Lessons from a Distinguished Career: People, Service, and Excellence

1. 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 …

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

3. Tom Peters’ Excellence! Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Auckland/20 February 2019 (This presentation/10+ years of presentation slides at tompeters.com; also see our annotated 23-part Monster-Master at excellencenow.com)

4. 36 YEARS 6 WORDS

5. GOOGLE GETS A SURPRISE I“Project Oxygen [data from founding in 1998 to 2013] shocked everyone by concluding that, among the eight most important qualities of Google’s top employees, STEM[Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics]expertise comes in dead last. The seven top characteristics of success at Google are all SOFT SKILLS: being a good coach; communicating and listening well; possessing insights into others (including others’ different values and points of view); having empathy toward and being supportive of one’s colleagues; being a good critical thinker and problem solver; and being able to make connections across complex ideas. Those traits sound more like what one gains as an English or theater major than as a programmer. …Source: Valerie Strauss, “The surprising thing Google learned about its employees—and what it means for today’s students” (Washington Post, 20 December 2017)

6. GOOGLE GETS A SURPRISE II“Project Aristotle [2017] further supports the importance of soft skills even in high-tech environments. Project Aristotle analyzes data on inventive and productive teams,. Google takes pride in it’s A-teams, assembled with top scientists, each with the most specialized knowledge and able to throw down one cutting-edge idea after another. Its data analysis revealed, however, that the company’s most important and productive ideas come from B-teams comprised of employees that don’t always have to be the smartest people in the room. Project Aristotle shows that that the best teams at Google exhibit a range of soft skills: equality, generosity, curiosity toward the ideas of your teammates, empathy and emotional intelligence. And topping the list: emotional safety. No bullying. …Source: Valerie Strauss, “The surprising thing Google learned about its employees—and what it means for today’s students” (Washington Post, 20 December 2017)

7. Hard (numbers/plans) is Soft. Soft (relationships/culture) is Hard.

8. “The terms ‘hard facts,’ and ‘the soft stuff’ used in business imply that data are somehow real and strong while emotions are weak and less important.”—George Kohlrieser, Hostage at the Table (Kohlrieser is a hostage negotiator and professor of management)

9. PEOPLE! SERVICE! EXCELLENCE!

10. Tom Peters’ The EXCELLENCE Dividend: The Business of Business Is PEOPLE Serving PEOPLE ServingPEOPLE 20 February 2019

11. “Almost half of U.S. jobs are at high risk of computerization over the next 20years, according to Oxford academics Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne.”—CNBC, 9 March 2016 “The intellectual talents of highly trained professionals are no more protected from automation than is the driver’s left turn.”—Nicholas he Glass Cage: Automation and Us

12. 70%, 85%, 87%*=ShameonUs!!*% of people who dislike their job, are not engaged at work, unhappy, “sleepwalking,” etc. (These numbers are extraordinarily consistent around the world.)Source: Inc., Gallup, Washington Post, etc.

13. Given/Axiomatic …THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR NOT MAKING ANY ORGANIZATION OF ANY SIZE IN ANY BUSINESS A … GREATPLACETOWORKEVERY LEADER/2019 HAS A MORAL OBLIGATION TO DEVELOP PEOPLE SO THAT WHEN THEY LEAVE THEY ARE BETTER PREPARED FOR (CRAZY) TOMORROW THAN THEY WERE WHEN THEY ARRIVED.

14. “BUSINESS HAS TO GIVE PEOPLE ENRICHING, REWARDING LIVES … OR IT’S SIMPLY NOT WORTH DOING.” —Richard Branson (#1/4,096) “The role of the Director is to create a space where the actors and actresses canbecome more than they have ever been before, more than they have ever dreamed of being.” —Robert Altman, Oscar acceptance speech “[Business has the]responsibility to increase the sum of human well-being.” —Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Good Business

15. THE LAST WORD: PEOPLE SERVING PEOPLE SERVING PEOPLEPeople are NOT “human resources.”People are NOT “our” “#1 asset.” Business IS people. Business IS people (leaders) serving people (employees) serving people (customers).

16. “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

17. CULTURE IS THE GAME

18. CULTURE:IT IS THE GAME

19. “If I could have chosen not to tackle the IBM culture head-on, I probably wouldn’t have. My bias coming in was toward strategy, analysis and measurement. In comparison, changing the attitude and behaviors of hundreds of thousands of people is very, very hard.Yet I came to see in my time at IBM that culture isn’t just one aspect of the game —IT IS THE GAME.” —Lou Gerstner, Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance

20. “Starbucks had become operationally driven, about efficiency as opposed to the romance. We’d lost the soul of the company.”—Howard Schultz on Starbucks’ problems which caused him to reclaim the CEO job (Shultz calls his association with Starbucks “a love story.” FYI: Subsequent to Schultz’s return, Starbucks has indeed gotten its mojo back!) “What’s remarkable is how fast a culture can be torn apart.”—top 3M scientist(“3M’s Innovation Crisis: How Six Sigma Almost Smothered Its Idea Culture,” Cover story, BusinessWeek)

21. CULTURE/CEO JOB #1 /THE RULES: CULTURE COMES FIRST. CULTURE IS EXCEEDINGLY DIFFICULT TO CHANGE. CULURE CHANGE CANNOT BE/MUST NOT BE EVADED OR AVOIDED. CULTURE MAINTENANCE IS ABOUT AS DIFFICULT AS CULTURE CHANGE. CULTURE MAINTENANCE: ONE DAY/ONE HOUR/ ONE MINUTE AT A TIME. CULTURE CHANGE/MAINTENANCE MUST BECOME A CONSCIOUS/PERMANENT/PERSONAL AGENDA ITEM. CULTURE CHANGE = AN “OUTSIDE-THE OFFICE JOB” = MBWA/MANAGING BY WANDERING AROUND. CULTURE CHANGE/MAINTENANCE IS MANIFEST IN “THE LITTLE THINGS” FAR MORE THAN IN THE BIG THINGS. REPEAT/CULTURE CHANGE/MAINTENANCE: ONE DAY/ONE HOUR/ONE MINUTE AT A TIME. FOREVER. AND EVER.

22. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” —Ed Schein/1986

23. PUT PEOPLE (REALLY!!) FIRST

24. Employees: Customer #1

25. “YOU HAVE TO TREAT YOUR EMPLOYEES LIKE CUSTOMERS.”—Herb Kelleher “What employees experience, Customers will. The best marketing is happy, engaged employees.YOUR CUSTOMERS WILL NEVER BE ANY HAPPIER THAN YOUR EMPLOYEES.” —John DiJulius, The Customer Service Revolution IF YOU WANT STAFF TO GIVE GREAT SERVICE, GIVE GREAT SERVICE TO STAFF.”—Ari Weinzweig

26. Hiring

27. 1/7,500 “May I help you down the jetway …”

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

29. Observed closely during Mayo Clinic employment interviews (for renown surgeons as well as others): The frequency of use of“I”or“We.” Source: Leonard Berry & Kent Seltman, chapter 6, “Hiring for Values,” Management Lessons From Mayo Clinic

30. Training = Investment#1!

31. If you don't believe that training is “INVESTMENT #1,” ask anadmiral, general, policechief, firechief, orchestraconductor, footballcoach, archery coach, moviedirector, actor (age 22 or 62), primaballerina, surgeon, ER or ICUchief or nurse,nuclear power plantoperator ... (or me). Train ’em and they’ll leave.” Or … “TRAIN PEOPLE WELL ENOUGH SO THEY CAN LEAVE, TREAT THEM WELL ENOUGH SO THEY DON’T WANT TO.”—Richard Branson

32. 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.”

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

34. “Train ’em and they’ll leave.” Or …

35. “TRAIN PEOPLE WELL ENOUGH SO THEY CAN LEAVE, TREAT THEM WELL ENOUGH SO THEY DON’T WANT TO.”—Richard Branson

36. 1st-Line Leaders= Asset #1

37. If the regimental commander lost most of his 2nd lieutenants and 1st lieutenants and captains and majors, it would be a tragedy. IF HE LOST HIS SERGEANTS IT WOULD BE A CATASTROPHE.The Army and the Navy are fully aware that success on the battlefield or at sea is dependent to an extraordinary degree on its Sergeants and Chief Petty Officers. Does industry have the same awareness?

38. Front-line Chiefs (Full Complement of): Principal determinants of … enterprise productivity. Principal determinants of … employee retention. Principal determinants of … product/ service quality. Principal carriers/embodiments of … corporate culture. Principal visible “spear carriers” for … Excellence. Principal champions/enablers of … sustained employee development.

39. Women Are the Best Leaders

40. For One (BIG) Thing … “McKinsey & Company found that the international companies with more women on their corporate boards far outperformed the average company in return on equity and other measures. Operating profit was …56%higher.” Source: Nicholas Kristof, “Twitter, Women, and Power,” NYTimes, 1024.13

41. “Women are rated higher in fully 12 of the 16 competencies that go into outstanding leadership. And two of the traits where women outscored men to the highest degree — taking initiative and driving for results — have long been thought of as particularly male strengths.” —Harvard Business Review/2017 “Research[by McKinsey & Co.]suggests that to succeed, start bypromoting women.” —Nicholas Kristof/New York Times

42. “Research [by McKinsey & Co.] suggests that to succeed, start by promoting women.” —Nicholas Kristof, “Twitter, Women, and Power,” NYTimes “In my experience, women make much better executives than men.” —Kip Tindell, CEO, Container Store

44. “People First”/“Bottom Line”:E-Cubed/Extreme Employee Engagement

45. Extreme Employee Engagement/EEE/“E-cubed” Extreme Employee Engagement/EEE maximizes the quality of customer engagement. EEE maximizes customer retention. EEE turns “customers” into “fans.” EEE makes it safe to take risks and make mistakes—which in turn generates and maximizes innovation at all levels of the organization. EEE radically improves individual and organizational learning. EEE underpins and spurs teamwork. EEE enhances co-operation and communication which in turn increases productivity and quality.

46. EEE reduces friction throughout the organization which dramatically improves all-important cross-functional communication and innovation and efficiency associated therewith. EEE improves the quality of joint ventures. EEE dramatically improves execution. EEE is the best defense against the AI tsunami—and by and large makes AI a partner/ally rather than enemy. EEE spurs humanization of everything—which is by and large not copy-able by AI in the foreseeable future. EEE reduces turnover and stabilizes the work force.

47. EEE makes it possible to recruit top talent. EEE means top employees are far more likely to stay with the organization. EEE improves the reputation of the company as viewed by all stakeholders. EEE improves community relations. EEE is a contribution to humanity EEE makes coming to work a pleasure—not a pain. EEE is the only sane and honorable response to the forthcoming radical changes in the global workplace.

48. EEE makes it possible for leaders to look in the mirror without barfing. EEE makes it possible for leaders to look in the mirror and smile. EEE is hard to copy. EEE is Competitive Advantage #1 EEE is the bedrock of EXCELLENCE. (No EEE, no excellence. That simple.) EEE (beancounters take note!!) is a peerless/the best/sustainable profit-maximization tool. EEE makes consistent wage and benefits growth possible. EEE = $$$$/Money (lots of) in the bank for one and all.

49. INNOVATION

50. WTTMSW+