Mastering Excellence: Innovate or Die

1. NOTE:To appreciate this presentation [and insure that it is not a mess], you need Microsoft fonts:“Showcard Gothic,”“Ravie,”“Chiller”and“Verdana”

2. NOTE: To appreciate this presentation, you need Microsoft fonts:“Showcard Gothic,”“Ravie,”“Chiller” and “Verdana”Master*Excellencepart two (of 7)innovate.Or.Die.18 june 2007

3. NOTE: To appreciate this presentation, you need Microsoft fonts:“Showcard Gothic,”“Ravie,”“Chiller” and “Verdana”MasterExcellence. Always.part one (of 7)“all you need to know”(dwelling on the obvious)not your father’s worldintroduction to excellence.18 june 2007

4. NOTE: To appreciate this presentation, you need Microsoft fonts:“Showcard Gothic,”“Ravie,”“Chiller” and “Verdana”Master/Excellence. Always./part THREE (of 7)up, up, up,up …the value added ladder(solutions-experiences-dreams-lovemarks)18 June 2007

5. NOTE: To appreciate this presentation, you need Microsoft fonts:“Showcard Gothic,”“Ravie,”“Chiller” and “Verdana”Master/Excellence. Always./part FOUR (of 7)“new” Markets(Stupendous Opportunity)18 June 2007

6. NOTE: To appreciate this presentation, you need Microsoft fonts:“Showcard Gothic,”“Ravie,”“Chiller” and “Verdana”MasterExcellence. Always.part FIVE (of 7)people!(Brand you. Talent. Health. Education. Leadership.)18 june 2007

7. NOTE: To appreciate this presentation, you need Microsoft fonts:“Showcard Gothic,”“Ravie,”“Chiller” and “Verdana”Master*Excellencepart SIX (of 7)excellence.summaries.Lists.18 june 2007

8. Part sevenExtended Talent & Leadership0618.07

9. part two

10. Slides at …tompeters.com

11. NOTE: amidst today’s unprecedented market turmoil, innovation is arguably and without exaggeration “everything”—for the small, medium and large enterprise. And public and non-profit entities as much as for-profit enterprises. Moreover, transformative innovation appears nigh on impossible for giant entities—which makes one wonder why so many “bulk up” in an effort to cope. (In a word … stupidity.)

12. Tom Peters’ X25*EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.MASTER/0618.2007/Part TWO*In Search of Excellence 1982-2007

13. EXCELLENCE. INNOVATE. OR. DIE.

14. EXCELLENCE. INNOVATE. AXIOMATIC.

15. “To grow, companies need to break out of a vicious cycle of competitive benchmarking and imitation.”—W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne, “Think for Yourself —Stop Copying a Rival,” Financial Times

16. Characteristics of the “Also rans”*“Minimize risk”“Respect the chain of command”“Support the boss”“Make budget”*Fortune, article on “Most Admired Global Corporations”

17. EXCELLENCE. INNOVATION.THE REAL STORY.Tom Peters/03.29.2007

18. The Perils of Conservatism/Industry Leadership“ ‘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

19. EVERYTHING YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW ABOUT INNOVATION IS WRONG

20. 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

21. The Mess IsThe Message! Period!

22. What makes God laugh?

23. Peoplemakingplans!

24. What makes tom laugh?

25. “Gurus” (and once-famous CEOs) giving LLLs(logical linear lectures) on “systems”* of innovation!*especially with lots of charts and graphs and Greek mathematical symbols and little tiny numbers

26. The Mess IsThe Message! Period!

27. Per-i-od!

28. NOTE: few ideas are more important—and more honored in the breach. Innovation is MESSY to the extreme. Such an assertion (reality!) determines the success of innovation “strategies,” perhaps the wrong word. This unfolding “story” is one of the most important in my efforts to alter enterprise thinking.

29. 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.

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

31. The “5Ps” of Innovation Success:Pissed-off-ed-nessPassionpalsPolitics [Political skill]Persistence

32. “Recently I asked three corporate executives what decisions they had made in the last year that would not have been made were it not for their corporate plans. All had difficulty identifying one such decision. Since all of the plans are marked ‘secret’ or ‘confidential,’I asked them how their competitors might benefit from possession of their plans. Each answered with embarrassment that their competitors would not benefit.”—Russell Ackoff (from Henry Mintzberg, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning)

33. 21C = -1c

34. Trip #1:The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning

35. “Recently I asked several corporate executives what decisions they had made in the last year that would not have been made were it not for their corporate plans. All had difficulty identifying one such decision. Since all of the plans are marked ‘secret’ or ‘confidential,’ I asked them how their competitors might benefit from possession of their plans. Each answered with embarrassment that their competitors would not benefit.”—Russell Ackoff (from Henry Mintzberg, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning)

36. An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States—Charles Beard (1913)The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger—Marc LevinsonTube: The Invention of Television—David & Marshall FisherEmpires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World—Jill JonnesThe Soul of a New Machine—Tracy KidderRosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA—Brenda MaddoxThe Blitzkrieg Myth—John Mosier

37. “Containerization is a remarkable achievement. No one foresaw how the box would transform everything it touched—from ships and ports to patterns of global trade. Containerization is a monument to the most powerful law in economics, that of unanticipated consequences. … This history ought to be humbling to fans of modern management methods. Careful planning and thorough analysis, those business school basics, may have their place, but they provide little guidance in the face of disruptive changes that alter an industry’s very fundamentals.”—Marc Levinson, FT, 0425.06 (author of The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger)

38. “Recently I asked three corporate executives what decisions they had made in the last year that would not have been made were it not for their corporate plans. All had difficulty identifying one such decision. Since all of the plans are marked ‘secret’ or ‘confidential,’I asked them how their competitors might benefit from possession of their plans. Each answered with embarrassment that their competitors would not benefit.”—Russell Ackoff (from Henry Mintzberg, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning)

39. LessonsNeed-drivenA thousand “parents”MessyEvolutionary“Trivial”Relentless ExperimentationTrial & many, many eRRORs“Real heroes” seldom around when the battle is wonLoooong 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”

40. Discover, by accident, “blue ocean” [women’s financial needs]!Ignore your [Dean Witter] boss!Sell 750,000 copies of your latest book to Wells Fargo Home Mortgage!Source: the David Bach story, includingSmart Women Finish Rich, per IBD (01.08.07)

41. 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

42. “We are in a brawl with no rules.”—Paul Allaire

43. S.A.V.

44. Paul Allaire: “We are in a brawl with no rules.”TP: “There’s only one possible answer—S.A.V.”**Screw Around Vigorously

45. Axiom: “We are in a brawl with no rules.”(PA)Implication: “The world will not be kind to those who ‘play by the rules’.”*(TP)Strategy: S.A.V./R.F.A.(RP/TP+)*Axiom: The microprocessor plays by the rules.

46. First-level Scientific Success:Beyond Brains

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

48. 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

49. Blitzkrieg?

50. Case: RealityGermans cross Meuse into France. Whoops: French intelligence completely drops the ball. (Loses track of the Germans—no kidding.)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.”