Excellence. ! NO EXCUSES 57 Ways to Launch Your Journey. NOW. Tom Peters 06 March 2014 1 Excellence This plea for is a product of Twitter, where I hang out. A lot. Usually, my practice is a comment here and a comment there—driven by ire or whimsy or something I’ve read or observed. But a while back—and for a while—I adopted the habit of going off on a subject for a semi-extended period of time. Many rejoinders and amendments and (oft brilliant) extensions were added by colleagues from all over the globe. 57 So far, some “tweetstreams” (or their equivalent from some related environments) have passed (my) muster—and are included herein. RED There is a lot of bold type and a lot of ink and a lot of ! (red) exclamation marks ( ) in what follows. First, because I believe this is important stuff. And second, because I am certain there are no excuses for not cherrypicking one or two items for your T.T.D.N. list. (Things To Do NOW.) Excellence. No Excuses. Now. 2 ACCELERATING Epigraph: The Rate of Change “The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.” —Albert A. Bartlett* *from Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, The Second Machine Age, not “Moore’s Law and the Second Half of the Chessboard”/“Change” is the issue—change has always been with us. But “this time” may truly be different. The ACCELERATION of change is unprecedented—hence, the time for requisite action is severely compressed.) 3 Excellence 57. NO EXCUSES. 1. Change. Focus/obsess on allies. And allies and allies. And MORE allies. Don’t allow yourself to be distracted or sidetracked by foes. 2. Do good work. You’ll spend most of your waking hours at work. Make the best of it—or you will have thrown away your life. (Strong words. Warranted.) 3. Start the day on a high/Close the week with a bang. Bring a SMILE to work. IMMEDIATELY get out and about (MBWA). Etc. Call it “the little BIG things starter kit.” First TEN MINUTES determine the flow of the day. Day’s end: More MBWA. Offer thanks for a job well done—“little stuff” more than big stuff. Call three customers. Thank two people in other functions who lent a hand. 4. Time spent on relationships/network building. It’s the … ULTIMATE CAPITAL INVESTMENT. 5. Training. Training must go from “second best” to the very top of the heap. The training boss should sit next door to the CEO. Training courses should unfailingly make you gasp at their quality. 6. People development. Priority #1 is no less than a … MORAL OBLIGATION … to let nothing get in the way of helping our people—each and every one—grow and prosper and achieve beyond their wildest dreams. (Hint: You’ll make a lot of money along the way.) 7. The “BIG DUH.” Taking care of people—“even” in retail—PAYS! 8. Joy. Damn it. (Why not?) 9. WOW-ification. Ugly word. Magnificent aspiration. (Necessary, too, in a hyper- competitive world.) 10. First–line LEADERSHIP matters—a lot! The #1 variable determining enterprise productivity is the quality of the full cadre of 1st-line leaders. (Recruit ’em and train ’em accordingly.) 11. Get aboard the “S-train” or else. SM/Social Media. SX/Social eXecutive/SE/Social Employees. SO/Social Organization. (ALL HANDS.) SB/Social Business. Cacophonous engagement of one—AND ALL!—with every aspect of the enterprise, inside and out, is determining the difference between winners and losers. 12. The “sharing economy.” Sharing pays! Sharing (more) pays (more)! 13. The “hang out factor.” Little or nothing is more important than MANAGING your “Hang Out Portfolio”! We are indeed what we eat—and who we spend time with. 14. Calendar supremacy. You ARE how you spend your time. PERIOD. 4 15. Civility. Civility allows you to sleep at night. Civility is (also) a STUNNING competitive advantage. 16. Politics. IMPLEMENTATION is … politics. (Get over it.) (Master it.) 17. “EXCELLENT” Meetings. Meetings are what bosses “do.” Meetings are de facto Leadership Opportunity #1. Act accordingly. (Few do.) 18. Email EXCELLENCE. Why not? 19. The reaction is more important than the action. The problem is rarely the problem. The RESPONSE to the problem is invariably the problem. 20. Thank you! “Acknowledge” and “Appreciate” are perhaps the two most powerful words in the leader’s language. 21. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Power. (Continued. Why? Said power is AWESOME.) 22. Listen up! Make 2014: The Year of the EAR. Listening = Skill #1. 23. TALK. LISTEN. WRITE. The UN-studied “big three.” 24. “Have you …” The 50 “Have Yous.” 25. 2013-14/New Year’s Week. BEGINNINGS and ENDINGS matter. A LOT. 26. The delicacy of the helping process. We suck at giving criticism. (It matters. A LOT.) 27. EXCELLENCE. The 5-minute Rule. (PLUS more.) 28. Organizations exist to SERVE. PERIOD. 29. Shareholder value MYTH. Shareholders need not come 1st among corporate priorities. 30. Putting People REALLY First. (REALLY.) 31. Limits to “strategy.” Winners focus on EXECUTION. 32. “Only one can be the cheapest.” DESIGN as D.I.C./Differentiator-In-Chief. 33. RADICAL Personal Development. It’s the only survival strategy amidst the economic/tech tsunami. Start ASAP. 34. 100% of us … ENTREPRENEURS. We are ready! (It turns out.) 35. Benchmarking. Effective “benchmarking” is NOT about copying—it IS about learning and adapting to circumstances. 36. B-I-G? Over-rated! 5 37. Judgment. OUR JUDGMENT STINKS. PERIOD. (And there are tons of research to prove that VERY uncomfortable point.) 38. Culture comes FIRST. If (hyper-hardnosed) former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner says it, it must be so! 39. “This will be the women’s century.” Women BUY. Women RULE. 40. The THREE Rules. Taking the high road to success. 41. The “PI6.” Or: Personal Impact SIX. Short and (I hope) sweet. 42. BIGGEST Life Decision. Your call … ONE DAY AT A TIME. 43. Read! Read! Read some more! One of the premier investment bankers in the world declares CEOs’ #1 problem to be a failure to read enough. 44. The Middle Class Is Toast. (Ye gads.) (And then an antidote!) 45. WOW. NOW. The Project 50. The Brand You 50. The Professional Service Firm 50. 46. Full STEAM Ahead. Call for an Education Revolution. ASAP. 47. 47 questions for newly anointed CEOs. Do you leave 50% of your time unscheduled? (And 46 others.) 48. Ready. Fire. Aim. The ACTION Imperative—now more than ever. 49. The LAST word. (For now.) 50. The LAST word (Version TWO). People REALLY First—or else. 51. The LAST word (Version THREE). Do (NOW) or Die. 52. The LAST word (Version FOUR). Implementation: The “last 99%.” 53. The LAST word (Version FIVE). The only thing we have to fear is the absence of fear. 54. The LAST word (Version SIX). We ALL have what it takes to be entrepreneurial. 55. PSF or bust! Becoming a (full-fledged) PROFESSIONAL SERVICE FIRM. 56. The LAST word (Version SEVEN). Nothing half way! Use your last ounce of energy! 57. The LAST word (Version EIGHT). Nobody knows anything. Hmmmmm ...... Appendix: Systems Have Their Place: SECOND Place. 6 2014.0306/406 pages/52,465 words I. Change/Change Agents The A-squared Approach: Allies & Action Not sure what triggered it, but I went on a Twitter rampage this morning (Thursday, 11/21/13) on the topic of change. Herewith, FYI: Change agentry: Forget the word “enemies.” Focus on/obsess on ... ALLIES . Big change is not about fighting the bad guys. It’s about surrounding them with your continuously recruited allies. Success at change: Building a stable of allies. Failure: Pissing and moaning and picking fights. Change agent time distribution: 50% recruiting Allies. 40% tending Allies. 10% 0% other. fighting enemies. Change: Allies do not automatically remain allies. Tend them and do NOT NOT NOT neglect them—the latter is a common sin. F F F F Change the 4F Way: ind a ellow reak araway. (Change agents need playmates and distant playpens.) 7 “small Change: Rack up and log … wins” … like a … maniac. It’s already happening somewhere. Find it! Change you want: “Some people look for things that Change the Bob Stone way: went wrong and try to fix them. I look for things that went right, and try to build off them.” Dotcom movement worked big time. Losses as critical as wins: Astonishing amount of experimentation in brief “Ls” “Ws.” period. as/more important than Change is about end runs—not a smash-mouth plunge down the middle. Allies: Recruit the quiet ones as much or more than the noisy ones. If you can’t find allies, you’re probably perceived as too far out. Find the sweet spot: Exciting/edgy w/o scaring the shit outta people. A rigid stance nearly always generates an equally rigid response. Change: Making loud noises is usually a loser’s strategy. If you are really passionate, you tend to confront. Confrontation NEVER results in victory; it just entrenches your opponents and increases their determination to stop you. You play into the bad guys’ hands: “I knew he was a jackass. Never put him on the agenda again.” 8 1 48 Action Rules! Thing (Only) I’ve Learned in Years! A Bias for Action. (No. 1/“Basics of Excellence”/In Search of Excellence/1982) “Ready. Fire. Aim.” (H. Ross Perot on EDS; as compared to GM’s “Ready. Aim. Aim. Aim. Aim. Aim. …”) Just do it! (Nike) Move fast, break things . (Facebook) Experiment fearlessly. (Trait #1/Great innovator companies/Bloomberg Businessweek) Relentless trial and error. (Corporate Survival Trait #1 in crazy times/Wall Street Journal) “You miss 100% of the shots you never take.” (Wayne Gretzky) Fail. Forward. Fast. (Tech exec/Philadelphia) CAN YOUR BUSINESS FAIL FAST ENOUGH TO SUCCEED? (Economist conf. title) “Fail faster, succeed sooner.” (David Kelley/IDEO) “No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” (Samuel Beckett) “Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.” (Phil Daniels/Australian businessman) Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins. (Richard Farson/book title) “The Silicon Valley of today is built less atop the spires of earlier triumphs than upon the rubble of earlier debacles.” (Paul Saffo/tech futurist/Palo Alto) “The secret of fast progress is inefficiency: fast/furious/numerous failures.” (K. Kelly) S.A.V./Screw Around Vigorously (TP: only possible success strategy for crazy times) Demo or die. (MIT Media Lab credo) “Don’t ‘plan.’ Do stuff.” (David Kelley/IDEO) “Effective prototyping may be the most valuable core competence an innovative organization can hope to have.”/“Minimize ‘mean time to prototype.’” (M. Schrage/MIT) “This is so simple it sounds stupid. You only find oil if you drill wells.” (J. Masters/wildcatter) “We have a ‘strategic plan.’ It’s called ‘doing things.’” (Herb Kelleher/Southwest Airlines) “Can do!” (Motto/U.S. Navy Seabees/my starting point in 1966 in Vietnam) “Execution is strategy.” (Fred Malek) WD40 (Water Displacement, 40 tries to get it right) BLAME NO ONE. EXPECT NOTHING. DO SOMETHING. (NFL coach Bill Parcells/locker-room poster) “Quality is a probabilistic function of quantity.” (M. Gladwell/“Creation Myth”/re J.S. Bach) “Ever notice that ‘What the hell’ is always the right decision?” (Anon. screenwriter) W.T.T.M.S.W. /Whoever Tries The Most Stuff Wins. WTTMSASTMSUW/Whoever Tries The Most Stuff And Screws The Most Stuff Up Wins. WTTMSASTMSUTFW/Whoever Tries The Most Stuff And Screws The Most Stuff Up The Fastest Wins. 9 WTTMSW: Whoever Tries The Most Stuff Wins. 10