Tom peters on implementation 09 April 2008

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Tom peters on implementation09 April 2008
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NOTE To appreciate this presentation and
ensure that it is not a mess, you need Microsoft
fonts Showcard Gothic, Ravie, Chiller
and Verdana
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Never forget implementation , boys. In our work,
its what I call the last 98 percent of the
client puzzle. Al McDonald, former Managing
Director, McKinsey Co, to a project team,
reported by subsequent McKinsey MD, Ron Daniel
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In this presentation you will find no less than
23 mini-presentations on the topic of
Implementationthat all-important last 98
percent. One is a study of nothing less grand
than the creation of the U.S. Constitution.
Thats a long way from your world or mine. Or is
it? Heres what I wrote at the beginning of the
case study, Slide 325 What does the U.S.
Constitutional Convention of 1787 have to teach
you and me, in the Age of the Internet, about
implementing our wee pet project? A lot, Ill
argue. Whether the topic is mundane or grand, and
whether the date is 1787 or 2008, the essential
human basics of implementation are exactly the
sameand overlooking them is the universal cause
of failure. So lets look at the little human
lessons that underpinned the creation of this
monumental document
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Tom Peters On Implementation The Have You
50 MBWA/Calendars Never Lie Hard Is Soft. Soft Is
Hard. Respect! The Last 98 50 Equations
Concerning Success Organizations Exist to
Serve The 9Ps of Leadership Women Dominate the
Economy Implications for Implementation Women
Rule Implications for Implementation The
XF-50 Enhancing Cross-functional
Effectiveness Beyond Barriers The
PSF/Professional Service Firm Solution Beyond
Barriers The PSF 35 Getting Things Done The
Power Implementation 34 The Checklist The
Power of a Blinding Flash of the
Obvious Charlie Wilsons War Lessons
Learned Delivering Development Assistance
Effectively William Easterly The Creation of the
U.S. Constitution The Summer of 1787 Excellence
4/40 4 Ideas in 40 Years Excellence 1/40, 1 Idea
in 40 Years Try It! Presentation Excellence The
PresX56 Interviewing Excellence The
IntX31 Mastering Sales The Sales25 The Sales122
122 Ridiculously Obvious Thoughts About Selling
Stuff
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The Have you 50
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Mapping your competitive position or
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While waiting last week early December 2007 in
the Albany airport to board a Southwest Airlines
flight to Reagan, I happened across the latest
Harvard Business Review, on the cover of which
was a yellow sticker. The sticker had on it the
words Mapping your competitive position. It
referred to a feature article by my friend Rich
DAveni. His work is uniformly goodand I have
said as much publicly on several occasions dating
back 15 years. Im sure this article is good,
toothough I didnt read it. In fact it triggered
a furious negative Tom reaction as my wife
calls it. Of course I believe you should worry
about your competitive position. But instead of
obsessing on competitive position and other
abstractions, as the B-schools and consultants
would always have us do, I instead wondered about
some practical stuff which I believe is more
important to the short- and long-term health of
the enterprise, tiny or enormous.
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Unfortunately many leaders of major companies
believe their job is to create the strategy,
organization and organization processesremaining
aloof from the people doing the work. George
Kohlrieser, Hostage at the Table (GK is, among
other things, a hostage negotiator with a 95
success rate)
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1. Have you in the last 10 days visited a
customer? 2. Have you called a customer
TODAY? 3. Have you in the last 60-90 days had
a seminar in which several folks from the
customers operation (different levels, different
functions, different divisions) interacted, via
facilitator, with various of your folks? 4. Have
you thanked a front-line employee for a small act
of helpfulness in the last three days? 5. Have
you thanked a front-line employee for a small act
of helpfulness in the last three hours? 6.
Have you thanked a frontline employee for
carrying around a great attitude today? 7. Have
you in the last week recognizedpubliclyone of
your folks for a small act of cross-functional
co-operation? 8. Have you in the last week
recognizedpubliclyone of their folks (another
function) for a small act of cross-functional
co-operation? 9. Have you invited in the last
month a leader of another function to your weekly
team priorities meeting? 10. Have you personally
in the last week-month called-visited an internal
or external customer to sort out, inquire, or
apologize for some little or big thing that went
awry? (No reason for doing so? If truein your
mindthen youre more out of touch than I dared
imagine.)
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1. Have you in the last 10 days visited a
customer?2. Have you called a customer TODAY?
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Blog1231.07 FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FOR IMMEDIATE
ACTION! FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION! FOR IMMEDIATE
ACTION! OLD YEARS RESOLUTION! Call (C-A-L-L!)
(NOT E-MAIL!) 25-50 (NO LESS THAN 25) people
TODAY to thank them for their support this
year (2007) and wish them and their families
and colleagues a Happy 2008!
Today TODAY N-O-W (not within the
hour) Remember ROIR gt ROI. ROIR Return On
Investment in Relationships. Success
f(Relationships). This is the most important
piece of advice I have provided this
year. This is Not Optional. Trust me
This is fun!!!! Trust me This
works. Happy 2008!!!
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I posted this at tompeters.com on New Years Eve
2007.
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11. Have you in the last two days had a chat with
someone (a couple of levels down?) about specific
deadlines concerning a projects next steps? 12.
Have you in the last two days had a chat with
someone (a couple of levels down?) about specific
deadlines concerning a projects next steps and
what specifically you can do to remove a hurdle?
(Ninety percent of what we call management
consists of making it difficult for people to get
things done.Peter His eminence Drucker.) 13.
Have you celebrated in the last week a small
(or large!) milestone reached? (I.e., are you a
milestone fanatic?) 14. Have you in the last week
or month revised some estimate in the wrong
direction and apologized for making a lousy
estimate? (Somehow you must publicly reward the
telling of difficult truths.) 15. Have you
installed in your tenure a very comprehensive
customer satisfaction scheme for all internal
customers? (With major consequences for hitting
or missing the mark.) 16. Have you in the last
six months had a week-long, visible, very
intensive visit-tour of external customers? 17.
Have you in the last 60 days called an abrupt
halt to a meeting and ordered everyone to get
out of the office, and into the field and in
the next eight hours, after asking those
involved, fixed (f-i-x-e-d!) a nagging small
problem through practical action? 18. Have you in
the last week had a rather thorough discussion of
a cool design thing someone has come
acrossaway from your industry or functionat a
Web site, in a product or its packaging? 19.
Have you in the last two weeks had an informal
meetingat least an hour longwith a frontline
employee to discuss things we do right, things we
do wrong, what it would take to meet your mid- to
long-term aspirations? 20. Have you had in the
last 60 days had a general meeting to discuss
things we do wrong that we can fix in the
next fourteen days?
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UniCredit Group/
UniCredito Italiano 3rd party
measurementCustomer-initiated
measurementPrimary incentivesFactories
Primary Corporate InitiativeEtc13TP/1
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The director of staff services at the giant
financial services firm, UniCredit Group,
installed the most thorough internal customer
satisfaction measures scheme I have seenwith
exceptional rewards for those who make the grade
with their internal customers.
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21. Have you had in the last year a one-day,
intense offsite with each (?) of your internal
customersfollowed by a big celebration of
things gone right? 22. Have you in the last
week pushed someone to do some family thing that
you fear might be overwhelmed by deadline
pressure? 23. Have you learned the names of the
children of everyone who reports to you? (If not,
you have six months to fix it.) 24. Have you
taken in the last month an interesting-weird
outsider to lunch? 25. Have you in the last month
invited an interesting-weird outsider to sit in
on an important meeting? 26. Have you in the last
three days discussed something interesting,
beyond your industry, that you ran across in a
meeting, reading, etc? 27. Have you in the last
24 hours injected into a meeting I ran across
this interesting idea in strange place? 28.
Have you in the last two weeks asked someone to
report on something, anything that constitutes an
act of brilliant service rendered in a trivial
situationrestaurant, car wash, etc? (And then
discussed the relevance to your work.) 29. Have
you in the last 30 days examined in detail (hour
by hour) your calendar to evaluate the degree
time actually spent mirrors your espoused
priorities? (And repeated this exercise with
everyone on team.) 30. Have you in the last two
months had a presentation to the group by a
weird outsider?
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You Your calendarCalendars never lie
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All we have is our time. The way we spend our
time is our priorities, is our strategy.
Your calendar knows what you really care about.
Do you?
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31. Have you in the last two months had a
presentation to the group by a customer, internal
customer, vendor featuring working folks 3 or 4
levels down in the vendor organization? 32. Have
you in the last two months had a presentation to
the group of a cool, beyond-our-industry ideas by
two of your folks? 33. Have you at every meeting
today (and forever more) re-directed the
conversation to the practicalities of
implementation concerning some issue before the
group? 34. Have you at every meeting today (and
forever more) had an end-of-meeting discussion on
action items to be dealt with in the next 4, 48
hours? (And then made this list publicand
followed up in 48 hours.) And made sure everyone
has at least one such item.) 35. Have you had a
discussion in the last six months about what it
would take to get recognition in local-national
poll of best places to work? 36. Have you in
the last month approved a cool-different training
course for one of your folks? 37. Have you in
the last month taught a front-line training
course? 38. Have you in the last week discussed
the idea of Excellence? (What it means, how to
get there.) 39. Have you in the last week
discussed the idea of Wow? (What it means,
how to inject it into an ongoing routine
project.) 40. Have you in the last 45 days
assessed some major process in terms of the
details of the experience, as well as results,
it provides to its external or internal customers?
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41. Have you in the last month had one of your
folks attend a meeting you were supposed to go to
which gives them unusual exposure to senior
folks? 42. Have you in the last 60 (30?) days sat
with a trusted friend or coach to discuss your
management styleand its long- and short-term
impact on the group? 43. Have you in the last
three days considered a professional relationship
that was a little rocky and made a call to the
person involved to discuss issues and smooth the
waters? (Taking the blame, fully deserved or
not, for letting the thing-issue fester.) 44.
Have you in the last two hours stopped by
someones (two-levels down") office-workspace
for 5 minutes to ask What do you think? about
an issue that arose at a more or less just
completed meeting? (And then stuck around for 10
or so minutes to listenand visibly taken
notes.) 45. Have you in the last day looked
around you to assess whether the diversity pretty
accurately maps the diversity of the market being
served? (And ) 46. Have you in the last day at
some meeting gone out of your way to make sure
that a normally reticent person was engaged in a
conversationand then thanked him or her, perhaps
privately, for their contribution? 47. Have you
during your tenure instituted very public
(visible) presentations of performance? 48. Have
you in the last four months had a session
specifically aimed at checking on the corporate
culture and the degree we are true to itwith
all presentations by relatively junior folks,
including front-line folks? (And with a
determined effort to keep the conversation
restricted to real world small casesnot
theory.) 49. Have you in the last six months
talked about the Internal Brand Promise? 50. Have
you in the last year had a full-day off site to
talk about individual (and group) aspirations?
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Relationships (of all varieties) THERE ONCE WAS
A TIME WHEN A THREE-MINUTE PHONE CALL WOULD HAVE
AVOIDED SETTING OFF THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL THAT
RESULTED IN A COMPLETE RUPTURE.

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R.O.I.R.
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Return On Investment In Relationships
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Job One.
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You must care. General Melvin Zais
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Courtesies of a small and trivial character are
the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and
appreciating heart. Henry Clay
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The magic number 25.Mbwa.Calendars never
lie.Excellence.Always.Tom Peters/0709.07
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25
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Though his empire is enormous, and his executive
team strong, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz
still religiously visits at least 25 Sbucks
shops per week! Regardless of our size, he
told me, we still sell it one-cup-at-a-time, one
customer-at-a-time, one server-at-a-time. I need
to see it and touch it and feel it.
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MBWA5,000 miles for a 5-minute face-to-face
meeting (courtesy super-agent Mark McCormick)
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When Bob Waterman and I wrote In Search of
Excellence in 1982, business was by the
numbersand the Americans were struggling (to
put it mildly) with hands on, tactile stuff, like
Japanese quality. Then, at Hewlett Packard, we
were introduced to the famed HP Way, the
centerpiece of which was in-touch management. HP
had a term for this MBWA. (Managing By
Wandering Around.) Bob and I fell in immediate
love. Not only was the idea per se important and
cool, but it symbolized everything we were coming
to cherishenterprises where bosses-leaders were
in immediate touch with and emotionally attached
to workers, customers, the product. The idea is
as important or more important in fast-paced 2007
as it was in 1982.
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20-minute rule Craig Johnson/30 yrs
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Craig Johnson, a famed Venture Capitalist for
three decades refuses to invest in companies
that are more than a 20-minute drive from his
office. To guide them through the serpentine path
ahead, he insists that he must be in constant
touch as banker, advisor, friend.
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gt70Hank Paulson, China visits, Fortune 1127.06
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China is clearly our most important economic
partner. Our dialog with China was not what it
might have been when Hank Paulson took over as
Secretary of the Treasury. Immediate improvement
occurred for numerous reasons, not least of which
were Paulsons SEVENTY TRIPS to China while at
Goldman Sachs.
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I call 60 CEOs in the first week of the year
to wish them happy New Year. Hank Paulson,
former CEO, Goldman SachsSource Fortune,
Secrets of Greatness, 0320.05
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MBWA, Grameen Style!Conventional banks ask
their clients to come to their office. Its a
terrifying place for the poor and illiterate.
The entire Grameen Bank system runs on the
principle that people should not come to the
bank, the bank should go to the people. If any
staff member is seen in the office, it should be
taken as a violation of the rules of the Grameen
Bank. It is essential that those setting up a
new village Branch have no office and no place
to stay. The reason is to make us as different as
possible from government officials. Source
Muhammad Yunus, Banker to the Poor
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You must be the change you wish to see in the
world.Gandhi
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Its always showtime. David DAlessandro,
Career Warfare
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a blinding flash of the obvious Manny Garcia
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All this this little riff is indeed, as
seminar participant and leading Burger King
franchisee Many Garcia once said to me,
obvious. But observation over four decades
suggests that amidst the hubbub and travails of a
typical days work, the so-called obvious is
often-usually left unattended. For perfectly good
reasons, another week passes without a visit to
our equivalent of the Starbucks shops or HP RD
labs, without the equivalent to Hank Paulsens
How ya doin? call to a key customer. My Tom
Peters Job One in life? Remind busy folks of the
obvious!Manny Garcia/1983 Tom, I hope you
wont be insulted when I say this was the best
seminar Ive ever been toand it was a blinding
flash of the obvious.I had two commanding
officers during my two Vietnam tours in U.S.
Naval Mobile Construction Battalion NINE
(1966-1968). One was a Howard Shultz
look-alikeinstinctively in the field. The other
was an in the office leader. The one produced.
The other didnt. At age 24 I learned an
incredible life lesson, though I couldnt
describe it well until tripping over HPs
MBWA/Managing By Wandering Around.
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EXCELLENCE.1982.Hard is soft.Soft is hard.
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Hard Is SoftSoft Is Hard
45
Hard Is Soft (s)Soft Is Hard (people)
46
Hard Is Soft (Plans, s)Soft Is Hard (people,
customers, values, relationships))
47
The 7-S ModelStrategyStructureSystemsStyle
SkillsStaffSuper-ordinate goal
48
The 7-S ModelHard Ss (Strategy,
Structure, Systems)Soft SS (Style, Skills,
Staff, Super-ordinate goal)
49
The 7-S ModelStrategyStructureSystemsStyle
(Corporate Culture, The way we do
things around here)Skills (Distinctive
Competence/s)Staff (People-Talent)Super-ordinate
goal (Vision, Core Values)
50
If I could have chosen not to tackle the IBM
culture head-on, I probably wouldnt have. My
bias coming in was toward strategy, analysis and
measurement. In comparison, changing the attitude
and behaviors of hundreds of thousands of people
is very, very hard. Yet I came to see in my
time at IBM that culture isnt just one aspect of
the gameit is the game. Lou Gerstner, Who
Says Elephants Cant Dance
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EXCELLENCE.Always.Respect.
52

• It was much later that I realized Dads secret.
  He gained respect by giving it. He talked and
  listened to the fourth-grade kids in Spring
  Valley who shined shoes the same way he talked
  and listened to a bishop or a college president.
  He was seriously interested in who you were and
  what you had to say.
• Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Respect

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The Union senior officers rode past the
Confederates smugly without any sign of
recognition except by one. When General Grant
reached the line of ragged, filthy, bloody,
despairing prisoners strung out on each side of
the bridge, he lifted his hat and held it over
his head until he passed the last man of that
living funeral cortege. He was the only officer
in that whole train who recognized us as being on
the face of the earth. quote within a quote
from diary of a Confederate soldier
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Its not people who arent credit-worthy. Its
banks that arent people worthy.Muhammad Yunus
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The deepest human need is the need to be
appreciated.William James
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Dont belittle! OD Consultant
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Story I once heard Famous consultant, with a
whopping daily fee, comes into a room to address
a Client group. He walks to the blackboard and
writes upon it two words. Dont belittle. He
turns and walks outand sends hi full
bill. Makes sense to me
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Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a
great battle. Philo of Alexandria
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You can make more friends in two months by
becoming interested in other people than you can
in two years by trying to get other people
interested in you. Dale Carnegie
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He had done nothing to sell me on his business,
yet he had given me the most powerful sales pitch
of my life. Because his sole concern had been my
welfare and the success of my business. Jim
Penman, on learning how to sell (What Will They
Franchise Next? The Story of Jims Group)
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If you dont listen, you dont sell anything.
Carolyn Marland/Managing Director/Guardian
Group
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Attending to the Last 98 The New Management
Science, or Hard Is Soft, Soft Is
Hard Tom Peters/17 April 2008
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Alternate title
64
Attending to the Last 98 flower power! Tom
Peters/17 April 2008
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FLOWERPOWER
FLOWERPOWER
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Hold in your mind the idea of flower
powermore to come!
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S ƒ ( ___ ) Success Is a Function of
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SF50 Success Is a Function of ... What
follows are not in fact true mathematical
formulaeobviously. Nonetheless, in tribute to my
own scientific background, and, more important,
that of many seminar participants, I have chosen
this formatwhich seems to work for those of my
ilk to whom it has been exposed
69
SF50 50 Equations on achieving success at
pretty much anything
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S ƒ(DR -2L, -3L, 4L, IE) Success is a
function of Number and depth of relationships 2,
3, and 4 levels down inside and outside the
organization S ƒ(SDgtSU) Sucking down is more
important than sucking upthe idea is to have the
your entire organization working for you. S
ƒ(non-FF, non-FL) Number of friends not in my
function S ƒ(XFL/m) Number of lunches with
colleagues in other functions per month S
ƒ(FF) Number of friends in the finance
organization
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Loser Hes such a suck-up!Winner
Hes such a suck-down.
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Never waste a lunch! More or less
73
S ƒ(PKWP)S ƒ(PKLP) of people you
know in the wrong places people you know in
low places
74
???????Success doesnt depend on the number of
people you know it depends on the number of
people you know in high places!or Success
doesnt depend on the number of people you know
it depends on the number of people you know in
low places!
75
It helps to know people in high places!
76
It helps more to know people in low places!
77
Gust Avarkotos boiler room CIA palsWalters
enabler P.M. Thank You notesFlexirents XSecs
Customer PA lunchesAnybodys XSecAnybodys
PAAll customer Purchasing Dept
receptionistsSecy Chaffees letter
writerMcKinsey report prep staffMcKinsey
research staffAdmirals AideCongressional
Committee staff drafterCongressmans appropriate
LAAnybody in Finance
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The previous entries are shorthand for stories
about low level relationships determining high
level decisionsor at least having surprising
impact. Flexirent is an Australian consumer
financial services company. Its offerings are
mostly made through retailersand following the
80-20 rule, a small of retailers control a
large share of Flexirents business. The
Executive Secretary-PA (Personal Assistant) to
Flexirents CEO is a bright, energetic, outgoing
person. Along the way, and not accidentally, she
has developed very close relationships to the Pas
of most of the CEOs of Flexirents major
customers. Among other things, she more or less
regularly (quarterly, roughly) takes her PA pals
out for lunch. The goal on both sides is clear,
understood and shamelessto enhance unvarnished
communications among these true power players.
One can only imagine the number of times, over,
say, five years, that this back channel (front
Channel, in reality) has paved the way for
success and staved off disasters. The rest of the
entries on the slide are of the same ilk.
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S ƒ(OF) Number of oddball friends S
ƒ(PDL) Purposeful, deep listeningthis is very
hard S ƒ(DSTM, EH, TTAGFG) Dont shoot the
messengerembrace him! Truth-tellers are gifts
from God! S ƒ(EODD3MC) Number of
end-of-the-day difficult (youd rather avoid)
3-minutecalls that sooth raw feelings, mend
fences, etc. S ƒ(UFP, UFK, OAPS) Unsolicited
favors performed, UFs involving co-workers kids,
overt acts politeness-solicitude toward
co-workers spouses, parents, etc.
80
18 Source How Doctors Think, Jerome Groopman
81
Relationships (of all varieties) THERE ONCE WAS
A TIME WHEN A THREE-MINUTE PHONE CALL WOULD HAVE
AVOIDED SETTING OFF THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL THAT
RESULTED IN A COMPLETE RUPTURE.

82
S ƒ(TSHRO) Time spent ... Hurdle Removing for
Others
83
Peter Drucker once famously said, Ninety-percent
of what we call management consists of making
it difficult for people to get things done.
There is more than a grain of truth to that. On
the other side, and there can be an other side,
I see the managers principal role as identifying
things that get in peoples way (by asking them!)
and meticulously getting those things out of
their way. Thence, you could cal the boss the
CIRO, or Chief Impedance Reduction Officer, or my
choice, CHR, Chief Hurdle Remover. In any event
the idea is that this is a/the primary task the
boss performsand that it is a systematic,
pro-active affair (e.g., on the daily agenda).
84
S ƒ(AC, PTS/OLC, SAPA) Absolute of
consultations, perception of being taken
seriously (Responsible for one line of code),
small acts of public appreciation S
ƒ(1D) Seeking the assignment of writing first
drafts, minutes, etc. (1787) S ƒ(SEAs) Number
of solid relationships with Executive
Assistants S ƒ(UL/w-m) useful lunches per
week, month S ƒ(FG, FOC-BOF, CMO) Favors
given, favors owed collectively, balance of
favors, conscious management thereof
85
Buy in- Ownership-Authorial bragging
rights-Born again Champion One Line of Code!
86
It works this way, Tom. Youre talking to a guy
whos important to implementation down where the
rubber meets the road. Hes skepticalhe either
really is, or its the act he chooses to play.
You go over the thing with him and he has a
thousand objections. You nod your head a lot, and
take copious notes. Then you go back to your
guys, and you find a few places where you can
very specifically accommodate him. You make the
changes, even if they are pretty ugly. Then you
go back to him, and show him exactly what youve
done. You have a born again supporter. You
took him seriouslyand through the changes, hes
now your co-inventor, your savior. Now hes doing
the selling for you. Hey, the whole damn thing
wouldnt have worked were it not for his
interjectionsthats the way he frames it to his
folks. I tell you, it never fails.Source
Australian IS-IT chief, mid-sized company in
financial services
87
S ƒ(SU) Showing up (Woody Allen, Delawares
ridiculous influence on the Constitution of the
USA) S ƒ(KSU, R) Keep showing up
relentlessness (U.S. Grant!!) S ƒ(DW,
TMSTTOG) Drill wells, try more stuff than the
other guy (John Masters, Mike Bloomberg)
88
Ninety percent of success is showing up.
Woody Allen
89
This is so simple it sounds stupid, but it is
amazing how few oil people really understand that
you only find oil if you drill wells. You
may think youre finding it when youre drawing
maps and studying logs, but you have to drill.
Source The Hunters, by John Masters, Canadian
O G wildcatter
90
We made mistakes, of course. Most of them were
omissions we didnt think of when we initially
wrote the software. We fixed them by doing it
over and over, again and again. We do the same
today. While our competitors are still sucking
their thumbs trying to make the design perfect,
were already on prototype version 5. By the
time our rivals are ready with wires and screws,
we are on version 10. It gets back to
planning versus acting We act from day one
others plan how to planfor months. Bloomberg
by Bloomberg
91
S ƒ(CM) Conscious calendar management (the
calendar never lies)
92
You Your calendarCalendars never lie!
93
You must be the change you wish to see in the
world.Gandhi
94
S ƒ(CPRM, TS) Conscious-planned Relationship
management, time spent thereon
95
R.O.I.R.
96
Far more important than ROI!
97
Return On Investment In Relationships
98
FYI Relationship power Monopoly power
99
The goal is clearan unfair share of attention
from an internal staffer, a vendor, a customer.
We unabashedly pursue through good-better-best
relationships de facto monopolythe
monopolization of other important folks love and
affection, as it were.
100
FYI Sustainable competitive advantage
Relationship-based advantage (period.)
101
Some Resources
Relationships The Managers Book of Decencies
How Small Gestures Build Great CompaniesSteve
Harrison RespectSara Lawrence-Lightfoot Hostmansh
ip The Art of Making People Feel Welcome Jan
Gunnarsson Olle Blohm (leader as host to his-
her employees) The SPEED of Trust The One Thing
that Changes EverythingStephen M.R.
Covey The Dream Manager Matthew Kelly The
Customer Comes Second Put Your People First and
Watch Em Kick ButtHal Rosenbluth and Diane
McFerrin Peters (no relationbe delighted if she
was) Crucial ConversationsKerry Patterson,
Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler
Crucial Confrontations Kerry Patterson, Joseph
Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler Influence
Science and PracticeRobert Cialdini Emotional
Intelligence Why It Can Matter More Than
IQDaniel Goleman
102
A few of my favorite reads on this
topicespecially 1. The idea of
competitive-advantage-through-decency is
extraordinary. Of course, we know thisbut to
see it spelled out this way may change the course
of your professional life.
103
S ƒ(TN/d, FG/m, AA/d) Thank you notes per Day,
flowers given per Month, Acts of Appreciation per
Day S ƒ(WLHAO) Willingness to laugh heartily
at oneself S ƒ(PTA100ATS, ENMF,
TTT) Proactive, timely, 100 apologies for tiny
screw-ups, even if not my fault (it always takes
two to tango) S ƒ(AMR, NBS-SG) Acceptance of
mutual responsibilities for all affairs, no
blame-shifting, scape-goating S ƒ(RP,
PRPgtgtP) Never forget, and act accordingly
Response to the screwup- problem and perception
thereof is (far, far) more important than the
problem itself! S ƒ(APLSLFCT) Awareness,
perception of little snubsand lightening fast
correction thereof
104
S ƒ(RCV) Reduced customer visits ( more time
on internal customer relationshipsthat allow
us to deliver on customer promises) S
ƒ(UPIATI) Understanding Perception is all
there is! S ƒ(EM/NSTLT FITU,
-80) Everything matters/No such thing as a
little thingetching of fly in the urinal in
Amsterdam airport reduces spillage by 80 S
ƒ(ALIOE) Attention to little Indicators Of
Excellencee.g. fresh flowers at the reception
desk S ƒ(GGT) Give good teaBen Franklin in
Paris in 1777, Norm Schwarzkopf with the Saudi
Crown Prince during Gulf War I effectiveness at
socializing with the power behind the throne

105
Give good tea!Norm S, Ben F
106
S ƒ(TN/d, FG/m, AA/d) Thank you notes per Day,
flowers given per Month, Acts of Appreciation per
Day S ƒ(WLHAO) Willingness to laugh heartily
at oneself S ƒ(RP, PRPgtgtP) Never forget, and
act accordingly Response to the screwup- problem
and perception thereof is (far, far) more
important than the problem itself! S
ƒ(APLSLFCT) Awareness, perception of little
snubsand lightening fast correction thereof
107
S ƒ(3XOC) Over-communicate (status,
problems) by a factor of three
108
THE PROBLEM IS RARELY/ NEVER THE PROBLEM. THE
RESPONSE TO THE PROBLEM INVARIABLY ENDS UP BEING
THE REAL PROBLEM.

109
FLOWERPOWER
S ƒ(Thank you notes per Day,
flowers given per Month,
Acts of Appreciation per Week)
110
The deepest human need is the need to be
appreciated.William James
111
Courtesies of a small and trivial character are
the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and
appreciating heart. Henry Clay
112
S ƒ(PTA100ATS, ENMF, TTT) Proactive,
timely, 100 apologies for tiny screw-ups, even
if not my fault (it always takes two to tango) S
ƒ(AMR, NBS-SG) Acceptance of mutual
responsibilities for all affairs, no
blame-shifting, scape-goating
113
Power phrase Im really sorry.
114
Amazing how rare this iswhich of course is why
its so powerful.
115
Power phrase I screwed up.
116
S ƒ(G) Grace S ƒ(GA) Grace toward
adversary S ƒ(GW) Grace toward the wounded in
bureaucratic firefights S ƒ(PD) Purposeful
decency S ƒ(MBTSSMR) Purposeful management
of this Soft Stuff by people reporting to me S
ƒ(EC, MMO) Emotional connection, mgt
maintenance of S ƒ(IMDOP) Investment in
Mastery of detailed organizational processes
117
What I learned from my years as a hostage
negotiator is that we do not have to feel
powerlessand that bonding is the antidote to
the hostage situation. George Kohlrieser,
Hostage at the Table (GKs negotiation success
rate is gt95)
118
S ƒ(H-TS) Time spent on Hiring S ƒ(TSPD,
TSP-L1) Time spent on promotion decisions,
especially for 1st level managers S ƒ(SS,
H-PD) soft stuff involved in Hiring, Promotion
decisions S ƒ(WLP) women in leadership
positions S ƒ(TWA, P, NP) Time wandering
around, purposeful, non-planned S ƒ(SBS) Slack
built into Schedule
119
AS LEADERS, WOMEN RULE New Studies find that
female managers outshine their male counterparts
in almost every measure TITLE/ Special
Report/ BusinessWeek
120
Womens Negotiating
StrengthsAbility to put themselves in their
counterparties shoesComprehensive, attentive
and detailed communication styleEmpathy that
facilitates trust-buildingCurious and attentive
listeningLess competitive attitudeStrong
sense of fairness and ability to
persuadeProactive risk managerCollaborative
decision-makingSource Horacio Falcao, Cover
story/May 2006, World Business, Say It Like a
Woman Why the 21st-century negotiator will need
the female touch
121
This relationship stuff comes naturally to
women (for starters, from the genes) and is
painfully difficult for many-most men.
122
TAKE THIS QUICK QUIZ Who manages more things
at once? Who puts more effort into their
appearance? Who usually takes care of the
details? Who finds it easier to meet new
people? Who asks more questions in a
conversation? Who is a better listener? Who
has more interest in communication skills? Who
is more inclined to get involved? Who
encourages harmony and agreement? Who has
better intuition? Who works with a longer to
do list? Who enjoys a recap to the days
events? Who is better at keeping in touch
with others?Source Selling Is a Womans Game
15 Powerful Reasons Why Women Can Outsell Men,
Nicki Joy Susan Kane-Benson
123
S ƒ (TMTSS, PMTSS, DTDTSS) of time,
measured, on This Soft Stuff, purposeful
management of this Soft Stuff, daily to do
concerning this Soft Stuff
124
Q But wheres the beef? A This is
the beef!
125
The terms hard facts, and the soft stuff
used in business imply that data are somehow real
and strong while emotions are weak and less
important. George Kohlrieser, Hostage at the
Table
126
O(B) ƒ(XX) O(B), the blueness of ones
ocean think Blue Ocean Strategy, the popular
book, is directly proportional to ones
eXcellence in eXecution/XX, per me. If one finds
a strategic blue ocean, one will, especially
in todays world, copied immediately the only
defensepossibility of sustaining successis
XX/eXcellence in eXecution. Think EXXON MOBIL
they and their rivals know where the hydrocarbons
arebut EXXON MOBIL handily out-executes the
competition.
127
Equations 48, 49 and 50 are more about
organizational effectiveness than individual
effectivenessand thus round out this brief
presentation.
128
S(O) ƒ(XXFX) The single most important cause
of failure to execute effectively is the lack of
effective cross-functional communication-execution
. Hence, Organizational Success is a function of
eXcellence (X) in cross-functional (XF) eXecution
(X). Attached as Appendix II is my The XF-50
50 Ways to Enhance Cross-Functional Effectiveness
and Deliver Speed, Service Excellence and
Value-added Customer Solutions.
129
S(O) ƒ(XSIT) In 1982 in In Search of
Excellence, Bob Waterman and I wrote about the
idea of MBWA, or Managing By Wandering Around
we came across MBWA at Hewlett-Packard, then a
much smaller company, and it was love at first
sight! For reasons described in Appendix III, I
recently returned to the centrality of that
notionand created a list of 50 Have Yous. That
is, instead of worrying ceaselessly about
strategy and blue oceans, how good a job have
you done at Staying In Touch with your extended
internal and external organizational family?
That is S(O), Organizational Success, is a
function of X SIT, eXcellence at Staying In
Touch.
130
Hard Is SoftSoft Is Hard
131
Hard Is Soft (Plans, s)Soft Is Hard (people,
customers, values, relationships))
132
If I could have chosen not to tackle the IBM
culture head-on, I probably wouldnt have. My
bias coming in was toward strategy, analysis and
measurement. In comparison, changing the attitude
and behaviors of hundreds of thousands of people
is very, very hard. Yet I came to see in my
time at IBM that culture isnt just one aspect of
the game it is the game. Lou Gerstner, Who
Says Elephants Cant Dance
133
The tough-minded Mr Gerstner became a reluctant
convert to the power of this soft stuff.
134
FLOWERPOWER
FLOWERPOWER
135
Organizations exist to serve. Period. Leaders
live to serve. Period. Tom Peters/17 September
2007
136
Why in the World did you go to Siberia?
137
The Peters Principles Enthusiasm. Emotion.
Excellence. Energy. Excitement. Service. Growth.
Creativity. Imagination. Vitality. Joy.
Surprise. Independence. Spirit. Community.
Limitless human potential. Diversity. Profit.
Innovation. Design. Quality. Entrepreneurialism.
Wow!
138
Enterprise (at its best) An emotional,
vital, innovative, joyful, creative,
entrepreneurial endeavor that elicits maximum
concerted human
potential in the wholehearted service of
others.Employees, Customers, Suppliers,
Communities, Owners, Temporary partners
139
Excellence1982 The Bedrock Eight
Basics 1. A Bias for Action 2. Close to the
Customer 3. Autonomy and Entrepreneurship 4.
Productivity Through People 5. Hands On,
Value-Driven 6. Stick to the Knitting 7. Simple
Form, Lean Staff 8. Simultaneous Loose-Tight
Properties
140
Breakthrough 82 People! Customers! Action!
Values! In Search of Excellence
141
In search of excellence Lessons from America's
best run companies/ 82a passion for
excellence the leadership difference/
84thriving on chaos a handbook for
management revolution/ 87liberation
management necessary disorganization for the
nanosecond nineties/ 92the tom peters seminar
crazy times call for crazy organizations/
93The pursuit of wow!/ 94the circle of
innovation / 97the work matters the brand you
50/ 99re-imagine business excellence in a
disruptive age/ 03
142
Organizations exist to serve. Period. Leaders
live to serve. Period.
143
I have always believed that the purpose of the
corporation is to be a blessing to the
employees. Boyd Clarke
144
Organizations exist to serve. Period. Leaders
live to serve. Period.
145
Organizations exist to serve. Period. Leaders
live to serve. Period. Passionate servant
leaders, determined to create a legacy of
earthshaking transformation in their domain (a
600SF retail space, a 4-person training
department, an urban school, a rural school, a
city, a nation), create/ must necessarily create
organizations which are no less than Cathedrals
in which the full and awesome power of the
Imagination and Spirit and native Entrepreneurial
flair (We are all entrepreneursMuhammad Yunus)
of diverse individuals (100 creative Talentfrom
checkout to lab, from Apple to Wegmans to Janes
one-person accountancy in Invercargill NZ) is
unleashed in passionate pursuit of jointly
perceived soaring purpose ( win a Nobel peace
prize like Yunus, or at least do something worthy
of bragging about 25 years from now to your
grandkids) and personal and community and client
service Excellence.
146
no less than Cathedrals in which the full and
awesome power of the Imagination and Spirit and
native Entrepreneurial flair of diverse
individuals is unleashed in passionate pursuit of
Excellence.
147
Such Talent unbound pursue Quests (rapidly and
relentlessly experimenting and failing and trying
again) which surprise and surpass and redefine
the expectations of the individual and the
servant leader alike. The collective products
of these Quests offer the best chance of
achieving rapid organizational and individual
adaptation to fast-transforming environments, and
provide the nutrition for continuing (and
sometimes dramatic) re-imaginings which re-draw
the boundaries of industries and communities and
human achievement.
148
In turn, such organizations, bent upon
excellence and re-imaginings based on maximizing
human creativity and achievement, will, more or
less automatically, create cadres of
imaginative and inspiring and determined servant
leaders who stick around to take the organization
to another levelor, equally or more
important, leave to spread the virus of
Freedom-Creativity-Excellence-Transforming
Purpose by pathfinding new highways and
alleyways which, through the potent process of
creative destruction vitalize and revitalize
Entrepreneurial Capitalism, which in turn is the
best hope for maximizing collective human
Freedom, Happiness, Prosperity, Wellbeingand,
one prays, some measure of Peace on earth.
149
such organizations, bent upon excellence and
re-imaginings based on maximizing human
creativity and achievement vitalize and
revitalize, through creative destruction,
Entrepreneurial Capitalism, which in turn is the
best hope for maximizing collective human
Freedom, Happiness, Prosperity, Wellbeingand,
one prays, some measure of Peace on earth.
150
Organizations exist to serve. Period. Leaders
live to serve. Period.
151
Leaders SERVE people. Period. Anon.
152
We are a Life Success Company.Dave Liniger,
founder, RE/MAX
153
Cause (worthy of commitment)Space (room
for/encouragement
for initiative) Decency (respect,
humane)
154
Cause (worthy of commitment)Space (room
for/encouragement
for initiative-adventures) Decency
(respect, grace,
integrity, humane)
service (worthy of our clients extended

familys continuing custom)excellence (period)
155
Cause (worthy of commitment)Space (room
for/encouragement for initiative-adventures)
Decency (respect, grace, integrity, humane)
service (worthy of our clients extended

familys continuing custom)excellence (period)
servant leadership
156
Cause Space Decency serviceexcellence
servant leadership
157
EXCELLENCE. BEDROCK.LEADERSHIP.9Ps.
158
PURPOSE.PASSION.Potential.Presence.Personal.P
ERSISTENCE.PEOPLE. Potent.Positive.
159
PURPOSE.PASSION.Potential.Presence.Personal.P
ERSISTENCE.PEOPLE. Potent.Positive.
160
People want to be part of something larger than
themselves. They want to be part of something
theyre really proud of, that theyll fight for,
sacrifice for , trust. Howard Schultz,
Starbucks (IBD/09.05)
161
PURPOSE.PASSION.Potential.Presence.Personal.P
ERSISTENCE.PEOPLE. Potent.Positive.
162
Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
163
PURPOSE.PASSION.Potential.Presence.Personal.P
ERSISTENCE.PEOPLE. Potent.Positive.
164
In the end, management doesnt change culture.
Management invites the workforce itself to
change the culture. Lou Gerstner
165
The role of the Director is to create a space
where the actors and actresses can become more
than theyve ever been before, more than theyve
dreamed of being. Robert Altman, Oscar
acceptance speech
166
PURPOSE.PASSION.Potential.Presence.Personal.P
ERSISTENCE.PEOPLE. Potent.Positive.
167
25
168
PURPOSE.PASSION.Potential.Presence.Personal.P
ERSISTENCE.PEOPLE. Potent.Positive.
169
You must be the change you wish to see in the
world.Gandhi
170
PURPOSE.PASSION.Potential.Presence.Personal.P
ERSISTENCE.PEOPLE. Potent.Positive.
171
This adolescent incident of getting from
point A to point B is notable not only because
it underlines Grants fearless horsemanship and
his determination, but also it is the first known
example of a very important peculiarity of his
character Grant had an extreme, almost phobic
dislike of turning back and retracing his steps.
If he set out for somewhere, he would get there
somehow, whatever the difficulties that lay in
his way. This idiosyncrasy would turn out to be
one the factors that made him such a formidable
general. Grant would always, always press
onturning back was not an option for him.
Michael Korda, Ulysses Grant
172
Success seems to be largely a matter of
hanging on after others have let go. William
Feather, author
173
PURPOSE.PASSION.Potential.Presence.Personal.P
ERSISTENCE.PEOPLE. Potent.Positive.
174
Leaders do people. Period. Anon.
175
2 per Year/ 20 per Decade Excellence Legacy
176
PURPOSE.PASSION.Potential.Presence.Personal.P
ERSISTENCE.PEOPLE. Potent.Positive.
177
Kevin Roberts Credo1.
Ready. Fire! Aim.2. If it aint broke ... Break
it!3. Hire crazies.4. Ask dumb questions.5.
Pursue failure.6. Lead, follow ... or get out of
the way!7. Spread confusion.8. Ditch your
office.9. Read odd stuff.10. Avoid moderation!
178
PURPOSE.PASSION.Potential.Presence.Personal.P
ERSISTENCE.PEOPLE. Potent.Positive.
179
The greatest dangerfor most of usis not that
our aim istoo highand we miss it,but that it
istoo lowand we reach it.Michelangelo
180
PURPOSE.PASSION.Potential.Presence.Personal.P
ERSISTENCE.PEOPLE. Potent.Positive.
181
The 1E
182
Excellence can be obtained if you ... care
more than others think is wise ... risk more
than others think is safe ... dream more than
others think is practical ... expect
more than others think is
possible. Source Anon. (Posted _at_ tompeters.com
by K.Sriram, November 27, 2006 117 AM)
183
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the
intention of arriving safely in one pretty and
well preserved piece, but to skid across the line
broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, leaking
oil, shouting GERONIMO! Bill McKenna,
professional motorcycle racer (Cycle magazine
02.1982)
184
Ger-on-i-mo!
185
WOMEN. DOMINATE. ECONOMIC. GROWTH.
186
Forget China, India and the Internet Economic
Growth Is Driven by Women. Headline, Economist,
April 15, 2006, Leader, page 14
187
Since 1970, women have held two out of every
three new jobs created. FT, 10.03.2006
188
Forget China, India and the Internet Economic
Growth Is Driven by Women. Headline. Even
today in the modern, developed world, surveys
show that parents still prefer to have a boy
rather than a girl. One longstanding reason boys
have been seen as a greater blessing has been
that they are expected to become better economic
providers for their parents old age. Yet it is
time for parents to think again. Girls may now be
a better investment. Girls get better grades in
school than boys, and in most developed countries
more women than men go to university. Women will
thus be better equipped for the new jobs of the
21st century, in which brains count a lot more
than brawn. And women are more likely to
provide sound advice on investing their parents
neste.g. surveys show that women consistently
achieve higher financial returns than men do.
Furthermore, the increase in female employment in
the rich world has been the main driving force of
growth in the last couple of decades. Those women
have contributed more to global GDP growth than
have either new technology or the new giants,
India and China. Source Economist, April 15,
Leader, page 14
189
Continuing on page 73 A Guide to Womenomics
The Future of the World Economy Lies Increasingly
in Female Hands. (Headline.) More stats Around
the globe since 1980, women have filled two new
jobs for everyone taken by a man. Women are
becoming more important in the global marketplace
not just as workers, but also as consumers,
entrepreneurs, managers and investors. Re
consumption, Goldman Sachs in Tokyo has developed
an index of 115 companies poised to benefit from
womens increased purchasing power over the past
decade the value of shares in Goldmans basket
has risen by 96, against the Tokyo stockmarkets
rise of 13. A couple of final assertions (1)
It is now agreed that the single best
investment that can be made in the developing
world is educating girls. (2) Also,
surprisingly, nations with the highest female
laborforce participation rates, such as Sweden
and the U.S., have the highest fertility rates
and those with the lowest participation rates,
such as Italy and Germany, have the lowest
fertility rates. Source Economist, April 15,
page 73
190
Repeat Goldman Sachs in Tokyo has developed an
index of 115 companies poised to benefit from
womens increased purchasing power over the past
decade the value of shares in Goldmans basket
has risen by 96, against the Tokyo stockmarkets
rise of 13. Economist, April 15
191
10 UNASSAILABLE REASONS WOMEN
RULE Women make all the financial
decisions.Women control all the wealth. Women
substantially outlive men. Women start most of
the new businesses. Womens work force
participation rates have soared
worldwide. Women are closing in on same pay for
same job. Women are penetrating senior
ranks rapidly even if the pace is slow for
the corner office per se. Womens
leadership strengths are exceptionally well
aligned with new organizational effectiveness
value-added imperatives. Women are better
salespersons than men. Women buy almost
everythingcommercial as well as consumer
goods. So what exactly is the point of men?
192
One thing is certain Womens rise to power,
which is linked to the increase in wealth per
capita, is happening in all domains and at all
levels of society. Women are no longer content to
provide efficient labor or to be consumers with
rising budgets and more autonomy to spend.
This is just the beginning. The phenomenon will
only grow as girls prove to be more successful
than boys in the school system. For a number of
observers, we have already entered the age of
womenomics, the economy as thought out and
practiced by a woman. Aude Zieseniss de Thuin,
Financial Times, 10.03.2006
193
Womenomics, the economy as thought out and
practiced by a woman. Aude Zieseniss de Thuin,
Financial Times, 10.03.2006
194
94 of loans to womenMicrolending
Banker to the poor Grameen Bank Muhammad
Yunus 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner
195
Big bank CEO, summarizing to his top-management
team his notes from TPs presentation Toms
made a great point he let us know that our
customer base will be different and more diverse
in the future. Tom With all due respect,
thats not what Tom said. Though I am an
unabashed supporter of diversity in general,
what I said was She is your customerand has
been for a long time and will be forever. And
she is notably AWOL in this meeting room full
of leaders.
196
Women are the majority market Fara
Warner/The Power of the Purse
197
COROLLARY. EXCELLENCE. WOMEN.RULE.
198
AS LEADERS, WOMEN RULE New Studies find that
female managers outshine their male counterparts
in almost every measure TITLE/ Special
Report/ BusinessWeek
199
Womens Strengths Match New Economy Imperatives
Link rather than rank workers favor
interactive-collaborative leadership style
empowerment beats top-down decision making
sustain fruitful collaborations comfortable with
sharing information see redistribution of power
as victory, not surrender favor
multi-dimensional feedback value technical
interpersonal skills, individual group
contributions equally readily accept ambiguity
honor intuition as well as pure rationality
inherently flexible appreciate cultural
diversity. Judy B. Rosener, Americas
Competitive Secret Women Managers
200
The XF-50 50 Ways to Enhance Cross-Functional
Effectiveness and Deliver Speed, Service
Excellence and Value-added Customer Solutions
201
X XFXExcellence Cross-functional
Excellence
202
A 2007 letter from John Hennessy, president of
(1) Stanford University, to alumni laid out his
long-term vision for that esteemed institution.
The core of the visions promise was more
multi-disciplinary research, aimed at solving
some of the worlds complex systemic problems.
(2) The chief of GlaxoSmithKline, a few years
ago, announced a revolutionary new drug
discovery processhuman-scale centers of
interdisciplinary excellence, called Centers of
Excellence in Drug Discovery. (It worked.) (3)
Likewise, amidst a study of organization
effectiveness in the oil industrys exploration
sector, I came across a particularly successful
firmone key to that success was their physical
and organizational mingling of formerly warring
(two sets of prima donnas) geologists and
geophysicists.
203
(4) The cover story in Dartmouth Medicine, the
Dartmouth med school magazine, featured a
revolutionary approach, microsystems, as the
big idea that might save U.S. healthcare. The
nub is providing successful patient outcomes in
hospitals by forming multi-function patient-care
teams, including docs, nurses, labtechs and
others. (Co-operating doc may top the oxymoron
scale.) (5) One of the central responses to 911
is an effort to get intelligence services, home
to some of the worlds most viscous turf wars,
talking to one anotherwe may have seen some of
the fruits of that effort in the recently
released National Intelligence Estimate. And in