The “guru Gaffe s ” “hall of shame”: the “Over-rated Eight”!

Welcome to Tom Peters “PowerPoint World”! Beyond the set of slides here, you will find at tompeters.com the last eight years of presentations, a basketful of “Special Presentations,” and, above all, Tom’s constantly updatedMaster Presentation—from which most of the slides in this presentation are drawn. There are about 3,500 slides in the 7-part “Master Presentation.” The first five “chapters” constitute the main argument: Part I is context. Part II is devoted entirely to innovation—the sine qua non, as perhaps never before, of survival. In earlier incarnations of the “master,” “innovation” “stuff” was scattered throughout the presentation—now it is front and center and a stand-alone. Part III is a variation on the innovation theme—but it is organized to examine the imperative (for most everyone in the developed-emerging world) of an ultra high value-added strategy. A “value-added ladder” (the “ladder” configuration lifted with gratitude from Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore’s Experience Economy) lays out a specific logic for necessarily leaving commodity-like goods and services in the dust. Part IV argues that in this age of “micro-marketing” there are two macro-markets of astounding size that are dramatically under-attended by all but a few; namely women and boomers-geezers. Part V underpins the overall argument with the necessary bedrock—Talent, with brief consideration of Education & Healthcare. Part VI examines Leadership for turbulent times from several angles. Part VII is a collection of a dozen Lists—such as Tom’s “Irreducible 209,” 209 “things I’ve learned along the way.” Enjoy! Download! “Steal”—that’s the whole point!

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

Tom Peters’ X25*EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.World Marketing and Innovation ForumBarcelona/14 November 2007*In Search of Excellence 1982-2007

The “guru Gaffes” “hall of shame”: the “Over-rated Eight”!

The “Over-rated Eight”:Big companies!Public companies!“Cool” industries!Stability!Famous CEOs!“Hard” stuff!“Success”!Plans!

Over-rated:Big companies!Public companies!“Cool” industries!Stability!Famous CEOs!“Hard” stuff!“Success”!Plans!

“I am often asked by would-be entrepreneurs seeking escape from life within huge corporate structures, ‘How do I build a small firm for myself?’ The answer seems obvious:Buy a very large one and just wait.”—Paul Ormerod, Why Most Things Fail: Evolution, Extinction and Economics

Dick Kovacevich:You don’t get better by being bigger. You get worse.”

“Despite a decade of banking mergers, there is no evidence that big banks are any more efficient or profitable than their smaller rivals.”—Financial Times, 0329.07, on possible Barclays-ABN Amro merger (“When it comes to asking the stock market whether bigger banks are better, the current answer is a resounding ‘no.” —Citigroup analysis, 2006)

“The Bigger They Are: Toyota Takes a Tumble on Quality”—headline, International Herald, 1103-4.07

“Hope For Breakup Advocates”—headline, FT, 1105.07, re Citigroup

“Jeff Bewkes, the Next Boss of Time-Warner, Is Likely to Break Up the Company”—headline, Economist, 1110.07

“Mr. Foster and his McKinsey colleagues collected detailed performance data stretching back 40 years for 1,000 U.S. companies. They found that none of the long-term survivors managed to outperform the market. Worse, the longer companies had been in the database, the worse they did.” —Financial Times

#1 Exporter?

#4 Japan

#4 Japan#2T China#2T USA

#4 Japan#2T china#2t USA#1 Germany

Reason?Daimler?BASF?Siemens?Commerzbank?

Reason!!!Mittelstand

Or … Goldmann Produktions(11/50%/$5M/”dip and coat,” expensive pigments vs “through coloring,” fadesBekro Chemie)

Bavaria: Mittelstand within Mittelstand“Place to start over” post-WWII13 million6th in EU if stand-alone (CA #5)4% unemploymentMunich government pro-business30 universities (3 of 3 leading in R&D, with Baden-Wuerttemberg)50% German patents (with Baden-Wuerttemberg)SMEs & Big Cos“Hot” finance communities“lion’s share” of German startupsMedia startups (SF: tech + media)Source: CNBC European Business, November 2007

“It suddenly occurred to me …

“It suddenly occurred to me that in the space of two or three hours he nevertalked about cars.”—Les Wexner

Did one of ’em ever turn to the other and say:“Wow I wonder what unimaginable new tools, otherwise not possible, will be quickly brought forth for our customers because of this deal?”

Family BusinessesTwo-thirds of total #s of companiesOne-half of biggest companies>One-half GDP>One-half employment6% more profitable7% better ROAHigher income growthHigher revenue growthSource: John Davis, HBS

“The growth and success of women-owned businesses is one of the most profound changes takingplace in the business world today.”—Margaret Heffernan, How She Does It

94%of loans to …women**Microlending; “Banker to the poor”; Grameen Bank; Muhammad Yunus; 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner

Jim’s Group

Jim’s Mowing Canada Jim’s Mowing UK Jim’s Antennas Jim’s Bookkeeping Jim’s Building Maintenance Jim’s Carpet Cleaning Jim’s Car Cleaning Jim’s Computer Services Jim’s Dog Wash Jim’s Driving School Jim’s Fencing Jim’s Floors Jim’s Painting Jim’s Paving Jim’s Pergolas [gazebos] Jim’s Pool Care Jim’s Pressure Cleaning Jim’s Roofing Jim’s Security Doors Jim’s Trees Jim’s Window Cleaning Jim’s Windscreens Note: Download, free, Jim Penman’s book: What Will They Franchise Next? The Story of Jim’s Group

etc.PRSX/Paragon Railcar Salvage**Salvaged railcars into bridges, etc.

*Lived in same town all adult life*First generation that’s wealthy/ no parental support*“Don’t look like millionaires, don’t dress like millionaires, don’t eat like millionaires, don’t act like millionaires”*“Many of the types of businesses [they] are in could be classified as ‘dull- normal.’ [They] are welding contractors, auctioneers, scrap-metal dealers, lessors of portable toilets, dry cleaners, re-builders of diesel engines, paving contractors …”Source: The Millionaire Next Door, Thomas Stanley & William Danko

The last word: There is no “last word.”

Headline, Wall Street Journal, 3 October 2007: “Wal*Mart Era Wanes Amid Big Shifts In Retail: Rivals Find Strategies To Defeat Low Prices; World Has Changed” Sentence #1: “The Wal*Mart Era, the retailer’s time of overwhelming business and social influence in America, is drawing to a close.”

Cover, Newsweek, 05 November 2007:“Takedown? ONCE HAILED AS A WORLDBEATER, THE INTERNET COLOSSUS NOW HAS REAL RIVALS ALL OVER THE WORLD.” [text followed by a massive rendition of the Google logo]GOOGLE

Q4/2006+500,000 = ? Source: Barron’s 0922.07

Q4/2006+500,000 =+7,700,000-7,200,000Source: Barron’s 0922.07

“Natural selection is death. ... Without huge amounts of death, organisms do not change over time. ... Death is the mother of structure. ... It took four billion years of death ... to invent the human mind ...”— The Cobra Event

TP#1*:Netscape!*Where would you rather have worked for those 5 years, Netscape or IBM-HP-Microsoft-Oracle? (Where, 25 years from now, would you rather to be able to tell someone—e.g., grandchild—that you worked?)

Built to LastvsBuilt to Change/Rock the World

Palo Alto/30California/35

C.E.O.to C.D.O.

Mission impossible?$36B/’98minus $675M/‘07

Market capitalization lost per day, 1998-2007: $10,000,000/Day

*Lived in same town all adult life*First generation that’s wealthy/no parental support*“Don’t look like millionaires, don’tdress like millionaires, don’t eat likemillionaires, don’t act like millionaires”*“Many of the types of businesses [they] are in could be classified as ‘dull-normal.’ [They] are welding contractors, auctioneers, scrap-metal dealers, lessors of portable toilets, dry cleaners, re-builders of diesel engines, paving contractors …”Source: The Millionaire Next Door, Thomas Stanley & William Danko

Hard Is SoftSoft Is Hard

The “guru Gaffe s ” “hall of shame”: the “Over-rated Eight”!