EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS. Tom Peters/The Luminary Series/ Phoenix/26April2006

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EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.Tom Peters/The Luminary
Series/ Phoenix/26April2006
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Bonus
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Happy 50!26April2006
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Malcom McLean
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Containerization
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LessonsNeed-drivenA thousand
parentsMessyEvolutionaryTrivialExperimenta
tiontrial ERRORLoooong time for systemic
adaptation/s(many innovations) (bill of lading,
standard time)Not Plan-drivenThe product
of Strategic Thinking/PlanningThe product of
focus groups
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Get mad. Do something about it. Now.
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Manhole Cover Madness and More .
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Chicagolands Mystery Disappearances
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New Economy?!Sergey Larry gt Harvard/370
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If you dont like change, youre going to
like irrelevance even less. General Eric
Shinseki, Chief of Staff. U. S. Army
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It is not the strongest of the species that
survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one
most responsive to change. Charles Darwin
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In Toms world, its always better to try a
swan dive and deliver a colossal belly flop than
to step timidly off the board while holding your
nose. Fast Company /October2003
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EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.Tom Peters/The Luminary
Series/Phoenix/26April2006LONG
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Slides at tompeters.com
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BonusThe Irreducible209
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A frustrated participant at a seminar for
investment bankers in Mauritius listened
impatiently to my explanation of differences of
opinion among me, Mike Porter, Gary Hamel, Jim
Collins, etc. Finally, hed had enough. What, if
anything, he asked, do you believe for sure?
I mumbled something, but his query started
rumbling around in my mind. Three days later,
wandering on a Sunday in London, the idea of the
irreducibles occurred to meand I started
jotting down notes on stuff I do indeed believe
for sure. Before I knew it, a few days later,
the list had grown to 209 items. Hence The
Irreducible209 that follows.Tom Peters
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EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.
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P.P.E.E.R.R.E.
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People.Product.Execution.Enthusiasm.Relentless
.Re-invent.Excellence.
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EXCELLENCE. 1982.
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Excellence1982 The Bedrock Eight Basics 1. A
Bias for Action 2. Close to the Customer 3.
Autonomy and Entrepreneurship 4. Productivity
Through People 5. Hands On, Value-Driven 6. Stick
to the Knitting 7. Simple Form, Lean Staff 8.
Simultaneous Loose-Tight Properties
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What is In Search of Excellence all
aboutPeople. Emotion. Engagement.
Exuberance. Action-Execution. Empowerment.
Independence. Initiative. Imagination. Great
Stories. Incredible Adventures. Trust. Caring.
Fun. Joy. Customer-centrism. Profit. Growth.
Brand You. Dramatic Differences.
Experiences that Make You Gasp. Excellence.
Always.
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ExIn 1982-2002/Forbes.comDJIA 10,000 yields
85,500 EI 10,000 yields 140,050
Excellence Index /Basket of 32 publicly
traded stocks
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EXCELLENCE.
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SynonymsPurityTranscendenceVirtueEleganceMaj
estyAntonymsMediocrity
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EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.
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Why in the world did you go to Siberia?
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The Peters Principles Enthusiasm. Emotion.
Excellence. Energy. Excitement. Service. Growth.
Creativity. Imagination. Vitality. Joy.
Surprise. Independence. Spirit. Community.
Limitless human potential. Diversity. Profit.
Innovation. Design. Quality. Entrepreneurialism.
Wow.
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Business (at its best) An emotional, vital,
innovative, joyful, creative, entrepreneurial
endeavor that elicits maximum concerted human
potential in the wholehearted service of
others.Excellence. Always.Employees,
Customers, Suppliers, Communities, Owners,
Temporary partners
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EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.
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SummaryWallopWalMart16Or Why its so
absurdly easy to beat a GIANT Company
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The Small Guys Guide Wallop
WalMart16 Niche-aimed. (Never, ever all
things for all people, a mini-WalMart.) Never
attack the monsters head on! (Instead steal niche
business and lukewarm customers.) Dramatically
Different (La Difference ... within our
community, our industry regionally, etc is as
obvious as the end of ones nose!) (THIS IS WHERE
MOST MIDGETS COME UP SHORT.) Compete on
value/experience/intimacy, not price. (You aint
gonna beat the behemoths on cost-price in 9.99
out of 10 cases.) Emotional bond with Clients,
Vendors. (BEAT THE BIGGIES ON EMOTION/CONNECTION!!
)
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798
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415/SqFt/WalMart798/SqFt/Whole Foods
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EXCELLENCE? ALWAYS?
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This is not a mature category.
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This is an undistinguished category.
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Franchise Lost! TP How many of you 600
really crave a new Chevy?NYC/IIR/061205
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EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.
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7X. 730A-800P. F12A.93-03/10 yr annual
return CB 29 WM 17 HD 16. Mkt Cap 48
p.a.
42
?
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Its simple, really, Tom. Hire for ?s, and,
above all, promote for ?s. Starbucks middle
manager/field
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1/100 Best Companies to Work for/2005
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Wegmans
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Donnellys Weatherstrip Service Weymouth MA
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Bonus.
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?????Weenie of the year, 2006
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????????6/44
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PG
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The Irreducible209
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73. Exercise. 74. Paint. (Leader. Portraits of
Excellence.) 75. Best story wins. 76. You must
be the change you wish to see in the
world. 77. Two big ones. Max.
(Priorities.) 78. No I in Team. (I in
Win.) 79. I in Win. (No I in Team.) 80.
Different 1, Better 0. (Better 0.1) 81.
Imitation Mistake. (Learn, from who?) 82.
Choose/battle the right competitor. 83.
Schools. Creativity. Entrepreneurship.
(Not.) 84. MBAs. Creativity. Entrepreneurship.
Leadership. (Not.) 85. Design. Under-rated.
Wildly. (Still.) (Everything.)
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Storytelling is the core of culture.
Branded Nation The Marketing of Megachurch,
College Inc., and Museumworld, James Twitchell
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EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.
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55B
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EXCELLENCE? ALWAYS?
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Disintermediation is overrated. Those who
fear disintermediation should in fact be afraid
of irrelevancedisintermediation is just another
way of saying that youve become irrelevant to
your customers. John Battelle/Point/Advertisin
g Age/07.05
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ChicagoHRMAC
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support function / cost center/ overhead
or
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Are you Rock Stars of the Age of Talent
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DD21M
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A review of Jack and Suzy Welchs Winning claims
there are but two key differentiators that set GE
culture apart from the herd First Separating
financial forecasting and performance
measurement. Performance measurement based, as it
usually is, on budgeting leads to an epidemic of
gaming the system. GEs performance measurement
is divorced from budgetingand instead reflects
how you do relative to your past performance and
relative to competitors performance ie its
about how you actually do in the context of what
happened in the real world, not as compared to a
gamed-abstract plan developed last year.
Second Putting HR on a par with finance and
marketing.
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The Irreducible209
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117. Negotiation. Make all winners. (Save
face.) 118. Grace makes enemies friends. 119.
Network. 120. Invest in relationships. (Think
ROIR. Return On Investment in
Relationships.) 118. Relationship investment.
Forethought. Calendar item.
Intensity. 119. Innovation. Easy. (Hang out
with weird.) 120. Weird Win. (Weird
times.) 121. The bottleneck is at the top
of the bottle. 122. Good Board Weird Board.
(At least, surprising.) 123. No
contention, no progress.
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EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.
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support function / cost center/ overhead
or
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AnswerPSF
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Purchasing Officer Thrust 1 Cost (at All
Costs) Minimization Professional? Or/to Full
Partner-Leader in Lifetime Value-added
Maximization?(Lopez Arguably Villain 1 in
GM tragedy/Anon VSE-Spain)
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HCare CIO Technology Executive (workin in a
hospital) Or/to Full-scale, Accountable (life
or death) Member-Partner of XYZ Hospitals
Senior Healing-Services Team (who happens to be a
techie)
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Welcome to the Homer Simpson
Hospitala/k/a The Killing Fields
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HCare CIO Technology Executive (workin in a
hospital) Or/to Full-scale, Accountable (life
or death) Member-Partner of XYZ Hospitals
Senior Healing-Services Team (who happens to be a
techie)
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EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.
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EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.
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Better By Design A National StrategyNZ
Design Excellence
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The Irreducible209
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163. Own up. Quick. ( Denial. Cancer.)164.
Celebrate. Often.165. 78 people 78 approaches.
(Each. Unique.)166. Weed. Ceaselessly. (Prune.
Stupid. Rules. Non-stop.)167. Get out
of the way. (You The problem.)168.
Smile. Sunny. Optimism. (If it kills you.)169.
Flowers. (Cheery workplace.)170. Enjoy. (Or get
the hell.)171. Be intolerant of sour. (1
Major pollution)172. No quick trigger on
promotion. (Too important.)173.
Evaluation Lots of study-time.174. Evaluation
Life or death to evaluee.175. 360
evaluation. No fad.176. Exit when youre done.
(Done. Sooner than you think.)
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EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.
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Brand Talent.
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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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Leaderships Mt Everest/Mt Excellencefree to
do his or her absolute best allow its
members to discover their greatness.
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We are a Life Success CompanyDave Liniger,
founder, RE/MAX
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Brand You NationYou are the storyteller of
your own life, and you can create your own legend
or not. Isabel Allende
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HealthCentury21.Job 1(HC21.J1)Tom
Peters/0426.2006
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Quality!Prevention!Wellness! Chronic
care!Childhood obesity!H5N1!
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Quality!Prevention!Wellness! Chronic
care!Childhood obesity!H5N1!
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2m38s
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When I climb Mount Rainier I face less risk of
death than Ill face on the operating table.
Don Berwick, Six Keys to Safer Hospitals A
Set of Simple Precautions Could Prevent 100,000
Needless Deaths Every Year, Newsweek (1212.2005)
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The Ultimate Culture ChangeHealthcare
vs. Health
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Quality (100K deaths)Evidence/Outcomes-based
medicineIS/IT-in-health(care) revolutionWellness
/PreventionHealthcare to Health culture
transformationWash your hands!Home-care (as the
population rapidly ages)Med-school
re-orientation Public health
emphasisChildhood Obesity Mind-boggling (15
years?) social-moral-technological impact of
life sciences (the Singularity?)H5N1/WMDs/Envir
onmental degradationRisk assessment (private,
public)Market opportunityPublic vs/ Private
responsibilities partnerships Africa!
(Unconscionable failure to attend to/staggering
Health consequences for all)
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Re-imagine Healthcare
Reportcard2006Evidence-based/Outcomes-based
....... DPay-for-performance
. DIS/IT (general)
..... C-Use of information
(for decisionmaking-measurement) . C-EMR
(Electronic Medical Records) ......
C-/DCPOE (Computerized Physician Order Entry)
.. C-/DQuality/100K unnecessary deaths
.. D-(kind)Acute care to chronic
care-home care shift ..... D/D-Acute-care
to Prevention/Wellness Obsession..
D/D-Patient-centric/Client-centric..
DDocs acceptance of evidence-based
............ D/D-Revolutionary-intensity
Incentives re evidence ... D- Childhood
obesity epidemic .. D- H5N1
preparedness ... DCorporate
focus on Prevention/Wellness.........
C-/DIndividual focus on Prevention/Wellness
.. DIndividuals health education/self-manageme
nt ..... C-Workforce acceptance of
self-responsibility ....... C-Workforce
transition to Brand You attitude......
C-/D 3 March 2006/Tom Peters
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If God spoke to me by saying, Mark, youre down
to your last three words What would you want to
say to your fellow humans that would make the
most positive impact? It would be a close call
between Love Thy Neighbor and Wash Your Hands .
A close third would be Move, Move, Move. Mark
Pettus, M.D., The Savvy PatientThe most
important thing you can do to keep from getting
sick is to wash your hands. CDC/National
Center for Infectious Diseases
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The Irreducible209
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188. Handshake. (Quantity. Quality.)189. Dont
fold your hands in front of your chest.
Ever. (Never.)190. Simplicity. Redundancy.
Resilience. Bloody-mindedness. Visible
optimism. (Success.) (Repeat.)191. Employee
Entrance Guest Entrance.192. Put the
customer SECOND. (Thanks, Hal.)193.
Flowers. (Or did I say that before? No
matter if I did.)194. Big Mergers dont work.
Small acquisitions can/do workif you
dont screw with their energy.
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EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.
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Insanely Great Language! Insanely
Great. Steve Jobs
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Radically Thrilling Language! Radically
Thrilling. BMW Z4 (ad)
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EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.
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Its always showtime. David DAlessandro,
Career Warfare
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EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.
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The Irreducible209
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A frustrated participant at a seminar for
investment bankers in Mauritius listened
impatiently to my explanation of differences of
opinion among me, Mike Porter, Gary Hamel, Jim
Collins, etc. Finally, hed had enough. What, if
anything, he asked, do you believe for sure?
I mumbled something, but his query started
rumbling around in my mind. Three days later,
wandering on a Sunday in London, the idea of the
irreducibles occurred to meand I started
jotting down notes on stuff I do indeed believe
for sure. Before I knew it, a few days later,
the list had grown to 209 items. Hence The
Irreducible209 that follows.Tom Peters
102
1. Hare 1, Tortoise 0. (Hare-y times.) 2. Tempo.
(O.O.D.A.) 3. MBWA. 4. Appreciation. (Motivator
1.) (Cant be faked. Good.) 5. Decency. 6.
Hurry. 7. Time out. 8. One matters. 9. Big
change. Short time. (Alt not work.) 10.
Excellence. Always. 11. Passion. Energy. Hustle.
Enthusiasm. Exuberance. (Move mountains. No
alt.) 12. You must care. 13. Emotion. 14. Hard is
soft. (Soft is hard.)
103
15. Men. Women. Different. Contend. Connect. 16.
Women. Buy. All. (RU listening?) 17. Quality.
(Mind-blowing. Beyond 6-Sigma.) 18. Re-invent.
Re-pot. (Required.) 19. Jaywalk. 20. Big change.
Small of people. (Always.) 21. Experiment.
Now. 22. Failure. Normal. 23. Most failures,
most success. (Fail. Forward. Fast.) 24.
Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre
successes. 25. Women leaders. (Altered times.)
26. Extremism. (Good business. Bad
politics.) 27. Innovation source. Only. Extreme
irritation. 28. Smile.
104
29. You must care. 30. Mentor. (Highest ROI.) 31.
Best roster wins. 32. Wow. (Okay in biz.) 33.
We all have customers. (Biz. Personal.) 34. All
contacts Experiences. 35. Cirque du Soleil.
(Peerless.) 36. Leaders create space for
growth. 37. Quests. (Only.) 38. High aspirations,
high results. (Self-fulfilling
prophecy.) 39. Attitude 1, Skills 0. (Mostly.)
(Attitude 1, Skill 0.3?) 40. Sometimes Skill
1, Attitude 0.1. 41. Must love, not like. 42.
Wegmans. (No excuses. Mere groceries.) 43.
Less than your best. Cheating.
105
44. Brand You. (No alt.) 45. Self-sufficiency.
(Biggest LT turn-on.) 46. In the moment. 47. The
moment wins. 48. Tomorrow Never. 49. Action 1,
Plan 0.1. 50. Execution can be a system. 51.
Realism. 52. Own up. Move on. 53.
Accountability. 54. Work hard gt Work smart.
(Mostly.) 55. Feedback. Necessary. Fast. (R.F.A.
in RFA times.) 56. Customers. Listen.
Lead. (Paradox.) 57. On stage. Always. (GW,
FDR, RG Supreme actors.)
106
58. Master statistical analysis. 59. Excellence
Set the table. 60. Legacy. (Will it have
mattered?) 61. Great. (Why not?) 62. Radicals
rule. (Think Olympics.) 63. !!! Good. 64. Red
1, Brown 0. (Red times.) 65. Talk. Listen. (Big
2. Master.) 66. Politics. (Normal-inevitable
state of affairs. Master.) 67. Student.
Forever. 68. Why? (Question 1.) 69. Dont
belittle. 70. Respect. 71. All we have this
moment. (Moments matter most?) 72. Now.
(Procrastination. Death.)
107
73. Exercise. 74. Paint. (Leader. Portraits of
Excellence.) 75. Best story wins. 76. You must
be the change you wish to see in the
world. 77. Two big ones. Max.
(Priorities.) 78. No I in Team. (I in
Win.) 79. I in Win. (No I in Team.) 80.
Different 1, Better 0. (Better 0.1) 81.
Imitation Mistake. (Learn, from who?) 82.
Choose/battle the right competitor. 83.
Schools. Creativity. Entrepreneurship.
(Not.) 84. MBAs. Creativity. Entrepreneurship.
Leadership. (Not.) 85. Design. Under-rated.
Wildly. (Still.) (Everything.)
108
86. You Calendar. (Calendar. Never. Lies.) 87.
Laugh. 88. Handshake. (Quantity. Quality.) 89.
Dont fold your hands in front of your chest.
Ever. (Never.) 90. Grace. (Works in biz.) 91.
Weird. Wins. (Weird times.) 92. Crazy times.
Crazy orgs. 93. Internet. All. 94. Women.
Boomers-Geezers. Market. All. 95. Passion.
(Repeat. So what?) 96. Energy. (Repeat.
So what?) 97. Hustle. (Repeat. So
what?) 98. Enthusiasm. (Repeat. So what?) 99.
Exuberance. (Repeat. So what?) 100. Smile.
(Repeat. So what?) 101. Care.
(Repeat. So what?)
109
102. Simplicity. Redundancy. Resilience. Bloody-
mindedness. Visible optimism. (Success.)
103. Act. (Repeat. So what?) 104.
Appreciate. (Repeat. So what?) 105. Fun. (Biz.
Why not?) 106. Joy. (Biz. Why not?) 107. Sales
Life. 108. Marketing Life. 109. Long-term. Top
line. 110. Great company Creates the most
individual success stories. (RE/MAX) 111.
Talent first, performance byproduct. 112.
Sustained Wow 1, Shareholder value,
0.2 (Product, People.) 113. Commitment, by
invitation only. 114. Creativity, by invitation
only. 115. HR 1. (Ought to.) 116.
Face-to-face. (5K miles, 5 minutes.)
110
117. Negotiation. Make all winners. (Save
face.) 118. Grace makes enemies friends. 119.
Network. 120. Invest in relationships. (Think
ROIR. Return On Investment in
Relationships.) 118. Relationship investment.
Forethought. Calendar item.
Intensity. 119. Innovation. Easy. (Hang out
with weird.) 120. Weird Win. (Weird
times.) 121. The bottleneck is at the top
of the bottle. 122. Good Board Weird Board.
(At least, surprising.) 123. No
contention, no progress.
111
124. Crucial conversations. Crucial
confrontations. (Study. Learn. Do.) 125. Honest
feedback. 126. Gaspworthy. Yes. 127. Insanely
great. 128. Astonish me. 129. Make it
immortal. 130. Will you remember it in 20
years? 131. No small opportunities.
(Reframe.) 132. One playmate, one playpen
Enough. 133. End run. Sensible. 134. Allies are
there for the finding. 135. Find successes. Build
on successes. (Pos gt Neg. Encourage gt
Fix.) 136. Somebodys doing it today. Find
em. 137. Someone is living 2016 in 2006.
(Find em. Study em.)
112
138. Dont benchmark, futuremark.
(2016. Happening. Somewhere.) 139. PMA. It
works. 140. There are no experts. (You are the
expert.) 141. Life is short. 142. Sustained
success. Fat chance. Make today matter.
(Sustained. Ha.) 143. Collaborate. (Networked
world.) 144. Go solo. (Individual. Unit of
Intellectual Capital.) 145. There are no
perfect plans. (Do. Wins.) 146. Plans motivate.
(Right or wrong. Sense of purpose.) 147.
Never rest. 148. Get some sleep. 149. Winning
Embracing paradox. 150. Ambiguity Opportunity.
113
151. Resilience. 152. Relentless-ness. 153. None.
Above. Comeuppance. (GM. Sears. U.S.
Steel. DEC.) 154. Be yourself. Period. 155. Never
work with jerks. Including customers.
(Life. Too short.) 156. Under-promise,
over-deliver. 157. Talent. (Powerful word.) 158.
Customer Anyone whose actions affect
your results. 159. Competition stinks. (Seek the
soft spots where you can dominate.) 160.
K.I.S.S./Keep It Simple, Stupid. 161. Beauty.
(Good biz word.) 162. See the beauty in a
hamburger bun. (Go. Ray.)
114
163. Own up. Quick. ( Denial. Cancer.)164.
Celebrate. Often.165. 78 people 78 approaches.
(Each. Unique.)166. Weed. Ceaselessly. (Prune.
Stupid. Rules. Non-stop.)167. Get out
of the way. (You The problem.)168. Smile.
Sunny. Optimism. (If it kills you.)169. Flowers.
(Cheery workplace.)170. Enjoy. (Or get the
hell.)171. Be intolerant of sour. (1 Major
pollution)172. No quick trigger on promotion.
(Too important.)173. Evaluation Lots of
study-time.174. Evaluation Life or death to
evaluee.175. 360 evaluation. No fad.176. Exit
when youre done. (Done. Sooner than you
think.)
115
177. Today. Now. My Project. Am. Is. I.
Period. 178. Beautiful systems. (Good biz
phrase. Not oxymoron.) 179. Build on
strengths gt Fix weaknesses. 180. To dont To
do. (To dont gt To do ?) 181.
Leaders Do People. (Period.) 182. Leaders enjoy
leading. 183. Serious leadership training
Serious. 184. Priorities. Obvious. (Or
else.) 185. 5 Priorities 0 Priorities.
(3 Priorities 0 Priorities?) 186. People.
First. Last. Always. 187. It. Is. Always. The.
People.
116
188. Handshake. (Quantity. Quality.)189. Dont
fold your hands in front of your chest.
Ever. (Never.)190. Simplicity. Redundancy.
Resilience. Bloody-mindedness. Visible
optimism. (Success.) (Repeat.)191. Employee
Entrance Guest Entrance.192. Put the
customer SECOND. (Thanks, Hal.)193.
Flowers. (Or did I say that before? No
matter if I did.)194. Big Mergers dont work.
Small acquisitions can/do workif you
dont screw with their energy.
117
195. Instinctively head for the front
line. (In all contexts.)196. Success
DDMMPR/"D-squared, M-squared, PR
DramDiff Money-Financial Acumen
Good Marketing Instincts Stellar
People Resilience (The fab five
What. Every. Small. Biz. Needs.) (Big
too.) 197. Core Mechanism (Game-changing
Solutions) PSF (Professional Service
Firm model) Wow! Projects
(Different vs Better) Brand You
(Distinct or Extinct) 198. 2011/2016 has
already happened. Find it.
118
199. Kids know kids. Oldies know oldies.
Women know women. (Staff
accordingly.)200. Everybody is my customer.201.
Cosset vendors.202. I want to run a
Housekeeping department. (And you?)203.
The military doesnt follow the military
model. (Initiative Excellence.)204. No such
thing as going to absurd lengths to
serve the Customer. (HSM Lefties.)205. Forget
the customer. All Clients.206. It takes
decades to get over sleights. (So
dont sleight.)207. Dont dumb down. Ever.
119
208. NO LESS THAN EXCELLENCE.
EVER.209. EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.
120
EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.