CONRAD HILTON …

1. CONRAD HILTON …

2. CONRADHILTON, at a gala celebrating his career, was called to the podium and asked,“What were the most important lessons you learned in your long and distinguished career?”His answer …

3. “Remember to tuck the shower curtain inside the bathtub.”

4. “COSTCO FIGURED OUT THE BIG,SIMPLE THINGS AND EXECUTEDWITH TOTAL FANATICISM.”—Charles Munger, Berkshire Hathaway

5. Tom Peters’ Re-ImagineEXCELLENCE! HSM Management & Leadership Forum Sao Paulo/08 April 2015 (Slides at tompeters.com; and our fully annotated 23-part Master Compendium at excellencenow.com)

6. EXCELLENCE

7. People! Customers! Action! Values!

8. 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

9. “Breakthrough” 82* People! Customers! Action! Values! *In Search of Excellence

10. EXCELLENCE is not a “long-term” "aspiration.” EXCELLENCE is the ultimate short-term strategy. EXCELLENCE is … THE NEXT5MINUTES.* (*Or NOT.)

11. EXCELLENCE is not an "aspiration." EXCELLENCE is … THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES. EXCELLENCE is your next conversation. Or not. EXCELLENCE is your next meeting. Or not. EXCELLENCE is shutting up and listening—really listening. Or not. EXCELLENCE is your next customer contact. Or not. EXCELLENCE is saying “Thank you” for something “small.” Or not. EXCELLENCE is the next time you shoulder responsibility and apologize. Or not. EXCELLENCE is waaay over-reacting to a screw-up. Or not. EXCELLENCE is the flowers you brought to work today. Or not. EXCELLENCE is lending a hand to an “outsider” who’s fallen behind schedule. Or not. EXCELLENCE is bothering to learn the way folks in finance [or IS or HR] think. Or not. EXCELLENCE is waaay “over”-preparing for a 3-minute presentation. Or not. EXCELLENCE is turning “insignificant” tasks into models of … EXCELLENCE. Or not.

12. WHY NOT?

13. Why in the World did you go to Siberia?

14. ENTERPRISE* (*AT ITS BEST):An emotional, vital, innovative, joyful, creative, entrepreneurial endeavor that elicits maximum concerted human potential in the wholehearted pursuit of EXCELLENCE in service of others.****Employees, Customers, Suppliers, Communities, Owners, Temporary partners

15. “It may sound radical, unconventional, and bordering on being a crazy business idea. However— as ridiculous as it sounds—joy is the core belief of our workplace. Joy is the reason my company, Menlo Innovations, a customer software design and development firm in Ann Arbor, exists. It defines what we do and how we do it. It is the single shared belief of our entire team.” —Richard Sheridan, Joy, Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love

16. People PeoplePeople People

17. People: 1/4,096

18. “Business has to give people enriching, rewarding lives …

19. 1/4,096: excellencenow.com “Business has to give people enriching, rewarding lives … or it's simply not worth doing.” —Richard Branson

20. “You have to treat your employees like customers.”—Herb Kelleher, upon being asked his “secret to success”Source: Joe Nocera, NYT, “Parting Words of an Airline Pioneer,” on the occasion of Herb Kelleher’s retirement after 37 years at Southwest Airlines (SWA’s pilots union took out a full-page ad in USA Today thanking HK for all he had done) ; across the way in Dallas, American Airlines’ pilots were picketingAA’s Annual Meeting)

21. “hostmanship”/ “consideration renovation”

22. “The path to a hostmanshipculture paradoxically does not go through the guest. In fact it wouldn’t be totally wrong to say that the guest has nothing to do with it. True hostmanship leaders focus on their employees. What drives exceptionalism is finding the right people and getting them to love their work and see it as a passion. ... The guest comes into the picture only when you are ready to ask, ‘Would you prefer to stay at a hotel where the staff love their work or where management has made customers its highest priority?’”“We went through the hotel and made a ... ‘consideration renovation.’ Instead of redoing bathrooms, dining rooms, and guest rooms, we gave employees new uniforms, bought flowers and fruit, and changed colors.Our focus was totally on the staff.They were the ones we wanted to make happy.We wanted them to wake up every morning excited about a new day at work.” —Jan Gunnarsson and Olle Blohm, Hostmanship: The Art of Making People Feel Welcome.

23. “ … The guest comes into the picture only when you are ready to ask, ‘Would you prefer to stay at a hotel where the staff love their work or where management has made customers its highest priority?’”

24. Rocket Science. NOT. “If you want staff to give great service, give great service to staff.” —Ari Weinzweig, Zingerman’s Source: Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big, Bo Burlingham

25. “Contrary to conventional corporate thinking, treating retail workers much better may make everyone (including their employers) much richer.” Source: The Good Jobs Strategy, by M.I.T. professor Zeynep Ton.

26. 1996-2014/12 companies every year/ 341,567 new jobs/+172%:PublixWhole FoodsWegmansNordstromCisco SystemsMarriottREIGoldman SachsFour SeasonsSAS InstituteW.L. GoreTDIndustriesSource: Fortune/ “The 100 Best Companies to Work For”/0315.15

27. “In a world where customers wake up every morning asking, ‘What’s new, what’s different, what’s amazing?’ success depends on a company’s ability to unleash initiative, imagination and passion of employees at all levels—and this can only happen if all those folks are connected heart and soul to their work [their ‘calling’], their company and their mission.”—John Mackey and Raj Sisoda, Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business

28. Profit Through Putting People First Business Book Club Nice Companies Finish First: Why Cutthroat Management Is Over—and Collaboration Is In, by Peter Shankman with Karen Kelly Uncontainable: How Passion, Commitment, and Conscious Capitalism Built a Business Where Everyone Thrives, by Kip Tindell, CEO Container Store Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business, by John Mackey, CEO Whole Foods, and Raj Sisodia Firms of Endearment: How World-Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose, by Raj Sisodia, Jag Sheth, and David Wolfe The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits, by Zeynep Ton, MIT Joy, Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love, by Richard Sheridan, CEO Menlo Innovations Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down, by Vineet Nayar, CEO, HCL Technologies The Customer Comes Second: Put Your People First and Watch ’Em Kick Butt, by Hal Rosenbluth, former CEO, Rosenbluth International It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy, by Mike Abrashoff, former commander, USS Benfold Turn This Ship Around; How to Create Leadership at Every Level, by L. David Marquet, former commander, SSN Sante Fe Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big, by Bo Burlingham Hidden Champions: Success Strategies of Unknown World Market Leaders, by Hermann Simon Retail Superstars: Inside the 25 Best Independent Stores in America, by George Whalin Joy at Work: A Revolutionary Approach to Fun on the Job, by Dennis Bakke, former CEO, AES Corporation The Dream Manager, by Matthew Kelly The Soft Edge: Where Great Companies Find Lasting Success, by Rich Karlgaard, publisher, Forbes Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, by Tony Hseih, Zappos Camellia: A Very Different Company Fans, Not Customers: How to Create Growth Companies in a No Growth World, by Vernon Hill Like a Virgin: Secrets They Won’t Teach You at Business School, by Richard Branson

29. !

30. “YOUR CUSTOMERS WILL NEVER BE ANY HAPPIER THAN YOUR EMPLOYEES.”

31. Training = Investment#1!

32. In the Army, 3-star generals worry about training. In most businesses, it's a “ho-hum” mid-level staff function.

33. Is your CTO/Chief Training Officer your top paid “C-level” job (other than CEO/COO)? If not, why not? Are your top trainers paid as much as your top marketers and engineers? If not, why not? Are your training courses so good they make you … jump up & down with glee? If not, why not? Randomly stop an employee in the hall: Can she/he meticulously describe her/his development plan for the next 12 months? If not, why not? Why is your world of business any different than the (competitive) world of rugby, football, opera, theater, the military? If “people/talent first” and hyper-intense continuous training are laughably obviously for them, why not you?

34. Is your CTO/Chief Training Officer your top paid “C-level” job (other than CEO/COO)? If not, why not? Are your top trainers paid as much as your top marketers and engineers? If not, why not? Are your training courses so good they make you giggle and tingle? If not, why not? Randomly stop an employee in the hall: Can she/he meticulously describe her/his development plan for the next 12 months? If not, why not? Why is your world of business any different than the (competitive) world of rugby, football, opera, theater, the military? If “people/talent first” and hyper-intense continuous training are laughably obviously for them, why not you?

35. “The role of the Director is to create a space where the actors and actresses canbecome more than they’ve ever been before, more than they’ve dreamed of being.” —Robert Altman, Oscar acceptance speech

36. “I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.”—Ralph Nader

37. Gamblin’ Man Bet #1: >> 5 of 10 CEOs see training as expense rather than investment. Bet #2: >> 5 of 10 CEOs see training as defense rather than offense. Bet #3: >> 5 of 10 CEOs see training as “necessary evil” rather than “strategic opportunity.”

38. Bet #4:>> 8 of 10 CEOs, in 45-min “tour d’horizon” of their biz, would NOT mention training.

39. What is the best reason to go bananas over training?

40. What is the best reason to go bananas over training?GREED. (It pays off.) (Also: Training should be an official part of the R&D budget and a capital expense.)

41. Training #1: Bottom Line NOBODY gets off the hook! “Training & Development Maniac” applies as much to the leader of the 4-person business as to the chief of the 44,444-person business.

42. “The topic is probably the oldest and biggest debate in Customer service. What is more important: How well you hire, or the training and culture you bring your employees into? While both are very important,75percent is the Customer service training and the service culture of your company. Do you really think that Disney has found 50,000 amazing service-minded people? There probably aren’t 50,000 people on earth who were born to serve. Companies like Ritz-Carlton and Disney find good people and put them in such a strong service and training environment that doesn’t allow for accept anything less than excellence.”—John DiJulius, The Customer Service Revolution: Overthrow Conventional Business, Inspire Employees, and Change the World

43. 6/2/3* *It takes Jerry Seinfeld SIX MONTHS to develop TWO or THREE MINUTES of new material (documentary: Comedian)

44. Hiring

45. “It’s simple, really, Tom. Hire fors, and, aboveall, promote fors.”—Starbucks regional manager, on why so many smiles at Starbucks shops

46. “We look for ... listening, caring, smiling, saying ‘Thank you,’ being warm.” — Colleen Barrett, former President, Southwest Airlines

47. Observed closely: The use of“I”or“We”during a job interview. Source: Leonard Berry & Kent Seltman, chapter 6, “Hiring for Values,” Management Lessons From Mayo Clinic

48. "When I hire someone, that's when I go to work for them.”—John DiJulius, "What's the Secret to Providing a World-class Customer Experience"

49. Me

50. “Being aware of yourself and how you affect everyone around you is what distinguishes a superior leader.”—Edie Seashore