Tom Peters’ Excellence ! Ingram Micro ONE Fall 2018 Partner Conference

1. 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

2. 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

3. Tom Peters’ Excellence! Ingram Micro ONE Fall 2018 Partner Conference National Harbor MD/29 October 2018 (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 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)

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. PEOPLE! SERVICE! EXCELLENCE!

9. Tom Peters’ The EXCELLENCE Dividend: The Business of Business Is PEOPLE Serving PEOPLE ServingPEOPLE 29 October 2018

10. 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.

11. Given/Axiomatic …THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR NOT MAKING ANY ORGANIZATION OF ANY SIZE IN ANY BUSINESS A … GREATPLACETOWORKEVERY LEADER/2018 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.

12. “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 “Business was originated to produce happiness, not pile up millions.”—B.C. FORBES, 1917/first issue/Forbes

13. 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).

14. “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

15. CULTURE IS THE GAME

16. CULTURE:IT IS THE GAME

17. “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

18. 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.

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

20. PUT PEOPLE [REALLY!!] FIRST

21. Employees: Customer #1

22. “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

23. Hiring

24. 1/7,500 “May I help you down the jetway …”

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

26. “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, founder/CEO Slack, Flickr

27. 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

28. USETHESEWORDS LISTENING. CARING. SMILING. SAYING “THANK YOU.” BEING WARM. NICE. EMPATHY. “WE”

29. Training = Investment#1!

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

31. If you don't believe that training is “Investment #1,” ask an admiral, general, policechief, firechief, orchestraconductor, footballcoach, archery coach, moviedirector, actor[age 22 or 62], primaballerina, surgeon, ERorICUchief or nurse,nuclear power plantoperator ... [or me].

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. LOSERS AND WINNERS

40. AND THE WINNERS AREN’T/ARE

41. “Mr. Foster and his McKinsey colleagues collected detailed performance data stretching back 40 years for1,000U.S. companies.They found thatNONEofthe long-term survivors managed to outperform the market. Worse, the longer companies had been in the database, the worse they did.” —Financial Times

42. M & A success rate as measured by adding value to the acquirer:15% Source: Mark Sirower, The Synergy Trap

43. “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: …

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

45. AND THE WINNERS AREN’T/ARE

46. SME MASTERS OF EXCELLENCELarry JaneskyBasement Systems Inc./Contractor NationJim PenmanJim’s GroupJungle Jim BonaminioJungle Jim’s International MarketVernon HillCommerce Bank/Metro Bank

47. *Basement Systems Inc./ Contractor Nation(Larry Janesky/Seymour CT/ “All things basementy”)*Dry Basement Science (100,000++ copies!)*$120,000,000

48. 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 Source: Jim Penman, The Story of Jim’s Group : What Will They Franchise Next? (3,800/$400M)

49. JUNGLE JIM’S INTERNATIONAL MARKET, FAIRFIELD, OH:“An adventure in ‘shoppertainment,’begins in the parking lot and goes on to1,600cheeses and 1,400 varieties of hot sauce—not to mention12,000 wines priced from$8-$8,000a bottle; all this is brought to you by4,000vendors. Customers from every corner of the globe.” Source: George Whalin, Retail Superstars: Inside the 25 Best Independent Stores in America

50. “AMERICA’S BEST RESTROOM” —Sixth Annual competition sponsored by Cintas Corporation, a supplier of restroom cleaning and hygiene products