Pursuit of Talent: Excellence Always

1. Tom Peters’ X25*EXCELLENCE. ALWAYS.Talent.Utrecht/23 March 2007*In Search of Excellence 1982-2007

2. Slides at …tompeters.com

3. People Power:The Talent50

4. 1. People First!

5. “Leaders‘do’ people. Period.”—Anon.

6. “Omnicom very simply is about talent. It’s about the acquisition of talent, providing the atmosphere so talent is attracted to it.”—John Wren

7. Whoops: Jack didn’t have a vision!**GE = “Talent Machine” (Ed Michaels)

8. < CAPEX> People!

9. “Leaders‘SERVE’ people. Period.”—Anon.

10. Servant Leadership/Robert Greenleaf 1. Do those served grow as persons? 2. Do they, while being served, become healthier wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?

11. Cause(worthy of commitment)Space(room for/encouragement for initiative) Decency(respect, humane)

12. 2. “Soft” Is “Hard.”

13. Hard is soft.Soft is hard.

14. 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”

15. “Why in the world did you go to Siberia?”

16. The Peters Principles: Enthusiasm. Emotion. Excellence. Energy. Excitement. Service. Growth. Creativity. Imagination. Vitality. Joy. Surprise. Independence. Spirit. Community. Limitless human potential. Diversity. Profit. Innovation. Design. Quality. Entrepreneurialism. Wow.

17. Enterprise* ** (*at its best):An emotional, vital, innovative, joyful, creative, entrepreneurial endeavor that elicits maximum concerted human potential in the wholehearted service of others.*****Excellence. Always.***Employees, Customers, Suppliers, Communities, Owners, Temporary partners

18. 3. FUNDAMENTAL PREMISE: We Are in an Age of Talent/ Creativity/ Intellectual-capital Added.

19. Agriculture Age(farmers)Industrial Age(factory workers)Information Age(knowledge workers)Conceptual Age(creators and empathizers)Source: Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind

20. “Human creativity is the ultimate economic resource.”—Richard Florida,The Rise of the Creative Class

21. “The Creative Age is awideopen game.”—Richard Florida, The Rise of the Creative Class

22. “THE FUTURE BELONGS TO … SMALL POPULATIONS … WHO BUILD EMPIRES OF THE MIND … AND WHO IGNORE THE TEMPTATION OF—OR DO NOT HAVE THE OPTION OF—EXPLOITING NATURAL RESOURCES.”Source: Juan Enriquez/Asthe Future Catches You

23. 4. Talent “Excellence” in Every Part of Every Organization.

24. Wegmans:#1/100“Best Companies to Work for”/2005

25. 5. Talent “Excellence” Stretches Far Beyond Our Borders.

26. We become who we hang out with 1

27. Measure “Strangeness”/Portfolio QualityStaffConsultantsVendorsOut-sourcing Partners (#, Quality)Innovation Alliance PartnersCustomersCompetitors (who we “benchmark” against)Strategic Initiatives Product Portfolio (LineEx v. Leap)IS/IT ProjectsHQ LocationLunch MatesLanguageBoard

28. WhackyWikiWorldWow

29. “The Billion-man Research Team: Companies offering work to online communities are reaping the benefits of ‘crowdsourcing.’”—Headline, FT, 0110.07

30. Rob McEwen/CEO/Goldcorp Inc./Red Lake goldSource: Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams

31. 6. P.O.T./ Pursuit Of Talent = OBSESSION.

32. “The leaders of Great Groups love talent and know where to find it. They revel in the talent of others.”—Warren Bennis & Patricia Ward Biederman, Organizing Genius

33. PARC’s Bob Taylor:“Connoisseur of Talent”

34. Les Wexner:From sweaters to … people!

35. 7. Talent Masters Understand Talent’s Intangibles.

36. “A man without a smiling face must not open a shop.”—Chinese Proverb

37. A Few Lessons from the ArtsEach hired and developed and evaluated in unique ways(23 contributors = 23 unique contributions = 23 pathways = 23 personalities = 23 sets of motivators)Attitude/Enthusiasm/Energy paramountRe-lent-less!“Practice is cool”(G Leonard/Mastery)Team and individual Aspire to EXCELLENCE = ObviousEx-e-cu-tionTalent = Brand = Duh“The Project” rulesEmotional languageBit players. No.B.I.W.(everything)Delta events = Delta rosters(incl leader/s)

38. Visibly energetic /Passionate/Enthusiastic … about everything.Engaging/Inspires others. (Inspires the interviewer!)Loves messes & pressure. Impatient/ Action fanatic.A finisher.Exhibits: Fat “WOW Project” Portfolio. (Loves to talk about her work.)Smart.Curious/ Eclectic interests/A little (or more) weird.Well-developed sense of humor/ Fun to be around. ******No. 1 re bosses: Exceptional talent selection & development record. (Former co-workers: “Did you visibly grow while working with X?” /“How has the department/team grown on a ‘world-class’ scale during X’s tenure?”)

39. 8.HR Is “Cool.”

40. Chicago:HRMAC

41. “support function” / “cost center” / “bureaucratic drag”or…

42. Are you …“Rock Stars of the Age of Talent”?

43. 9. HR Sits at The Head Table.

44. A review of Jack and Suzy Welch’s Winning claims there are but two key differentiators that set GE “culture” apart from the herd: First:Separating financial forecasting and performance measurement.Performance measurement based, as it usually is, on budgeting leads to an epidemic of gaming the system. GE’s performance measurement is divorced from budgeting—and instead reflects how you do relative to your past performance and relative to competitors’ performance; i.e., it’s about how you actually do in the context of what happened in the real world, not as compared to a gamed-abstract plan developed last year. Second:Putting HR on a par with finance and marketing.

45. “HR doesn’t tend to hire a lot of independent thinkers or people who stand up as moral compasses.”—Garold Markle, Shell Offshore HR Exec (FC/08.05)

46. 10. Re-name “HR.”

47. Talent Department

48. “H.R.” to “H.E.D.” ???HumanEnablement Department

49. People DepartmentCenter for Talent ExcellenceSeriously Cool People Who Recruit & Develop Seriously Cool PeopleEtc.

50. 11. There Is an “HR Strategy”/ “HR Vision”