Leading in Totally Screwed Up Times Tom Peters Linkage/09.12.2001

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Leading in Totally Screwed Up TimesTom
PetersLinkage/09.12.2001
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lt1000A.D. paradigm shift 1000s of years1000
100 years for paradigm shift1800s gt prior 900
years1900s 1st 20 years gt 1800s2000 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, talk
april2001
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Most of our predictions are based on very linear
thinking. Thats why they will most likely be
wrong.Vinod Khosla, in GIGATRENDS, Wired
04.01
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CEOs appointed after 1985 are 3X more likely to
be fired than CEOs appointed before 1985Warren
Bennis, MIT Sloan Management Review
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Nuts!
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1. Leadership Is a Mutual Discovery Process.
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The best leaders are the best discoverers.
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I dont know.
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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, mostlycaveat they dont engage unless
theyre 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 existedand 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!
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2. Great Leaders on Snorting Steeds Are Important
but Great Managers (Type I Leadership) are the
Bedrock of Organizations that Perform Over the
Long Haul.
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2A. Just One Great Leading Great Mentoring.
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Priority 1.
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3. But Then Again, There Are Times When This
Cult of Personality (Type II Leadership) Stuff
Actually Works!
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4. Find the Businesspeople! (Type III
Leadership)
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I.P.M. (Inspired Profit Maniac)
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4A. The Golden Leadership Triangle.
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The Golden Leadership Triangle (1)
Creator-Inventor-Visionary (2) Talent Fanatic
(3) Inspired Profit Mechanic.
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Project Team Golden Triangle(1)
Champion-Maniac. (2) Implementer-Pol. (3)
Schedule Budgets Fanatic.
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5. Leadership Mantra 1 IT ALL DEPENDS!
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Renaissance Men are a snare, a myth, a delusion!
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6. The Leader Is Rarely/Never the Best Performer.
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33 Division Titles. 26 League Pennants. 14 World
Series Earl Weaver0. Tom Kelly0. Jim
Leyland0. Walter Alston1AB. Tony LaRussa132
games, 6 seasons. Tommy LasordaP, 26 games.
Sparky Anderson1 season.
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7. Leaders LOVE the MESS!
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7A. Leaders Groove on AMBIGUITY!
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8. Leaders DO!
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We are in a brawl with no rules.Paul Allaire
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S.A.V.
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The Kotler Doctrine1965-1980
R.A.F.(Ready.Aim.Fire.)1980-1995
R.F.A.(Ready.Fire!Aim.)1995-????
F.F.F.(Fire!Fire!Fire!)
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The leader who says I dont 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
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ISOE 1 A Bias for Action
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9. Leaders DELIVER!
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Leaders dont want to win. Leaders need to
win.49
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10. Leaders FOCUS!
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To Dont List
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11. Leaders Win Through LOGISTICS!
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The Gus Imperative!
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12. Leaders Know POWERLESS IS COOL!
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4Fs Find a Fellow Freak Faraway
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Worlds Biggest Waste Selling Up
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Heart of the MatterF2F!/K2K!/1_at_T/R.F.A.Frea
k to Freak/Kook to Kook/One at a Time/
Ready.Fire!Aim.
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Opportunity ALWAYS Knocks VFCJ
StrategyVolunteer For Crappy Jobs
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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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Joe J. Jones 1942 2001 HE WOULDA DONE
SOME REALLY COOL STUFF BUT HIS BOSS
WOULDNT LET HIM!
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12A. Leaders Seed Pursue Recognize (Weird)
Demos.
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L.B.I.W.D. (Leading By Inducing Weird Demos)
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12B. Get Em Workin on Projects A.S.A.P.
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Quests!
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13. Leaders Understand the Ultimate Power of
RELATIONSHIPS.
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13A. Leaders Say Thank You.
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The deepest human need is the need to be
appreciated.William James
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14. Leaders Wire the Joint!
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Winners wire. Losers are slaves to rank.
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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, Americas
Competitive Secret
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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 days
events? Who is better at keeping in touch
with others?Source Selling Is a Womans Game
15 Powerful Reasons Why Women Can Outsell Men,
Nicki Joy Susan Kane-Benson
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15. Leadership Is Improv!
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16. Leaders Trust in TRUST!
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Credibility!
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17. Leaders Are Natural EMPOWERMENT FREAKS!
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Empowerment is an attitude.
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WOMEN RULE!
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AS LEADERS, WOMEN RULE New Studies find that
female managers outshine their male counterparts
on almost every measureTitle, Special Report,
Business Week, 11.20.00
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The New Economy Shout goodbye to command and
control!Shout goodbye to hierarchy!Shout
goodbye to knowing ones place!
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Womens Stuff New Economy MatchImprov
skillsRelationship-centricLess rank
consciousnessSelf determinedTrust sensitive
IntuitiveNatural empowerment freaks less
threatened by strong peopleIntrinsic
motivation gt Extrinsic
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Womens Strengths Link rather than rank
workers favor interactive-collaborative
leadership style empowerment gt top-down decision
making sustain fruitful collaborations
comfortable with sharing information see
redistribution of power as victory, not
surrender favor multi-dimensional feedback
value interpersonal technical skills, group
individual contributions equally readily accept
ambiguity honor intuition as well as pure
rationality inherently flexible appreciate
cultural diversitySource Judy B. Rosener,
Americas Competitive Secret
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Boys are trained in a way that will make them
irrelevant.Phil Slater
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18. 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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Forbes100 from 1917 to 1987 39 members of the
Class of 17 were alive in 87 18 are in 87
F100 the 18 F100 survivors underperformed the
market by 20 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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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 Innovators Dilemma
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The difficulties arise from the inherent
conflict between the need to control existing
operations and the need to create the kind of
environment that will permit new ideas to
flourishand old ones to die a timely death. We
believe that most corporations will find it
impossible to match or outperform the market
without abandoning the assumption of continuity.
The current apocalypsethe transition from a
state of continuity to state of discontinuityHas
the same suddenness as the trauma that beset
civilization in 1000 A.D. Richard Foster
Sarah Kaplan, Creative Destruction (The
McKinsey Quarterly)
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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)
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The New Ge WayDYB.com
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The Gales of Creative Destruction29M -44M
73M4M 4M - 0M
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19. BUT Leaders Have to Deliver, So They Worry
About Throwing the Baby Out with the Bathwater.
Lifes a Bitch
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Damned If You Do, Damned If You Dont, Just
Plain DamnedSubtitle 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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20. Leaders HONOR THE ASSASSINS in Their
Organizations!
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Saviors-in-WaitingDisgruntled CustomersFringe
CompetitorsRogue EmployeesEdge SuppliersWayne
Burkan, Wide Angle Vision Beat the Competition
by Focusing on Fringe Competitors, Lost
Customers, and Rogue Employees
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20A. Leaders HIRE a Critical Mass of
ASSASSINS!
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QCC/Quick Culture ChangeHire Weird Promote
DeepRule of Three (3 Critical Mass)
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Nassers Triad The Internet Is the New Job
1Brian Kelley, 40, head of global sales and
service (GE appliances) first non-car guy in
the jobKaren Francis, 38, eBusiness czar (Olds
brand boss)Marv Adams, 43, CIO (Bank Ones IT
infrastructure consolidator) All three are
direct reports
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21. Leaders HANG OUT WITH FREAKS!
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The Cracked Ones Let in the LightOur 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
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Are there enough weird people in the lab these
days?V. Chmn., pharmaceutical house, to a lab
director (06.01)
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Axiom Never hire anyone without an aberration
in their background!
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Would Craig Venter (Luciano Benneton) come to
work for us?
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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
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Message TAKE SOMEONE NEW WEIRD TO LUNCH TODAY
OR TOMORROW. Inundate yourself with weird.
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22. Leaders Make Lotsa Mistakes and MAKE NO
BONES ABOUT IT!
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Fail faster. Succeed sooner.David Kelley/IDEO
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Learn not to be careful. Photographer Diane
Arbus, to her students
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Sams secret!
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23. Leaders Set DESIGN SPECS.
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Richards rules! (Innovative, high quality,
affordable, cheeky)
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23A. Leaders Revise Design Specs by Following
Their Bliss, Expressing Their Anger, and Thence
Riding the Hell Out of Hobby Horses.
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Ridin with Roger What have you done to
DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE quality in the last 90 days?
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24. Leaders Know When to CHALLENGE (BURN) Design
Specs!
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The chump-to-champ-to-chump cycle used to be
three generations. Now its about five
years.Bill McGowan
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25. Leaders Dont Create Followers THEY CREATE
LEADERS!
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Brand You, Big Time!I AM AN ARMY OF ONE
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If there is nothing very special about your
work, no matter how hard you apply yourself, you
wont get noticed, and that increasingly means
you wont get paid much either.Michael
Goldhaber, Wired
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Minimum New Work SurvivalSkillsKit2001MasteryRo
lodex Obsession (vert. to horiz.
loyalty)Entrepreneurial InstinctCEO/Leader/Bus
inessperson/CloserMistress of ImprovSense of
HumorIntense Appetite for TechnologyGroveling
Before the YoungEmbracing MarketingPassion
for Renewal
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The time seems appropriate to rethink the
notions of self and identity in this rapidly
changing age Tara Lemmey, Project LENS, past
president Electronic Frontier Foundation
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26. When It Comes to TALENT Leaders Always
Swing fore the Fences!
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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 (05.17.00)
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Home Depot 7 new growth initiatives (20B to
100B in 5-7 years)Arthur Blank BEST PERSON IN
THE WORLD TO HEAD EACH INITIATIVEE.g. COO of
IKEA to head international expansionEd
Michaels, War for Talent (05.17.00)
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We believe companies can increase their market
cap 50 percent in 3 years. Steve Macadam at
Georgia-Pacific changed 20 of his 40 box plant
managers to put more talented, higher paid
managers in charge. He increased profitability
from 25 million to 80 million in 2 years.Ed
Michaels, War for Talent (05.17.00)
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Message Some people are better than other
people. Some people are a helluva lot better than
other people.
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27. Leaders Win Followers Over
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WHAT AN IDIOT Instead of employees being in the
drivers seat, now were in the drivers seat.
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PJ Coaching is winning players over.
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28. Leaders have MENTORS. Leaders MENTOR.
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29. Leaders LOVE RAINBOWS for Pragmatic Reasons.
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Where do good new ideas come from? Thats
simple! From differences. Creativity comes from
unlikely juxtapositions. The best way to maximize
differences is to mix ages, cultures and
disciplines.Nicholas Negroponte
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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
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29A. Leaders Pursue Poets!
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Expose yourself to the best things humans have
done, and then try to bring those things into
what youre doing.Steve Jobs
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Gardners MI7 Linguistic, Logical-mathematical,
Spatial, Musical, Bodily-kinesthetic,
Interpersonal, Intrapersonal.
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30. Leaders Manage Their EVP.
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MantraM3Talent Brand
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We have transitioned from an asset-based
strategy to a talent-based strategy.Jeff
Skilling, CEO, Enron
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Whats your companys EVP?Employee Value
Proposition, per Ed Michaels et al., The War for
Talent
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EVP Challenge, professional growth, respect,
satisfaction, opportunity, rewardSource Ed
Michaels et al., The War for Talent
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Job1 TALENT!
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31. Leaders Know Its My Fault.
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32. Leaders LOVE the New Technology!
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Believe in the Internet MORE THAN EVER.Andy
Grove, Cover quote, Wired (June 2001)
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33. Leaders Out Their PASSION!
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A leader is a dealer in hope.Napoleon
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G.H. Create a cause, not a business.
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34. Leaders Know ENERGY BEGETS ENERGY!
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BZ I am a DISPENSER OF ENTHUSIASM!
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EntusiasmatoreWord invented by Silvio
Berlusconi, meaning enthusiast-salesman
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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.
Cs life. Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach
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35. Leaders Know Its ALL SALES ALL THE TIME.
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Sales2001
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The Sales25 Great Salespeople 1.
Know the product. (Find cool mentors, and use
them.)2. Know the company.3. Know the customer.
(Including the customers consultants.) (And
especially the corporate culture.)4. Love
internal politics at home and abroad.5.
Religiously respect competitors. (No badmouthing,
no matter how provoked.)6. Wire the customers
org. (Relationships at all levels
functions.)7. Wire the home teams org. and
vendors orgs. (INVEST Big Time time in
relationships at all levels functions.) (Take
junior people in all functions to client
meetings.)
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Great Salespeople 8.
Never overpromise. (Even if it costs you your
job.) 9. Sell only by solving problems-creating
profitable opportunities. (Our product solves
these problems, creates these unimagined
INCREDIBLE opportunities, and will make you a ton
of moneyheres exactly how.) (IS THIS A
PRODUCT SALE OR A WOW-ORIGINAL SOLUTION YOULL
BE DINING OFF 5 YEARS FROM NOW? THAT WILL BE
WRITTEN UP IN THE TRADE PRESS?)10. Will involve
anybodyincluding mortal enemiesif it enhances
the scope of the problem we can solve and
increases the scope of the opportunity we can
encompass.11. Know the Brand Story cold live
the Brand Story. (If not, leave.)
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Great Salespeople 12.
Think Turnkey. (Its always your problem!)13.
Act as orchestra conductor You are responsible
for making the whole-damn-network respond.
(PERIOD.)14. Help the customer get to know the
vendors organization build up their
Rolodex.15. Walk away from bad business. (Even
if it gets you fired.)16. Understand the idea of
a good loss. (A bold effort thats sometimes
better than a lousy win.)17. Think those who
regularly say Its all a price issue suffer
from rampant immaturity shrunken
imagination.18. Will not give away the store to
get a foot in the door. 19. Are wary
respectful of upstartsthe real enemy.20. Seek
several cool customerswholl drag you into
Tomorrowland.
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Great Salespeople
21. Use the word partnership obsessively,
even though it is way overused. (Partnership
includes folks at all levels throughout the
supply chain.)22. Send thank you notes by the
truckload. (NOT E-NOTES.) (Most are for little
things.) (50 of those notes are sent to those
in our company!) Remember birthdays. Use the word
we. 23. When you look across the table at the
customer, think religiously to yourself HOW CAN
I MAKE THIS DUDE RICH FAMOUS GET HIM-HER
PROMOTED? 24. Great salespeople in great
technology companies can affirmatively respond to
the query in an HP banner ad HAVE YOU CHANGED
CIVILIZATION TODAY?25. Keep your bloody
PowerPoint slides simple!
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36. 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.
• Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Respect

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37. Leaders SHOW UP!
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Leaders are living individuals whom employees
smell, feel, touch their presence.49
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38. Leadership Is a Performance. BELIEVE IT.
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You must be the change you wish to see in the
world.--M.G.
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39. 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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He who has the best story wins.Hopkins to
Freeman
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40. Leaders Create BUZZ!
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41. Leaders Pursue DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE!
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1st Law Mktg Physics OVERT BENEFIT (Focus 1 or
2 gt 3 or 4/One Great Thing. Source 1
Personal Passion)2ND Law REAL REASON TO
BELIEVE (Stand Deliver!)3RD Law DRAMATIC
DIFFERENCE (Execs Dont Get It intent to
purchase 100 unique 0 to 5)Source
Jump Start Your Business Brain, Doug Hall
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42. Leaders Focus on the SOFT STUFF!
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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. Otherwise, why bother? Just read
Dilbert. TPs final words CYNICISM SUCKS.
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Soft Is Hard
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43. Leaders KNOW They Can Make a Difference!
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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
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Hackneyed but none the less true LEADERS SEE
CUPS AS HALF FULL.
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44. Leaders LISTEN!
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See Stephen!
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45. Leaders LOVE POLITICS.
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46. Leaders SERVE.
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Robert Greenleaf Servant Leadership A Journey
into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness
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47. 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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47A. Leaders LAUGH!
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48. Leaders Are Graceful.
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My favorite word is grace whether its amazing
grace, saving grace, grace under fire, Grace
Kelly. How we live contributes to beauty
whether its how we treat other people or the
environment.Celeste Cooper, designer
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49. Leaders ???
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LEADERS NEED TO BE THE ROCK OF GIBRALTAR ON
ROLLER BLADES
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Its only business, not personal IT ALWAYS
IS PERSONAL.
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Hire smart go bonkers have grace make
mistakes love technology start all over
again.
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Leadership is the PROCESS of ENGAGING PEOPLE in
CREATING a LEGACY of EXCELLENCE.
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50. Leaders Know WHEN TO LEAVE!