Tom Peters

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Tom PetersRevGov2001Revolutionary
Government/11.15.2001
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WE NEED IDEAS!
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There will be more confusion in the business
world in the next decade than in any decade in
history. And the current pace of change will only
accelerate.Steve Case
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Uncertainty We dont know when things will get
back to normal.Ambiguity We no longer know
what normal means.
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BMcC (1) Hierarchy vs. Network organization.
(2) NWO Doctrine as center of gravity/source
of motivation distributed support
decision-makinglargely self-organizing outside
the military sphere.
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Our military structure today is essentially one
developed and designed by Napoleon.Admiral
Bill Owens, former Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of
Staff
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In an era when terrorists use satellite phones
and encrypted email, US gatekeepers stand armed
against them with pencils and paperwork, and
archaic computer systems that dont talk to each
other.Boston Globe (09.30.2001)
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From Weapon v. Weapon To
Org structure v. Org structure
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Ideas gt Leadership
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NO Good govtYES EFFECTIVE Govt (in
altered/ambiguous times)
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A Plea for virtual RESPONSIVE government
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Agile.
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WALLS MUST FALL!
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The W.O.G. (Work-of-Government) Insta- Targeted
WPTs (WOW (B.H.A.G.) Project Teams (with clout) )
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Experiments rule!
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Failures rule!
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Talent matters!
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New Heroes/Hall of Fame
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IS/IT to the Max!
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Streamlined procurement (esp. IS/IT)
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Tomorrows Organizations 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. Skilling. 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 especially PIONEERING
CUSTOMERS who 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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P.S. The CONSTITUTION matters! (Life, liberty
the pursuit of happinessand the Bill of Rights)
REPRESENTATIVE GOVT matters. (Filter the worst
of mass sentimentsHobbes rules)
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Case Bill Owens Lifting the Fog of War
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The 1990s was a decade of multiple
revolutionspolitical, economic,
technologicalthat changed so thoroughly the way
we live that the past no longer seems a good
guide to the future (in fact the past seems
precisely the wrong guide). So it is in the world
of military affairs. The RMA is our opportunity
to use the new information technology to change
the very nature of the militaryin a way that
could reinvigorate American political, diplomatic
and economic leadership in the world for decades
to come. Bill Owens, Lifting the Fog of War
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Our military is very good at doing things as
they are supposed to be done, but it is not
always good at changing the way things ought to
be done. Highly professional militaries can be
very good at maintaining the institutions
traditions, mores and cultures in the face of
rapid and important change. Equating
professionalism with automatically defending the
status quo can be disastrous. This is the mindset
that drives service loyalties toward narrow
parochialism, and congeals organizations into
brittle shells. We end up ignoring opportunities
that could actually offer higher military
effectiveness. Bill Owens, Lifting the Fog of
War
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How dare you. If you dont support us, our
opponents will take advantage and use this to cut
the force. CNO staffer Flag officer to Bill
Owens, 6th Fleet Commander
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Mike Boordas self-avowed priority was to
preserve and protect the size, budget and
structure of the U.S. Navyhis Navyirrespective
of any other considerationbecause he deeply
believed that the Navy was the core of Americas
military capability. My view over the years had
shifted toward the conviction that we in the Navy
need to implement major changes in order to
become more jointto work better and more closely
with the other services. Bill Owens, Lifting
the Fog of War
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Many flaws remainedflaws not from poor
performance, but from an ingrained command
hierarchy and an outmoded concept of war that had
taken root during World War II and then during
the cold war. Desert Storm was a joint military
operation in name rather than in fact. The
battlefield was divided among service components.
The fiefdoms existed not only because of
tradition, service rivalry and the egos of the
commanders they were also there because of
technological limitations. We did not have the
communications capability to do it differently.
Bill Owens, Lifting the Fog of War
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Once devised in Riyadh, the tasking order took
hours to get to the Navys six aircraft
carriersbecause the Navy had failed years
earlier to procure the proper communications gear
that would have connected the Navy with its Air
Force counterparts. To compensate for the lack
of communications capability, the Navy was forced
to fly a daily cargo mission from the Persian
Gulf and Red Sea to Riyadh in order to pick up a
computer printout of the air mission tasking
order, then fly back to the carriers, run
photocopy machines at full tilt, and distribute
the documents to the air wing squadrons that were
planning the next strike. Bill Owens, Lifting
the Fog of War
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By combining powerful computer technology and
other modern information-based systems we could
make a revitalized, leaner military force that is
designed to outsee, outmaneuver and outfight any
foe. --Bill Owens, Lifting the Fog of War
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RMA (1) Battlespace awareness. (2) C4I.
(Command, control, communications, computers
intelligence.) (3) Precision force use.
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The RMA means creating a synergy in new
weapons, sensors and communications that is made
possible by the successful melding of the
technological applications with an
information-age military organization. Bill
Owens, Lifting the Fog of War