Tom Peters

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Tom Peters EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.Talent.Lea
dership.Leadership Forum/HRPKuwait/10 November
2008
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Slides at tompeters.com
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Excellence The Leadership50
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bedrock.
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1. Leaders serve.
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Organizations exist to serve. Period. Leaders
live to serve. Period.
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The Basic Mechanism.
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2. Leadership Is a Mutual Discovery Process.
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Ninety percent of what we call management
consists of making it difficult for people to get
things done. Peter Drucker
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Organizing Genius / Warren Bennis and Patricia
Ward BiedermanGroups become great only when
everyone in them, leaders and members alike, is
free to do his or her absolute best.The best
thing a leader can do for a Great Group is to
allow its members to discover their greatness.
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Leaders Mt Everest Testfree to do his or
her absolute best allow its members to
discover their greatness.
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The Leadership Types.
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3. Great Leaders on White Horses Are Important
but Great Talent Developers (Type I Leadership)
are the Bedrock of Organizations that Perform
Over the Long Haul.
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Whoops Jack didnt have a vision!
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4. But There Are Times When the visionary
Type (Type II Leadership) Matters!
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A leader is a dealer in hope. Napoleon
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5. Find the Businesspeople! (Type III
Leadership)
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I.P.M. (Inspired Profit Mechanic)
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6. All Organizations Need the Golden Leadership
Triangle.
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The Golden Leadership Triangle (1) Talent
Fanatic (2) Visionary (3) Inspired Profit
Mechanic.
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7. Leadership Mantra 1 IT ALL DEPENDS!
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Renaissance Men are a snare, a myth, a
delusion!
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8. The Leader Is Rarely/Never the Best Performer.
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The Leadership Dance.
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9. Leaders SHOW UP!
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A body can pretend to care, but they cant
pretend to be there. Texas Bix Bender
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Its always showtime. David DAlessandro,
Career Warfare
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10. Leaders LOVE the MESS!
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If things seem under control, youre just not
going fast enough. Mario Andretti
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11. Leaders DO!
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We have a strategic plan. Its called doing
things. Herb Kelleher
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12. Leaders Re-do.
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Phil Crosby is an idiot!
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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 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
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13. BUT Leaders Know When to Wait.
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Tex Schramm The too hard box!
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14. Leaders Are Optimists.
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Hackneyed but none the less true LEADERS SEE
CUPS AS HALF FULL.
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Half-full Cups Ronald Reagan radiated an
almost transcendent happiness. Lou Cannon
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15. Leaders FOCUS!
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Dennis, you need a To-dont List !
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I used to have a rule for myself that at any
point in time I wanted to have in mind as it so
happens, also in writing, on a little card I
carried around with me the three big things I
was trying to get done. Three. Not two. Not
four. Not five.Not ten.Three. Richard
Haass, The Power to Persuade
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16. Leaders Send V-E-R-Y Clear Signals About
Whats Important!
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Really Important Stuff Rogers Rule of Three!
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Danger S.I.O. (Strategic Initiative Overload)
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If It Aint Broke Break It.
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17. Leaders FORGET!/Leaders DESTROY!
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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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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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18. BUT Leaders Have to Deliver, So They Worry
About Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater.

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Damned If You Do, Damned If You Dont, 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)
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19. Leaders HONOR THE USURPERS.
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Saviors-in-WaitingDisgruntled
CustomersUpstart CompetitorsRogue
EmployeesFringe SuppliersSource Wayne Burkan,
Wide Angle Vision
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20. Leaders Make Lots of Mistakes and MAKE NO
BONES ABOUT IT!
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Fail faster. Succeed sooner.David Kelley/IDEO
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21. Leaders Make BIG MISTAKES!
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Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre
successes.Phil Daniels
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Create.
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22. Leaders Know that THERES MORE TO LIFE THAN
LINE EXTENSIONS. Leaders Love to CREATE NEW
MARKETS.
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Acquisitions are about buying market share. Our
challenge is to create markets. There is a big
difference. Peter Job, CEO, Reuters

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YESBANKCommerce Bank
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23. Leaders Make Their Mark / Leaders Do
Stuff That Matters
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I never, ever thought of myself as a
businessman. I was interested in creating things
I would be proud of. Richard Branson
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24. Leaders Push Their Organizations W-a-y Up
the Value-added Chain.
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55B
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And the M Stands for ?Gerstners IBM
Systems Integrator of choice./BW (Lou, help
us turn all this into that long-promised
revolution. ) IBM Global Services
(Integrated Systems Services Corp.) 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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Every project we undertake starts with the same
question How can we do what has never been done
before? Stuart Hornery, Lend Lease
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25. Leaders Push Past Service Transactions to
Scintillating Experiences.
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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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Experience Rebel Lifestyle!What we sell is
the ability for a 43-year-old accountant to dress
in black leather, ride through small towns and
have people be afraid of him.Harley exec,
quoted in Results-Based Leadership
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26. Leaders LOVE the New Technology!
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Power Tools For Power Strategies/ARD 40K
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27. Needed? Type IV Leadership Technology
Dreamer-True Believer
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The Golden Leadership Quadrangle (1) Talent
Fanatic (2) Visionary (3) Inspired Profit
Mechanic (4) Technology Dreamer-True Believer.
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Talent.
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28. Leaders DO TALENT!
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Brand Talent.
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29. When It Comes to TALENT Leaders Always Go
Berserk!
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From 1, 2 or youre out JW to Best
Talent in each industry segment to build best
proprietary intangibles EMSource Ed
Michaels, War for Talent
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30. Leaders Listen. Leaders Consult.
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The One line of code Theorem All we-they-me
want is (1) to be consulted, (2) to be taken
seriously, (3) a tiny show of appreciation
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Passion.
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31. Leaders Sell PASSION!
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Gary Hamel Create a cause, not a business.
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32. Leaders Know ENTHUSIASM BEGETS ENTHUSIASM!
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BZ I am a Dispenser of Enthusiasm!
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Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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33. Leaders Are in a Hurry
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We dont sell insurance anymore. We sell speed.
Peter Lewis, Progressive
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Metabolic Management
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34. Leaders Focus on the SOFT STUFF!
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Hard is soft. Soft Is hard.
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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.
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The Job of Leading.
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35. Leaders Know Its ALL SALES ALL THE TIME.
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If you dont LOVE SALES find another life.
(Dont pretend youre a leader.)
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36. Leaders LOVE POLITICS.
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If you dont LOVE POLITICS find another life.
(Dont pretend youre a leader.)
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All success is a Matter of implementation. All
implementation is a matter of politics.
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37. But Leaders Also Break a Lot of China.
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Characteristics of the Also ransMinimize
riskRespect the chain of commandSupport the
bossMake budgetFortune, Most Admired
Global Corporations
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38. Leaders Give RESPECT!
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• 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.
• Source Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Respect

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Amen!What creates trust, in the end, is the
leaders manifest respect for the followers.
Jim OToole, Leading Change
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39. Leaders Say Thank You.
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The deepest human need is the need to be
appreciated.William James
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FLOWERPOWER
FLOWERPOWER
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40. Leaders Are Curious.
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The Three Most Important Letters WHY?
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41. Leadership Is a Performance.
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It is necessary for the President to be the
nations No. 1 actor.FDR
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42. Leaders Are The Brand
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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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43. Leaders Have a GREAT STORY!
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A key perhaps the key to leadership is
the effective communication of a story.Howard
Gardner Leading Minds An Anatomy of Leadership
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Leaders dont just make products and make
decisions. Leaders make meaning. John Seely
Brown
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Leader Job 1Paint Portraits of Excellence!
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Introspection.
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44. Leaders Enjoy Leading.
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Tom, you left out one thing
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45. Leaders LAUGH!
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46. Leaders KNOW THEMSELVES.
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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.)
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Questions What do others think of you? Are you
sure? What do you think of you? Are you
sure? What is your impact on others? Are you
sure? What is your impact on others? Are you
sure? What is your impact on others? Are you
sure? What are the little things you
(perhaps unconsciously) do that cause people to
shrivelor blossom? Are you sure? What do you
want? Are you sure? Are you aware of your
changing moods? Are you sure? How fragile is
your ego? Are you sure? Do you have a true
confidant? Are you sure? Do you perform brief
or not-so-brief self-assessments? Do you talk
too much? Are you sure? Do you know how to
listen? Are you sure? Do you listen? Are you
sure? What is your style of hashing things
out? Are you perceived as (a) arrogant, (b)
abrasive (c) attentive, (d) genuinely interested
in people, (e) etc? Are you sure? Are you
flexible? Have you changed your mind about
anything important in a while? Are you
comfortable-uncomfortable with folks on the front
line? Do you think youre in touch with the
pulse of things around here? Are You Sure?
Are you too emotional/intuitive? Are you too
unemotional/rational? Do you spend much time
with people who are new to you? Do you think
questions like this are so much BS?
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47. But Leaders have MENTORS.
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Upon having the Leadership Mantle placed upon
ones head, he/she shall never hear the
unvarnished truth again! (Therefore, she/he
needs one faithful compatriot to lay it on with
no jelly.)
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The End Game.
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48. Leaders are RELENTLESS.
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Success seems to be largely a matter of
hanging on after others have let go. William
Feather, author
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49. Leaders ???
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Leadership is the PROCESS of ENGAGING PEOPLE in
CREATING a LEGACY of EXCELLENCE.
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LEADERS NEED TO BE THE ROCK OF GIBRALTAR ON
ROLLER BLADES.
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50. Leaders Free the Lunatic Within!
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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!
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You cant behave in a calm, rational manner.
Youve got to be out there on the lunatic
fringe. Jack Welch
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51. LeadersRelentlessly Pursue Excellence
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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)
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Excellence Is a Universal Striving. If Not
Excellence, What?