tom peters’ leadership2002 leading in totally screwed up times v02.21.2002
TRANSCRIPT
Tom Peters’ Leadership2002
Leading in Totally Screwed
Up Timesv02.21.2002
The Context.
“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
Uncertainty: We don’t know when things will get back
to normal.
Ambiguity: We no longer know what “normal”
means.
BMcC: (1) Hierarchy vs. “Network organization.” (2)
NWO = “Doctrine as center of gravity”/source of motivation;
distributed support & decision-making;largely self-organizing; “outside the military sphere.”
From: Weapon v. Weapon
To: Org structure v. Org structure
“Our military structure today is essentially one
developed and designed by Napoleon.”
Admiral Bill Owens, former Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
<1000A.D.: paradigm shift: 1000s of years1000: 100 years for paradigm shift
1800s: > prior 900 years1900s: 1st 20 years > 1800s
2000: 10 years for paradigm shift
21st century: 1000X tech change
than 20th century (“the ‘Singularity,’ a merger between humans and computers that is so rapid and profound it
represents a rupture in the fabric of human history”)
Ray Kurzweil
1 day 2001 = Year’s trade in 1949, year’s FEX in 1979, year’s
global calls in 1984.
Source: Charles Handy, The Elephant and the Flea
The
Leadership50
The Basic Premise.
1. Leadership Is a …
Mutual Discovery Process.
Leaders-Teachers Do Not “Transform People”!
Instead leaders-mentors-teachers (1) provide a context which is marked by (2) access to a luxuriant portfolio of meaningful opportunities (projects) which
(3) allow people to fully (and safely, mostly—caveat: “they”
don’t engage unless they’re “mad about something”) express their innate curiosity and (4) engage in a vigorous
discovery voyage (alone and in small teams, assisted by an
extensive self-constructed network) by which those people (5) go to-create places they (and their mentors-teachers-
leaders) had never dreamed existed—and then the leaders-mentors-teachers (6) applaud like hell, stage
“photo-ops,” and ring the church bells 100 times to commemorate the bravery of their
“followers’ ” explorations!
I am inalterably opposed to “organization change,”
“empowerment,” “motivation.” The goal: to awaken the latent talent
already within, by providing opportunities worthy of the
individual’s investment of her or his most precious resources …
time and emotional commitment.
1A. Leaders …
Cede Control.
“I don’t know.”
“The leader who says ‘I don’t know’ essentially says that the group is facing a new ballgame
where the old tools of logic may be its undoing rather than its salvation. To drop these tools is
not to give up on finding a workable answer. It is only to give up on one means of answering that is ill-suited to the unstable, the unknowable, the
unpredictable. To drop the heavy tools of rationality is to gain access to lightness in the
form of intuitions, feelings, stories, experience, active listening, shared humanity, awareness in
the moment, capability for fascination, awe, novel words and empathy.” - Karl Weick
1B. Leaders Try … Not to Screw
Things Up
“Ninety percent of what we call ‘management’ consists of making it
difficult for people to get things done.” – P.D.
The Leadership
Types.
2. Great Leaders on Snorting
Steeds Are Important – but
Great Talent Developers (Type I
Leadership) are the Bedrock of Organizations that Perform Over
the Long Haul.
25/8/53*(*Damn it!)
Whoops: Jack didn’t have a vision!
2A. “Just One”: Great Leading = Great
Mentoring.
T.A.: 3
Goal of the Year No. 1*: Find-Develop-Mentor
ONE Extraordinary Person.
*CEO, large financial advisory firm, April 2001
2B. Great Leaders are …
Great V.C.s.
“Basically [Omnicom’s John] Wren makes aggressive bets on entrepreneurs and
gives them tremendous autonomy, on the assumption that the risk-taking will pay off
in new ideas, connections, businesses, and, yes, revenues and profits. …
‘Omnicom operates like a venture-capital firm,’ says Sir Martin
Sorrell [of WPP].”
Fortune (09.17.2001)
3. But Then Again, There Are Times When This “Cult of Personality”
(Type II Leadership) Stuff Actually Works!
“A leader is a dealer in hope.”
Napoleon
(+TP’s writing room pics)
4. Find the “Businesspeople”!
(Type III Leadership)
I.P.M. (Inspired Profit
Mechanic)
4A. All Organizations
Need the Golden Leadership
Triangle.
The Golden Leadership Triangle: (1) Creator-
Visionary … (2) Talent Fanatic-Mentor-V.C. …
(3) Inspired Profit Mechanic.
Project Team Golden Triangle
(1) Champion-Maniac. (2) Implementer-Pol. (3)
Schedule & Budgets Fanatic.
5. Leadership Mantra
#1: IT ALL DEPENDS!
Renaissance Men are … a snare, a
myth, a delusion!
6. The Leader Is Rarely/Never the Best Performer.
33 Division Titles. 26 League Pennants. 14
World Series: Earl Weaver—0. Tom Kelly—0. Jim Leyland—0.
Walter Alston—1AB. Tony LaRussa—132 games, 6 seasons. Tommy Lasorda—P, 26 games. Sparky
Anderson—1 season.
The Leadership
Dance.
7. Leaders …
SHOW UP!
Rudy!
P.S. …
Mark McCormack: 5,000 miles for a 5
min. meeting!
7A. Leaders … LOVE the
MESS!
“If things seem under control, you’re just not
going fast enough.”
Mario Andretti
7B. Leadership
Is Improv!
Duct Tape Rules!
“Andrew Higgins, who built landing craft in WWII, refused to hire graduates of
engineering schools. He believed that they only teach you what you can’t do in engineering
school. He started off with 20 employees, and by the middle of the war had 30,000 working for him. He turned out 20,000 landing craft. D.D.
Eisenhower told me, ‘Andrew Higgins won the war for us. He did it without engineers.’ ”
Stephen Ambrose/Fast Company
8. Leaders Groove on
AMBIGUITY!
“Most of our predictions are based
on very linear thinking. That’s why they will
most likely be wrong.”Vinod Khosla, in “GIGATRENDS,” Wired 04.01
9. Leaders
DO!
The Kotler Doctrine:
1965-1980: R.A.F.(Ready.Aim.Fire.)
1980-1995: R.F.A.(Ready.Fire!Aim.)
1995-????: F.F.F.(Fire!Fire!Fire!)
9A. Leaders
Re-do.
“Sony Electronics has a well-earned reputation for persistence. The company’s first entry into a
new field often isn’t very good. But,
as it has shown in laptops, Sony will keep trying until it gets
it right.”Business Week (5/01)
“If Microsoft is good at anything, it’s avoiding the trap of worrying about criticism. Microsoft fails constantly.
They’re eviscerated in public for lousy
products. Yet they persist, through version after version, until they get
something good enough. Then they leverage the power they’ve gained in
other markets to enforce their standard.”Seth Godin, Zooming
He who has the
quickest O.O.D.A. Loops* wins!
*Observe. Orient. Decide. Act. / Col. John Boyd
9B. Leaders Are
PLAYFUL.
“You can’t be a serious innovator unless and until you are ready,
willing and able to seriously play. ‘Serious play’ is not an oxymoron;
it is the essence of innovation.”
Michael Schrage, Serious Play
Axiom: Never trust a “boss” with
no toys in his/her office!
10. BUT … Leaders
Know When to Wait.
Tex Schramm: The
“too hard” box!
Leaders know when to …
RETREAT.
Axioms: (1) Pick your battles carefully. (2) Sometimes inaction
promotes sorting out & preserves options.
11. Leaders …
DELIVER!
11A. Leaders
KNOW They Can Make a Difference!
“Leaders don’t
‘want to’ win.
Leaders ‘need to’ win.”
#49
WILLPOWER RULES! (12.12.2001) “In the end the war is not about statistics, deadlines, short
attention spans of 24 hour news cycles. It’s about will, the projection of will, the clear, unambiguous
determination of the president of the United States and the American people to see this through.—DR.
Given our lack of knowledge, LT investments made on the basis of “animal spirits—a spontaneous
urge to action rather than inaction, not as the outcome of a weighted average of quantitative benefits multiplied
by quantitative probabilities.”—JMK.
Texas’ “top ten percenters” GPAs > than those with SATs 200-300 points higher.
“A real superstar is mean in a particular way. He is Michael Jordan or
Cal Ripken, greedy for records and history. Armored and self-contained, his
inner core is a hard knot of physical talent and fierce will. Nothing penetrates that core, and anybody or anything that
gets too close is out of his life.”
Michael Sokolove, “The last Straw”
11B. Leaders Are …
Optimists.
Hackneyed but none the less
true: LEADERS SEE CUPS AS “HALF
FULL.”
Half-full Cups: “[Ronald Reagan] radiated an almost transcendent
happiness.”Lou Cannon, George (08.2000)
12. BUT … Leaders Are
Realists/Leaders Win Through LOGISTICS!
The “Gus Imperative”!
13. Leaders
FOCUS!
“To Don’t ” List
14. Leaders …
Set CLEAR DESIGN SPECS.
JackWorld/1@T: (1) Neutron Jack. (Banish bureaucracy.) (2) “1, 2 or out” Jack. (Lead or leave.) (3)
“Workout” Jack. (Empowerment,
GE style.) (4) 6-Sigma Jack. (5)
Internet Jack. (Throughout)
TALENT JACK!
14A. Leaders
Avoid … S.I.O.
Danger: S.I.O. (Strategic
Initiative Overload). Answer:
ONE-AT-A-TIME.
15. Leaders …
Send V-E-R-Y Clear Signals About
Design Specs!
Ridin’ with Roger: “What have you done to
DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE quality in the
last 90 days?”
It’s Relationships,
Stupid.
16. Leaders Trust in
TRUST!
Credibility!
Credibility: GWB/dc/dr/pw
(RR/bc, RN/hak) vs.
BC/ag/sb (JC)
16A. Leaders Infuse the Dreaded-All Important “Evaluation Process”
with CREDIBILITY!
25 = 100
17. Leaders …
Understand the Ultimate Power of RELATIONSHIPS.
“Women speak and hear a language of connection and intimacy, and men
speak and hear a language of status and independence. Men communicate to obtain information, establish their
status, and show independence. Women communicate to create
relationships, encourage interaction, and exchange feelings.”
Judy Rosener, America’s Competitive Secret
17A. Leaders
Wire the Joint!
Winners wire. Losers are
slaves to rank.
“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 day’s events? Who is
better at keeping in touch with others?”
Source: Selling Is a Woman’s Game: 15 Powerful Reasons Why Women Can Outsell Men, Nicki Joy &
Susan Kane-Benson
17B. Leaders Are
Natural EMPOWERMENT
FREAKS!
17C. Leaders Know …
Women Roar/ Women Rule.
“AS LEADERS, WOMEN RULE: New Studies find that female managers
outshine their male counterparts in almost
every measure”Title, Special Report, Business Week, 11.20.00
Women’s 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
Source: Judy B. Rosener, America’s Competitive Secret
(17D. Oh Yeah … and Women Buy All the Stuff)
$4.8T > Japan
9M/27.5M/$3.6T > Germany
18. Leaders … Find & Feed Off
Supporters.
Jill Ker Conway: (1) On-campus renegades. (2) Alumnae: $$$$ to fund
programs that “the culture” wouldn’t
support.
Message JKC: (1) Leaders are Masters of the End Run. (2) Avoid the “Old Culture”—don’t confront
it. (3) You can’t change people, you can’t change “culture.” (4)
Instead you supplant them/surround them—We “select”
(DARWIN RULES!) “carriers” of the “new culture.”
If It Ain’t Broke … Break It.
19. Leaders …FORGET!/
Leaders … DESTROY!
Forget>“Learn”
“The problem is never how to get new, innovative
thoughts into your mind,
but how to get the old ones out.”
Dee Hock
Forbes100 from 1917 to 1987: 39 members of the Class of ’17 were alive
in ’87; 18 in ’87 F100; 18 F100 “survivors” underperformed the market
by 20%; just 2 (2%), GE & Kodak, outperformed the market 1917 to 1987.
S&P 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
“Good management was the most powerful reason [leading firms] failed to
stay atop their industries. Precisely because these firms listened to their customers, invested aggressively in technologies that would
provide their customers more and better products of the sort they wanted, and because
they carefully studied market trends and systematically allocated investment capital to
innovations that promised the best returns, they lost their positions of leadership.”
Clayton Christensen, The Innovator’s Dilemma
Cortez!
Leaders “dump the ones who brung ’em” —Nokia, HP, 3M, PerkinElmer, Corning, etc.
The [New] Ge Way
DYB.com
20. BUT … Leaders
Have to Deliver, So They Worry About “Throwing the Baby Out with the
Bathwater.”
“Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t, Just Plain
Damned.”Subtitle in the chapter, “Own Up to the Great Paradox: Success
Is the Product of Deep Grooves/ Deep Grooves Destroy Adaptivity,” Liberation Management (1992)
21. Leaders …
HONOR THE USURPERS.
Saviors-in-Waiting
Disgruntled CustomersUpstart CompetitorsRogue EmployeesFringe Suppliers
Wayne Burkan, Wide Angle Vision
CUSTOMERS: “Future-defining customers may
account for only 2% to 3% of your total, but they represent a crucial
window on the future.”Adrian Slywotzky, Mercer Consultants
COMPETITORS: “The best swordsman in the world doesn’t need to fear
the second best swordsman in the world; no, the person for him to be afraid of is some ignorant antagonist who has never had a
sword in his hand before; he doesn’t do the thing he ought to do, and so the expert isn’t
prepared for him; he does the thing he ought not to do and often it catches the expert out and
ends him on the spot.”
Mark Twain
Employees: “Are there enough weird
people in the lab these days?”
V. Chmn., pharmaceutical house, to a lab director (06.01)
Suppliers: There is an ominous downside to strategic supplier
relationships. An SSR supplier is not likely to function as any more than a mirror to your organization. Fringe suppliers that offer innovative business practices need
not apply.”
Wayne Burkan, Wide Angle Vision: Beat the Competition by Focusing on Fringe Competitors, Lost Customers, and Rogue Employees
22. Leaders …
HANG OUT WITH FREAKS!
The Cracked Ones Let in the Light
“Our business needs a massive transfusion of talent, and talent, I believe, is most likely to be found
among non-conformists, dissenters and rebels.”
David Ogilvy
Axiom: Never hire anyone without an aberration in their
background!
“I would like to think we could
attract students with green
hair. We will take pink and
blue and orange hair too.”
Shirley Tilghman, Princeton
Yikes: “What worries me is that I can’t see why any ambitious young person would want to
join my company, or stay here for long if they did join. My most important job is to change that
as fast as I can.”—CEO, giant multinational, to Charles Handy
Message: TAKE
SOMEONE NEW & WEIRD TO LUNCH
TODAY OR TOMORROW. [Inundate yourself with weird.]
Leaders know … WE BECOME WHO
WE HANG WITH!
23. Leaders Make [Lotsa] Mistakes
– and MAKE NO BONES ABOUT IT!
Sam’s
Secret #1!
“Fail faster. Succeed sooner.”
David Kelley/IDEO
Read This!
Richard Farson & Ralph Keyes: Whoever Makes the Most
Mistakes Wins: The Paradox of Innovation
24. Leaders Make …
BIG MISTAKES!
“Reward excellent
failures. Punish mediocre successes.”
Phil Daniels, Sydney exec (and, de facto, Jack)
24A. Leaders Honor Mistakes & Create
“Blame-free ‘Cultures.’ ”
Accountability: YES!Never-ending witch
hunts: NO!
Winning By Acknowledging Failures
Wernher Von Braun, the Redstone missile engineer who “confessed” &
the bottle of champagne. Award to the sailor on the Carl Vinson—for
reporting the lost tool. Amy Edmonson & the successful nursing units with the highest reported adverse drug events.
Source: Karl Weick & Kathleen Sutcliffe, Managing the Unexpected
Create.
25. Leaders Know that
THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN “LINE EXTENSIONS.” Leaders Love to CREATE NEW
MARKETS.
No one ever made it into the Business Hall of Fame on a record of
“line extensions.”
“Acquisitions are about
buying market share. Our challenge is to create markets.
There is a big difference.” Peter Job, CEO, Reuters
The Top Creators of Shareholder Value
Accept depressed earnings for several quarters to support hot productExpense rather than capitalize new venture costs
Bonuses without caps
Source: Fortune (09.17.201)
“The highest performing companies have well-developed systems for killing ideas
their customers don’t want. As a result, these companies find it very difficult to invest adequate resources in disruptive
technologies—lower margin opportunities that their customers don’t want—until they
want them. And by then it’s too late.”
Clayton Christensen, The Innovator’s Dilemma
26. Leaders Pursue
DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE!
1st Law Mktg Physics: OVERT BENEFIT (Focus: 1 or 2 > 3 or 4/“One Great Thing.”
Source #1: Personal Passion)
2ND Law: REAL REASON TO BELIEVE (Stand & Deliver!)
3RD Law: DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE (Execs Don’t Get It: “intent to purchase” – 100%; “unique” – 0% to
5%)
Source: Jump Start Your Business Brain, Doug Hall
The greatest dangerfor most of us
is not that our aim istoo high
and we miss it,but that it is
too lowand we reach it.
Michelangelo
26A. Leaders … Make Their Mark /
Leaders … Do Stuff That Matters
Ideas > Leadership
“Today the problem is not how to produce more to sell more.
The fundamental question is that of the product’s right to exist. And it is the designer’s right and duty to question the
legitimacy of the product.”
Philippe Starck
NO: “Good gov’t”
YES: EFFECTIVE Gov’t (in altered/ambiguous
times)
“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
27. Leaders Push Their
Organizations W-a-y Up the Value-added/
Intellectual Capital Chain
The Big Day!
09.11.2000: HP bids
$18,000,000,000for
PricewaterhouseCoopersConsulting business!
“These days, building the best server isn’t enough. That’s the
price of entry.”
Ann Livermore, Hewlett-Packard
HP … Sun … GE … IBM … UPS … UTC …
General Mills … Springs … Anheuser-Busch …
Carpet One … Delphi … Etc. … Etc.
“We want to be the air traffic
controllers of electrons.”
Bob Nardelli, GE Power Systems
“Customer Satisfaction” to “Customer Success”
“We’re getting better at [Six Sigma] every day. But we really
need to think about the customer’s profitability. Are customers’
bottom lines really benefiting from what we provide them?”
Bob Nardelli, GE Power Systems
Keep In Mind: Customer Satisfaction
versus Customer Success
Who was the number one employer of
architecture school grads in the U.S.
last year?
The Pursuit of … Whatever:
Accenture to “do” AT&T’s sales & customer service … for
$2.6B/5 years … savings to
AT&T of 50%. Accenture to “do” Avaya’s corporate
learning & training. Source: BW (02.04.2002)
“VISIONS OF A BRAND-NAME OFFICE EMPIRE. Sam Zell is not a man plagued by self doubt. Mr. Zell controls public
companies that own nearly 700 office buildings in the United States. … Now Mr. Zell says he will
transform the real estate market by turning those REITs into national brands. … Mr. Zell
believes [clients] will start to view those offices as something more than a commodity chosen
chiefly by price and location.” –New York Times (12.16.2001)
28. Leaders
LOVE the New Technology!
100 square feet
“There’s no use trying,” said Alice. “One can’t believe impossible things.”
“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was
your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve
believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
Lewis Carroll
I’net …
… allows you to dream dreams
you could never have dreamed
before!
28A. Needed? Type IV Leadership: Technology
Dreamer-True Believer
The Golden Leadership Quadrangle: (1) Creator-Visionary … (2) Talent
Fanatic-Mentor-V.C. … (3) Inspired Profit Mechanic. (4) Technology Dreamer-True
Believer
Talent.
29. When It Comes to
TALENT … Leaders Always Swing
for the Fences!
Message: Some people are better than other
people. Some people are a helluva lot better than other
people.
30. Leaders Don’t Create “Followers”:
THEY CREATE LEADERS!
Brand You, Big Time!
I AM AN ARMY OF
ONE
31. Leaders “Win Followers Over”
WHAT AN IDIOT: “Instead of employees being in the driver’s
seat, now we’re in the driver’s seat.”
PJ: “Coaching is winning
players over.”
32. Leaders “Manage” Their
EVP/Internal Brand Promise.
MantraM3
Talent = Brand
EVP = Challenge, professional growth, respect, satisfaction, opportunity, reward
Source: Ed Michaels et al., The War for Talent
33. Leaders LOVE RAINBOWS – for Pragmatic Reasons.
“Diversity defines the health and wealth of nations in a new century.
Mighty is the mongrel. … The hybrid is hip. The impure, the mélange, the adulterated, the
blemished, the rough, the black-and-blue, the mix-and-match – these people are inheriting
the earth. Mixing is the new norm. Mixing trumps isolation. It spawns creativity,
nourishes the human spirit, spurs economic growth
and empowers nations.”
G. Pascal Zachary, The Global Me: New Cosmopolitans and the Competitive Edge
33A. Leaders Pursue
Poets!
Gardner’s MI7: Logical-mathematical, Linguistic,
Spatial, Musical, Bodily-kinesthetic,
Interpersonal, Intrapersonal.
“Expose yourself to the best things humans
have done, and then try to bring those things
into what you’re doing.”Steve Jobs
Passion.
34. Leaders …
Out Their
PASSION!
!
G.H.: “Create a ‘cause,’ not a ‘business.’ ”
35. Leaders Know: ENTHUSIASM
BEGETS ENTHUSIASM!
BZ: “I am a … Dispenser of Enthusiasm!”
36. Leaders Focus on the
SOFT STUFF!
“Soft” Is “Hard”
- ISOE
Message: Leadership is all about love! [Passion, Enthusiasms, Appetite for Life,
Engagement, Commitment, Great Causes & Determination to Make a
Damn Difference, Shared Adventures, Bizarre Failures, Growth, Insatiable
Appetite for Change.] [Otherwise, why bother? Just read Dilbert. TP’s final words: CYNICISM SUCKS.]
36A. Leaders Know …
“Culture Change” Takes But a Minute. (No Bull!)
What Do I “Do” First?
One Minute Excellence!*
*Thomas Watson
Culture Change is not “Corporate.”Culture Change is not a “Program.”
Culture change does not take “Years.”Culture Change does not start “Today.”
Culture Change starts Right Now!Culture Change
Lives in the Moment!Culture Change is
Entirely in Your Hands!
The “Job” of Leading.
37. Leaders Know It’s
ALL SALES ALL THE TIME.
TP: If you don’t LOVE SALES … find
another life. (Don’t pretend
you’re a “leader.”) (See TP’s The Project50.)
37A. Leaders
LOVE “POLITICS.”
TP: If you don’t LOVE POLITICS … find
another life. (Don’t pretend
you’re a “leader.”)
38. But … Leaders Also
Break a Lot of China
If you’re not pissing people off, you’re not making
a difference!
Characteristics of the “Also rans”*
“Minimize risk”“Respect the chain of
command”“Support the boss”
“Make budget”
*Fortune, article on “Most Admired Global Corporations”
Joe J. Jones Joe J. Jones 1942 – 2001 1942 – 2001
HE WOULDA DONE SOME HE WOULDA DONE SOME
REALLY COOL STUFF REALLY COOL STUFF
BUT …BUT …
HIS BOSS WOULDN’T LET HIM! HIS BOSS WOULDN’T LET HIM!
39. Leaders
Give … RESPECT!
“It was much later that I realized Dad’s 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
“Leaders are living individuals whom employees smell, feel, touch their
presence.”#49
“It is impossible to claim that all good teachers use similar techniques: some lecture nonstop
and others speak very little; some stay close to their material and others loose the imagination; some teach with the carrot and others with the stick. But in every instance, good teachers share one trait: a strong sense of personal identity infuses their work. ‘Dr. A is really there when he teaches.’ ‘Mr. B has such enthusiasm for his subject.’ ‘You can tell
that this is really Prof. C’s life.’ ”
Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach
40. Leaders Say
“Thank You.”
“The deepest human
need is the need to be appreciated.”
William James
“The two most powerful things
in existence: a kind word and a thoughtful gesture.”
Ken Langone, CEO, Invemed Associates [from Ronna Lichtenberg, It’s Not Business, It’s Personal]
40A. Leaders Are …
Graceful.
“My favorite word is grace –
whether it’s amazing grace,
saving grace, grace under
fire, Grace Kelly. How we live contributes to beauty – whether it’s how we treat other people or
the environment.”
Celeste Cooper, designer
Rodale’s on “Grace” …
elegance … charm … loveliness … poetry in motion … kindliness ..
benevolence … benefaction … compassion … beauty
41. Leaders
LISTEN!
See Stephen! (Empathetic Listening)
41A. Leaders Are …
Curious.
41B. Leaders
Are … Great Learners.
TP/08.2001: The Three Most Important Letters …
WHY?
42. Leadership Is a …
Performance.
“It is necessary for the President to be the
nation’s No. 1 actor.”
FDR
43. Leaders … Are The Brand
“WHO ARE YOU [these days] ?”
TP to Client
“We are in the twilight of a society based on data. As information and intelligence become the domain of computers, society will place more value on the one human ability that cannot be automated: emotion.
Imagination, myth, ritual - the language of emotion - will affect everything from our purchasing decisions
to how we work with others. Companies will thrive on the basis of their stories and myths. Companies will need to understand
that their products are less important than their stories.”
Rolf Jensen, Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies
The BRAND lives (OR DIES) in the “minutiae” of the leader’s moment-
to-moment actions.
“You must be the change you
wish to see in the world.”
Gandhi
44. Leaders …
Have a GREAT STORY!
“A key – perhaps the key – to leadership is the effective
communication of a story.”
Howard Gardner Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership
“Early in my career in the law I learned
that … he who has the best story
wins.”JQ Adams/A Hopkins to T Joadson/M Freeman
“Stories of identity – narratives that help individuals think about
and feel who they are, where they come from, and where they
are headed – constitute the single most powerful weapon
in the leader’s arsenal.”Howard Gardner, Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership
MBSA!*
*Managing By Story-ing Around/David Armstrong
Leaders don’t just make products and make decisions.
Leaders make meaning. – John Seeley Brown
45. Leaders Seed & Pursue &
Recognize (Weird) “Demos.”
45A. Leaders
Create BUZZ!
Demos! Heroes! Stories!
L.B.I.W.D. (Leading
By Inducing Weird Demos)
Leaders aimed on changing their
world identify palpable heroes, who executed palpable projects—they
point to these people and say to the masses, “See, here it is, done by one of your own.” (And then they
“deep-dip” a few of those heroes to demo their seriousness.)
Each VP a V.C.: Portfolio of high-risk investments in
people & ideas from all across the company.
Introspection.
46. Leaders …
Enjoy Leading.
Warren’s “Whoops Moment” …
“Warren, I know you want to ‘be’
president. But do you want to ‘do’
president?”
Thom Mayer: Docs who want to heal the
sick vs. Docs who want to be M.D.s.
46A. Leaders …
KNOW THEMSELVES.
Individuals (would-be leaders) cannot engage in a
liberating mutual discovery process unless they are comfortable with their own skin. (“Leaders” who are not comfortable with themselves become petty
control freaks.)
46B. But …
Leaders have MENTORS.
The Gospel According to TP: Upon having the Leadership
Mantle placed upon thine head, thou shalt never hear the unvarnished
truth again!* (*Therefore, thy needs one faithful
compatriot to lay it on with no jelly.)
47. Leaders
LAUGH!
47A. But … Leaders Know
“It’s My Fault.”
You recruited ’em.You hired ’em.
You trained ’em. You evaluated ’em.
You “motivated” ’em.
47B. Leaders Don’t Scapegoat /
Allow Scapegoating.
“When a plane crashes, they ask, ‘What
happened?’ In medicine they ask: ‘Whose fault was it?’ ”—James Bagian, M.D. &
former astronaut, now working with the VHA.
48. Leaders … Take Breaks.
Zombie!Zombie!Zombie!Zombie!
The End Game.
49. Leaders ???
:
“Leadership is the PROCESS of
ENGAGING PEOPLE in CREATING a LEGACY
of EXCELLENCE.”
“ ‘It’s only business, not personal’ … IT
ALWAYS IS PERSONAL.”
“Hire smart – go bonkers – have grace – make mistakes – love technology – start all
over again.”
“LEADERS NEED TO BE THE ROCK OF
GIBRALTAR ON ROLLER BLADES”
Bonus: Boss Talk
Branding: Kevin Roberts: “The great brands have mystery and
sensuality. Apple is the most sensual product since the
vibrator.”/ Tina Brown: “You should be able to throw a magazine on the floor at any page and know
whose magazine it is.”/
The Perils of “Me-too”: Stephen Hardis (Eaton): “Don’t have your
resources trapped in areas that are inherently zero-sum games with a very marginal return.”/ Phil Condit (Boeing): “Just doing what your competitor does
is the biggest opportunity to lose money. Douglas and Lockheed built
tri-jets to the identical specs and beat each other silly.”
Jeff Bezos: “It’s easy to let the in-box side of your life overwhelm
you, so you become a totally reactive person. The only remedy I know is to set aside some fraction
of your time as your own. I use Tuesdays and Thursdays as my proactive days, when I try not to
schedule meetings.”
Jeff Bezos: “I'm often encouraging people to go faster, even if it means a
worse initial product. I want us to start learning. The cost of trying to avoid mistakes is huge in terms of speed.”
Robert Miller (Federal-Mogul), on Turnarounds: (1) Tell the truth.
Play it straight. (2) Make decisions. Don’t study things to
death. (3) Listen to your customers. They are usually more perceptive than you are
about what needs to be done.”
Juergen Schrempp/DaimlerChrysler
“Digital decision making”/ “the danger of the deadly
wish for harmony”
Boss Talk/WSJ
Provide a simple, clear, exciting & energizing focus.Obsess on TALENT.Speed > Perfection. (Clarity, motivation, rapid adjustment.)
Leap > Line extension. (Beware “me-too,” perfecting yesterday.)
Tell the truth.Control your calendar.Get out of the office.Listen to customers face-to-face—at their place.
50. Leaders Know
WHEN TO LEAVE!
Tom Peters’ Leadership2002
Leading in Totally Screwed
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