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This article explores the essence of leadership in organizations by combining the aspirations and needs of individuals with the purposes of the larger community. It emphasizes the importance of excellence, action, customer-centricity, and continuous improvement.
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“Organizations are not machines. That has been the central message of all my books.They are living communities of individuals. To describe them we need to use the language of communities and the language of individuals. That means a mix of words we use in politics and in ordinary everyday life. The essential task of leadership (a word from political theory, unlike the word ‘manager’) is to combine the aspirations and needs of individuals with the purposes of the larger community to which they all belong.”—Charles Handy
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”
What is In Search of Excellence all about:People. 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.
ExIn*: 1982-2002/Forbes.comDJIA: $10,000 yields $85,500EI: $10,000 yields $140,050*Excellence Index/Basket of 32 publicly traded stocks
SynonymsPurityTranscendenceVirtueEleganceMajestyAntonymsMediocritySynonymsPurityTranscendenceVirtueEleganceMajestyAntonymsMediocrity
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.
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
Business:The Ultimate Personal Development-Growth Experience.
Great Companies … SETTHEAGENDA.*(Period.)* “disturb the sleep of …
AGENDA SETTERS: “Set the Table”/ Pioneers/ Questors/ AdventurersUS Steel … Ford … Toyota … Sears … GM … ITT …The Gap …Limited …Wal*Mart…Tesco…P&G … 3M …Intel… IBM …Apple…Nokia…Cisco… Dell… MCI … Sun …Microsoft…Google… Enron …Schwab…GE… Laker … Southwest … People Express …Ogilvy…Virgin…eBay…Amazon… Sony…Amgen…BMW… CNN … Nike
“But what if [former head of strategic planning at Royal Dutch Shell] Arie De Geus is wrong in suggesting, in The Living Company, that firms should aspire to live forever? Greatness is fleeting and, for corporations, it will become ever more fleeting.The ultimate aim of a business organization, an artist, an athlete or a stockbroker may be to explode in a dramatic frenzy of value creation during a short space of time, rather than to live forever.”—Kjell Nordström and Jonas Ridderstråle, Funky Business
First-level Scientific SuccessThe smartest guy in the room wins”Or …
First-level Scientific SuccessFanaticismPersistence-Dogged TenacityPatience (long haul/decades)-Impatience (in a hurry/”do it yesterday”)PassionEnergyRelentlessness (Grant-ian) EnthusiasmDriven (nuts!) (Brutal?) CompetitivenessEntrepreneurialPragmatic (R.F!A.)Scrounge (“gets” the logistics-infrastructure bit)Master of Politics (internal-external)Tactical GeniusPursuit of (Oceanic) Excellence!High EQ/Skillful in Attracting + Keeping Talent/MagneticProlific (“ground up more pig brains”)EgocentricSense of History-DestinyFuturistic-In the MomentMono-dimensional (“Work-life balance”? Ha!)Exceptionally IntelligentExceptionally Clever (methodological shortcuts/methodological genius)Luck
First-level Scientific Success/Short FormScientific Success (Nobel-level) = Genius + Execution + Master of Soft Skills + Enthusiasm + Magnetism + Destiny (sense of) + Energy
Biz Bonanza Success = DDMMSTERL/ "D-squared, M-squared, STERL” = DramaticDifference + “Business” Acumen/Money + Good “Marketing” Instinct/“Ice-to-Eskimos” Sales Skills + Stellar Talent + Aim for Excellence + Resilience/Tenacity/Adaptability + Luck(The “Necessary Nine”: What Every Small Biz Requires to Excel.) (Big, too.)
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!!)
7X. 730A-800P. F12A.**’93-’03/10 yr annual return: CB: 29%; WM: 17%; HD: 16%. Mkt Cap: 48% p.a.
Franchise Lost!TP:“How many of you[600]reallycravea new Chevy?”NYC/IIR/061205
“The ‘surplus society’ has a surplus of similar companies, employing similarpeople, with similareducational backgrounds, coming up with similarideas, producing similarthings, with similarprices and similarquality.”Kjell Nordström and Jonas Ridderstråle, Funky Business
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
The “Small Guys” Guide: Wallop Wal*Mart16 *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.)
The “Small Guys” Guide: Wallop Wal*Mart16 *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.)
The “Small Guys” Guide: Wallop Wal*Mart16 *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!)
And the Winner is …1. Audacity of Vision2. Innovation/R&D/Design3. Talent Acquisition & Development4. Resultant “Experience”5. Strategic Alliances6. Operations7. Financial Management8. Overall/Sustaining Excellence9. “Wow!”10. Lovemark!
