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Musings: 25 Micro-Presentations.

Musings: 25 Micro-Presentations. EXCELLENCE. CAUSES. ADVERSARIES. Causes/1966-2006 Implementation/Small Wins (Stanford GSB/PhD thesis; 1st on implementation per se) EXCELLENCE (as a worthy business pursuit) Management Style/Corporate Culture

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Musings: 25 Micro-Presentations.

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  1. Musings: 25 Micro-Presentations.

  2. EXCELLENCE. CAUSES.ADVERSARIES.

  3. Causes/1966-2006 Implementation/Small Wins (Stanford GSB/PhD thesis; 1st on implementation per se) EXCELLENCE (as a worthy business pursuit) Management Style/Corporate Culture Soft “Ss”/7-S (Waterman-Peters complete “business model”; waaaaay beyond Strategy & Structure) Structure > Strategy (“We shape our structures, then they shape us …”—Churchillian paraphrase) Soft Change Levers (> structure; symbols, patterns & settings) Close to the Customer (novel idea, circa 1982) MBWA (Managing By Wandering Around—courtesy a much more intimate than today HP) Productivity through People (novel idea, circa 1982) Chaos/Crazy Times Call for Crazy Organizations Middle-sized companies are cool Re-imagine!/Innovate or Die! Small-ish/Scale & Synergy limits-delusions/anti-Big Mergers Mid-sized companies-Mittlestand

  4. Causes/1966-2006 Women/Market opportunity Women/Leaders (right for the times) Design/Design-as-soul/“Culture of Design” Wow! (Hot language) Weird! (“Crazy Times Call for Crazy Organizations”) Passion!/Enthusiasm!/Exuberance! (as Leader Lever #1) Brand You (or else) PSF = Bedrock (add value or bust—every group must demonstrate economic viability) PSF + Brand You + WOW Projects = New Biz Logic Sales/+R > -C (increasing revenue more important than cutting cost) HealthCare/Wellness-Safety-H5N1 Brand = Talent (best roster wins) New VA Ladder/Products-Services-SOLUTIONS-EXPERIENCES-DREAMKETING (Dream Marketing)-LOVEMARK Different > > Better Boomers & Geezers/marketing to new “mega-segment”

  5. 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.

  6. M.I.A.*:Talk.(Present.)Listen.(Interview.)Sell.(Life = Sales.)Do.(Execution-Implementation.)Talent.(Recruit-Develop-Retain.)Project Management.(Create. Solicit support. Execution. Adoption-Client “Culture Change.”)Product. (“It.”) Innovation.(Design. Creativity. “Buzz-building.” Politics.)Leadership.(USMA, etc.) E.Q. (Connect.)“Culture” Change. (Lasting impact.) Diversity.(Cross-cultural Effectiveness.)Career Creation.(Brand You life-lifestyle.)Wellness.(Life.) *B.Schools (“M.I.A.” or at most “B.I.A.”—barely in action)

  7. Adversaries B-schools (crappy at soft skills, implementation, leadership) Strategy-is-all By-the-numbers management Dis-passionate management Focus groups Intuition discounted Leading as an intellectual task Leading without passion Cool language in Hot times Dilbert (accepting cubicle slavery) Bigness per se (severe scale limitations—even at Microsoft) White guys! (not really, but enough already) 18-44 emphasis in marketing (geezers > youth for foreseeable future) -Cost > +Revenue (cost cutting more important than organic revenue growth) CI (continuous improvement in an age of discontinuous world) LESS THAN THE NO-HOLDS-BARRED PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE

  8. Stating the Obvious:THE PROBLEM IS RARELY THE PROBLEM.

  9. THE PROBLEM IS RARELY/NEVER THE PROBLEM. THE RESPONSE TO THE PROBLEM INVARIABLY ENDS UP BEING THE REAL PROBLEM.*** *Watergate, M Stewart, BR **And: PERCEPTION IS ALL THERE IS!

  10. OFTEN AS NOT/MORE OFTEN THAN NOT THE UNDERLYING PROBLEM IS NOT MUCH OF A PROBLEM.

  11. PERCEPTION IS ALL THERE IS. PERIOD.* *From Whole Foods to IBM to the corner deli

  12. Relationships (of all varieties): THERE ONCE WAS A TIME WHEN A THREE-MINUTE PHONE CALL WOULD HAVE AVOIDED SETTING OFF THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL THAT RESULTED IN A COMPLETE RUPTURE.

  13. POWER WORDS!“I’m sorry.”

  14. Stating the Obvious:MORE POWER WORDS/IDEAS

  15. Thank You!

  16. MBWA**5,000 miles for a 5-minute face-to-face meeting (courtesy super-agent Mark McCormick)

  17. Say it with …FLOWERS

  18. POWER IDEAS!You must care.—General Melvin Zais

  19. Inno.0524.06

  20. World Innovation ForumEVERYTHING YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW ABOUT INNOVATION IS WRONGTom Peters/New York/0524.2006/Inno.new.LIST.0527

  21. World Innovation Forum: Alt TitleYOU ONLY FIND OIL IF YOU DRILL WELLS

  22. What “We” Know “For Sure” About InnovationBig mergers [by & large] don’t workScale is over-ratedStrategic planning is the last refuge of scoundrelsFocus groups are counter-productive“Built to last” is a chimera (stupid)Success kills“Forgetting” is impossibleRe-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

  23. Parallel universe/Exec Ed v res MBA End run regnant powers/JKC Find done deals-practicing mavericks/Stone-ReGo Bell curves/2016 in 2006 Non-industry benchmarking Everything = Portfolio V.C.s all! Hot language/Wow-Astonish me-Insanely great-immortal-Make something great Lead customers/PW-Embraer Lead suppliers /Top decile R&D Weird alliances Mottos/Paul Arden (“Whatever You Think Think the Opposite”) Hire freaks/Enough weird people? Weird Boards!!!

  24. CEO track record of Innovation (nobody starts at 45!) System/GE-Immelt “Strategic thrust overlay” Calendar Big Delta easier than Small MBWA with freaks-weirdos/JKC MBWA/Boonies’ labs V.C.-formal/Intel Acquire weird Children’s crusade Old farts crusade Go Global at any size Stop listening to customers Talent!/Unusual sources-Hire innovators-V.C.s Eschew giant mergers

  25. Remember: scale economies max out early Assisted suicide! (“Built to last” = Chimera-snare-delusion) Burn your press clippings “Forgetting” “strategy” Fire all strategic planners Tempo! Final product bears little relation to starting notion Design! Design! Design! (“culture,” not program) All innovation: Pissed-off people Gut feel rules! Focus groups suck Weird focus groups okay Be-Do philosophy

  26. Celebrations Culture-little as well as big Inno (“everyone-an-innovator”) Life = Wow Projects Acknowledge messiness-pursue serendipity (Blitzkrieg-Containers-Science-Jim Utterback) R.F.A. Culture of execution 4/40: decentralization, execution, accountability, 615AM EVP (S.O.U.B.)/Systems-process “un-design” Diversity for diversity’s sake Women-Women-Women/customers (they “are the market,” not a “segment”)-leaders Boomers-Geezers (“all the money”)

  27. CRO (Chief Revenue Officer) “culture”/top-line obsessed CIO (Chief INNOVATION Officer) Laughter Facility-space configuration Experiments-prototypes “Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.” Bizarrely high incentives (& penalties) We are what we eat/We are who we hang out with (E.g.: Staff-Consultants-Vendors-Out-sourcing Partners/#, Quality-Innovation Alliance Partners-Customers-Competitors/who we “benchmark” against -Strategic Initiatives -Product Portfolio/LineEx v. Leap-IS/IT Projects-HQ Location-Lunch Mates-Language-Board)

  28. “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

  29. CAUSE & EFFECT: The Case of Blitzkrieg

  30. Case: PerceivedRommel invents Blitzkrieg.Germans kick the tar out of the French in two weeks.Q.E.D.

  31. Case: Lesson LearnedPlanned innovation (P.I., not C.I.) is possible, is cool, is effective.

  32. Case: RealityGermans cross Meuse into France. Whoops: French intelligence completely drops the ball. (Loses track of the Germans—literally.)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.”

  33. Case: Lesson LearnedDo something.Get lucky. Attribute luck to superior planning.Get medals.

  34. 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

  35. False AttributionsGerman citizenry low morale, no appetite for war3rd Republic government rather well regardedFrench Army in good shape, surprisingly well armed, decent strategy (in dozens of simulations, French usually win)Blitzkrieg not usedGermans very vulnerableLousy French intelligence* and luck perhaps determinant (*“intelligence information tends to be sifted to reinforce received ideas rather than to overturn them”)Many plausible competing hypothesesSource: Julian Jackson, The Fall of France (cf Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets.)

  36. TP “Lessons Learned”Innovation = DisDis(Disciplined Disorganization)Luck is a very good thing.* **(*More “lessons” later: E.g., If you hire a bunch of disciplined weirdos and try a lot of weird stuff, the odds of getting lucky go up remarkably) (**Career success depends on convincing others that you knew what the hell you were doing all along. Good news: Say it long enough and loud enough and you will believe it. Great news: Keep saying it and you, too, can become a “guru.”)

  37. Happy 50!26April2006

  38. Malcom McLean

  39. Containerization

  40. LessonsNeed-drivenA thousand “parents”MessyEvolutionary“Trivial”Experimentationtrial & ERRORLoooong time for systemic adaptation/s(many innovations) (bill of lading, standard time)Not …“Plan-driven”The product of “Strategic Thinking/Planning”The product of “focus groups”

  41. Get mad. Do something about it. Now.

  42. First-level Scientific Success:Beyond BrainsTom Peters/14April2006

  43. First-level Scientific SuccessThe “smartest guy in the room wins”Or …

  44. 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

  45. UTTERBACK

  46. “A pattern emphasized in the case studies in this book is the degree to which powerful competitors not only resist innovative threats, but actually resist all efforts to understand them, preferring to further their positions in older products. This results in a surge of productivity and performance that may take the old technology to unheard of heights. But in most cases this is a sign of impending death.” —Jim Utterback, Mastering the Art of Innovation

  47. “Good management was the most powerful reason [leading firms] failed to stay atop their industries.Precisely because these firms listened to their customers, invested aggressively in technologies that would provide their customers more and better products of the sort they wanted, and because they carefully studied market trends and systematically allocated investment capital to innovations that promised the best returns, they lost their positions of leadership.”—Clayton Christensen, The Innovator’s Dilemma

  48. Forget>“Learn”“The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get the old ones out.”—Dee Hock

  49. “Chivalry is dead.The new code of conduct is an active strategy of disrupting the status quo to create an unsustainable series of competitive advantages. This is not an age of defensive castles, moats and armor. It is rather an age of cunning, speed and surprise. It may be hard for some to hang up the chain mail of ‘sustainable advantage’ after so many battles. But hypercompetition, a state in which sustainable advantages are no longer possible, is now the only level of competition.” —Rich D’Aveni, Hypercompetition: Managing the Dynamics of Strategic Maneuvering

  50. “Acquisitions are about buying market share. Our challenge is to create markets. There is a big difference.”—Peter Job, CEO, Reuters

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