blog archives

New Audio: Tom Reads The Little BIG Things

This week's additions to the audio files on the book page are in the section titled "Networking":

#62. One Line of Code: The Shortest Distance Between "Critic" and "Champion."

#63. "Suck Down" for Success.

#64. Formula for Success: C(I) > C(E).

#65. How Does Your "Inside Game" Measure Up?

Collect them all, and when we're finished, you'll have an audio version of the entire book.

Abbey Bishop posted this on 07/16.
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Service: Problem with Perfection

Tom argues in favor of the brilliant comeback when compared to a perfect record in a new video from The Little BIG Things Video Series.

You can find the video in the right column here at tompeters.com or you can watch the video on YouTube. [Time: 1 minute, 56 seconds] You can also download a PDF transcript of the video's content: Service: Problem with Perfection.

Shelley Dolley posted this on 07/15.
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Link Roundup #17

John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing interviewed Tom for a podcast that covered China, the economy, decency, BP, and Brand You.

Tom was invited to Cornell University last month to give the Olin Lecture during Reunion Weekend. The Olin Lecture is an annual event that was established in 1986, highlighting topics related to higher education and current world situations.
Video of the Cornell speech: Olin Lecture

Jakob Nielsen, the Web usability expert, mentioned in his recent alertbox newsletter that he may have been one of the last interviews done by Jack Schofield, the computer editor at The Guardian newspaper, who retired after 25 years. In the interview, the two discuss usability on the new tablets. Mostly that tablet, you know the one we mean. Though the article focuses on one product, it covers a great deal of important issues for usability in the future.

You might also like this podcast with Jack Schofield, which Nielsen pointed to (he recommends fast-forwarding to a point 31 minutes in).

Our own Madeleine McGrath, managing partner of the Tom Peters Company, has a piece in The People Bulletin, an online magazine for the HR industry. In it, she discusses "how leaders can shift their focus to get a better return on their talent investment in challenged times."

Abbey Bishop posted this on 07/13.
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Leadership: American vs Southwest

Tom gives a powerful example of what happens when you treat your employees like customers in a new video from The Little BIG Things Video Series.

You can find the video in the right column here at tompeters.com or you can watch the video on YouTube. [Time: 2 minutes, 33 seconds] You can also download a PDF transcript of the video's content: Leadership: American vs Southwest.

Shelley Dolley posted this on 07/09.
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New Audio: Tom Reads The Little BIG Things

This week's additions to the audio files on the book page are in the section titled "Words":

#58. What Do You Think?

#59. Thank You.

#60. I'm Sorry.

#61. Words of Truth-from a Fiction Writer

Collect them all, and when we're finished, you'll have an audio version of the entire book.

Abbey Bishop posted this on 07/07.
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Happy Birthday U.S.A.
And 3 Throaty Cheers!

There is a great deal of soul-searching going on in the United States as our 234th birthday arrives. Though nowhere near the soul-searching that loomed in Independence Hall 234 years ago today.

We fret about deficits. We fret, on the other side of the coin, about a slowing recovery that desperately needs more stimulation—the message of 1937's halt to recovery looms. We fret about immigrants—too many of the undocumented sort; but not enough of those educated at our research universities sticking around. We fret about education in general—too many boys dropping out early, in a world where a college degree is almost a requirement for many jobs.

We fret about China's amazing economy. And Osama's plans for us.

We fret about the Supreme Court becoming too conservative—maybe cap "C" Conservative rather than a lower-case "c" conservative; and we worry about Ms. Kagan's being too liberal—Liberal with an upper case "L."

We fret about the Gulf spill; and we fret about the screaming need for energy independence.

And yet ...

And yet we still lead the world in pretty much everything. Despite, or thanks to, our 234th consecutive year of political vitriol, our cap "D" Democracy is as strong or stronger than ever. (Incidentally, the political rancor was much worse then than now—and much, much worse in beloved Philly 11 years after the Declaration, in the muggy summer of 1787 when the Constitutional Convention was in full swing—by the by, the grandees of Philly '87 took a long break to celebrate the Declaration of Independence.)

Our education system is not ready for the coming economy—but neither is anybody else's. This transition is causing everyone to scramble. And our university system, despite budget woes of the first order, is waaaaay ahead of the pack in terms of research produced and at or near the head of the pack in share of population nabbing college degrees.

We still have a ways to go, but we are utilizing the one half+ of the population labeled female more productively than others.

Our entrepreneurs, though a little short of new cash, are still, as they should be, the envy of the world—and now our women entrepreneurs are as vigorous as their male counterparts. (That is, the "other half"-plus is in the game with verve.)

Our small businesses by the million are still the rock upon which we stand.

Afghanistan is a godawful mess, but our defense in general is powerful beyond measure. And others' soldiers are surely brave, but we have nothing but thanks to aim at our soldiers and sailors and airmen (and "airwomen"!) and marines and coast-guarders, and our reserves and their sacrifices. God bless those in uniform one and all.

And in the world at large there's good news to balance the bad. While the papers feature the bad news, the good goes under-reported. The solid Democracies in Europe (cash flow issues not withstanding) and Japan and India and dozens of other places are more or less solid as a rock. Though we worry about China, China has a worry list to match us—the growing pains accompanying growth, and the hundreds of millions left behind, are enormous problems. The emergence of the likes of Brazil is nothing but good news—and even our brothers and sisters in Africa may be beginning their long march to being less worse off economically—and perhaps solid growth.

There's enough bad news about which to fret to keep us occupied. And enough good news to, frankly, bring a pretty broad smile, as we get ready for #234.

We do not rule the world unchallenged as we foolishly, for 10 minutes, thought we did when the Cold War came to its 4-decade close. But we are in pretty damn good shape over all. I speak as an American with 67 years of experience when I say I sure as hell wouldn't trade places with anybody, respect the others as I do.

The U.S.A.?

Works for me!

Happy birthday, old girl. We're having one hell of a run!

Tom Peters posted this on 07/02.
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Brand You: Everybody Is a Salesperson

You are an ambassador. That's right, an ambassador for your organization... or even your town. Tom explains why it's necessary to see yourself this way in a new video from The Little BIG Things Video Series.

You can find the video in the right column here at tompeters.com or you can watch the video on YouTube. [Time: 2 minutes, 21 seconds] You can also download a PDF transcript of the video's content: Brand You: Everybody Is a Salesperson.

Shelley Dolley posted this on 07/01.
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To My Delight ...

The Saturday Financial Times featured "Hang on Every Word," holiday reading chosen by the FT's critics. The Little BIG Things made the list with this description:

"The latest from the doyen of modern management: 163 short chapters drawn from Peters' blog, delivering pithy, epigrammatic advice. His tips would help any business from a global giant to a corner shop."

(There were 13 business books on the FT list, but just three, including TLBT, that were not analyses of the financial crisis.)

Tom Peters posted this on 06/28.
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The Practice of Excellence.
Limits Thereto.
Or not?

As you doubtless know, one of my signature phrases is...

EXCELLENCE. Always.

I mean it! But what does it mean? Someone joked, "Excellence in leadership! Excellence in innovation! Excellence in management! Excellence in excellence!" That is, the phrase can readily be reduced to meaninglessness or even absurdity.

Fact is, some tasks are not worth pursuing to the point of excellence. (Maybe, more in a minute.) That is, life for all of us contains lots of B.S. that one must simply "get through." Or, as a work-at-home mom of two said to me, "surviving the next hour seems more than enough challenge." Amen!

Hence, on the one hand, I acknowledge reality—for you and me, let alone the beleaguered mom. But I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel.

Hall of Fame San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh sat for interviews shortly before he died. The result was a fine book, from Bill Walsh, Steve Jamison and Craig Walsh, called, magnificently, The Score Takes Care of Itself; that is, the organization culture and preparation, finished before the opening kickoff, are the determining factors in success or failure.

In 1979, Walsh took over an ailing franchise as head coach. His first year's record was 2-14. Two years later it was 14-2, and he went on to beat Cincinnati for the Super Bowl. What happened? Some fine talent was added—Walsh was a master of player selection. But mostly the team's approach to the "business of football" was altered dramatically. By "business of football," I don't mean profit and loss. I mean the demeanor on the practice field, the ethos of helping one another, even the travel dress code.

Which brings us back to "Excellence. Always."—and exceptions thereto. Again, I graciously and with hat-in-hand bow before the work-at-home mom praying for survival in the next 60 minutes. On the other hand, I am with Mr Walsh, whose goal was to establish the "24/7" habits of "professionalism" in his ragtag army in 1979. (George Patton did the same thing with the ragtag elements of his inherited army in North Africa in World War II; he began with the demand for better hygiene and snappy uniforms in the midst of crippling desert conditions. The score took care of itself: Soon, he was winning battles of strategic importance. Likewise, it is said that Admiral Horatio Nelson could alter the "small" habits of seagoing professionalism in a fleet within weeks of taking command; this was the imperative precursor to victory.)

Excellence—I've long argued that the only measure is "I'll know it when I see it." That is, it's as much, in fact far more, about the character of the team and the team's practice habits as the goals for and against. (Think of the recent French World Cup fiasco.)

There are good days and bad days. There are a dozen times a week when I join our mom-under-fire and offer prayers to survive the next hour. Such is life. Yet the devil is in the details—and so, too, Excellence. Another of my constant drumbeats is: "EXCELLENCE is not an 'aspiration.' EXCELLENCE is the next five minutes." That is, to join our Zen-practicing brothers and sisters, all we have is the moment.

Not surprisingly, Helen Keller and Mother Teresa put it in far more sublime words:

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble." —Helen Keller

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

Your call, but for me these two profound and exhilarating quotes serve as decent analogues to "EXCELLENCE. Always."

I've had bad days and weeks and months and, indeed, years. Yet the measure of worth remains the attitude toward the next minute to come:

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble." —Helen Keller

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

EXCELLENCE. Always.
If not EXCELLENCE, what?
If not EXCELLENCE now, when?

EXCELLENCE is not an aspiration.
EXCELLENCE is the next five minutes.

All yours ...

(Above, Salpiglossis, or "tapestry flower," from Susan's garden)

Tom Peters posted this on 06/28.
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The Military.
Life.
Politics.

The day General McChrystal was canned, I was in Baltimore Washington International airport. Putting on my shoes after security, I found myself sitting next to a USMC major. I commented about McChrystal's calling former USMC Commandant Jim Jones a "clown." (I have very strong USMC ties, including an uncle who retired as a lieutenant general and served as a lieutenant colonel on Guadalcanal.) I expected the major to erupt. Instead he said, "Once they become generals, they all are mainly politicians." He said it in a matter-of-fact fashion, with no discernable rancor.

In fact he's right. McChrystal was a career special ops guy, and, as is characteristic of the genre, was known for being blunt and impolitic—it's a miracle he made it as far as he did. General Petraeus is, to the contrary, know as a superb politician. Many attach automatic opprobrium to the term "politician." They are sorely mistaken. General Powell was a masterful politician, as was General Eisenhower, whose political skills in holding the Allies together for the assault on the European mainland were far more important than his tactical skills. All the above pale by contrast to perhaps America's greatest political general—George Washington. In David McCullough's masterful 1776, we find Washington virtually every night alone in his tent writing numerous letters to members of the Continental Congress. Garnering their support for his faltering efforts was as important as fending off the British.

Implementation—at the level of "chief" of a 4-person project team in IS—is and always has been and always will be primarily about politics.

In fact it is axiomatic: Effective implementers are effective politicians, regardless of any synonym you may choose to substitute for politics.

My dentist in Boston doesn't think much of my former dentist (and college roommate) in San Jose; and she makes no bones and minces no words about it. So, too, most specialists. And that includes generals. World War II was marked by a clear focus, unlike, say, Vietnam or Afghanistan. And yet the generals battled with and disparaged one another constantly. I am highly amused by the following quotes from one of my favorite books, David Irving's The War Between the Generals: Inside the Allied High Command:

"A man of great mediocrity."—General George Patton about General Omar Bradley (Bradley commanded U.S. ground forces on D-Day and beyond)

"A third-rate general. He never did anything or won any battle that any other general could not have won as well or better."—General Omar Bradley about Field Marshall Sir Bernard Montgomery

"If you want to end the war in any reasonable time, you will have to remove Ike's hand from the control of the land battle."—Sir Bernard Montgomery about General Dwight Eisenhower

"One thing that might help win this war is to get someone to shoot King."—General Dwight Eisenhower about Admiral Ernest King, U.S. Chief of Naval Operations

"Eisenhower, though supposed to be running the land war, is on the golf links at Rhiems—entirely detached and taking practically no part in running the war."—Sir Alan Brooke, Chief of Staff, British Army about General Dwight Eisenhower

"If the unhelpful British attitude continues, then I shall go home."—General Dwight Eisenhower

Thus is the nature of human affairs, in peace or war. As I hinted before, if you don't want to participate in the politics, then choose to follow a path that is not associated with leadership, or pretty much anything else—e.g., I've seen politicking for a Nobel prize up close, and it's not pretty.

(You may find exceptions to this rule, but if you do, be sure to specify the planet or galaxy from which they emanate.)

(FYI: You might look at Thomas Ricks' related "Lose a General, Win a War," in yesterday's New York Times.)

Tom Peters posted this on 06/25.
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Helping.
The Manager's Job 1.

From a student of renowned Harvard zoologist Louis Agassiz, as reported in Lane Cooper's 1917 Louis Agassiz as Teacher:

"I had assigned to me a small pine table with a rusty tin pan upon it. When I sat down before my tin pan, Agassiz brought me a small fish, placing it before me with the rather stern requirement that I should study it., but on no account talk to anyone concerning it, nor read anything relating to fishes until I had his permission to do so. To my inquiry, 'What shall I do?' he said in effect: 'Find out what you can without damaging the specimen; when I think you have done the work I will question you.' In the course of an hour I thought I had compassed the fish. I was anxious to make a summary report and get on with the next state of business."

But Agassiz paid no attention to his student that day, the next, or during the following week. So the novice, after suppressing his impatience, took another look, and then another. To his surprise, he learned more: "I set my wits to work upon the thing, and in the course of 100 hours or so though I had done much—a hundred times as much as seemed possible at the start."

Agassiz eventually responded: "On the seventh day came the question, 'Well,' and my disgorge of learning to him as he sat on the edge of my table puffing his cigar. At the end of the hour's telling, he swung off and away, saying, 'That is not right.'"

Reluctantly, the student went back to his rusty tin pan. After another week of hard, silent labor, he had results that astonished him and passed muster with his taciturn teacher. Agassiz acknowledged the student's success by bring him a big pile of bones, with the order to sort them out.

Much more agonized examination was in store, with stupendous results: "Two months or more went into this second task with no other help than an occasional looking over my grouping with the stereotyped remark: 'That is not right.' Finally the task was done and I was set upon a remarkable lot of specimens representing 20 species of the side swimmers. I shall never forget the sense of power which I felt in beginning the more extended work on a group of animals. I had learned the art of comparing objects, which is the basis of the naturalist's work."

The manager is in fact a teacher, akin to Louis Agassiz. She or he has, in effect, only one objective: pursuing improved performance by fostering long-term personal (and team) engagement, learning and continuous development. There is in fact no other path than deep immersion and indeed frustration to master any topic, in 1917 or 2010, from the nature of a lab specimen or the intimate workings of some small part of the firm's purchasing activity. Hence the de facto goal of the superior manager is to more or less create a workplace that mimics the peerless Agassiz's lab.

I have become obsessed with the idea and professional practice of helping, partially as a result of ingesting Ed Schein's magisterial book Helping: How to Offer, Give, and Receive Help , mentioned here before. Helping is a profession, in fact the primary task of the manager. Helping, like listening, can be mastered—through hard and sustained work, not unlike that of our budding professional zoologist.

Tom Peters posted this on 06/25.
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The Manager's Job

Help/10X harder-more subtle than you think.
Listen/Engage.
Thank/Appreciate.
Apologize/Nurture accountability.

Tom Peters posted this on 06/25.
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New Audio: Tom Reads The Little BIG Things

This week's additions to the audio files on the book page are in the section titled "Leadership":

#53. To Lead Is to Measurably Help Others Succeed.

#54. At Their Service.

#55. Have You "Hosted" Any Good Employees Lately?

#56. A Sacred Trust.

#57. Rat Psych Rules!-Or: Deploying Positive Reinforcement's Incredible Potency.

Collect them all, and when we're finished, you'll have an audio version of the entire book.

Abbey Bishop posted this on 06/25.
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Strategy: Space Matters

Who sits next to you? In this video called Strategy: Space Matters, Tom explains why who sits next to whom in your office can make a huge difference. The video is part of the The Little BIG Things Video Series.

You can find the video in the right column here at tompeters.com or you can watch the video on YouTube. [Time: 2 minutes, 41 seconds] You can also download a PDF transcript of the video's content: Strategy: Space Matters.

Shelley Dolley posted this on 06/25.
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Service.
A Beautiful Word.
Skip the Modifiers.

I may have been misunderstood when I wrote/Tweeted that we don't need "Wow service" (Peters), "Raving fans" (Blanchard) or "Memorable experience" (Pine and
Gilmore). The word "service," all by its lonesome, will more than suffice.

I was not dissing myself or Ken or Joe or Jim. I like and think important and have written extensively about all of the above formulations.

But here's my deal (I repeat):

Organizations exist only to serve.
Leaders exist only to serve.

That is "service"—WITHOUT MODIFIERS—is a sacred word.
To "be of service" is the highest aspiration possible.
To have "been of service" is the highest tribute possible.

Ponder the word service.
Have you, boss or non-boss ... BEEN OF SERVICE ... today?

That is: To the extent possible, review every transaction-exchange today or in, say, the last 3 hours. Even the most fleeting transaction. Have you unfailingly offered support or acknowledged a good effort or in some way nudged the person you were with forward just a smidgeon—i.e., have you ... UNFAILINGLY & PRO-ACTIVELY ... been "of service"?

Be tough on yourself. Or, at least, honest with yourself.
Every opportunity to "be of service" that you miss is gone for eternity.

Tom Peters posted this on 06/24.
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More.

From The Atlantic/"The End of Men":
"Men seem 'fixed in cultural aspic.' With each passing day, they lag further behind." Numerous college women assume they'll be primary bread winner; guys "are the new ball and chain."

Tom Peters posted this on 06/24.
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"I Know This Guy Joe ..."

My economics prof introduced me to "Joe" years ago. He called it the "I know a man who" theory. I'll comment, "Statistically more lefthanders per capita get into injury-causing accidents." To which you respond, "Yeah, but my best friend, Alonzo, is a leftie without a mar on his record at age 32." In your mind, Alonzo overrides my analysis based on, say, a 3,000-accident sample.

I felt like Man-who Joe had me in an armlock the other day. I was tweeting about the economic value of kindness, thoughtfulness, etc. To which someone responded with a short list of names of wildly successful entrepreneurs and artists (symphony conductors) who are out-and-out jerks.

I know such folk, too. Many thereof. Yet my "defense"—which I fervently believe—was: "Yup, X & Y & Z are indeed v. successful jerks.

"But ...

"But you and I and the vast majority of us are simply not good enough to be able to overcome significant jerk-hood. That is, for those of us who are mortal (let's say 99% ++), thoughtfulness-kindness-attentiveness is a winning strategy, perhaps the only possible winning strategy."

I refuse to be trapped by "I know this guy Joe"!

Tom Peters posted this on 06/23.
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The Letter Laws

3H

Howard-Hilton-Herb. Howard Schultz, Starbucks founder, visits 25 stores a week. Master hotelier Conrad Hilton says his only advice is "Don't forget to tuck the shower curtain into the bathtub." Southwest Airlines founder Herb Kelleher says his only advice is "You have to treat your employees as your primary customers."

My translation, more or less "all you need to know to succeed":

Stay in touch. [Howard]
Sweat the details. [Hilton]
Put your people first. [Herb.]

KRP

K = R = P
Kindness = Repeat business = Profit

LTYA

Listen.
Say "Thank you."
Apologize.

If you can become a full-fledged "professional" listener and master the arts of appreciation and apology [accountability], you will be 75 yards down the 100-yard path to success.

WDYT

What.
Do.
You.
Think.

"What do you think?" = Arguably the four most important words in business/leadership success.

RR

Resilience.
Relentlessness.

The successful person's "top 2" key traits.

RFA

Ready.
Fire.
Aim.

Vigorous action-relentless experimentation = [Only] effective foundation of progress, personal or organizational.

FFF

Fail.
Forward.
Fast.

(This is RFA's necessary handmaiden.)

ROIR

Return On Investment in Relationships.
Medium- to long-term: Relationships = Everything.
Hence: Purposeful investment in relationships is the most important "ROI."

C(I)>C(E)

Internal customers are more important than external customers when it comes to execution.

And, of course, always to be repeated in this space as my "signoff":

EXCELLENCE. Always.
If not EXCELLENCE, what?
If not EXCELLENCE now, when?

Tom Peters posted this on 06/23.
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Read it!
Absorb it!
Ponder it!
Take Advantage of It!

Most important article I've read in a long time/The Atlantic July-August 2010:

"The End of Men: How Women Are Taking Control—Of Everything"

Opening lines/précis:

"Earlier this year, women became the majority of the workforce for the first time in U.S. history. Most managers are now women too. And for every two men who get a college degree this year, three women will do the same. For years, women's progress has been cast as a struggle for equality. But what if equality isn't the end point? What if modern, post-industrial society is simply better suited to women? A report on the unprecedented role reversal now underway—and its vast cultural consequences."

Other:

"Man has been the dominant sex since, well, the dawn of mankind. But for the first time in human history, that is changing—and with shocking speed."

[There are examples from around the world not just U.S. In the likes of Korea, desire for a child to be a girl is soaring.] [In the USA, efforts to improve the odds of conceiving a girl rather than a boy are now commonplace.]

"As thinking and communicating have come to eclipse physical strength and stamina as the keys to economic success, those societies that take advantage of the talents of all their adults, not just half of them, have pulled away from the rest."

"The evidence is all around you [e.g.] in the wreckage of the Great Recession, in which three-quarters of the eight million jobs lost were lost by men. The worst-hit industries were overwhelmingly male and deeply identified with macho: construction, manufacturing, high finance."

"Of the 15 job categories projected to grow the most in the next decade in the U.S., all but two are occupied primarily by women."

"Women hold 51.4% of managerial and professional jobs—up from 26.1% in 1980. ... In 1970, women contributed 2 to 6 percent of the family income. Now the typical working wife brings home 42.2%—and four in 10 mothers are the primary breadwinners in their family."

"What's clear is that schools, like the economy, now value the self-control, focus and verbal aptitude that seem to come more easily to young girls."

"Increasing numbers of women—unable to find men with similar income and education—are forgoing marriage altogether. In 1970, 84% of women ages 30 to 44 were married; now 60% are."

Tom Peters posted this on 06/23.
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More Blame!
(This Time, I'm Really Pissed Off.)

Friday a week ago, I had the honor of giving the Olin lecture on alumni weekend at Cornell. It'd been a long time since I'd been back, and I was taken aback by the beauty, mostly unmarred by new construction, of the Ithaca NY campus.

But in a way that was the least of it. The powers that be (president David Skorton) arranged for me a lengthy tour of the engineering school by the Dean of Engineering and the Dean of Civil Engineering. (I am a Cornell civil engineering grad.) Not only was I taken aback by the extraordinary work going on, which was mostly beyond my comprehension, but by the discipline and tradition of engineering of which I am the smallest part. The experience bordered on the mystical; though I went on to get business degrees and make my name, such as it is, around management, I realized some odd genetic-like tug to my engineering roots—it in fact felt very good, a coming home of sorts.

But it also got me thinking about the Gulf oil spill. (It's hard to go more than a few minutes without that disaster intruding on one's thoughts.) There is more than enough blame to go around from BP and hapless Tony Hayward to Deepwater Horizon to Halliburton to the pathetic dis-incentivized federal regulators.

And I want to pile on.

In my recent book, The Little BIG Things, one item, #56, in the section on leadership was titled "Sacred Trust," and it began like this:

"As I see it, anyone who takes on any leadership job, minor or major, assumes no less than a ... Sacred Trust. I know that's extreme language. But I stand by it. This sacred trust is all about what organizations are all about: the professional (and, to some extent, personal) development of people. Sure, the boss's job is to 'get the job done,' and done effectively. But 'boss-hood' primarily entails an abiding responsibility for the people under your charge. ..."

Leadership is a sacred trust. As is the practice of law. And medicine. And any of the other recognized professions.

Including engineering.

Certified engineers, like certified docs and lawyers, mostly take oaths to live up to the responsibilities of their disciplines. Rights and responsibilities: These pros have the right to declaim with some degree of certitude about their discipline, and/but the responsibility to ensure that the boundaries of said certitude are not violated.

Well, in my newfound/renewed ardor for engineering, I also find myself beset with newfound anger-outrage at numerous engineers employed by BP, et al. (Many an "al." it would appear.)

Outrage not at "BP engineers," but outrage at Arthur N. Smith [fictitious name], certified and licensed engineer. And doubtless dozens and dozens, probably hundreds, of his cohorts.

BP seems to have gotten it wrong on a dozen dozen dozen engineering dimensions. In the name of cost control or whatever. I don't give a shit about the cost control issues, real as I know they are. I give a hundred shits about the fact that Arthur Engineer and Ralph Engineer and Mary Engineer, cross-pressures notwithstanding (that's life), abrogated their professional responsibilities as ... individuals. Arthur and Ralph and Mary are probably good parents—but professionally they screwed their fellow citizens to a fare-thee-well.

And I'm pisssed off.

Very pissed off.

Arthur and Ralph and Mary have bills to pay. And the economy is tough. And their bosses, responding to their bosses, doubtless did put merciless pressure on them.

Hence my empathy is high.

But in the end I am appalled. They have cost us lives and economic and environmental damage of epic proportion. Because they lacked the will and integrity to blow their professional whistles and stand up for the discipline to which they have sworn allegiance.

They are (individually) a disgrace to the great tradition of engineering of which I am the smallest part. So I'm taking this personally.

This disaster, regardless of certain companies' headquarters addresses, occurred in the United States. Among nations, we try to live to a higher standard of individual accountability than most. We are (properly, for the most part) known as an individualistic nation—it has been our strength among strengths. Back to: rights and responsibilities. Our individualism gives moral and other supports (effectively, "rights") to our peerless entrepreneurial behavior, for example. But along with those peerless rights of individualism come an equally profound set of responsibilities. If you are encouraging me to "do my thing," you are also making it clear that the practice thereof is, unequivocally, a form of "sacred responsibility."

Well, my beloved engineers-of-the-Gulf, it was not only HTH, Hapless Tony Hayward, who let us down. It was you engineers as well one at a time, name by name. In fact my fury at you is stronger than my fury at Hayward. After all, he was merely a corporate shill—you are professionals, the latest in a magnificent tradition that you have now sullied.

For shame.

NB: Am I exceedingly harsh in my judgment here? Perhaps. But, upon substantial reflection, I think not.

Tom Peters posted this on 06/21.
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The Tragedy of the Fools.
(Economists, That Is.)
(As Usual.)

I know I've heard this one before, or some close kin. But I laughed anew (that's better than crying) at this ha ha from Saturday's Wall Street Journal:

"An economist, a chemist and a physicist are marooned on a desert island. Their only food is a can of beans, but they have no can opener. What are they to do? The physicist says, 'Let's try and focus the tropical sun onto the lid—it might melt a hole.' 'No,' says the chemist. 'We should first pour saltwater on the lid—maybe that will rust it.' The economist interrupts: 'You're wasting your time with all these complicated ideas. Let's just assume a can opener.'"

WSJ author Anatole Kaletsky continues: "This little joke tells us more about the causes and consequences of the 2007-2009 crisis than any number of ministerial speeches, Wall Street research reports and central bank monographs. The propensity of modern economic theory for unjustified and oversimplified assumptions allowed politicians, regulators and bankers to create for themselves the imaginary world of market fundamentalist ideology, in which financial stability is automatic, involuntary unemployment is unimaginable and efficient omniscient markets can solve all economic problems, if only the government will stand aside." (The WSJ piece is a book excerpt from Capitalism 4.0; Kaletsky is editor at large of the Times of London.)

Discount my discounting of economists if you will. It is true that I've always thought the discipline a bit of a joke. (Though only when it matters, at times like the present. The economists do quite well in the good times, when the stakes are minuscule.)


Happy Monday!

Happy summer!

Tom Peters posted this on 06/21.
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Banners

If you're a frequent visitor to tompeters.com, doubtless you've noticed the lovely banners that change seasonally (click here for the archive). As today is the summer solstice, we'd normally have a new banner. However, we've decided to keep the banner that's currently at the top of the site up there for a few more seasons. We think it so thoroughly reflects the spirit of Tom's new book that we'd like it to stick around. Hope you agree.

Shelley Dolley posted this on 06/21.
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Excellence: Language Matters

In a new video for the The Little BIG Things Video Series called Excellence: Language Matters, Tom asks that you pay attention to the language you use. "If you want an energetic place, use energetic language." Are you measuring whether things are "Insanely Great"?

You can find the video in the right column here at tompeters.com or you can watch the video on YouTube. [Time: 2 minutes, 45 seconds] You can also download a PDF transcript of the video's content: Excellence: Language Matters.

Shelley Dolley posted this on 06/17.
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Goodbye Cathy

After over a decade of dedication to Excellence, Cathy Mosca will be departing at the end of June. Her time with Tom has been devoted (and I don't use that word lightly) to ensuring that tompeters.com as well as all the books, slides, and documents that Tom has written are of the highest quality, and she has rarely missed the mark. As the primary contact behind the tom@tompeters.com email address, Cathy has gone over and above for anyone needing help, especially if it's finding an obscure quote (some say she knows Tom's books better than he does). To say that she will be missed is a gross understatement. We invite you to take a moment and wish her well in the comments.

Shelley Dolley posted this on 06/15.
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