Tom Peters’ Leadership2002 Leading in Totally Screwed Up Times v02.21.2002

1. Tom Peters’ Leadership2002Leading in Totally Screwed Up Timesv02.21.2002

2. The Context.

3. “There will be more confusion in the business world in the next decadethan in any decade in history. And the current pace of change will only accelerate.”Steve Case

4. Uncertainty: We don’t know when things will get back to normal.Ambiguity: We no longer know what “normal” means.

5. BMcC: (1) Hierarchy vs. “Network organization.” (2) NWO = “Doctrine as center of gravity”/source of motivation; distributed support & decision-making;largely self-organizing; “outside the military sphere.”

6. From: Weapon v. WeaponTo:Org structure v. Org structure

7. “Our military structure today is essentially one developed and designed by Napoleon.”Admiral Bill Owens, former Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

8. <1000A.D.: paradigm shift: 1000s of years1000: 100 years for paradigm shift1800s: > prior 900 years1900s: 1st 20 years > 1800s2000: 10 years for paradigm shift21st century: 1000Xtech change than 20th century (“the ‘Singularity,’ a merger between humans and computers that is so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history”)Ray Kurzweil

9. 1 day 2001 = Year’s trade in 1949, year’s FEX in 1979, year’s global calls in 1984.Source: Charles Handy, The Elephant and the Flea

10. The Leadership50

11. The Basic Premise.

12. 1. Leadership Is a …Mutual Discovery Process.

13. Leaders-Teachers Do Not “Transform People”!Instead leaders-mentors-teachers (1) provide a contextwhich is marked by (2)access to a luxuriant portfolio of meaningful opportunities(projects) which (3) allow people to fully(and safely, mostly—caveat: “they” don’t engage unless they’re “mad about something”)express their innate curiosity and (4) engage in a vigorous discovery voyage(alone and in small teams, assisted by an extensive self-constructed network) by which those people (5) go to-create places they(and their mentors-teachers-leaders)had never dreamed existed—and then the leaders-mentors-teachers (6)applaud like hell, stage “photo-ops,” and ring the church bells 100 times to commemorate the bravery of their “followers’ ” explorations!

14. I am inalterably opposed to “organization change,” “empowerment,” “motivation.” The goal: to awaken the latent talent already within, by providing opportunities worthy of the individual’s investment of her or his most precious resources … time and emotional commitment.

15. 1A.Leaders … Cede Control.

16. “I don’t know.”

17. “The leader who says ‘I don’t know’ essentially says that the group is facing a new ballgame where the old tools of logic may be its undoing rather than its salvation. To drop these tools is not to give up on finding a workable answer. It is only to give up on one means of answering that is ill-suited to the unstable, the unknowable, the unpredictable. To drop the heavy tools of rationality is to gain access to lightness in the form of intuitions, feelings, stories, experience, active listening, shared humanity, awareness in the moment, capability for fascination, awe, novel words and empathy.” - Karl Weick

18. 1B. Leaders Try … Not to Screw Things Up

19. “Ninety percent of what we call ‘management’ consists of making it difficult for people to get things done.” – P.D.

20. The Leadership Types.

21. 2.Great Leaders on Snorting Steeds Are Important – butGreat Talent Developers(Type I Leadership)are the Bedrock of Organizations that Perform Over the Long Haul.

22. 25/8/53*(*Damn it!)

23. Whoops: Jack didn’t have a vision!

24. 2A. “Just One”: Great Leading = Great Mentoring.

25. T.A.:3

26. Goal of the Year No. 1*:Find-Develop-Mentor ONE Extraordinary Person.*CEO, large financial advisory firm, April 2001

27. 2B. Great Leaders are … Great V.C.s.

28. “Basically [Omnicom’s John] Wren makes aggressive bets on entrepreneurs and gives them tremendous autonomy, on the assumption that the risk-taking will pay off in new ideas, connections, businesses, and, yes, revenues and profits. … ‘Omnicom operates like a venture-capital firm,’ says Sir Martin Sorrell [of WPP].”Fortune (09.17.2001)

29. 3. But Then Again, There Are Times When This “Cult of Personality” (Type II Leadership) Stuff Actually Works!

30. “A leader is a dealer in hope.”Napoleon (+TP’s writing room pics)

31. 4. Find the “Businesspeople”!(Type III Leadership)

32. I.P.M. (Inspired Profit Mechanic)

33. 4A. All Organizations Need the Golden Leadership Triangle.

34. The Golden Leadership Triangle: (1) Creator-Visionary … (2) Talent Fanatic-Mentor-V.C. … (3) Inspired Profit Mechanic.

35. Project Team Golden Triangle(1) Champion-Maniac. (2) Implementer-Pol. (3) Schedule & Budgets Fanatic.

36. 5. Leadership Mantra #1: IT ALL DEPENDS!

37. Renaissance Men are … a snare, a myth, a delusion!

38. 6.The Leader Is Rarely/Never the Best Performer.

39. 33 Division Titles. 26 League Pennants. 14 World Series: Earl Weaver—0. Tom Kelly—0. Jim Leyland—0. Walter Alston—1AB. Tony LaRussa—132 games, 6 seasons. Tommy Lasorda—P, 26 games. Sparky Anderson—1 season.

40. The Leadership Dance.

41. 7. Leaders …SHOWUP!

42. Rudy!

43. P.S. …Mark McCormack: 5,000 miles for a 5 min. meeting!

44. 7A.Leaders …LOVE the MESS!

45. “If things seem under control, you’re just not going fast enough.”Mario Andretti

46. 7B.Leadership Is Improv!

47. Duct Tape Rules!“Andrew Higgins, who built landing craft in WWII, refused to hire graduates of engineering schools. He believed that they only teach you what you can’t do in engineering school. He started off with 20 employees, and by the middle of the war had 30,000 working for him. He turned out 20,000 landing craft. D.D. Eisenhower told me, ‘Andrew Higgins won the war for us. He did it without engineers.’ ”Stephen Ambrose/Fast Company

48. 8.Leaders Groove onAMBIGUITY!

49. “Most of our predictions are based on very linear thinking. That’s why they will most likely be wrong.”Vinod Khosla, in “GIGATRENDS,” Wired 04.01

50. 9. LeadersDO!