Doing What’s Obvious But Not Easy

1. Doing What’s Obvious But Not Easy David Maister talks about his new book, Strategy and the Fat Smoker

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3. Doing What’s Obvious But Not Easy Contact Information David Maister 90 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, MA 02116 USA Telephone: 617-262-5968 Fax: 617-262-7907 www.davidmaister.com david@davidmaister.com

4. The Only Competitive Advantage • Drive • Determination • Discipline • Energy • Excitement • Enthusiasm • Engagement • Passion • Ambition

5. What Do We Know About Successful Diet And Exercise Programs? • Must Really want the benefits • Must be able to resist temptations • Must be willing to defer gratification • It’s about permanent change in lifestyle, not add-ons • Changing scorecards • Leaders must be credible about being in it for the long haul • Principles more effective than tactics • People must get on or off the bus • “We are building Rome” • Celebrating minor triumphs • Making it a “game” • Strategy means saying “no”

6. What Do We Need to Overcome?Why Don’t We/They Do It Now? SYSTEMS • They view it as a long-term investment, and they’re too busy looking after immediate pressure. • They feel more accountability and pressure for other things; they intend or would like to do it, but they feel they don’t have the time to do it. • The people haven’t been given to support, tools or training to do it. • It’s viewed as discretionary, there are no consequences if they don’t do it. • The people think the firm wants them to worry only about short-term, and not engage in long-term activities.

7. What Do We Need to Overcome?Why Don’t We/They Do It Now? SKILL • Our people know what to do and, want to do it, they’re just not very good at it.

8. How Well Does Your Firm Measure Up To These Behaviors And States of Mind? • New Challenges are eagerly, continuously sought out. • The firm and its people never rely on momentum for their success, but are always seeking to build new capabilities. • Compared to key competitors, the people in the firm are distinguished by a superior, burning passion to get somewhere new. • The firm emphasizes and requires adaptability, flexibility, and responsiveness as key virtues. • The firm’s strategies are created through continued and repeated experimentation. • The firm is markedly superior in creating (not just hiring for) energy, excitement, enthusiasm, drive, determination, passion, and ambition.

9. How Well Does Your Firm Measure Up To These Behaviors And States of Mind? • Service offerings, locations, and operating units are repeatedly assessed against these three key criteria: Do the people in the firm find this exciting? Are we making money? Are we doing something special that others are not doing? • There is a restless refusal to accept “It’s OK.” People never settle, never give up, never coast. • The firm sustains energy and investment actions both when things are going badly and when things are going relatively well. • The firm does not judge its performance by the levels of its accomplishments, but by the “relative incline”: whether or not it is improving relative to competitors on the characteristics it has chosen to compete on. • Management is held accountable for its ability to create and sustain drive, enthusiasm, passion, ambition, commitment, and excitement in the individual members and groups that make up the organization. Managers who cannot do this are replaced.

10. You, My Manager • Encourage me to initiate tasks or projects I think are important • Are good at keeping down the level of politics and politicking • Are more often encouraging than critical • Are fair in dealings with employees • Are consultative in your decision making • Act more like a coach than a boss • Are publicly generous with credit • Are effective in listening

11. Considerate Understanding Respectful Supportive Empathetic Sympathetic Sensitive Dependable Responsive Appreciative The Keys To A Great Relationship

12. Expert Or Advisor?

13. Are We In This Together?

14. You, My Manager • Act and live by the principles you advocate • Act as a role model that people want to copy • Are a person of integrity • Enforce the company values • Are a “part of the team” as opposed to being the boss, separate and detached • Cause me to stretch for performance goals • Are concerned about long-term issues, not just short-term profits

15. You, My Manager • Provide constructive feedback that helps me improve my performance • Are a source of creative ideas about our business • Help me to grow and develop • Make me feel that I am a member of a well-functioning team • Emphasize cooperation as opposed to competitiveness between work groups • Are prompt in dealing with underperformance and underperformers • Keep me informed about the things I need to know to perform my role properly

16. The Only Competitive Advantage • Drive • Determination • Discipline • Energy • Excitement • Enthusiasm • Engagement • Passion • Ambition

17. What Do We Need to Overcome?Why Don’t We/They Do It Now? ATTITUDE • It’s not “valued” by their peers: the culture doesn’t reinforce this. • Our people don’t want to do it. They are more comfortable on technical topics, and not comfortable with interpersonal issues. • There is no perceived competitive pressure or threat in this area. • People view it as an optional choice (to be used if and when convenient.

18. What Do We Need to Overcome?Why Don’t We/They Do It Now? KNOWLEDGE • Our people don’t understand why it’s important. • Our people don’t know how to do it.

19. The One-Firm Firm Principles • Highly selective recruitment • A “grow your own” people strategy as opposed to heavy use of laterals, growing only as fast as people could be developed and assimilated • Intensive use of training as a socialization process • Rejection of a “star system” and related individualistic behavior • Avoidance of mergers, in order to sustain the collaborative culture • Selective choice of services and markets, so as to win through significant investments in focused areas rather than many small initiatives • Active outplacement and alumni management, so that those who leave remain loyal to the firm • Compensation based mostly on group performance, not individual performance • High investments in research and development • Extensive intra-firm communication, with broad use of consensus-building approaches

20. Doing What’s Obvious But Not Easy Contact Information David Maister 90 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, MA 02116 USA Telephone: 617-262-5968 Fax: 617-262-7907 www.davidmaister.com david@davidmaister.com

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