Tom Peters’ The Excellence Dividend: Profits Through ( REALLY ) Putting People First

1. Tom Peters’ The Excellence Dividend: Profits Through (REALLY) Putting People First Version: 14 October 2018 (This presentation/10+ years of presentation slides at tompeters.com; also see our annotated 23-part Monster-Master at excellencenow.com)

2. Dr. D.A. Henderson, who led the international effort to eradicate smallpox, was asked what he wanted to eradicate next. His answer …Source: Sabin Vaccine Institute

3. Dr. D.A. Henderson, who led the international effort to eradicate smallpox, was asked what he wanted to eradicate next. His answer:“Bad management.”Source: Sabin Vaccine Institute

4. PEOPLE (REALLY) FIRST: CONTEXT

5. Tom Peters’ The EXCELLENCE Dividend: Profits through (REALLY) Putting PEOPLE First 14 October 2018

7. Given/Axiomatic …THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR NOT MAKING ANY ORGANIZATION OF ANY SIZE IN ANY BUSINESS A GREATPLACETOWORKEVERY LEADER HAS A MORAL OBLIGATION CIRCA 2018 TO DEVELOP PEOPLE SO THAT WHEN THEY LEAVE THEY ARE BETTER PREPARED FOR TOMORROW THAN THEY WERE WHEN THEY ARRIVED.

8. “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

9. Profit Through Putting People (REALLY) 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 Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big, by Bo Burlingham Joy at Work: A Revolutionary Approach to Fun on the Job, by Dennis Bakke, former CEO, AES Corporation Joy, Inc.: How We Built a Workplace People Love, by Richard Sheridan, CEO Menlo Innovations 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 Santa Fe Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down, by Vineet Nayar, CEO, HCL Technologies Patients Come Second: Leading Change By Changing the Way You Lead by Paul Spiegelman & Britt Berrett The Customer Comes Second: Put Your People First and Watch ’Em Kick Butt, by Hal Rosenbluth, former CEO, Rosenbluth International 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 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 Hsieh, 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

10. “BUSINESS HAS TO GIVE PEOPLE ENRICHING, REWARDING LIVES … OR IT’S SIMPLY NOT WORTH DOING.” —Richard Branson (1/4,096) “[BUSINESS HAS THE]RESPONSIBILITY TO INCREASE THE SUM OF HUMAN WELL-BEING.” —Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Good Business

11. MANAGING: AS PAIN AND AGONY. Somebody’s got to do it; punching bag for higher ups on one end, grouchy employees on the other; blame magnet if things go wrong, big bosses abscond with the credit if things go right. MANAGING: AS THE PINNACLE OF HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT. The greatest life opportunity one can have (literally). Mid- to long-term success is no more and no less than a function of one’s dedication to and effectiveness at helping team members grow and flourish as individuals and as contributing members to an energetic, self-renewing organization dedicated to the relentless pursuit of EXCELLENCE.

12. “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

13. Les Wexner:FROM FASHION TRENDS GURU TO JOY FROM PICKING/ DEVELOPING PEOPLE!* *Limited Brands founder Les Wexner queried on astounding (>>Welch) longterm growth & profitability: It happened, he said, because “I got as excited about developing people”as he had been about predicting fashion trends in his early years.

14. THE LAST WORD* (*FOR NOW)People are NOT “human resources.”People are NOT “our” “#1 asset.” Business IS people. Business IS people (leaders) serving people (employees) serving people (customers).

15. 70%, 85%, 87%

16. 70%, 85%, 87%*=Shame on You!!*% 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.

17. Given/Axiomatic …THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR NOT MAKING ANY ORGANIZATION OF ANY SIZE IN ANY BUSINESS A GREATPLACETOWORKEVERY LEADER HAS A MORAL OBLIGATION CIRCA 2018 TO DEVELOP PEOPLE SO THAT WHEN THEY LEAVE THEY ARE BETTER PREPARED FOR TOMORROW THAN THEY WERE WHEN THEY ARRIVED.

18. PEOPLE (REALLY) FIRST: CULTURE IS THE GAME

19. CULTURE:IT IS THE GAME

20. Wall Street Journal: “What matters most to a company over time? Strategy or culture? Dominic Barton, Managing Director, McKinsey & Co.:“Culture.”

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

22. “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

23. “Culture precedes positive results. It doesn’t get tacked on as an afterthought on the way to the victory stand.”—NFL Hall of Fame Coach Bill Walsh .

24. “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)

25. 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. AMEN.

26. “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,75%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

27. 36 YEARS 6 WORDS

28. 36 Years/52 Years/18 Books/ 2,500 Speeches = 6 Words “Hard is soft. Soft is hard.” (You can Google it!)

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

30. “Far too many companies invest too little time and money in their soft-edge excellence. … The three main reasons for this mistake are: 1. The hard edge is easier to quantify. … 2. Successful hard-edge investment provides a faster return on investment. … 3. CEOs, CFO, chief operating officers, boards of directors, and shareholders speak the language of finance. …” Source: The Soft Edge, Rich Karlgaard

31. Soft-Edge Advantages 1. Soft-edge strength leads to greater brand recognition, higher profit margins, … [It] is the ticket out of Commodityville. “2. Companies strong in the soft edge are better prepared to survive a big strategic mistake or cataclysmic disruption … “3. Hard-edge strength is absolutely necessary to compete, but it provides only a fleeting advantage.” Source: The Soft Edge, Rich Karlgaard

32. 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 gets 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)

33. 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)

34. PUT PEOPLE (REALLY!!) FIRST

35. Your Customers Will Never Be Any Happier Than Your Employees

36. “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

37. EXCELLENT customer experience depends … entirely … onEXCELLENT employee experience! If you want to WOW your customers, FIRST you must WOW those who WOW the customers!

38. Hiring

39. 1/7,500 “May I help you down the jetway …”

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

41. “The ultimate filter we use[in the hiring process]is that we only hire nice people.… When we finish assessing skills, we do something called ‘running the gauntlet.’ We have them interact with 15 or 20 people, and everyone of them have what I call a ‘blackball vote,’ which means they can say if we should not hire that person. I believe in culture so strongly and that one bad apple can spoil the bunch. There are enough really talented people out there who are nice, you don’t really need to put up with people who act like jerks.” —Peter Miller, CEO Optinose (pharmaceuticals) “When we talk about the qualities we want in people, empathy is a big one.… If you can empathize with people, then you can do a good job. If you have no ability to empathize, then it’s difficult to help people improve. Everything becomes harder. —Stewart Butterfield, co-founder/CEO Slack, founder Flickr

42. 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

43. Training = Investment#1!

44. In the Army and Navy, 3-star generals/ admirals obsess on training. In most businesses, it's a “ho-hum” mid-level staff function.

45. If you don't believe that training is “Investment #1,” ask an admiral, general, police chief, fire chief, orchestra conductor, football coach, archery coach, movie director, actor (age 22 or 62), prima ballerina, surgeon, ER or ICU chief or nurse,nuclear power plant operator ... or me.

46. 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.”

47. “training, TRAINING and M-O-R-E T-R-A-I-N-I-N-G” —Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander In Chief/Pacific, communication to Chief of Naval Operations Ernest King. Fact: The U.S. Navy was woefully under-prepared at the time of Pearl Harbor. The fix: T-R-A-I-N-I-N-G … more important than hardware! (Note: The capitalization, punctuation and italics In the quote above are Admiral Nimitz’s, not mine.)

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

49. Step #1 Is your CTO/Chief Training Officer (Do you even have a CTO?) your top paid “C-level” job (other than CEO/COO)? Are your top trainers paid/cherished as much as your top marketers/ engineers?

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