Tom Peters’ EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS. National Enterprise Innovation Conference B2B/London/27June 2006
Slides* at … tompeters.com *also “long”
The Irreducible209+
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, he’d 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 me—and 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
EXCELLENCE. CASE. EPSILON.
This is not about … “customer centrism” “integrated marketing” etc etc etc It is about …
It is about … sellin’ a whole lotta stuff and having customers go bananas with love to the point that they tell every damn friend they have and then start buttonholing strangers on trains and planes and busses.
Goodnight and Good Luck.
THREE BILLION NEW CAPITALISTS —Clyde Prestowitz
43,000
“Deutsche Bank Moves Half of Its Back-office Jobs to India”/ headline/FT/0327; 500 of 900 Research; JPMorgan Chase—30% back-office by 12.31.07
“Forget China, India and the Internet: Economic Growth Is Driven by Women.” —Headline,Economist,
April 15, 2006, Leader, page 14
EXCELLENCE. THE MANDATE.
“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.” —General Eric Shinseki, Chief of Staff. U. S. Army
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” —Charles Darwin
“We are in a brawl with no rules.” —Paul Allaire
S.A.V.
Screw Around Vigorously
Sam’s Secret #1!
“Tom, very simple. Sam was not afraid to fail.” —David Glass to TP, on the occasion of Sam’s induction into The Sales & Marketing Hall of Fame
“We made mistakes. Most of them were omissions we didn’t think of when we initially wrote the software. We fixed them by doing it over and over, again and again. We do the same today: While our competitors are still sucking their thumbs trying to make the design perfect, we’re already on prototype version No. 5. By the time our rivals are ready with wires and screws, we are on version No. 10. It gets back to planning versus acting: We
act from day one; others plan how to plan—for months.”
—Bloomberg by Bloomberg
“This is so simple it sounds stupid, but it is amazing how few oil people really understand that you only find oil if you drill wells. You may think you’re finding it when you’re drawing maps and
studying logs, but you have to drill.”
Source: The Hunters, by John Masters, Canadian O & G wildcatter
“Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.” Phil Daniels, Sydney exec
“FAIL, FAIL AGAIN. FAIL BETTER.” —Samuel Beckett
EXCELLENCE. STARTERS.
Radio City Music Hall September 2005
Franchise Lost! TP: “How many of you [600] really crave a new Chevy?” NYC/IIR/061205
ExIn*: 1982-2002/Forbes.com DJIA: $10,000 yields $85,000 EI: $10,000 yields $140,050 *Forbes/Excellence Index /Basket of 32 publicly traded stocks
EXCELLENCE. ADVERSARIES.
Progress?
Hardball: Are You Playing to Play or Playing to Win? by George Stalk & Rob Lachenauer/HBS Press “The winners in business have always played hardball.” “Unleash massive and overwhelming force.” “Exploit anomalies.” “Threaten your competitor’s profit sanctuaries.” “Entice your competitor into retreat.” Approximately 640 Index entries: Customer/s (service, retention, loyalty), 4. People (employees, motivation, morale, worker/s), 0. Innovation (product development, research & development, new products), 0.