Excellence: Navigating Corporate Challenges in the Modern World

1. NEW ZEALAND 2007

2. Ho hum: 2+ weeks in New Zealand …PfizerFordGapChryslerYahoomicrosoftwal*mart??????

3. “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”—Charles Darwin

4. On NELSON:“[other] admirals more frightened of losing than anxious to win”

5. Axiom: We have met the enemy and he is us.Axiom: The adaptive capabilities of big corporations taken as a whole is problematic [read: pathetic].Antidote: The answer is 75% internal. To sustain/win, we must first and foremost and in perpetuity beat back the forces of darkness—size and inertia and fear and timidity and over-complexity.

6. The last word: There is no last word.

7. Flat as a Pancake (Or Worse)Wal*Mart … Dell … Intel … Home Depot … Microsoft … GE

8. Tom Peters’ X25*EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.International Paper/Sanibel Harbour/0228.07*In Search of Excellence 1982-2007

9. Slides at …tompeters.com

10. EXCELLENCE????

11. “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

12. “Forbes100” from 1917 to 1987:39members of the Class of ’17 were alive in ’87; 18 in ’87 F100; 18 F100 “survivors” significantly underperformed the market; just 2 (2%), GE & Kodak, outperformed the market from 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

13. Welcome to the “Club of Shattered Dreams”: Of Korea’s Top 100 companies in 1955, only 7 were still on the list in 2004. The 1997 crisis “destroyed halfof Korea’s 30 largest conglomerates.”Source: “KET Issue Report,” Kim Jong Nyun (14.05.2005)

14. S&P Stability Ratings*19852006Low Risk 41% 13%Average Risk 24% 14%High Risk35% 73%*Likelihood of stable long-term earnings growthSource: Fortune (2 October 2006)

15. EXCELLENCE. GAMECHANGER.

16. 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”

17. ExIn*: 1982-2002/Forbes.comDJIA: $10,000 yields$85,000EI: $10,000 yields$140,050*Forbes/Excellence Index/Basket of 32 publicly traded stocks

18. EXCELLENCE. ASPIRATION.

19. “Why in the world did you go to Siberia?”

20. 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.

21. “In-sane-ly-great”

22. Enterprise* ** (*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

23. EXCELLENCE. REVENUE.MATTERS.MOST.

24. “Analysts … preferred cost cutting,as long as they could see two or three years of EPS growth. I preached revenue and the analysts’ eyes would glaze over. Now revenue is ‘in’ because so many got caught, and earnings went to hell.They said, ‘Oh my gosh, you need revenues to grow earnings over time.’ Well, Duh!”—Dick Kovacevich, Wells Fargo

25. CRO**Chief Revenue Officer

26. . “Everyone lives by selling something.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

27. EXCELLENCE. INNOVATE. OR. DIE.

28. “Under his former boss, Jack Welch, the skills GE prized above all others were cost-cutting, efficiency and deal-making. What mattered was the continual improvement of operations, and that mindset helped the $152 billion industrial and finance behemoth become a marvel of earnings consistency. Immelt hasn’t turned his back on the old ways.But in his GE, the new imperatives are risk-taking, sophisticated marketing and, above all, innovation.”—BW/2005

29. More than $$$$#1R&D spending, last 25 years?

30. GM

31. “I don’t believe in economies of scale.You don’t get better by being bigger. You get worse.”—Dick Kovacevich/Wells Fargo

32. Spinoffs systematically perform better than IPOs … track record, profits … “freed from the confines of the parent … more entrepreneurial, more nimble”—Jerry Knight/ Washington Post/ 08.05

33. “When asked to name just one big merger that had lived up to expectations, Leon Cooperman, former cochairman of Goldman Sachs’ Investment Policy Committee, answered:I’m sure there are success stories out there, but at this moment I draw a blank.”—Mark Sirower, The Synergy Trap

34. “Not a single company that qualified as having made a sustained transformation ignited its leap with a big acquisition or merger.Moreover, comparison companies—those that failed to make a leap or, if they did, failed to sustain it—often tried to make themselves great with a big acquisition or merger. They failed to grasp the simple truth that while you can buy your way to growth, you cannot buy your way to greatness.”—Jim Collins/Time/2004

35. There’s“A”and then there’s“A.”

36. InnoTacs

37. We become who we hang out with!

38. Innovation’s Saviors-in-WaitingDisgruntled CustomersOff-the-Scope CompetitorsRogue EmployeesFringe SuppliersWayne Burkan, Wide Angle Vision: Beat the Competition by Focusing on Fringe Competitors, Lost Customers, and Rogue Employees

39. Measure “Strangeness”/Portfolio QualityStaffConsultantsVendorsOut-sourcing Partners (#, Quality)Innovation Alliance PartnersCustomersCompetitors (who we “benchmark” against)Strategic Initiatives Product Portfolio (LineEx v. Leap)IS/IT ProjectsHQ LocationLunch MatesLanguageBoard

40. Employees:“Are thereenoughweird peoplein the lab these days?”V. Chmn., pharmaceutical house, to a lab director

41. Why Do I love Freaks? (1) Because when Anything Interesting happens … it was a freak who did it. (Period.) (2) Freaks are fun. (Freaks are also a pain.) (Freaks are never boring.) (3) We need freaks. Especially in freaky times. (Hint: These are freaky times, for you & me & the CIA & the Army & Avon.) (4) A critical mass of freaks-in-our-midstautomatically make us-who-are-not-so-freaky at least somewhat more freaky. (Which is a Good Thing in freaky times—see immediately above.) (5) Freaks are the only (ONLY) ones who succeed—as in, make it into the history books. (6) Freaks keep us from falling into ruts. (If we listen to them.) (We seldom listen to them.) (Which is why most organizations are in ruts. Make that chasms.)

42. “Diverse groups of problem solvers—groups of people with diverse tools—consistently outperformed groups of the best and the brightest. If I formed two groups, one random (and therefore diverse) and one consisting of the best individual performers, the first group almost always did better. … Diversity trumped ability.”—Scott Page, The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies Diversity

43. Wikinomics.WikiWorld.CrowdSourcing.

44. “The Billion-man Research Team: Companies offering work to online communities are reaping the benefits of ‘crowdsourcing.’”—Headline, FT, 0110.07

45. try it. Try it. Try it. Try it. Try it. Try it. Try it. Try it. Screw it up. Try it. Try it. Try it. Try it. Try it. Try it. Try it. Screw it up. it. Try it. Try it. try it. Try it.Screw it up. Try it. Try it. Try it.

46. do things.

47. “We have a ‘strategic plan.’ It’s called doing things.”— Herb Kelleher

48. drill.

49. “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

50. try things.