weekend doing his safety announcement as a rap—with passengers stomping and clapping along. Note: In a tight economy this kind of customer service (keeping the passengers entertained while imparting necessary information) doesn't cost the company a THING!

[See John's blog at RockandRollLessons.blogspot.com.]

Sticking It in the Ear of the AIG Bonus Recipients
(And Doing a World of Good!)

On the day, yesterday, that I was reflecting, viciously, on "AIG & Me," my Vermont neighbor Kathleen Colson sent me the report that follows on her February trip to Kenya. She is an amazing person—traveling by herself to all sorts of places she shouldn't, giving her last ounce of energy again & again & again, etc., etc., in pursuit of goals she holds dear. As readers of this Blog know, I think the sun rises and sets over Muhammad Yunus and micro-lending. (Incidentally, I was with one of the country's leading internal medicine docs here in Houston this morning, and we both talked lovingly about the power of micro-lending for perhaps an hour—before turning to the dull topic of my sinus infection.) At any rate, below you'll find Kathleen's report on a related but different kind of program, supporting "deep rural" entrepreneurship, that is demonstrating extraordinary results in places where micro-lending seldom, if ever, makes it. This site [tp.com] has no ads, and never will I'd imagine. And I've never asked anyone to give a penny to anything. But in the name of those greedy bastards at AIG, as well as for the good of the world, I'd ask you to read what's below and consider giving a buck or two to this worthwhile cause, if it strikes you as it did me. I gave a few dollars because of Kathleen's courage and commitment, the power of her program—and, I admit, just a little bit to stick it just a little bit in the ear of the AIG gang. Lousy motivation in the latter case, you say. Sure, but whatever works!

From Kathleen Colson:

"I spent a month in northern Kenya in February, visiting with the women's groups and leaders of the villages as well as watching our BOMA team deliver business skills training programs to potential business owners in 4 villages. On our first morning in the village of Korr, as the mercury hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit, I sat in the midst of a crowd of 250 people. I watched as 200 newly trained businesspeople, mostly women, received a certificate for their participation in a series of business skills training programs that would launch them in their new business endeavors. Abdi Amin, the most successful businessman in the village, spoke to the group and provided encouragement describing his own story of starting a business with just 10,000 shillings. He warned our new entrepreneurs to withstand the pressure to give credit because 'credit is the graveyard of all business.' And then BOMA's trained Business Mentors, John and Adhar, did something that no one has ever done in this remote, neglected part of Africa—they handed cash to poor people so that they could start their own businesses.

"Welcome to BOMA's Rural Entrepreneur Access Project (REAP), a program that is receiving significant attention as a cutting edge model of poverty alleviation for the rural remote areas of Africa. The most important ingredient to our effectiveness is the support we receive from local leaders in places like Korr village. We attribute this to our considerable investment in listening; in our commitment to include local people in the development and leadership of our programs. As our meeting on that hot day in January came to a close, the village District Officer validated our listening investment by announcing to the assembled that, 'This is the first time that an organization has come to our village and given people what they asked for—money to start a business and training and support so that they can succeed. They didn't ask for an ID card, or what political party you belong to. They just asked if you would be willing to work hard and not give credit. The people who support BOMA in the US should know that they have given us what we need the most.'

"I wish each and everyone of you could have been with me to witness this incredible moment. BOMA's programs are informed by our mission to improve the capacity of individuals to earn their own income. But it is really more than that. For a community in transition it is about nourishing the courage of the human spirit, a combination of hope, faith and resilience that sustains an individual's ability to solve their own problems. We give the poor in Africa the resources to determine their own futures within the context of their own rich traditions and heritage. REAP is the centerpiece of that effort—a grants based training and mentoring program that is a cost-effective and sustainable strategy for poverty alleviation. Micro-lending is inaccessible to 70% of the poor in Africa who live in remote communities like Laisamis district and our grants-based program provides the access to capital that is needed to start small businesses. In the words of one of our closest economic advisors: 'We must first wake these ones up for what they can do; loans are for established businesses, for trained people with skills; grants are for the ultra-poor and inexperienced.'

"We are just $16,000 short of the 2009 REAP goal of launching 200 businesses in 4 villages—impacting the lives of 1000 people who will earn a steady income for the first time in their lives. I think the poor in Africa are an important investment in our global potential and I have never been more optimistic about Africa's future. I hope you will join me in celebrating our first class of entrepreneurs by making a donation to BOMA's Rural Entrepreneur Access Project today. By doing this, you will help us invest in people who can get things done on behalf of their own communities. You will help us invest in programs that will provide the resources for people who are determined to improve their lives, and the lives of their children.

"We know we can do this economically, sustainably and on behalf of our donors, prudently. I hope you will join us.

"With gratitude,
"Kathleen Colson
"Executive Director"

Kathleen tells us that donations can be made online at www.bomafund.org or at www.cowsforkids.org or by sending a check to:
The BOMA Fund
PO Box 1865
Manchester Center, VT 05255

Give it a moment's thought.

[Financial filings of the BOMA Fund, if you'd like to research it: 2007 Tax Form (PDF), GuideStar Overview.]

AIG & Me

I was in Bogotá as the AIG story broke. It was discussed particularly vigorously at a luncheon I attended that included a nontrivial share of the nation's business leaders.

We had nothing of note to say—and perhaps that was noteworthy.

The general reaction was, myself included: "The stupidity of AIG 'leadership' boggles the imagination; there can be no sane explanation." In fact I did say it seemed to border on certifiable insanity—though I stopped well short of countenancing suicide. (Grassley had not made his "proposal" at the time.)

Would it be absurd to say that in the most perverse way this act makes me feel better? I have spent an enormous amount of time and psychic energy in recent months examining my own role in all this—and I don't see how I can evade responsibility for inadvertently acting as co-conspirator. (Everything I stand for is opposed to "all this"—but I did not say so forcefully enough, and, in fact, dismissed part of what was happening as a more or less capitalist necessity.) But what makes me feel better in an odd way is the realization that these people, some subset of them, are almost literally insane—and that is beyond my responsibility. (I guess.) (Any serious analysis of why what happened indeed happened must necessarily mimic political scientists' efforts to explain the rise of the likes of Hitler.)

What should "management gurus" do, or what should I do to participate in the cleansing process? Should management gurus resign their posts, as it were, en masse?

I'm really not sure.

(As I finished this brief post I did remember one point of particular interest that arose at the luncheon mentioned above. We agreed that regulation would come and should come—but we also agreed that it probably wouldn't matter much. All rules can be evaded. The issue really concerns civic virtue and moral responsibility—not the crafting of legislation.)

(Anyone seen any stats on how many, if any, of the recipients refused their bonuses?)

Thank You!

By the time you read this I'll doubtless be in Bogotá. And I will doubtless be treated with great kindness. Such has been the nature of 99% of my experiences outside the U.S. (and in!) over the years.

Yet for reasons beyond simple logic, I must pause and offer a big-humongous "thank you" to my hosts in Abu Dhabi. I can't measure it on any scale, but the kindness and thoughtfulness and engagement I experienced are way out on the tip of the tail of a normal distribution that encompasses all 3,000 (more or less) of my speeches.

One tiny episode is characteristic. Quite unusually (thank God), I picked up some damnable airplane bug-virus, and my voice was, almost instantaneously, cracking and unclear and sliding downhill. During the coffee time before the seminar, while croaking to one of my hosts, he suddenly turned on a dime and said, "We must get you hot water with honey and ginger." Magically, he managed to make it happen in a flash.

If you were a 100% cynic you could call it a matter of self-interest. But the genuine concern with which it was done was, well, wonderful. Throughout the croaky day, various folks told me to "calm down, save your voice." Etc. Etc.

The wee example is indeed characteristic—but the overall warmth from everyone I crossed paths with will nurture me for a long time to come.

(I think it's why I keep doing what I'm doing.)

(FYI, the honey-ginger-hot water mix was a great help.)

Multiple Choice ...

Identify the correct statement among this set:

(a) Pope converts to Lutheranism.
(b) Sun rises in the West.
(c) Jack Welch calls focusing on shareholder
     value "dumbest idea in the world."
(d) Barry Bonds never used steroids.

Playing Catch-up

Between travel and a Richter 7.8 sinus infection, I've fallen behind a bit. Going back to 10 March, I heartily recommend, from the Financial Times (p11), "Lost Through Creative Destruction." One quote, from Gillian Tett: "Greed, fraud, cheap money, managerial failure and lax oversight all played a part in bringing about the crisis—but at its heart was the complexity and opacity of modern finance."

The analysis is superb.

Is Civility a Sin?

HP boss Mark Hurd gets his moment in the sun as cover boy for the 16 March Fortune "Mark Hurd's Moment." He's a numbers maniac and tops in a recession, it's said, though Fortune wonders whether or not he's a "CEO for the ages."

I think he's done a fine job on following through with the utterly amazing corporate culture revolution that Carly Fiorina launched. She transformed HP from hyper-nerdy-nerds-making-stuff-for-nerds to super-cool and consumer friendly, too, then iced the change with the successful Compaq merger—about the only one of those big suckers in recent (or not so recent) memory that has worked out more or less as intended.

But the above is not the point of the post. The point is an off-to-the-side remark by P&G CEO A.G. Lafley concerning Mr. Hurd: "When we meet there's no chitchat or warm-up. It's right to business."

So my question du jour: Is numbers-obsessed-no-chitchat the guaranteed way to run a business successfully?

I am well aware of the problems with a numbers obsession—I've devoted the last 30 years of my life to questioning obsessive numbers-come-first-and-last management. But this adds a new dimension: Is civility, too, a sin, comparable to focusing on more than the numbers?

(Related query, does Mr Hurd ask his kids about grades first, then, and only after getting the numeric answer to the grades query, ask how their day went? Just wondering.)

(NB: I had the privilege of "wandering around" with Sam Walton on a few occasions. When talking to a store manager, he invariably began with queries about wife and kids—and to my amazement he usually remembered something or other about a spouse or a child.)

Event: Bogotá

In the midst of his current Boston-Abu Dhabi-Boston-Bogotá dash (Lithuania, Estonia, Finland are next), Tom acquired what he calls "the mother of all sinus infections." So, speaking today in Bogotá, he plans to "squeak and sputter" his way through it, with the help of hot water and ginger and honey, I guess.

The event is the Management Forum, and the PPT slides are here; there's also a long version. Please let us hear from you in the comments to let us know how it went!

Potential Comment Delay

Those who comment here may have noticed a delay in the appearance of their comment. We're dealing with an especially heavy volume of spam comments and have been trying to adjust the filter settings. For those of you who subscribe to the comments feed via RSS, we apologize for the spam comments, most of which is pornographic, that are getting through the filter. If we set the filter too high, valid comments are caught in the filter, if it's set too low, the spam gets through. We appreciate your patience as we find the right balance.

Thank you, Jack Welch

In an interview with the Financial Times, Jack Welch stated, "On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world," he said. "Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy ... your main constituencies are your employees, your customers and your products." I admit I have had reservations about Jack's wisdom in the past, probably because I remember Neutron Jack and haven't been as forgiving as many of my colleagues. But this reversal in his thinking is dead on.

I see far too many of my clients, good people with good motives, obsessing on pleasing Wall Street analysts, and taking actions that may well reduce their stock's value two to three years out. They have slashed budgets on many longer-term strategies, such as research and development, talent retention and development, even preventive maintenance on their equipment. All of it in the name of improving margins and a short-term increase in share value (or so the analysts say). Here are a few points, and I will let our bloggers add theirs as well, including dissenting points of view.

• The war for talent is still ongoing. There is and will be for some time, a shortage of leadership talent as a result of the baby boomers leaving the workforce. There will be plenty of "bodies" available, but that doesn't equate to talent. Cutting back on development efforts to grow your own leaders will leave you at the mercy of the market when the economy picks back up. You will end up paying more for outside talent instead of developing your bench strength now.
• Cutting material costs and pushing suppliers to cut corners to meet cost targets is impacting quality. These short-term measures will have long-term costs with increased warranty costs and lost sales because of the damage to the "brand."
• Instead of spending so much time with the Wall Street gang, why not spend that time talking to the constituents Jack calls out; employees and customers. You might just find out that your cost-cutting measures have led to employee disengagement and a loss in brand equity.
• If you must cut costs, start at the top. In the organizations I work with, the front lines are bearing much of the cost pressure. One client has even eliminated the free coffee at the daily pre-production meetings of supervisors! The front line is the place in your organization where all the knowledge and staff work must come together as product. Be careful whom you are messing with.

There are many more examples, but this should start the conversation. The real changes necessary for a resurgence of our economy, and with it lasting shareholder value, has to start in the boardrooms and the executive suite. Maybe they ought to call Jack.

2009 Recalibration: Part 3

How does the economic situation help you focus your new customer acquisition efforts?

viagra pharmacy price canada Creating new customer relationships is one of the most expensive, most ineffective things that businesses do.

Consider how many billions of ads will flash in front of people's eyes today, but go unnoticed. How many millions of direct mail offers will end up in the recycling bin, unopened? How many sales calls won't work, despite hours of preparation, starched shirts, and animated PowerPoint slides?

If there is a part of the business world that most resembles a gas-guzzling hummer, it would be new customer acquisition. There is so much waste in the sales and marketing process that, now, more than ever, we have to be smart and focused about which new customers we pursue, and how we pursue them.

Here's one of the best ways you can improve your return on investment of new customer acquisition investment efforts: Focus on the specific actions you want your prospects to take.

A CEO called me a few months ago and asked me to come in to help him and his team deal with the business challenges the economic situation has created. Finding new customers was a big priority for them, so I asked them to show me what they were doing to make that happen. They showed me ads and advertorials they were placing in trade publications, trade shows they were attending, and a series of postcard mailings to prospective customers. They showed me a Google AdWords campaign, and they told me about the many different methods their various sales people were using to find leads. Then, I asked them to map out their sales process on a white board, showing me all the steps from disinterested lead to committed customer. Within five minutes they told me that they have a 90% close rate if they can get a prospect to visit their facility. I stood up, walked to the white board, and wrote down the list of new customer acquisition efforts that they had described earlier. I then handed the pen to the head of marketing, and asked him to draw a line through all the marketing efforts that were not directly focused on getting prospects into their office. He crossed out marketing plans representing 80% of their proposed spending.

By acknowledging that the true goal of those early lead-generation efforts was to persuade someone to visit the company’s facility, we were able to cut a huge chunk of fat out of the marketing budget. They could either save those dollars or apply them to efforts that focus on this goal. The group even agreed that paying someone's way to their facility was not out of the question—especially now that they'd have the money to do it!

Focusing on specific customer actions not only helps you create a "to-don’t list" of marketing efforts, it helps you focus your message. If the purpose of an ad is just to get someone to call you or come to your website, then you can target the message specifically to that goal. The attention that a prospective customer will allot to you is very limited; by knowing what you want that prospect to do, you can use that ration of attention wisely.

[This is Part 3 of a 6-part series. To read the other entries in the series, you can use these links: Part 1 and Part 2. Or, read more by Cool Friend Steve Yastrow at his website: yastrow.com.]

Forewo/ard, March!

There will be a 2009 edition of Re-imagine! I was asked to write a new foreword—which I did. Finished it last Friday.

Following a rule I generally break, what follows is the first 800 words, with a continuation which you may choose to peruse. We also have a PDF version of the entire 7,000-word piece.

[Please keep in mind that the text is a draft, which Tom urged me to remind you. Changes, as always, are to come.—CM]

Preface to 2009 Edition: Re-imagine!

Does any of what follows, in a book published in 2003, make sense if, or as, the world is falling apart? That's the obvious, and only, way to start a foreword in early 2009. The answer, of course, is "Yes"—and "no."

Re-imagine describes a brave new intertwined world of commerce, organizational formats, and career strategies in which many or even most of the old rules have been broken, then shredded. While the economic system is dramatically altered in 2009, and will surely be altered more in 2010 and perhaps beyond, the old rules that were broken that animated Re-imagine in the first place are still broken; much of the work to be done in 2009, beyond dealing with day-to-day survival issues, comes from the work list we laid out in 2003—there is far more unfinished than finished business when it comes to readiness for unrelenting, global, speed-of-light 21st century marketplace competition.

Boundaries are disappearing—and, altered circumstances or not, neo-protectionism or not, we live in a global village; mind-blowing new technologies are announced, it seems, by the day, from Apple's latest to the consequences of full-blown genetic mapping, and new members of the Vital Economy Club only enhance that reality. Most any task can be done anywhere. Alliances of every imaginable flavor are created, do their thing, and evaporate. Radical tools such as "crowdsourcing" change dynamics of work and human communication that are thousands of years old—and such tools continue, regardless of macro-economic circumstances, to arrive on the scene and grow like Topsy with startling regularity. And hence the race to add value to keep one's job, or to keep lots of jobs at home, or to enable a going concern, even a small one, to survive has only intensified.

Hierarchies are dying, at least in larger firms; and the economic situation accelerates that—lard in the superstructure is first on the chopping block, and not just at GM and Citi. We do most of our work via project teams that involve members from hither, thither and yon; and that last a year—or a week. Order shouting is out. These disparate team members from disparate places asked to concoct new stuff based on combining ideas of every description can only be motivated by persuasion and passion and the promise of personal growth, not the rattling of the hierarchical saber. "Who's in charge" varies by the day; Cisco Systems, the communication equipment giant, weathering the current storm by reinventing itself once again, calls it an organization based on "emergent leadership"—the de facto leader of a critical team can emerge electronically in a literal flash from three levels down in the organization, by dint of her stellar electronic contributions made from a cramped cubicle or her bedroom at home at 3 a.m.

Those of us in the high wage nations, economic uncertainty, even chaos, notwithstanding, will only survive by moving up the same "value-added" ladder described in the 2003 edition of this book—and by being prepared, as specified in 2003, for more or less constant reinvention. The rise of the likes of China and India and Brazil proceeds apace—and even with current hiccups, or the flu, the pace of these new major players' growth is nothing short of astounding—and will be more so if your time horizon moves out to, say, 15 years, a fact for readers under 40 or so. Yesterday is over is the ultimate truism, but at the moment more true, if possible, than at any time in the last 100 years.

There is a finance tsunami.
There is a generic economics tsunami.
There is a technology tsunami, just gathering a head of steam.
There is a geo-political tsunami, just gathering a head of steam.
There is a work-structuring tsunami.
There is an organization effectiveness tsunami.
There is a careers tsunami.

And they play out differently and in different combination every day.

So does this brief recitation of forces at work now, most of which were at work then, suggest that "I wouldn't change a word"?

Of course not!
I'd change a lot.
But probably in a direction you'd not expect.

Oddly, I'd look back, not forward, mostly, if I made major modifications. As on Wall Street, I'd pay attention, lots more attention, to the bedrock.
In fact, I beat myself up daily for not having done so before.
(Frankly, I'm irritated with anyone who isn't beating themselves up.)
Oddly on yet another dimension, my re-assessment began a year or so before the fissures in the financial system's under-structure began to be visible.
I can even put an exact date on the start of my re-assessment.

April 14, 2006.

There were some very modest signs of Winter reluctantly giving way to Spring at home in Vermont. But my view that April 14th was 100% ice and snow as Air Siberia approached Novosibirsk, Siberia.

[read more]

Event: Abu Dhabi

Tom's at the beginning of an extended speaking tour that will take him to eight countries in two months (not counting the U.S.). Today, he's pleased to be in Abu Dhabi presenting the "Second Annual Leadership Lecture," which he bills as "Developing a Culture of Excellence." You can download the slides here, and we'd love to hear from you in the comments if you were there. Tom's pictures, above and below, give a good feel for the place (it certainly looks as if he's away from the snow again).

NZ. Not.

I returned from New Zealand sunshine to the above-below in Boston. Welcome home, Tom!

To finish NZ musings, and break a self-inflicted rule ...
Though not musical, I can say that New Zealander Hayley Westenra has one of the most pure voices I've ever heard—if you happen to be new to her, which I reluctantly admit that I was, I recommend you seek her out.

(The pictures above and below are from the "back yard," all of about 9X9, of our wee Boston abode. Above, obviously, table and chair; below, a sculpture.)

Almost a Guarantee:
The 1% Drill

I did an in-company seminar in the UK several years ago, for a mid-sized firm. ($50 million?) A generalist consultant was my co-presenter; to be more accurate, he did the first two-thirds of the day, and I provided the (hopefully) grand finale.

At about 2 p.m. he called an abrupt halt to things, and said, "I want to make sure I cover my full fee today, and then some. We're going to stop and do a 45-minute exercise."

He explained that any operation can at any time cut one-percent of their budget. (We all have flab, regardless of circumstances.) Though I, in general, (vehemently) oppose across-the-board cuts, I have absolutely no problem with the 1% idea. He then broke the group up by function; about five functions were represented, as I recall. He gave the groups just 30 minutes to identify their team's 1%. Then he had the groups report in public for 2 or 3 minutes each—this public recitation, he told me, raised the odds of execution; it also provided others' ideas.

Indeed the groups readily identified their 1% and reported accordingly—there was actually no bitching.

I called and asked him a couple of months later how things had turned out. (He was a regular advisor to the company, and a coach, though the term really didn't exist in business yet, to the CEO. He said there was almost uniform success—and a couple of groups had decided to repeat the exercise on their own every few months. Given his closeness to the CEO, and my more general judgment, I'd guess he gave me an accurate report.

Times are tough as we all know. I want to urgently suggest that, despite recent cost cutting you've probably done, you try this exercise. (For consultants of any flavor that goes double—especially good to provide almost guaranteed value in excess of your fees.)

100 Ways to Succeed #153:

The 1% Drill!

See above.
Do it!

Repeat every 90 days.

(This in addition to your other mandated cost-cutting exercises.)

No Gender About It: Reaching the Values-Based Buyer

Why did campaigns like the American Express "My Life. My Card." and the Kleenex "Let It Out" efforts so resonate with consumers? It may be the same reason that the recently launched Rockport "Choose to Walk" campaign (as critiqued by Stuart Elliott in the New York Times) is likely to also be a success. Something in each of those efforts rings true, feels "like me," or otherwise touches the soul of the core customers for those brands—and that may well include you.

Each of those campaigns has dialed into the values of its market—those things beyond the given baseline expectations for fair price and high quality. Today's consumers are really looking through any superficial brandwash in search of recognition and appreciation for who they have chosen to be as people. It all boils down to social values.

Research cited in a recent GreenBiz.com article by Sarah Fister Gale confirms that the new consumer is sticking to his/her beliefs and social values:

The 2008 Good Purpose survey from public relations firm Edelman overwhelmingly shows that buyers plan to remain loyal to products that they perceive to have strong social value.

According to survey results, 68 percent of consumers say that even in a recession they would remain faithful to a brand if it supports a good cause; nearly seven in 10 would be prepared to pay more for eco-friendly products.

Now, here's the thing: a person's core beliefs or values are not gendered. He may buy Brand X because he loves its green approach, and she may buy Brand Y because it reflects her belief in community—or vice versa. Social values are being raised up; they are becoming more of a priority and something that all consumers are using as a filter in their very deliberate purchase processes.

In order to reach these people, marketers have to make sure their brands reflect what their customers really want from the values perspective. This is indeed a more challenging battle than traditional advertising, but brands don't have much choice in the matter.

Certainly, the women these companies have been serving have been nudging them toward this values-based exchange for years, but there seems to be that much more urgency now that both genders are more careful about how they spend their money in tighter times.

viagra free sample pack Traditionally considered to be peripheral and perhaps irrelevant, the topic of social values was avoided by many businesses—they stuck to the usual facts and figures rather than "dilute" their brand message with such nonsense. But, women and men both are now demanding more accountability on a broader spectrum of "attributes," and brands must identify and reflect their authentic values throughout to make an impression. If they do it well, consumers will—just as with the American Express, Kleenex, and Rockport campaigns—see their own values within and respond.

[With this post, we are joined by Cool Friend Andrea Learned, who also blogs at her own website, LearnedonWomen.com. She has a Manifesto, "Beware the Gender Trap," at ChangeThis, too.]

Cool Friend #134: Nick Morgan

If you've ever spoken in public or want to learn the pitfalls before you take that leap, you'll want to read our new Cool Friends interview. Nick Morgan explains the simple secrets that make all the difference in connecting with an audience. At one time he was a speechwriter for Virginia Governor Charles S. Robb, then he went on to eventually found his own communications consulting company,
Public Words. Now he's one of America's top communication theorists and coaches who's committed to helping people clarify their ideas and engage audiences when they present them. Nick Morgan's latest book is Trust Me: Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma, which he discusses with Erik in his Cool Friends interview. He also shares his tips freely at his blog, publicwords.typepad.com/nickmorgan/ and on Twitter as nfrodom1.

New Book from a Cool Friend

Launching today, Greater Than Yourself: The Ultimate Lesson of True Leadership by Steve Farber describes how leaders are most successful when they have as their goal to make others better than they are themselves. Through stories, lessons from his work, and suggestions for real-life actions, Steve lays out a plan for you to "change the world for the better, one person at a time."

A new website to accompany the book, GreaterThanYourself.com, adds to your learning potential by offering the story of Steve's own GTY project (with podcasts), an interview with authors Patrick Lencioni and Matthew Kelly (another of our Cool Friends), and a description of Up With People's eventually successful effort to put GTY into practice. Good luck with the book, Steve!