tom peters’ vision21 los angeles/10.18.2002. 1. we are in a brawl with no rules
TRANSCRIPT
Tom Peters’
Vision21Los Angeles/10.18.2002
1. We Are in a Brawl with No
Rules.
“We are in a
brawl with no rules.”
Paul Allaire
“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
“There’s going to be a fundamental change in the
global economy unlike anything we have had since the cavemen began bartering.”
Arnold Baker, Chief Economist, Sandia National Laboratories
<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
“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like
irrelevance even less.” —General Eric Shinseki, Chief
of Staff, U. S. Army
“IT MAY SOMEDAY BE SAID THAT THE 21ST CENTURY BEGAN ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001. …
“Al-Qaeda represents a new and profoundly dangerous kind of
organization—one that might be called a ‘virtual state.’ On September a virtual state proved that modern societies are vulnerable as
never before.”—Time/09.09.2002
“The deadliest strength of America’s new adversaries is their very fluidity, Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld believes. Terrorist networks, unburdened by fixed borders, headquarters or conventional forces, are
free to study the way this nation responds to threats and adapt themselves to prepare for what Mr. Rumsfeld is certain will be another attack. …
“ ‘Business as usual won’t do it,’ he said. His answer is to develop swifter, more lethal ways
to fight. ‘Big institutions aren’t swift on their feet in adapting but rather ponderous and clumsy
and slow.’ ”—The New York Times/09.04.2002
Eric’s Army
Flat.Fast.Agile.Adaptable.Light … But Lethal.Brand You/ Talent/ “I Am An ARMY Of One.”Info-intense.Network-centric.
“Dawn Meyerreicks, CTO of the Defense Intelligence Systems Agency, made one of the most fateful military calls of the 21st century. After 9/11 … her office
quickly leased all the available transponders covering Central Asia. The implications should change everything about U.S. military thinking in the
years ahead.
“The U.S. Air Force had kicked off its fight against the Taliban with an ineffective bombing campaign, and Washington was anguishing over whether to send in a few Army divisions. Donald Rumsfeld told Gen. Tommy Franks to
give the initiative to 250 Special Forces already on the ground. They used satellite phones, Predator surveillance drones, and GPS- and laser-based
targeting systems to make the air strikes brutally effective.
“In effect, they ‘Napsterized’ the battlefield by cutting out the middlemen (much of the military’s command and control) and working directly with the
real players. … The data came in so fast that HQ revised operating procedures to allow intelligence analysts and attack planners to work directly
together. Their favorite tool, incidentally, was instant messaging over a secure network.”—Ned Desmond/“Broadband’s New Killer App”/Business
2.0/ OCT2002
2. TECHNICOLOR RULES! (Passion
Moves Mountains!)
“Don’t rebuild. Reimagine.”
The New York Times Magazine on the future of the WTC space in Lower Manhattan/09.08.2002
“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
3. DESTRUCTION RULES!
“The corporation as we know it, which is now 120 years old, is
not likely to survive the next 25 years. Legally and
financially, yes, but not structurally and economically.”
Peter Drucker, Business 2.0 (08.00)
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.
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
The [New] Ge Way
DYB.com
4. “Kaizen” (Continuous
Improvement) Is Very … Dangerous
… Stuff.
“Companies have defined so much ‘best practice’
that they are now more or less identical.”
Jesper Kunde, Unique Now ... or Never
“Incrementalism is innovation’s worst enemy.”
Nicholas Negroponte
Just Say No …
“I don’t intend to be known as the ‘King of
the Tinkerers.’ ”CEO, large financial services company
(New York, 5-99)
5. Forget It! (“Learning” = Easy. “Forgetting” =
Nigh on Impossible.)
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
“The organizations we created have become tyrants. They have taken
control, holding us fettered, creating barriers that hinder rather than help our businesses. The lines that we drew on our neat organizational diagrams have turned into walls
that no one can scale or penetrate or even peer over.” —Frank Lekanne Deprez &
René Tissen, Zero Space: Moving Beyond Organizational Limits.
6. Innovation Is Easy: Hang Out with Freaks.
(Employees, Board Members, Customers,
Suppliers, Alliance Partners, Consultants.)
Saviors-in-Waiting
Disgruntled CustomersUpstart CompetitorsRogue EmployeesFringe Suppliers
Wayne Burkan, Wide Angle Vision
7. Action … ALWAYS …
Takes Precedence.
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!)
“If it works, it’s
obsolete.”
—Marshall McLuhan
8. Screwups are … the … Mark of Excellence.
“Reward excellent
failures. Punish mediocre successes.”
Phil Daniels, Sydney exec (and, de facto, Jack)
Fail. Forward. Fast. –High-tech Exec
9. TALENT TIME! (He/She Who Has the Best “Roster”
Rules!)
From “1, 2 or you’re out” [JW] to …
“Best Talent in each industry segment to build
best proprietary intangibles” [EM]
Source: Ed Michaels, War for Talent (05.17.00)
25/8/53*(*Damn it!)
10. Diversity’s Hour Is Now!
“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
11. SHE … Is the Best Leader!
“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:Women Managers
12. eALL. (IS/IT: Half-way = No Way.)
100 square feet
“Ebusiness is about rebuilding the organization from the
ground up. Most companies today are not built to exploit the Internet.
Their business processes, their approvals, their hierarchies, the
number of people they employ … all of that is wrong for running an
ebusiness.”
Ray Lane, Kleiner Perkins
13. The … WHITE-COLLAR REVOLUTION
… Will Devour Everything in Its Path.
E.g. …
Jeff Immelt: 75% of “admin, back room, finance” “digitalized” in
3 years.
Source: BW (01.28.02)
IBM’s Project
eLiza!** “Self-bootstrapping”/ “Artilects”
14. Take Charge of Your Destiny!
BrandYou Moment! DISTINCT … OR
EXTINCT!
“If there is nothing very special about
your work, no matter how hard you apply yourself, you won’t get noticed, and that
increasingly means you won’t get paid much either.”
Michael Goldhaber, Wired
Brand You, Big Time!
I AM AN ARMY OF
ONE
“Unless mankind redesigns itself by changing our DNA through altering our genetic
makeup, computer-generated robots will take
over the world.” – Stephen
Hawking, in the German magazine Focus
15. SHOW UP! (If You Care, You’re
There.)
Rudy!
16. YOUR CALENDAR KNOWS
ALL. (You = Calendar.)
“To Don’t ” List
Danger: S.I.O. (Strategic
Initiative Overload)
17. Management Role 1: GET OUT OF THE WAY. (Clear the Way.) (“Manager” =
Hurdle Removal Professional.)
“Ninety percent of what we call ‘management’ consists of making it
difficult for people to get things done.” – P.D.
“I don’t know.”
18. Avoid the Epitaph from Hell.
Joe J. Jones Joe J. Jones 1942 – 2002 1942 – 2002
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!
19. WHAT MATTERS IS STUFF THAT
MATTERS.
“I never, ever thought of myself
as a businessman. I was interested in creating
things I would be proud of.” —Richard Branson
G.H.: “Create a ‘cause,’ not a ‘business.’ ”
20. DISPENSE
ENTHUSIASM!
“Soft” Is “Hard”
- ISOE
“A leader is a dealer in hope.”
Napoleon
(+TP’s writing room pics)
“You must be the change you
wish to see in the world.”
Gandhi
21. LOVE THE MESS!
SHOOT FOR THE STARS!
“If things seem under control, you’re just not
going fast enough.”
Mario Andretti
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
“Let’s make a dent in the universe.”
Steve Jobs