excellence. always. new slides. new stories. july-august 2006

excellence.Always.

New slides.New stories.

July-august 2006.

New 02 September

2006

context

The “Missing 900K”

Will the Boat Sink the Water: The Life of China’s Peasants

—Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao’s

Schools & Techtonic Plates

In: "economics, technology, social customs and globalization."

Out: Socialism in general ("one short chapter"). Chinese communism before the 1979 economic revolution ("a sentence"). Mao ("only once--in a chapter on etiquette").

Source: The New York Times, p1, 0901.2006, on reported on revised history textbooks for high school seniors in Shanghai, China.

“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

(Practical) Implication?

“Go for it!” (Why not—alternative is slow death, at best)

In-Cab University

*Business. Humanities. Science. Personal growth.

*Listen in truck, transmit assignments via cellphone or Wi-Fi at truck stops

*$225 per credit hour; several big fleets paying

*Stephen Fraser, 38: “Rather than driving all day and dreaming about lottery winnings, I’m actually using my mind.”

Leaders: gotta

say it!

“No leader sets out to be a leader per se, but rather

to express him- or herself freely and fully.

That is, leaders have no interest in proving

themselves, but an abiding interest in expressing themselves.” —Warren Bennis,

On Becoming a Leader

Leaders

EnthusiasmEnergy

ExuberanceVoracious Curiosity

Irritability/Dis-satisfactionRelentlessnessSelf-reliance

“Closer” (Execution)excellence

EnthusiasmEnergy

ExuberanceVoracious Curiosityartistic inclination

Irritability/Dis-satisfactionRelentlessnessSelf-reliance

“Closer” (Execution)engagementexcellence

Exuberance

Exuberance: The Passion for Life, by Kay Redfield Jamison+

“I believe exuberance is incomparably more important than we acknowledge. If, as has been claimed,

enthusiasm finds the opportunities and energy makes the most of them, a mood of mind that yokes the two of

them is formidable indeed.”

“The Greeks bequeathed to us one of the most beautiful words in our language—the word

‘enthusiasm’—en theos—a god within. The grandeur of human actions is measured by the inspiration from

which they spring. Happy is he who bears a god within, and who obeys it.”—Louis Pasteur

“Exuberance is, at its quick, contagious. As it spreads pell-mell through a group, exuberance excites, it

delights, and it dispels tension. It alerts the group to change and possibility.”


“A leader is someone who creates infectious enthusiasm.”—Ted Turner

“‘Glorious’ was a term [John] Muir would invoke time and again … despite his conscious attempts to

eradicate it from his writing. ‘Glorious’ and ‘joy’ and ‘exhilaration’: no matter how often he scratched out these words once he had written them, they sprang

up time and again …”

“To meet Roosevelt, said Churchill, ‘with all his buoyant sparkle, his iridescence,’ was like ‘opening a bottle of

champagne.’ Churchill, who knew both champagne and human nature, recognized ebullient leadership when he

saw it.”


“At a time of weakness and mounting despair in the democratic world, Roosevelt stood out by his

astonishing appetite for life and by his apparently complete freedom from fear of the future; as a man who welcomed the future eagerly as such, and conveyed the feeling that whatever the times might bring, all would be grist to his mill, nothing would be too formidable or crushing to be subdued. He had unheard of energy and gusto … and was a spontaneous, optimistic, pleasure-

loving ruler with unparalleled capacity for creating confidence.”—Isaiah Berlin on FDR


“Churchill had a very powerful mind, but a romantic and unquantitative one. If he thought about a course of action long enough, if he achieved it alone in his

own inner consciousness and desired it passionately, he convinced himself it must be possible. Then, with incomparable invention, eloquence and high spirits,

he set out to convince everyone else that it was not only possible, but the only course of action

open to man.”—C.P. Snow

“We are all worms. But I do believe that I am a glow-worm.”—Churchill on Churchill

“The multitudes were swept forward till their pace was

the same as his.”—Churchill on T.E. Lawrence

“He brought back a real joy to music.”—Wynton Marsalis on Louis Armstrong

bedrock behaviors

Home Run

Being there! * ** *** ****

*No more, no less**“A body can pretend to care, but they can’t

pretend to be there.” — Texas Bix Bender*** GEN Melvin Zais on COs and inspections

****Silence is golden! [Utter silence is golden-er.]

Period!

Shake handsSmile

Eye contact

Period+!

Shake handsSmile

Eye contactThank you

FlowersOpen pose

ROIR

Sorting Out a Problem/ Misunderstanding with an e-mail:

Don’t delay! It’s the effort that counts (Long>Short)Get personal (“authentic”—yuck)FLAT OUT APOLOGIZE (no equivocality)Take more blame than you “deserve”

BG: It sounds like you listen to your instincts.DvF: “I do. I have a very, very good relationship with myself.”Source: Diane von Furstenberg, Boston Globe on her staying power, 0806.06

By Invitation

only!

By Invitation!

“In the end, management doesn’t

change culture. Management

invites

the workforce itself to change the culture.”

—Lou Gerstner

“If I could have chosen not to tackle the IBM culture head-on, I probably wouldn’t

have. My bias coming in was toward strategy, analysis and measurement. In comparison, changing the attitude and behaviors of hundreds of thousands of

people is very, very hard. [Yet] I came to see in my time at IBM that

culture isn’t just one aspect of the game—it is the game.” —Lou Gerstner, Who

Says Elephants Can’t Dance

Game-changing Solutions: Core Mechanism

PSF (Professional Service Firm “model”)

+

Wow Projects (“Different” vs “Better”)

+

Brand You(“Distinct” or “Extinct”)

Unassailable Value-Added:

The “PSF” model

The Pursuit of Unassailable Value-Added

The [Only?] Answer

PSF (Professional Service Firm “model”/The Organizing Principle)

+

Brand You(“Distinct” or “Extinct”/The Talent)

+

Wow! Projects (“Different” vs “Better”/The Work)

The [Only?*] Answer*

PSF

+

Brand You+

Wow! Projects

*damn it!

PSF + BY + WP = VA

PSF + BY + WP +

DD + E = UVA

PSF (Professional Service Firm) + BY (Brand You) + WP (WOW Projects) +

DD (Dramatic Difference)

+ E (Excellence) = UVA (Unassailable

Value-Added)

The [Only?] Answer

PSF (Professional Service Firm “model”/The Organizing Principle)

+

Brand You(“Distinct” or “Extinct”/The Talent)

+

Wow! Projects (“Different” vs “Better”/The Work)

The New Enterprise Value-Added Equation/Mark2006

(1) 100% “WOW PROJECTS” (New Org “DNA”/“The Work”)

+ (2) Incredible “TALENT” Transformed into (3) Entrepreneurial “BRAND YOUs” and

(4) Launched on Awesome “QUESTS FOR EXCELLENCE”

= (5) Internal “Rockin’ PSFs” (Staff Depts. Morphed into Wildly

Innovative Professional Service Firms) … (6) Which Coalesce to Transform the FEVP/Fundamental Enterprise

Value Proposition from “Superior Products & Services” to “ENCOMPASSING SOLUTIONS” &

“GAME-CHANGING CLIENT SUCCESS”

Big Idea/“Meta”-Idea/Premier “Engine of Value Added”

(1) The Talent: “Best Roster” of Entrepreneurial-minded Brand Yous.

(2) The (Virtual) Organization: Internal or External “PSF”/Professional Service Firm

working with “Best Anywhere” = Engine of Value Added through the Application of Creative

“Intellectual Capital”

(3) The Work Product: “Game Changer”/ “Gaspworthy” WOW Projects

Static/Imitative

Integrity.Quality.

Continuous Improvement.Superior Service (Exceeds Expectations.)

Completely Satisfactory Transaction.Smooth Evolution.

Market Share.

Dynamic/Different

Dramatic Difference!Disruptive!

Insanely Great! (Quality++++)

Life-(Industry-)changing Experience!Game-changing!

WOW!Surprise!Delight!

Breathtaking!Punctuated Equilibrium!

Market Creation!

EXCELLENCE =

Flawless EXECUTION + Continuous IMPROVEMENT

+ Brilliantly Trained PEOPLE

+Gamechanging QUESTS +

WEIRD Rosters + GASPWORTHY Results

Itinerant Potential Machines.

Re-imagine Tomorrow’s Organizations:

Itinerant Potential Machines.

“It is not the strongest of the species that

survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one

most responsive to change.” —Charles Darwin

“I wanted GE to operate with the speed, informality, and open communication of a

corner store. Corner stores often have strategy right.

With their limited resources, they have to rely on laser-like focus on doing one thing very

well.” —Jack Welch/Fortune/04.05

TALENT POOL TO DIE FOR. Youthful. Insanely energetic. Value creativity. Risk taking is routine. Failing is normal … if you’re stretching. Want to “make their

bones” in “the revolution.” Love the new technologies. Well rewarded. Don’t plan

to be around 10 years from now.

TALENT POOL PLUS. Seek out and work with “world’s best” as needed

(it’s often needed). “We aim to change the world, and we need gifted

colleagues—who well may not be on our payroll.”

BRASSY-BUT-GROUNDED-LEADERSHIP. Say “I don’t know”—and

then unleash the TALENT. Have a vision to be DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENT—but don’t

expect the co. to be around forever. Will scrap pet projects, and change course 180

degrees—and take a big write-off in the process. NO REGRETS FROM SCREW-UPS

WHOSE TIME HAS NOT-YET-COME. GREAT REGRETS AT TIME & $$$

WASTED ON “ME TOO” PRODUCTS AND PROJECTS.

BRASSY-BUT-GROUNDED-LEADERSHIP. (Cont.) “Visionary” leaders matched by leaders

with shrewd business sense: “HOW DO WE TURN A PROFIT ON THIS GORGEOUS IDEA?” Appreciate “market creation” as much as or

more than “market share growth.” ARE INSANELY AWARE THAT MARKET LEADERS

ARE ALWAYS IN PRECARIOUS POSITIONS, AND THAT MARKET SHARE WILL NOT PROTECT US,

IN TODAY’S VOLATILE WORLD, FROM THE NEXT KILLER IDEA AND KILLER ENTREPRENEUR.

(Gates. Ellison. Venter. McNealy. Walton. Case. Etc.)

ALLIANCE MANIACS. Don’t assume that “the best resides within.” WORK WITH A SHIFTING ARRAY OF STATE-OF-THE-ART PARTNERS FROM ONE

END OF THE “SUPPLY CHAIN” TO THE OTHER. Including vendors and

consultants and … especially … PIONEERING CUSTOMERS … who

will “pull us into the future.”

TECHNOLOGY-NETWORK FANATICS. Run the whole-damn-

company, and relations with all outsiders, on the Internet … at Internet speed.

Reluctant to work with those who don’t share this (radical) vision.

POTENTIAL MACHINES-ORGANISMS. Don’t know what’s

coming next. But are ready to jump at opportunities, especially those that

challenge-overturn our own “way of doing things.”

In-Cab University

*Business. Humanities. Science. Personal growth.

*Listen in truck, transmit assignments via cellphone or Wi-Fi at truck stops

*$225 per credit hour; several big fleets paying

*Stephen Fraser, 38: “Rather than driving all day and dreaming about lottery winnings, I’m actually using my mind.”

Small Biz

Summary:

WallopWal*Mart16*

*Or: Why it’s so absurdly easy to beat a GIANT Company

The “Small Guys” Guide: Wallop Wal*Mart16

*Niche-aimed. (Never, ever “all things for all people,” a “mini-Wal*Mart.)

*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 one’s nose!) (THIS IS WHERE MOST MIDGETS COME UP SHORT.)

*Compete on value/experience/intimacy, not price. (You ain’t 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!!)

“This is an essay about what it takes to create and sell something remarkable. It is a plea for originality, passion, guts and daring. You can’t be remarkable by following someone else who’s remarkable. One way to figure out a theory is to look at what’s working in the real world and determine what the successes have in common. But what could the Four Seasons and Motel 6 possibly have in common? Or Neiman-

Marcus and Wal*Mart? Or Nokia (bringing out new hardware every 30 days or so) and Nintendo (marketing the same Game Boy 14 years in a row)? It’s like trying to drive

looking in the rearview mirror. The thing that all these companies have in common is that they have nothing in common. They are outliers.

They’re on the fringes. Superfast or superslow. Very exclusive or very cheap. Extremely big or extremely small. The reason it’s so hard to follow the leader is this:

The leader is the leader precisely because he did something remarkable. And that remarkable thing is now taken—so it’s no longer remarkable when you decide to do

it.” —Seth Godin, Fast Company/02.2003


*Hands-on, emotional leadership. (“We are a great & cool & intimate & joyful & dramatically different team working to transform our Clients lives via Consistently Incredible Experiences!”)

*A community star! (“Sell” local-ness per se. Sell the hell out of it!)

*An incredible experience, from the first to last moment—and then in the follow-up! (“These guys are cool! They ‘get’ me! They love me!”)

*DESIGN DRIVEN! (“Design” is a premier weapon-in-pursuit-of-the sublime for small-ish enterprises, including the professional services.)


*Employer of choice. (A very cool, well-paid place to work/learning and growth experience in at least the short term … marked by notably progressive policies.) (THIS IS EMINENTLY DO-ABLE!!)

*Sophisticated use of information technology. (Small-“ish” is no excuse for “small aims”/execution in IS/IT!)

*Web-power! (The Web can make very small very big … if the product-service is super-cool and one purposefully masters buzz/viral marketing.)

*Innovative! (Must keep renewing and expanding and revising and re-imagining “the promise” to employees, the customer, the community.)


*Brand-Lovemark* (*Kevin Roberts) Maniacs! (“Branding” is not just for big folks with big budgets. And modest size is actually a Big Advantage in becoming a local-regional-niche “lovemark.”)

*Focus on women-as-clients. (Most don’t. How stupid.)

*Excellence! (A small player … per me

… has no right or reason to exist unless they are in Relentless Pursuit of Excellence. One earns the right—one damn day and client experience at a time!—to beat the Big Guys in your chosen niche!)

The Fab Five: What Every Small Biz Needs

Success = DDMMPR/"D-squared, M-squared, PR” = DramDiff + Money-Financial Acumen + Good “Marketing” Instincts + Stellar People +

Resilience

What I’ve Learned about

“Small Business”

Tom Peters/26June2006

Passion for PRODUCT.OBSESSION With Product.

LOVE The Product.Aim To Be “ONLY ONES WHO DO WHAT WE DO.”

Keep ADDIN’ Stuff.Invest “UNWISELY” in R&D.

Reside Permanently In The DISCOMFORT Zone.“Unhealthy” PARANOIA Is A Good Thing.

Add Clients That PUSH-PULL.SELL. SELL. SELL. SELL.

Go For Broke: CUSTOMER CONTACT PEOPLE.PERFECTION: Customer Contact People.

Hire for ATTITUDE.INVITE On An Adventure. GREAT CFO/Biz Guy-Gal. NASTY CFO/Biz Guy-Gal.

QUADRANGULAR LEADERSHIP: Visionary-Talent Fanatic-Project Manager-I.P.M. (I.P.M. = Inspired Profit Mechanic)

More @ Moore

GREAT Logo.DESIGN!

“OVERDO” Marketing Materials.WOMEN Roar. WOMEN Rule. WOMEN Buy.

Diversity = $$$$$$Be RELENTLESS. Cut And RUN.

Product Includes-Features the PACKAGING.Define Your DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE (R.P.O.V.8)

Best STORY Wins.DRESS For Success.

First Goal: AMUSE Yourself.Know YOURSELF.

DON’T Do Stuff You Hate. “Over-invest” In RELATIONSHIPS.

(R.O.I.R.: Return On Investment in Relationships)SYSTEMATICALLY “Manage” Relationships.

“Work” The SUPPORT PEOPLE In Client Orgs.

BLOG As If Your Life Depended On It.SOPHISTICATED Use Of Infotech.

RESPONSE To Problems.Make ’Em PAY.

CLOSE The Sale. Invest BIGTIME In PR.

Media FRIENDLY.Live-To-SCHMOOZE.

Fun/Laughter = $$$$ MBWA: Stay In Touch.

“You Must Be The Change You Wish To See In The World”/GANDHI

5K For 5M.Your CALENDAR Never Lies.

OUT: Pastels. IN: Technicolor

JUST SAY “NO” TO C.E.O.: CIO/Chief Innovation Officer. CSO/Chief Sales Officer. CWO/

Chief Wow Officer

EXCELLENCE Is Very Cool. “MICRO-MANAGE” Your Reputation.Wear Your Integrity On Your SLEEVE.

KEEP Your Promises.EXECUTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“A Man Without A Smiling Face MUST NOT Open His Shop.”

RECOGNITION! Work HARD, Not Smart.

“Insanely Great.” THE STANDARD.

Tom/2006/Q97-Q100

Study more.Renew more.Tailor more.Offer more.Listen more.Market more.Practice more.

Challenge more.Socialize more.

Smile more.Follow-up more.

Plan execution more.Cost control more.

“A man without a smiling face

must not open a shop.” —Chinese Proverb

“It’s always

showtime.”

—David D’Alessandro, Career Warfare

Small Giants: Companies That

Choose To Be Great Instead Of

Big —by Bo Burlingham

The Small*Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating Local

Competition —Michael Shuman

I HEREBY PLEDGE …

When asked, “What are some examples of companies stepping up to today’s

challenges?” … I will … NEVER AGAIN … offer an example of a Giant Company; instead I’ll refer to

Cirque du Soleil, Donnelly’s Weatherstrip Service, 3K tanning salons, 10.6M women-owned businesses (or the

typically female recipients of micro-lending) …*

*There is more to Biz Life than Giant Cos … LOTS MORE … that “hidden 99%”

10 UNASSAILABLE REASONS WOMEN RULE

Women make [all] the financial decisions.Women control [all] the wealth.Women [substantially] outlive men.Women start most of the new businesses.Women’s work force participation rates have soared worldwide.Women are closing in on “same pay for same job.”Women are penetrating senior ranks rapidly [even if the pace is slow for the corner office per se].Women’s leadership strengths are exceptionally well aligned with new organizational effectiveness imperatives.Women are better salespersons than men.Women buy [almost] everything—commercial as well as consumer goods.

So what exactly is the point of men?

“I’m not a fashion historian. A woman is a woman. I do my best. I

follow my instinct. I watch women. My

company is 97 percent women.” —Diane von Furstenberg, Boston Globe

on her staying power, 0806.06

Design.Again.

All Tingly!

EMS rain shell (zipper)

Columbia walking shoes (overall design, yellow stripe in bottom of sole)

spellbinding

experience

The 2-cent Candy Redux

(From Beltramo’s to Singapore.)

And You?

Stockholm:

blanket at outside

table (August)

U.S. Grant, painter

tragedy

“Ford, GM and Chrysler do not just

make cars expensively … they

make bad cars expensively.” —Investec analyst,

International Herald, 0805.06

Health

REALLY Saving Lives:

Exercise!!!!Wash your hands!!!!

Sunscreen!!!! Drop transfats

No high fructose corn syrupModest quality improvement

schemesin acute-care settings

EMR/DSSImmunization

DDTIncreased GDP

“Saving lives 101”:

Hard is Soft is Hard

Dock fat docs.

Malpractice suits for administrators/facilities

with no EMRs.

MESSY RULES: DEAL

WITH IT;LIMITS TO

“STRATEGY”

The Mess Is

the Message! Period!

Wanted* ** : Corporate Senility!

*Desperately!**“The problem is never how to get new, innovative

thoughts into your mind, but how to get the old ones out.” —Dee Hock

People.Product.

Persistence.Experimentation.

Execution.Enthusiasm.Excellence.

People.Product.

Persistence.Experimentation.

Execution.Enthusiasm.Excellence.

Senility.

“Pee-squared Cee Eee-squared X-squared/PPCEEXX:

PeoplePersistenceCustomersEnthusiasm

EnergyeXecutioneXcellence

“Pee-squared Cee Eee-squared X-squared/PPCEEXX:

PeoplePersistenceCustomersEnthusiasm

EnergyeXecutioneXcellence

Senility

People.Product.Passion.

Relentless.Re-invent.

Experimentation.Execution.

Enthusiasm.Excellence.

People.Product.Passion.

Relentless.Re-invent.

Experimentation.Execution.

Enthusiasm.Excellence.

Senility.

Revolution-Transformation. (No long runs on Broadway-Senility.)

“Soft”>“Hard.” (Culture or Bust.)

Execution-Action. (Do>Think.)

Clean Sheet of Paper. (Web2.0, Transparency, New Org Form—Itinerant Potential Machines.)

PSF-Brand You-Wow Projects.

Up-Up-Up the VA Ladder. (Gamechanging Solutions-Eyepopping Experiences-Dream Merchants-Lovemarks.)

Weird. (Innovation “Easy.”)

Energy-Enthusiasm-Relentlessness.

Excellence. Always.

“The most thoughtful and articulate strategies tend to come from big banks.

But their actual results seldom bear that out. When you walk the streets and

look at what’s happening, the gap between strategy and execution

becomes obvious. We have to see with our own eyes what customers are

experiencing.” —Thomas Brown, CEO, Second Curve Capital [hedge fund] , on their annual “branch hunt”

“Mr Brown’s favorite experience came at a Chase branch where he opened a checking account. When a Chase employee asked where he

currently did business, he said he was a Citibank customer. ‘I’m surprised you want to switch,’ she replied matter of factly, ‘I have my

account at Citibank.” —Bill Taylor, “Get Out of That Rut and Into the Shower,” NYT, 0813.06

“Apparently our society, not unlike the Greeks with their Delphic oracles, takes great

comfort in believing that very talent ‘seers’ removed from the hurly-burly world of reality can tell foretell

coming events.” —Len Sayles/Columbia

“Recently I asked three corporate executives what decisions they had made in the last year that would not have been

made were it not for their corporate plans. All had difficulty identifying one such decision. Since all of the plans are marked ‘secret’ or ‘confidential,’ I asked

them how their competitors might benefit from possession of their plans. Each

answered with embarrassment that their competitors would not benefit.”

—Russell Ackoff (from Henry Mintzberg, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning)

“Nothing is more dangerous in

war than theoreticians.” —Marshall Petain

Source: John Mosier, The Blitzkrieg Myth, ,“War as Pseudoscience: 1920-1939”

The Mess Is the Message! Period!An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution

of the United States —Charles Beard (1913)

The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger —Marc Levinson

Tube: The Invention of Television —David & Marshall Fisher

Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World —Jill Jonnes

The Soul of a New Machine —Tracy Kidder

Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA —Brenda Maddox

The Blitzkrieg Myth —John Mosier

MESSY RULES:

science?

First-level Scientific Success

The smartest guy in the room wins”

Or …

First-level Scientific Success

FanaticismPersistence-Dogged Tenacity

Patience (long haul/decades)-Impatience (in a hurry/”do it yesterday”)

PassionEnergy

Relentlessness (Grant-ian)

EnthusiasmDriven (nuts!)

(Brutal?) CompetitivenessEntrepreneurialPragmatic (R.F!A.)

Scrounge (“gets” the logistics-infrastructure bit)

Master of Politics (internal-external)Tactical Genius

Pursuit of (Oceanic) Excellence!High EQ/Skillful in Attracting + Keeping Talent/Magnetic

Prolific (“ground up more pig brains”)

Egocentric

Sense of History-DestinyFuturistic-In the Moment

Mono-dimensional (“Work-life balance”? Ha!)

Exceptionally IntelligentExceptionally Clever (methodological shortcuts/methodological genius)

Luck

First-level Scientific Success/Short Form

Scientific Success (Nobel-level) = Genius +

Execution + Master of Soft Skills + Enthusiasm + Magnetism + Destiny

(sense of) + Energy

MESSY RULES:

Blitzkrieg?

Blitzkrieg?

Case: Lesson Learned

Planned innovation is possible, is cool, is effective.

Write it up. Publish.

Case: Reality

Germans cross Meuse into France. Whoops: French intelligence completely drops

the ball. (Loses track of the Germans—no kidding.)

Germans keep advancing; outrun supply lines; no land-air co-ordination.

Hitler orders advance stopped.General never gets the word.

General marches to Paris, virtually unopposed.Germans shocked.

After the fact, Germans label it “Blitzkrieg.”

Case: Lessons Learned

Do something.Get lucky.

Attribute luck to superior planning.Get medals.

Smashing Conventional Wisdom

“Blitzkrieg in fact emerged in a rather haphazard way from the experience of the French campaign,

whose success surprised the Germans as much as the French. Why otherwise did the High Command try on various occasions, with Hitler’s backing, to slow the panzers down? The victory in France* came about

partly because the German High Command temporarily lost control of the battle. The decisive moment in this process was Guderian’s decision to move immediately westward on 14 May, the day

after the Meuse crossing, wrenching the whole of the rest of the army along behind him.”

*messed up traffic, little close air support, random heroics by some small bits of Guderian’s forces, Guderian not a disciple of

the WWI-derived “strategy of indirect approach”

Source: Julian Jackson, The Fall of France

What “We” Know “For Sure” About Innovation

Big mergers [by & large] don’t workScale is over-rated

Strategic planning is the last refuge of scoundrelsFocus groups are counter-productive“Built to last” is a chimera (stupid)

Success kills“Forgetting” is impossible

Re-imagine is a charming idea“Orderly innovation process” is an oxymoronic phrase

(= Believed only by morons with ox-like brains)“Tipping points” are easy to identify … long after they will do you any good

“Facts” aren’tAll information making it to the top is filtered

to the point of danger and hilarity“Success stories” are the illusions of egomaniacs (and “gurus”)

If you believe the memoirs of CEOs you should be institutionalized“Herd behavior” (XYZ is “hot”) is ubiquitous

… and amusing“Top teams” are “Dittoheads”

CEOs have little effect on performance“Expert” prediction is rarely better than rolling the dice

Sustainable entrepreneurship

Excellence: The SE22:

“Origins of Sustainable

Entrepreneurship”

SE22/Origins of Sustainable Entrepreneurship1. Genetically disposed to Innovations that upset apple carts (3M, Apple,

FedEx, Virgin, BMW, Sony, Nike, Schwab, Starbucks, Oracle, Sun, Fox, Stanford University, MIT)

2. Perpetually determined to outdo oneself, even to the detriment of today’s $$$ winners (Apple, Cirque du Soleil, Nokia, FedEx)

3. Treat History as the Enemy (GE)

4. Love the Great Leap/Enjoy the Hunt (Apple, Oracle, Intel, Nokia, Sony)

5. Use “Strategic Thrust Overlays” to Attack Monster Problems (Sysco, GSK, GE, Microsoft)

6. Establish a “Be on the COOL Team” Ethos. (Most PSFs, Microsoft)

7. Encourage Vigorous Dissent/Genetically “Noisy” (Intel, Apple, Microsoft, CitiGroup, PepsiCo)

8. “Culturally” as well as organizationally Decentralized

(GE, J&J, Omnicom)

9. Multi-entrepreneurship/Many Independent-minded Stars (GE, PepsiCo)

HP’s Big “Duh”!

Decentralize ($90B)

Undo “Matrix”Accountability

Source: “HP Says Goodbye To Drama”/BW/09.05/re Mark Hurd’s first 5 months

DePuySpine/J&J*

70/3game-changers!

*Still decentralized after all these years!

“No Need for Economies of Scale: Illinois Tool Revs Up Innovation by Keeping

Its 655 Units Separate and Focused”

Source: Headline, BW, 1031.05 (“commodity” producer; R&D = 1%; Top 100 patent recipient—66th in ’04) ($12B rev in ’04; CEO David Speer: focus, lean, customer intimacy,

entrepreneurial, employee participation)

“‘Decentralization’ is not a piece of paper. It’s not me. It’s either in

your heart, or not.”

—Brian Joffe/BIDvest

SE22/Origins of Sustainable Entrepreneurship

10. Keep decentralizing—tireless in pursuit of wiping out Centralizing Tendencies (J&J, Virgin)

11. Scour the world for Ingenious Alliance Partners— especially exciting start-ups (Pfizer)

12. Acquire for Innovation, not Market Share (Cisco, GE)

13. Don’t overdo “pursuit of synergy” (GE, J&J, Time Warner)

14. Execution/Action Bias: Just do it … don’t obsess on how it “fits the business model.” (3M, J & J)

15. Find and Encourage and Promote Strong-willed/ Hyper-smart/Independent people (GE, PepsiCo, Microsoft)

16. Support Internal Entrepreneurs (3M, Microsoft)

17. Ferret out Talent anywhere/“No limits” approach to retaining top talent (Virgin, GE, PepsiCo)

SE22/Origins of Sustainable Entrepreneurship

18. Unmistakable Results & Accountability focus from the get-go to the grave (GE, New York Yankees, PepsiCo)

19. Up or Out (GE, McKinsey, big consultancies and law firms

and ad agencies and movie studios in general)

20. Competitive to a fault! (GE, New York Yankees, News Corp/Fox, PepsiCo)

21. “Bi-polar” Top Team, with “Unglued” Innovator #1, powerful Control Freak #2 (Oracle, Virgin) (Watch out when #2 is missing: Enron)

22. Masters of Loose-Tight/Hard-nosed about a very few Core Values, Open-minded about everything else (Virgin)

“HOW THE COAST GUARD GETS IT RIGHT” —Headline, Time, 10.31.2005

*Autonomy*Flexibility*“Perhaps the most important distinction of the Coast Guard is that it trusts itself”

“ORGANIZATION” & IS: THE GUERRILLA/

NETWORK ADVANTAGE

“ORGANIZATION” = STRATEGY: THE

GUERRILLA ADVANTAGETom Peters/04August2006

“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

“New Era of War, and U.S. Isn’t Ready Conflicts of Future:

Nations vs. Networks” —Headline/p1/

International Herald Tribune /31.07.2006

Opening: “Pound for pound and pounding, the Israeli military is one of the world’s finest. But Hezbollah, with the discipline and ferocity of its fighters and its ability

to field advanced weaponry, has taken Israel by surprise. Now that surprise has rocketed back to

Washington and across the U.S. military.”

“We are into the first great war between nations and networks. This proves the growing strength of networks as a threat to American national security.” —John Arguilla,

USNPGS, from “Net Warfare 101”

Small units … agile … lethal … invisible … guerrilla …

network warfare … distributed … dispersed … mobile .. Flat [hierarchy] …

improvisational … etc.

“ORGANIZATION” = STRATEGY: THE GUERILLA ADVANTAGE: Agile. (Sluggish.) Wily. (Big footprint.) Always

moving. (Seldom moving.) Brownian motion per se bewilders the enemy. (Blind despite NewTech.) Momentum comes from small

wins. (Small wins invisible, too small scale to execute.) Goal is converts, not territory. (Protect territory.) Offense. (Defense.) Travel light; very high “tooth to tail” ratio. (Travel heavy, low

“tooth to tail.) Live off the land. (Tortuous supply chain.) UNPREDICTABLE; BEHAVIOR NEARLY RANDOM. (VERY PREDICTABLE; LONG PLANNING CYCLE; OBSERVABLE

FOOTPRINT.) Dug in but not dug in. (Dug in but vulnerable.) No HQ; floating HQ. (Big HQ at home and away.) Few fixed assets.

(Mostly fixed assets.) Scroungers mentality. (Methodical & complex.) Mobile communications. (Fixed communications.) Everything,

including people, disposable. (Tight “asset management,” materials & humans.) No fortress to guard. (Big fortresses which must be

guarded.) Replaceable leaders. (Formal, rule-based hierarchy.) Self-healing network, like Internet. (Network far more fixed.) Hackers

mentality. (Planner’s mentality.) DECENTRALIZED. (CENTRALIZED.) KIAs are celebrated. (KIAs are the ultimate loss.)

Natural reorganizations following cell division model. (Methodical, high-friction change.) Few formal layers. (Lotsa formal

layers.) Few rules. (Lotsa rules.)

“ORGANIZATION” = STRATEGY: THE GUERILLA ADVANTAGE: Management By Vision. (Management by law-rule

books.) Miniaturized but deadly weapons. (Fixed weapons.) Invent your own arsenal. (Gazillion-year weapons acquisition cycle.) Multiplier impact by spreading confusion. (Need set-piece victories to satisfy constituents.) Passion. (Supportive at the level of car decals.)

Little value on current rules. (Value of life paramount.) Ad hoc; RFA or FFF. (R.A.F. / Ready. Aim. Aim. Aim. Fire.) SIMPLE

PHILOSOPHY THAT BINDS, FLEXIBLE ORG, FLEXIBLE OPS. (COMPLEX PHILOSOPHY, INFLEXIBLE ORG, INFLEXIBLE OPS.)

Different time frame; a 1,000 year conflict. (Need to show progress daily.) Attract youth with more energy and zeal than good

sense. (Mature and inflexible and cautious and methodical.) Minimum need to spin; as easy to spin a loss as a win. (Battle plans designed

& distorted & diluted to produce spin per se.) Ad hoc. (Due process.) “Media” looks for wins; media values small wins. (Media fixated by SNAFUs; small wins beneath the radar.) Win when enemy over-

reacts. (Lose if over-react.) Ubiquitous webs. (Ubiquitous bureaucracy.) Recruit, support, impact follows Virus Model; recruit via Buzz. (All is formal.) Value of conventional scale

declining exponentially. (Still citizens of a “big is beautiful” age.) Virtually no way to lose; a loss is a win as much or more than a win is a win. (Virtually no way to win; a win is often a loss as much as a

loss is a loss.)

“It is not the strongest of the

species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most

responsive to change.” —Charles Darwin

“Active mutators in placid times tend to die off. They are selected

against. Reluctant mutators in quickly

changing times are also selected against.”

—Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

“The most successful

people are those who

are good at plan B.”

—James Yorke, mathematician, on chaos theory in The New Scientist

“If things seem under control, you’re just not

going fast enough.” —Mario Andretti

Ready.Fire.Aim.

Ross Perot

“Crazy Times Call for Crazy

Organizations” —Subtitle, The Tom Peters Seminar (1993)

Inflexibility and mass are favored in

static times. Flexible and

ephemeral are favored in chaotic

times.

Stephen Jay Gould:

Bacteria rule! Sizeable cases

[e.g. humans] are virtually irrelevant anomalies.

“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 between 1917 and 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

Sluggish + Obese + Unimaginative + More

Sluggish + More Obese + More Unimaginative + Even More Sluggish + Even More

Obese + Even More Unimaginative = Nissan + Renault + GM = Innovative Challenger for Toyota????

??????????????

Crappy Management (GM) + Arrogant-Overstretched

Management (Carlos G) = Great Management

As If Germs and Bombs on the Belly were Not Enough!

“Cyberwar techniques can be treated as weapons of mass

destruction”

Source: Chinese People’s Liberation Army Daily (from Harper’s, 08.06)

ACTION!ALWAYS!

“Execution is strategy.” —TP (1983)

“Operations is policy.” —Fred Malek (1977)

“Think”vs

“Do”

TP: No plan, total accountability

TK: Perfect plan, no accountability*

*LG & IBM

A>Bvs

B>A

CK Chesterton: “How do I know what I think until I see what I say?”

Reporter: “Mr Drucker, why are you still giving speeches at 90?” PD: “How else can I figure out what I’m thinking?”

Power of the … “Small Win”/

String of (TP/1977; KW;EJW)

“Experiment fearlessly”

Source: BW0821.06, Type A Organization Strategies/ “How to Hit a Moving Target”—Tactic #1

“My only goal is to have no goals. The goal, every time, is that film, that very moment.” —Bernardo Bertolucci

Plannersvs

Searchers

“Where planners* raise high expectations but take no responsibility for meeting them,

searchers prefer to work case-by-case, using trial and error to tailor solutions to individual

problems, fully aware that most remedies must be homegrown.” —WSJ, 0822.06 (on malaria eradication,

and hedge fund manager Lance Laifer)

[*“Planners [WHO, World Bank, etc] see poverty as a technical engineering problem that their

answers will solve.” —William Easterly]

“All sorts of approaches need to be tried and we need feedback.” —Roger Bate

Plannersvs

Searchers

Find ’em!

“Somewhere in your organization, groups of

people are already doing things differently and

better. To create lasting change, find these areas of positive deviance and

fan the flames.”

—Richard Pascale & Jerry Sternin, “Your Company’s Secret Change Agents,” HBR

“Some people look for things that went wrong and try to fix

them. I look for things that went right, and try to

build off them.” —Bob Stone

(Mr ReGo)

Premise: “Ordering” Systemic

Change is a Waste of Time!

Demos! Heroes! Stories!

Demo = Story

“A key – perhaps the key – to leadership is

the effective communication of a

story.”Howard Gardner, Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership

REAL Org Change: Demos & Models

(“Model Installations,” “ReGo Labs”)/ Heroes (mostly extant:

“burned to reinvent gov’t”)/ Stories & Storytellers

(Props!)/ Chroniclers (Writers, Videographers, Pamphleteers,

Etc.)/ Cheerleaders & Recognition (Pos>>Neg,

Volume)/ New Language (Hot/Emotional/WOW)/

Seekers (networking mania)/ Protectors/ Support Groups/ End Runs—“Pull Strategy” (weird

alliances, weird customers, weird suppliers, weird alumnae-JKC)/

Field “Real People” Focus (3 COs) (long way away)/

Speed (O.O.D.A. Loops—act before the “bad guys” can react)

C.f., Bob Stone, Lessons from an Uncivil Servant

JKC

1. Scour for renegades; wine & dine.

2. Go outside for funds.

Build a “School on top of a school” (The Parallel

Universe Strategy)

“My mission is that of a mole—my

existence only to be known by

upheavals.” —Jan Morris, Fisher’s Face,

Or, Getting to Know the Admiral [First Sea Lord John Fisher]

“Never doubt that a small group of

committed people can change the

world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” —Margaret Mead

Stories … Paint me a picture … Story “infrastructure” …

Demos … Quick prototypes … Experiments … Heroes …

Renegades … Skunkworks … Demo Funds … V.C. … G.M. … Roster … Portfolio … Stone’s

Rules … JKC’s Rules

Think about It!?

Innovation = Reaction to the Prototype

Michael Schrage

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!)

Innovation. Easy.

Keep Austin Weird

(Kirk Watson)

ONE WORD+

ONE WORD+

Drill more wellsR.F.A.

AccountabilityRealism

DecentralizationExecution

Action biasMost mistakes wins

6:15amEnergy

EnthusiasmDo>Plan

Act>ThinkBehavior>Attitude

Passion

ONE WORD+

EmotionIntuition

SellO.O.D.A.Integrity

WeirdAppreciateCelebrateRespectListen

WanderCalendar rules

Calendar doesn’t lie“To don’t

Max priorities = 3

ONE WORD+

5 min/5,000 milesWomenDecency

GraceInnovate or Die

Re-imagineFight irrelevance

Just Do ItCare (You Must)

Flowers (Say It With)I’m sorry

Thank YouInsanely Great

Silence2-cent candy

ONE WORD+

MBWAWhy?PSF

Wow!! (red)

Buy a MirrorKnow thyself

InviteQuest

AdventureTalent

Brand YouLovemark

ExperienceDreamketing

ONE WORD+

Gasp-worthyInsanely great

Different>betterImpact>longevity

Dramatic DifferenceOnly ones do what we do

Smile$7987-7-7

Design rulesBeautiful Systems

450/8VP S.O.U.B.

Women buy allWomen lead better

ONE WORD+

Boomers-geezers own all2.6/21

2525

3,000,000,000(900,000,000)

26 minutes43 hours

Perception Is All There IsEnthusiasm: The Ultimate Virus

EXCELLE ALWAYS.

excellence. always. new slides. new stories. july-august 2006

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