Tom Peters

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Tom PetersEXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.XAlways/Inf
ormationWeek 500 Rancho Mirage/11 September 2006
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Forbes100 from 1917 to 1987 39 members of the
Class of 17 were alive in 87 18 in 87 F100
18 F100 survivors significantly underperformed
the market just 2 (2), GE Kodak,
outperformed the market from 1917 to 1987.SP
500 from 1957 to 1997 74 members of the Class of
57 were alive in 97 12 (2.4) of 500
outperformed the market from 1957 to
1997.Source Dick Foster Sarah Kaplan,
Creative Destruction Why Companies That Are
Built to Last Underperform the Market
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I am often asked by would-be entrepreneurs
seeking escape from life within huge corporate
structures, How do I build a small firm for
myself? The answer seems obvious Buy a very
large one and just wait. Paul Ormerod, Why
Most Things Fail Evolution, Extinction and
Economics
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It is not the strongest of the species that
survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one
most responsive to change. Charles Darwin
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It is generally much easier to kill an
organization than change it substantially.
Kevin Kelly, Out of Control
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C.E.O. to C.D.O.
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No Wiggle Room! Incrementalism is
innovations worst enemy. Nicholas
Negroponte
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Slides at tompeters.com
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The Irreducible209
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EXCELLENCE. STARTERS.BASICS.
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People.Product.Clients.Execution.Enthusiasm.E
xcellence.
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People.Product.Clients.Execution.Enthusiasm.E
xcellence.Relentlessness.
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One of my superstitions had always been when I
started to go anywhere or to do anything, not to
turn back, or stop, until the thing intended was
accomplished. Grant
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"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world.
The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt
the world to himself. Therefore, all progress
depends upon the unreasonable man. GB Shaw,
Man and Superman The Revolutionists'
Handbook.
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People.Product.Clients.Execution.Enthusiasm.E
xcellence.Relentless. Senility.
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ForgetgtLearnThe problem is never how to get
new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how
to get the old ones out. Dee Hock
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EXCELLENCE. THE WORD.
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SynonymsPurityTranscendenceVirtueEleganceMaj
estyAntonymsMediocrity
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EXCELLENCE. GAMECHANGER.
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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
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ExIn 1982-2002/Forbes.comDJIA 10,000 yields
85,000 EI 10,000 yields 140,050
Forbes/Excellence Index /Basket of 32
publicly traded stocks
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EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.
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Why in the world did you go to Siberia?
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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.
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Business (at its best) An emotional, vital,
innovative, joyful, creative, entrepreneurial
endeavor that elicits maximum concerted human
potential in the wholehearted service of
others.Excellence. Always.Employees,
Customers, Suppliers, Communities, Owners,
Temporary partners
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EXCELLENCE. DEFINED.
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Great Companies SET THE AGENDA. (PERIOD.)
disturb the sleep of
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AGENDA SETTERS Set the Table/ Pioneers/
Questors/ AdventurersUS Steel Ford Toyota
Sears GM ITT The Gap Limited WalMart
Tesco PG 3M Intel IBM Apple Nokia
Cisco Dell MCI Sun Microsoft Google
Enron Schwab GE Laker Southwest People
Express Ogilvy Virgin eBay Amazon Sony
Amgen BMW CNN Nike
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Built to Last vs Built for ImpactBut what if
former head of strategic planning at Royal Dutch
Shell Arie De Geus is wrong in suggesting, in
The Living Company, that firms should aspire to
live forever? Greatness is fleeting and, for
corporations, it will become ever more fleeting.
The ultimate aim of a business organization, an
artist, an athlete or a stockbroker may be to
explode in a dramatic frenzy of value creation
during a short space of time, rather than to live
forever. Kjell Nordström and Jonas
Ridderstråle, Funky Business
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TP1 Netscape!Where would you rather have
worked for those 5 years, Netscape or
IBM-HP-Microsoft-Oracle? (Where, 25 years from
now, would you rather to be able to tell
someonee.g., grandchildthat you worked?)
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EXCELLENCE. VALUE ADDED.UP THE LADDER.
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EXCELLENCE I. SOLVE IT.
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55B
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Big Browns New Bag UPS Aims to Be the Traffic
Manager for Corporate America Headline/BW/2004
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EXCELLENCE.SOLVE IT. NO OPTION.PSF. (PSF)
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Department Head to Managing Partner, IS
HR, RD, etc. Inc.
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Core MechanismGame-changing Solutions PSF
(Professional Service Firm model/The
Organizing Principle) Brand You(Distinct or
Extinct/The Talent) Wow! Projects
(Different vs Better/The Work)
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The Value-added Ladder/Opportunity-seeking
Gamechanging SolutionsServicesGoods Raw
Materials
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EXCELLENCE II. EXPERIENCE IT.
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Experiences are as distinct from services as
services are from goods. Joe Pine Jim
Gilmore, The Experience Economy Work Is Theatre
Every Business a Stage
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The Starbucks Fix Is on We have
identified a third place. And I really
believe that sets us apart. The third place is
that place thats not work or home. Its the
place our customers come for refuge. Nancy
Orsolini, District Manager
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The Value-added Ladder/Memorable
ConnectionSpellbinding Experiences
Gamechanging SolutionsServicesGoods Raw
Materials
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EXCELLENCE III. DREAM IT.
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Furniture vs. DreamsWe do not sell furniture
at Domain. We sell dreams. This is accomplished
by addressing the half-formed needs in our
customers heads. By uncovering these needs, we,
in essence, fill in the blanks. We convert
needs into dreams. Sales are the inevitable
result. Judy George, Domain Home Fashions
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The Value-added Ladder/EmotionDreams Come
TrueSpellbinding Experiences Gamechanging
SolutionsServicesGoods Raw Materials
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Big Blue
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EXCELLENCE. INNOVATE. OR. DIE.
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A focus on cost-cutting and efficiency has
helped many organizations weather the downturn,
but this approach will ultimately render them
obsolete. Only the constant pursuit of innovation
can ensure long-term success. Daniel Muzyka,
Dean, Sauder School of Business, Univ of British
Columbia (FT/09.17.04)
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More than 1 RD spending, last 25 years?
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GM
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I dont believe in economies of scale. You dont
get better by being bigger. You get worse.
Dick Kovacevich/Wells Fargo
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Scale?Microsofts Struggle With Scale
Headline, FT, 09.2005Troubling Exits at
Microsoft Cover Story, BW, 09.2005Too Big
to Move Fast? Headline, BW, 09.2005
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Dells predicament may be intractable. Dell
remained slavishly loyal to its core idea of
ultra-efficient supply-chain management and
direct sales to customers, even as rivals have
stepped up their game. Instead of adapting,
critics say, Dell cut costs in ways that
compromised customer service and, possibly,
product quality. BW, 0904 Theyre a one-trick
pony. It was a great trick for over 10 years.
tech exec/BW Dells culture is not
inspirational or aspirational. This is when they
need to be imaginative, but Dells culture only
wants to talk about execution. Geoffrey
Moore There are some organizations where people
think theyre a hero if they invent a new thing.
Being a hero at Dell means saving money. Kevin
Rollins, CEO
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Acquisitions are about buying market share. Our
challenge is to create markets. There is a big
difference. Peter Job, former CEO, Reuters

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EVERYTHING YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW ABOUT
INNOVATION IS WRONG
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What We Know For Sure About InnovationBig
mergers by large dont workScale is
over-ratedStrategic planning is the last refuge
of scoundrelsFocus groups are counter-productive
Built to last is a chimera (stupid)Success
killsForgetting is impossibleRe-imagine is a
charming ideaOrderly innovation process is an
oxymoronic phrase ( Believed only by morons
with ox-like brains)Tipping points are easy to
identify long after they will do you any
goodFacts arentAll information making it to
the top is filtered to the point of danger and
hilaritySuccess stories are the illusions of
egomaniacs (and gurus)If you believe the
memoirs of CEOs you should be institutionalizedH
erd behavior (XYZ is hot) is ubiquitous and
amusing and deadlyTop teams are
DittoheadsCEOs have little effect on
performanceExpert prediction is rarely better
than rolling the dice
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InnoTacs
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We become who we hang out with!
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Measure Strangeness/Portfolio
QualityStaffConsultantsVendorsOut-sourcing
Partners (, Quality)Innovation Alliance
PartnersCustomersCompetitors (who we
benchmark against) Strategic Initiatives
Product Portfolio (LineEx v. Leap)IS/IT
ProjectsHQ LocationLunch MatesLanguageBoard
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The Bottleneck Is at the Top of the
BottleWhere are you likely to find people
with the least diversity of experience, the
largest investment in the past, and the greatest
reverence for industry dogma At the top!
Gary Hamel/Harvard Business Review
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Find em!
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Somewhere in your organization, groups of people
are already doing things differently and better.
To create lasting change, find these areas of
positive deviance and fan the flames.
Richard Pascale Jerry Sternin, Your
Companys Secret Change Agents, HBR
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Never doubt that a small group of committed
people can change the world. Indeed it is the
only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead
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Parallel universe!
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SkunkWorks/ ParallelUniversethe 1
solutionSource Scott Bedbury (Others 3M,
Google, Shell, NAVFAC)
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ACTION culture
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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
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We have a strategic plan. Its called doing
things. Herb Kelleher
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Experiment fearlesslySource BW0821.06, Type
A Organization Strategies/ How to Hit a Moving
TargetTactic 1
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READY.FIRE!AIM.Ross Perot (vs Aim! Aim!
Aim! /EDS vs GM/1985)
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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 No. 5. By the
time our rivals are ready with wires and screws,
we are on version No. 10. It gets back to
planning versus acting We act from day one
others plan how to planfor months. Bloomberg
by Bloomberg
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tolerate encourage? failure
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Sams Secret 1!
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Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre
successes.Phil Daniels, Sydney exec
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bet the farm
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Immelt is now identifying technologies with
which GE will systematically set out to
build entirely new industries
StrategyBusiness, Fall 2005
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Conscious measurement
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Innovation Index How many of your Top 5
Strategic Initiatives/Key Projects score 8 or
higher out of 10 on a Weird/ Profound/
Wow/Game- changer Scale?
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EXCELLENCE. 4/40.
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4/40
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De-cent-ral-iz-a-tion!
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Ex-e-cu-tion!
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Ac-count-a-bil-ity!
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615A.M.
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Excellence The SE22 ORIGINS OF SUSTAINABLE
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
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SE22/Origins of Sustainable
Entrepreneurship 1. Genetically disposed to
Innovations that upset apple carts (3M, Apple,
FedEx, Virgin, BMW, Sony, Nike, Schwab,
Starbucks, Oracle, Sun, Fox, Stanford
University, MIT) 2. Perpetually determined to
outdo oneself, even to the detriment of
todays winners (Apple, Cirque du Soleil,
Nokia, FedEx) 3. Treat History as the Enemy
(GE) 4. Love the Great Leap/Enjoy the Hunt
(Apple, Oracle, Intel, Nokia, Sony) 5. Use
Strategic Thrust Overlays to Attack Monster
Problems (Sysco, GSK, GE, Microsoft) 6. Establish
a Be on the COOL Team Ethos. (Most PSFs,
Microsoft) 7. Encourage Vigorous
Dissent/Genetically Noisy (Intel, Apple,
Microsoft, CitiGroup, PepsiCo) 8. Culturally as
well as organizationally Decentralized
(GE, JJ, Omnicom) 9. Multi-entrepreneurship/Many
Independent-minded Stars (GE, PepsiCo)
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SE22/Origins of Sustainable
Entrepreneurship 10. Keep decentralizingtireles
s in pursuit of wiping out Centralizing
Tendencies (JJ, Virgin) 11. Scour the world for
Ingenious Alliance Partners especially
exciting start-ups (Pfizer) 12. Acquire for
Innovation, not Market Share (Cisco, GE) 13.
Dont overdo pursuit of synergy (GE, JJ, Time
Warner) 14. Execution/Action Bias Just do it
dont obsess on how it fits the business
model. (3M, J J) 15. Find and Encourage and
Promote Strong-willed/ Hyper-smart/Independe
nt people (GE, PepsiCo, Microsoft) 16. Support
Internal Entrepreneurs (3M, Microsoft) 17. Ferret
out Talent anywhere/No limits approach to
retaining top talent (Virgin, GE, PepsiCo)
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SE22/Origins of Sustainable Entrepreneurship 1
8. Unmistakable Results Accountability focus
from the get-go to the grave (GE, New York
Yankees, PepsiCo) 19. Up or Out (GE, McKinsey,
big consultancies and law firms and ad
agencies and movie studios in general) 20.
Competitive to a fault! (GE, New York Yankees,
News Corp/Fox, PepsiCo) 21. Bi-polar
Top Team, with Unglued Innovator 1,
powerful Control Freak 2 (Oracle, Virgin) (Watch
out when 2 is missing Enron) 22.
Masters of Loose-Tight/Hard-nosed about a very
few Core Values, Open-minded about
everything else (Virgin)
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Itinerant. Potential. Machines.
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TALENT POOL TO DIE FOR. Youthful. Insanely
energetic. Value creativity. Risk taking is
routine. Failing is normal if youre
stretching. Want to make their bones in the
revolution. Love the new technologies. Well
rewarded. Dont plan to be around 10 years from
now.
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TALENT POOL PLUS. Seek out and work with
worlds best as needed (its often needed). We
aim to change the world, and we need gifted
colleagueswho well may not be on our payroll.
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BRASSY-BUT-GROUNDED-LEADERSHIP. Say I dont
knowand then unleash the TALENT. Have a vision
to be DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENTbut dont expect the
co. to be around forever. Will scrap pet
projects, and change course 180 degreesand take
a big write-off in the process. NO REGRETS FROM
SCREW-UPS WHOSE TIME HAS NOT-YET-COME. GREAT
REGRETS AT TIME WASTED ON ME TOO
PRODUCTS AND PROJECTS.
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BRASSY-BUT-GROUNDED-LEADERSHIP. (Cont.)
Visionary leaders matched by leaders with
shrewd business sense HOW DO WE TURN A PROFIT
ON THIS GORGEOUS IDEA? Appreciate market
creation as much as or more than market share
growth. ARE INSANELY AWARE THAT MARKET LEADERS
ARE ALWAYS IN PRECARIOUS POSITIONS, AND THAT
MARKET SHARE WILL NOT PROTECT US, IN TODAYS
VOLATILE WORLD, FROM THE NEXT KILLER IDEA AND
KILLER ENTREPRENEUR. (Gates. Ellison. Venter.
McNealy. Walton. Case. Etc.)
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ALLIANCE MANIACS. Dont assume that the best
resides within. WORK WITH A SHIFTING ARRAY OF
STATE-OF-THE-ART PARTNERS FROM ONE END OF THE
SUPPLY CHAIN TO THE OTHER. Including vendors
and consultants and who especially PIONEERING
CUSTOMERS will pull us into the future.
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TECHNOLOGY-NETWORK FANATICS. Run the
whole-damn-company, and relations with all
outsiders, on the Internet at Internet speed.
Reluctant to work with those who dont share
this (radical) vision.
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POTENTIAL MACHINES-ORGANISMS. Dont know whats
coming next. But are ready to jump at
opportunities, especially those that
challenge-overturn our own way of doing things.
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ORGANIZATION STRATEGY THE GUERRILLA
ADVANTAGE.
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New Era of War, and U.S. Isnt Ready Conflicts
of Future Nations vs. Networks Headline/p1/
International Herald Tribune /31.07.2006We
are into the first great war between nations and
networks. This proves the growing strength of
networks as a threat to American national
security. John Arguilla, USNPGS, from Net
Warfare 101
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Small units agile lethal invisible
guerrilla network warfare distributed
dispersed mobile .. Flat hierarchy
improvisational etc.
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ORGANIZATION STRATEGY THE GUERILLA
ADVANTAGE Agile. (Sluggish.) Wily. (Big
footprint.) Always moving. (Seldom moving.)
Brownian motion per se bewilders the enemy.
(Blind despite NewTech.) Momentum comes from
small wins. (Small wins invisible, too small
scale to execute.) Goal is converts, not
territory. (Protect territory.) Offense.
(Defense.) Travel light very high tooth to
tail ratio. (Travel heavy, low tooth to tail.)
Live off the land. (Tortuous supply chain.)
UNPREDICTABLE BEHAVIOR NEARLY RANDOM. (VERY
PREDICTABLE LONG PLANNING CYCLE OBSERVABLE
FOOTPRINT.) Dug in but not dug in. (Dug in but
vulnerable.) No HQ floating HQ. (Big HQ at
home and away.) Few fixed assets. (Mostly
fixed assets.) Scroungers mentality.
(Methodical complex.) Mobile communications.
(Fixed communications.) Everything, including
people, disposable. (Tight asset management,
materials humans.) No fortress to guard.
(Big fortresses which must be guarded.)
Replaceable leaders. (Formal, rule-based
hierarchy.) Self-healing network, like
Internet. (Network far more fixed.) Hackers
mentality. (Planners mentality.)
DECENTRALIZED. (CENTRALIZED.) KIAs are
celebrated. (KIAs are the ultimate loss.)
Natural reorganizations following cell division
model. (Methodical, high-friction change.)
Few formal layers. (Lotsa formal layers.) Few
rules. (Lotsa rules.)
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ORGANIZATION STRATEGY THE GUERILLA
ADVANTAGE Management By Vision. (Management
by law-rule books.) Miniaturized but deadly
weapons. (Fixed weapons.) Invent your own
arsenal. (Gazillion-year weapons acquisition
cycle.) Multiplier impact by spreading
confusion. (Need set-piece victories to satisfy
constituents.) Passion. (Supportive at the
level of car decals.) Little value on current
rules. (Value of life paramount.) Ad hoc RFA
or FFF. (R.A.F. / Ready. Aim. Aim. Aim. Fire.)
SIMPLE PHILOSOPHY THAT BINDS, FLEXIBLE ORG,
FLEXIBLE OPS. (COMPLEX PHILOSOPHY, INFLEXIBLE
ORG, INFLEXIBLE OPS.) Different time frame a
1,000 year conflict. (Need to show progress
daily.) Attract youth with more energy and zeal
than good sense. (Mature and inflexible and
cautious and methodical.) Minimum need to
spin as easy to spin a loss as a win. (Battle
plans designed distorted diluted to produce
spin per se.) Ad hoc. (Due process.)
Media looks for wins media values small wins.
(Media fixated by SNAFUs small wins beneath the
radar.) Win when enemy over-reacts. (Lose if
over-react.) Ubiquitous webs. (Ubiquitous
bureaucracy.) Recruit, support, impact follows
Virus Model recruit via Buzz. (All is formal.)
Value of conventional scale declining
exponentially. (Still citizens of a big is
beautiful age.) Virtually no way to lose a
loss is a win as much or more than a win is a
win. (Virtually no way to win a win is often a
loss as much as a loss is a loss.)
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Crazy Times Call for Crazy Organizations
Subtitle, The Tom Peters Seminar (1993)
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EXCELLENCE. BEDROCK.PURPOSE.
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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)
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EXCELLENCE.ENTHUSIASM.ENERGY. PASSION.
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Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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Whenever anything is being accomplished, I have
learned, it is being done by a monomaniac with a
mission. Peter Drucker
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EXCELLENCE. TECHNICOLOR.
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Radically Thrilling Language! Radically
Thrilling. BMW Z4 (ad)
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CTOChief Thrills Officer
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EXCELLENCE. BEDROCK.TALENT.
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DD21M
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A review of Jack and Suzy Welchs Winning claims
there are but two key differentiators that set GE
culture apart from the herd First Separating
financial forecasting and performance
measurement. Performance measurement based, as it
usually is, on budgeting leads to an epidemic of
gaming the system. GEs performance measurement
is divorced from budgetingand instead reflects
how you do relative to your past performance and
relative to competitors performance i.e., its
about how you actually do in the context of what
happened in the real world, not as compared to a
gamed-abstract plan developed last year.
Second Putting HR on a par with finance and
marketing.
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Our MissionTo develop and manage talentto
apply that talent,throughout the world, for the
benefit of clientsto do so in partnership to
do so with profit.WPP
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Brand Talent.
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EXCELLENCE. BEDROCK.SELF-MANAGEMENT.
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X.Step 1Buy a Mirror!
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The First step in a dramatic organizational
change program is obviousdramatic personal
change! RG
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EXCELLENCE. STRETCH.
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The greatest dangerfor most of usis not that
our aim istoo highand we miss it,but that it
istoo lowand we reach it.Michelangelo
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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!
122
EXCELLENCE. KABOOM.
123
Beware of the tyranny of making Small Changes
to Small Things. Rather, make Big Changes to Big
Things. Roger Enrico, former Chairman,
PepsiCo
124
EXCELLENCE. OFFENSE.
125
Nelsons secret Other admirals more
frightened of losing than anxious to win
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EXCELLENCE. THE LEADER.
127
EnthusiasmEnergyExuberanceVoracious
CuriosityIrritability/Dis-satisfactionRelentless
nessSelf-relianceCloser (Execution)excellence

128
Its always showtime. David DAlessandro,
Career Warfare
129
You only find oil if you drill wells. The
Hunters, by John Masters, Canadian O G
wildcatter
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EXCELLE ALWAYS.
131
The Irreducible209
132
A frustrated participant at a seminar for
investment bankers in Mauritius listened
impatiently to my explanation of differences of
opinion among me, Mike Porter, Gary Hamel, Jim
Collins, etc. Finally, hed had enough. What, if
anything, he asked, do you believe for sure?
I mumbled something, but his query started
rumbling around in my mind. Three days later,
wandering on a Sunday in London, the idea of the
irreducibles occurred to meand I started
jotting down notes on stuff I do indeed believe
for sure. Before I knew it, a few days later,
the list had grown to 209 items. Hence The
Irreducible209 that follows.Tom Peters
133
1. Hare 1, Tortoise 0. (Hare-y times.) 2. Tempo.
(O.O.D.A.) 3. MBWA. 4. Appreciation. (Motivator
1.) (Cant be faked. Good.) 5. Decency. 6.
Hurry. 7. Time out. 8. One matters. 9. Big
change. Short time. (Alt not work.) 10.
Excellence. Always. 11. Passion. Energy. Hustle.
Enthusiasm. Exuberance. (Move mountains. No
alt.) 12. You must care. 13. Emotion. 14. Hard is
soft. (Soft is hard.)
134
15. Men. Women. Different. Contend. Connect. 16.
Women. Buy. All. (RU listening?) 17. Quality.
(Mind-blowing. Beyond 6-Sigma.) 18. Re-invent.
Re-pot. (Required.) 19. Jaywalk. 20. Big change.
Small of people. (Always.) 21. Experiment.
Now. 22. Failure. Normal. 23. Most failures,
most success. (Fail. Forward. Fast.) 24.
Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre
successes. 25. Women leaders. (Altered times.)
26. Extremism. (Good business. Bad
politics.) 27. Innovation source. Only. Extreme
irritation. 28. Smile.
135
29. You must care. 30. Mentor. (Highest ROI.) 31.
Best roster wins. 32. Wow. (Okay in biz.) 33.
We all have customers. (Biz. Personal.) 34. All
contacts Experiences. 35. Cirque du Soleil.
(Peerless.) 36. Leaders create space for
growth. 37. Quests. (Only.) 38. High aspirations,
high results. (Self-fulfilling
prophecy.) 39. Attitude 1, Skills 0. (Mostly.)
(Attitude 1, Skill 0.3?) 40. Sometimes Skill
1, Attitude 0.1. 41. Must love, not like. 42.
Wegmans. (No excuses. Mere groceries.) 43.
Less than your best. Cheating.
136
44. Brand You. (No alt.) 45. Self-sufficiency.
(Biggest LT turn-on.) 46. In the moment. 47. The
moment wins. 48. Tomorrow Never. 49. Action 1,
Plan 0.1. 50. Execution can be a system. 51.
Realism. 52. Own up. Move on. 53.
Accountability. 54. Work hard gt Work smart.
(Mostly.) 55. Feedback. Necessary. Fast. (R.F.A.
in RFA times.) 56. Customers. Listen.
Lead. (Paradox.) 57. On stage. Always. (GW,
FDR, RG Supreme actors.)
137
58. Master statistical analysis. 59. Excellence
Set the table. 60. Legacy. (Will it have
mattered?) 61. Great. (Why not?) 62. Radicals
rule. (Think Olympics.) 63. !!! Good. 64. Red
1, Brown 0. (Red times.) 65. Talk. Listen. (Big
2. Master.) 66. Politics. (Normal-inevitable
state of affairs. Master.) 67. Student.
Forever. 68. Why? (Question 1.) 69. Dont
belittle. 70. Respect. 71. All we have this
moment. (Moments matter most?) 72. Now.
(Procrastination. Death.)
138
73. Exercise. 74. Paint. (Leader. Portraits of
Excellence.) 75. Best story wins. 76. You must
be the change you wish to see in the
world. 77. Two big ones. Max.
(Priorities.) 78. No I in Team. (I in
Win.) 79. I in Win. (No I in Team.) 80.
Different 1, Better 0. (Better 0.1) 81.
Imitation Mistake. (Learn, from who?) 82.
Choose/battle the right competitor. 83.
Schools. Creativity. Entrepreneurship.
(Not.) 84. MBAs. Creativity. Entrepreneurship.
Leadership. (Not.) 85. Design. Under-rated.
Wildly. (Still.) (Everything.)
139
86. You Calendar. (Calendar. Never. Lies.) 87.
Laugh. 88. Handshake. (Quantity. Quality.) 89.
Dont fold your hands in front of your chest.
Ever. (Never.) 90. Grace. (Works in biz.) 91.
Weird. Wins. (Weird times.) 92. Crazy times.
Crazy orgs. 93. Internet. All. 94. Women.
Boomers-Geezers. Market. All. 95. Passion.
(Repeat. So what?) 96. Energy. (Repeat.
So what?) 97. Hustle. (Repeat. So
what?) 98. Enthusiasm. (Repeat. So what?) 99.
Exuberance. (Repeat. So what?) 100. Smile.
(Repeat. So what?) 101. Care.
(Repeat. So what?)
140
102. Simplicity. Redundancy. Resilience. Bloody-
mindedness. Visible optimism. (Success.)
103. Act. (Repeat. So what?) 104.
Appreciate. (Repeat. So what?) 105. Fun. (Biz.
Why not?) 106. Joy. (Biz. Why not?) 107. Sales
Life. 108. Marketing Life. 109. Long-term. Top
line. 110. Great company Creates the most
individual success stories. (RE/MAX) 111.
Talent first, performance byproduct. 112.
Sustained Wow 1, Shareholder value,
0.2 (Product, People.) 113. Commitment, by
invitation only. 114. Creativity, by invitation
only. 115. HR 1. (Ought to.)
141
116. Face-to-face. (5K miles, 5 minutes.) 117.
Negotiation. Make all winners. (Save
face.) 118. Grace makes enemies friends. 119.
Network. 120. Invest in relationships. (Think
ROIR. Return On Investment in
Relationships.) 118. Relationship investment.
Forethought. Calendar item.
Intensity. 119. Innovation. Easy. (Hang out
with weird.) 120. Weird Win. (Weird
times.) 121. The bottleneck is at the top
of the bottle. 122. Good Board Weird Board.
(At least, surprising.) 123. No
contention, no progress.
142
124. Crucial conversations. Crucial
confrontations. (Study. Learn. Do.) 125. Honest
feedback. 126. Gaspworthy. Yes. 127. Insanely
great. 128. Astonish me. 129. Make it
immortal. 130. Will you remember it in 20
years? 131. No small opportunities.
(Reframe.) 132. One playmate, one playpen
Enough. 133. End run. Sensible. 134. Allies are
there for the finding. 135. Find successes. Build
on successes. (Pos gt Neg. Encourage gt
Fix.) 136. Somebodys doing it today. Find
em. 137. Someone is living 2016 in 2006.
(Find em. Study em.)
143
138. Dont benchmark, futuremark.
(2016. Happening. Somewhere.) 139. PMA. It
works. 140. There are no experts. (You are the
expert.) 141. Life is short. 142. Sustained
success. Fat chance. Make today matter.
(Sustained. Ha.) 143. Collaborate. (Networked
world.) 144. Go solo. (Individual. Unit of
Intellectual Capital.) 145. There are no
perfect plans. (Do. Wins.) 146. Plans motivate.
(Right or wrong. Sense of purpose.) 147.
Never rest. 148. Get some sleep. 149. Winning
Embracing paradox. 150. Ambiguity Opportunity.
144
151. Resilience. 152. Relentless-ness. 153. None.
Above. Comeuppance. (GM. Sears. U.S.
Steel. DEC.) 154. Be yourself. Period. 155. Never
work with jerks. Including customers.
(Life. Too short.) 156. Under-promise,
over-deliver. 157. Talent. (Powerful word.) 158.
Customer Anyone whose actions affect
your results. 159. Competition stinks. (Seek the
soft spots where you can dominate.) 160.
K.I.S.S./Keep It Simple, Stupid. 161. Beauty.
(Good biz word.) 162. See the beauty in a
hamburger bun. (Go. Ray.)
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163. Own up. Quick. ( Denial. Cancer.)164.
Celebrate. Often.165. 78 people 78 approaches.
(Each. Unique.)166. Weed. Ceaselessly. (Prune.
Stupid. Rules. Non-stop.)167. Get out
of the way. (You The problem.)168. Smile.
Sunny. Optimism. (If it kills you.)169. Flowers.
(Cheery workplace.)170. Enjoy. (Or get the
hell.)171. Be intolerant of sour. (1 Major
pollution)172. No quick trigger on promotion.
(Too important.)173. Evaluation Lots of
study-time.174. Evaluation Life or death to
evaluee.175. 360 evaluation. No fad.176. Exit
when youre done. (Done. Sooner than you
think.)
146
177. Today. Now. My Project. Am. Is. I.
Period. 178. Beautiful systems. (Good biz
phrase. Not oxymoron.) 179. Build on
strengths gt Fix weaknesses. 180. To dont To
do. (To dont gt To do ?) 181.
Leaders Do People. (Period.) 182. Leaders enjoy
leading. 183. Serious leadership training
Serious. 184. Priorities. Obvious. (Or
else.) 185. 5 Priorities 0 Priorities.
(3 Priorities 0 Priorities?) 186. People.
First. Last. Always. 187. It. Is. Always. The.
People.
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188. Handshake. (Quantity. Quality.)189. Dont
fold your hands in front of your chest.
Ever. (Never.)190. Simplicity. Redundancy.
Resilience. Bloody-mindedness. Visible
optimism. (Success.) (Repeat.)191. Employee
Entrance Guest Entrance.192. Put the
customer SECOND. (Thanks, Hal.)193.
Flowers. (Or did I say that before? No
matter if I did.)194. Big Mergers dont work.
Small acquisitions can/do workif you
dont screw with their energy.
148
195. Instinctively head for the front
line. (In all contexts.)196. Success
DDMMPR/"D-squared, M-squared, PR
DramDiff Money-Financial Acumen
Good Marketing Instincts Stellar
People Resilience (The fab five
What. Every. Small. Biz. Needs.) (Big
too.) 197. Core Mechanism (Game-changing
Solutions) PSF (Professional Service
Firm model) Wow! Projects
(Different vs Better) Brand You
(Distinct or Extinct) 198. 2011/2016 has
already happened. Find it.
149
199. Kids know kids. Oldies know oldies.
Women know women. (Staff
accordingly.)200. Everybody is my customer.201.
Cosset vendors.202. I want to run a
Housekeeping department. (And you?)203.
The military doesnt follow the military
model. (Initiative Excellence.)204. No such
thing as going to absurd lengths to
serve the Customer. (HSM Lefties.)205. Forget
the customer. All Clients.206. It takes
decades to get over sleights. (So
dont sleight.)207. Dont dumb down. Ever.
150
208. NO LESS THAN EXCELLENCE.
EVER.209. EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.
151
Work In ProgressXXX. One size fits. One. Only.
(Evaluations. Period.)XXX. Teaching.
Individualized. Only. (6 billion people
6 billion learning trajectories.)
(Montessori.)XXX. First impression. Matters.
Shapes all that comes. Hard to overcome.
(Understatement.)XXX. Jerks. Dont work with.
(Life Too short.)XXX. Manage the hell out of
first impressions.XXX. Last impression. Matters.
Dominates memory. Hard to overcome.
(Understatement.)XXX. Manage the hell out of
last impressions.XXX. Plain English.XXX.
K.I.S.S. (450/8.)XXX. 798. 55,000,000,000.
3,000,000,000. 7AM-7PM. 615AM.XXX.
Donnelly Weatherstrip rules.XXX. Managers do
things right. Leaders do the right
thing. NOT.
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31. DESIGN New Seat of the Soul. 32. Branding
Is for EVERYONE. He Who Has the BEST
STORY Takes Home the Marbles.33.
DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE Only Difference.34.
WORDS/Language Matters a Lot. (E.g.
Three Hearty Cheers for Wow!)35. WHAT MATTERS
IS STUFF THAT MATTERS. (Query 1 Are You
Proud of It?)
153
36. eALL. (IS/IT Half-way No Way.)37. DREAM
Big! DREAM Enormous. DREAM Gargantuan.
(These Are XXXL Times.)38. THINK MIKE!
(Michelangelo The greatest danger for
most of us is not that our aim is too high
and we miss it, but that it is too low and
we reach it.)39. There Is Only ONE BIG ISSUE.
Cross- functional Communication.40. Stop
Doing Dumb Shit. (SYSTEMATIZE THE PROCESS
OF UN-DUMBING.)
154
41. Beautiful Systems Are BEAUTIFUL.42. The
WHITE-COLLAR REVOLUTION Will Devour
Everything in Its Path. 43. Take Charge of Your
Destiny! BrandYou Moment! DISTINCT OR
EXTINCT!44. Powerlessness Is a State of Mind!
Think King. Gandhi. De Gaulle.45. Pursue
Adventure in Every Task.
155
46. EXCELLENCE Is a State of Mind.
(Excellence Takes a Minute.) (No Bull.)47. SHOW
UP! (If You Care, Youre There.)48. YOUR
CALENDAR KNOWS ALL. (You Calendar.) (Mind
Your TO DONT List.)49. LIFE IS SALES. (The
Rest Is Details.)50. Boss Mantra 1 I DONT
KNOW. (I Dont Know Permission to
Explore.)
156
51. Management Role 1 GET OUT OF THE WAY.
(Clear the Way.) (Manager Hurdle Removal
Professional.)52. Epitaph from Hell He Woulda
Done Some Truly Cool Stuff But His Boss
Wouldnt Let Him.53. Change Takes However
Long You Think It Takes. (Eschew
Incrementalism.)54. Respect! (Rule 1 Dont
Belittle!)55. Thank You Trumps All!
157
56. Integrity Matters! Integrity Credibility.
(Dennis K. Is a Jerk.)57. SOFT IS HARD. HARD
IS SOFT. (Numbers Are Soft. People Are
Not.)58. Try Sunny! (Sunny Begets Sunny.
Gloomy Begets Gloomy.)59. DISPENSE
ENTHUSIASM!60. FUN Is Not a 4-Letter Word. So,
too JOY. (And GRACE.)
158
EXCELLE ALWAYS.