Talent 0756610567, 1405302607

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talen Don’t pay lip-service to People-

Power

— make your organization

truly talent-attractive

Your business can become an Place to Work

Awesome

—a place where Talent

Discover why the

office slave is

dead and

now

the age of the Free Agent

is

Ensure

support the

brand

Use

talent doesn’t just

— but

IS the

brand

quirky, energetic,

and disobedient

to create your Primary Competitive

Tom

rules

talent

Advantage

Peters once again redefines

business thinking

$15.00

USA

$20.00 Canada

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2017 with funding from

Kahle/Austin Foundation

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https://archive.org/details/talentOOtomp

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ESSENTIALS TALENT

THE ESSENTIALS SERIES

IS

ADAPTED FROM RE-IMAGINE!

LONDON, NEW YORK, MUNICH,

MELBOURNE, AND DELHI

Editor

Michael Slind

Project Art Editor Jason Godfrey at Godfrey Design

Dawn Henderson

Senior Editor

DTP Design and Reproduction Adam Walker Production Controller Luca Frassinetti

Managing Managing

Editor Julie

Art Editor

Oughton

Heather McCarry

Publishing Manager Adele Hayward

Category Publisher Stephanie Jackson Art Director

First

published

Peter Luff

the

in

USA

DK Publishing, 375 Hudson

published

First

New

Street,

in

2005 by

in

Inc.

NY 10014

York,

Great Britain

in

2005 by

Dorling Kindersley Limited,

80 Strand, London

WC2R 0RL

A Penguin Company

2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3

1

© 2005 Dorling Kindersley Limited Text copyright © 2005 Tom Peters

Copyright

All

rights reserved under International

this publication or by

may be reproduced,

and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part

stored

in

a retrieval system, or transmitted in

any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording,

or otherwise,

without the prior

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are available at special discount^ for bulk purchases for sales promotions,

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or educational use. For details contact:

A Cataloging-in-Publication record is

for this

available from the Library of Congress. (US) ISBN

0-7566-1056-7

A CIP catalog record is

for this

book

available from the British Library. (UK) ISBN

1

4053 0260

7

Reproduced by Colourscan, Singapore Printed and bound

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by

Discover more at

www.dk.com

[email protected]

book

Graphicom

of

any form

Introduction

CHAPTER

1

Re-Imagining the Individual: Talent in a

Brand You World

Cool Friend Daniel Pink

CHAPTER

2

Making Work Matter:

The

WOW

Project!

CHAPTER 3 No

Limits:

WOW

Projects for the

“Powerless” Cool Friend

Ed Michaels

CHAPTER 4 Bringing

Work

WOW

to Fruition:

The Sales25 Cool Friend

Robert Sutton

CHAPTER 5 Thinking Weird: The

Transcendent Talent

Index

Acknowledgments About the Author Say it Loud - The Essentials Manifesto

Re-imagining Fall

2003.

my

publish

I

in a Disruptive

What’s Essential

...

Age.

It

Search of Excellence

Big Book

since the publication of In

is,

1982, my most ambitious

in

attempt to state comprehensively {Or Could Be.) (Or

The year the book

Must

What Business

...

traveling to promote

and while keeping up with my usual speaking

...

and consulting schedule... drumbeat. A drumbeat

I

note a steadily increasing

of consternation

Or China. Or just is

to

the specter of

Somewhere

...

...

Else.

How can

be done?

around the issue

Jobs going to India.

of “outsourcing.” (Or “off-shoring.”)

What

Is.

Be.)

2004. While

following,

Business Excellence

...

people cope

massive job shrinkage?

answer: Job shrinkage

is

inevitable.

My

with

...

(nutshell)

Whether because

outsourcing or automation (which, long-term,

may be

of

a

bigger deal than outsourcing), you can’t count on any job

being “there for you.” What you can do

move and

yourself and your

into the heart

Summer 2005.

find

of the

...

publish a series of four quick and

hand. The “Essentials”

is

now hold

what the series

is

Here are the essential things you must know ...

to

New Economy.

to-the-point books, one of which you

strive to act

ways

company Up the Value Chain

and soul I

is

in this

in

your

called. ...

As

in-.

as you

unstable, up-tempo, outsourcing-

addled, out-of-this-world age.

New Economy, New Mandate, New A

yogurt has hit the fan.

lot of

In

the near term,

globalization continues to be a mixed blessing

end

messy and uneven

point, but

immediate impact. Waves us

—and confuse

Story

— a worthy

extreme

to the

in its

change engulf

of technological

Corporate scandals erupt. Once-

us.

mighty titans (namely: big companies and the CEOs who

them)

lead

fall

from their

lofty

perches

And yet ... there is a New Economy. Would you change places with your grandfather? Would you want to work 11 brutal hours a day ... in yesterday’s Bethlehem Steel mill, or a Ford Motor

Company

1935? Not me. Nor would change places with my father ... who labored in a whitecollar sweatshop, at the same company, in the same building, for 41 l-o-n-g years. A workplace revolution is under way. No sensible factory circa

I

person expects to spend a lifetime

anymore.

Some

responsibility.”

call this shift I

call

it

...

Individual Responsibility.

in

a single corporation

the “end of corporate

the Beginning of

Renewed

An extraordinary opportunity

to

own lives. Put me in charge! Make me Chairman and CEO and President and COO of Tom Inc.

take charge of our

That’s what

I

ask! (Beg, in fact.)

love business at

I

best.

its

When

it

growth and deliver exciting services to exciting opportunities to

business at this in

many ways

its

moment

employees.

aims its I

to foster

clients

and

especially love

of flux. This truly magical, albeit

moment.

terrifying,

I'm no Pollyanna. I’ve been around. (And then

around.)

My

powder by Yet will ...

I

I

rose-colored glasses were long ago ground to

brutal reality.

am

hopeful. Not hopeful that

become more benign

...

human

beings

or that evil will evaporate

or that greed will be regulated out of existence.

am

hopeful that

in

the

people

will

comes from taking responsibility for lives. And am hopeful that they also

the power that professional

New Economy

I

But see their

— pleasure

will find

and

unleashing their instinctive curiosity

in

creativity.

The harsh news: This will

colonize

And we ourselves as we

rote activities.

all

—

scramble to reinvent off

Not Optional. The microchip

is

the farm and went into the factory,

will

have to

when we came and then as we

did

were ejected from the factory and delivered to the whitecollar towers.

The exciting news

(as

I

see

anyway): This

it,

The reinvented you and the reinvented

Optional.

have no choice but to scramble and add value

Not

is

me

in

will

some

meaningful way.

The Back-Story: A Each book

the series builds on a central premise

in

same premise of

Tale/Trail of Disruption

that

propounded

I

in

—the

the early chapters

Re-imagine\ Herewith, an Executive

Summary

of that

Progression of Ideas. 1. All

bets are

responsibility

—

off.

It

is

the foremost task

—and

of our generation to re-imagine our

enterprises and institutions, public and private. Rather

strong rhetoric. But of the

change now

I

in

believe

The fundamental nature

it.

progress has caught us off-stride

and on our heels. No aspect

way our

of the

institutions

operate can be allowed to go unexamined. Or unchanged. 2.

We

politics,

are

in

a

...

Brawl with

No

Rules. Business,

and, indeed, the essential nature of

come unglued. We have to we go along. (Success = SAV = “Screw Around

interchange have

up as

human make things

Vigorously.”) (“Fail. Forward. Fast.”) Yesterday’s strictures

and structures leave us laughably unprepared

for this Brawl with

to Wal*Mart,

No

tragically

Rules.

From

al

Qaeda

new entrants on the world stage have

flummoxed regnant 3.

—and

institutions

Incrementalism

is

and

their leaders.

Out. Destruction

is

In.

“Continuous improvement,” the lead mantra of 1980s

management,

now downright dangerous. All or nothing. (“Control. Alt. Delete.”) We must gut the innards of our enterprises before new competitors do it for us and to us. is

—

4.

I

nfoTech changes everything. There

priority

than the Total Transformation of

practice to e-business practice. ...

The Real Thing. The

And

yet

it

no higher

is

business

all

The new technologies are

IT Revolution

is in

has already changed the rules

infancy.

its

—changed them

so fundamentally that years and years will pass before

can begin talking about constructing

new

rule book.

Ninety percent of white-collar jobs as we know

5.

them

a

we

(and, ultimately,

them)

will

90 percent

be disemboweled

in

of all jobs as

we know

the next 15 years. Done.

Gone. Kaput. Between the microprocessor, 60/60/24/7

and outsourcing

connectivity,

to developing countries, the

developed nations’ white-coilar jobs are

frame? Zero to 15 or 20 years.

How

...

doomed. Time

am

confident

I

on

this point? Totally.

“Winners” (survivors!)

6.

bosses of

Me

will

become de

facto

Inc. Self-reliance will, of necessity, replace

corporate cosseting. Old-style corporate security

is

evaporating. Upshot: Free the cubicle slaves! The only

defense

is

a good offense!

A scary

true for being so. ...

New Age

Hackneyed? Sure. But no ...

of Self-Reliance

less

but also immensely exciting is

being birthed before our

eyes. Hurray!

Story Time

—

for a Storied

Time

Building on that premise, each book a story

—a saga

beyond

of

how we

will

in this

series tells

survive (and, perhaps, go

survival) in this Dizzy, Disruptive Age.

A Story about Leadership. Command-and-control management ... “leadership” from on high ... is obsolete. New Leadership draws on a new skill set the hallmarks

—

of

which are improvisation and inspiration.

the unique leadership attributes of

women.

It It

taps into cultivates

Great Talent by creating a Great Place to Work.

A and

Story about Design.

less

New Value-Added

from “product” or “service”

and more from

...

quality,

derives less

and more

Something More. Something called

“Experiences.” Something called “Branding.” Something called “Design.”

A

Story about Talent

It’s

a

Brand You World.

“Lifetime employment” at a corporation (aka “cubicle slavery”)

is

out. Lifetime self-reinvention

fool-proof source of job security

express

your talent

will

portfolio of

WOW

The only

is in.

your talent.

is ...

And

by building a scintillating

itself

Projects and by Thinking Weird (as

these weird, wild times demand).

A

much

Story about Trends. Where, amid so

discontinuity, are the Big Market Opportunities?

hiding

in

They are

Go where they buyers are and where among women and among aging boomers.

plain sight.

money

the

and

flux

is

—

The Story Re-imagined: What’s New To

these stories,

tell

have adapted selected chapters

I

from Re-imagine! As necessary or as

I’ve

seen

fit,

I

have

nipped and tucked and otherwise revised each chapter throughout. Plus,

have salted the tale here and there

I

new supporting

with

material.

—along with the my publisher, Dorling Kindersley — have re-imagined the the look-andaddition,

In

each book from the inside-out. With Re-imagine!,

feel of

we

folks at

I

set out to re-invent the business book.

We wanted

to tell the story of a world of enterprise that at the

seams with

is

bursting

revolutionary possibility, and so

we

created a book that bursts forth with Passion and Energy

and

Color. For the Essentials series,

those qualities, but

we have

these books down to

Same hand

Energy. ...

Same

its ...

we have

retained

also stripped the design of

essentials.

Same

Passion.

Color. All in a format that fits in your

and meets (we believe) your essential needs.

Two new features punctuate and amplify the Story Being Told. First,

Dos”

—

a

capping each chapter

is

a

list

one-page digest of the chapter

of “Top in

10

To-

the form of

Do Something ... the emphasis is on drilling down

action items that will inspire you to right away.

to

...

Here again,

what’s essential.

Second, between certain chapters we include highlights from interviews with “Cool Friends”

—smart

people whose work has helped make

me

smarter. Their

voices add insights that give texture to the story. Full-text

my Web

versions of these and other interviews appear on site

(www.tompeters.com).

Last Words I

...

don’t expect you’ll agree with everything that

this book.

But

hope that when you disagree

I

disagree angrily. That you ...

be so pissed

will

say

in

you

will

I

...

off that you’ll

Do Something.

DOING SOMETHING. That’s the essential idea, isn’t it? The moral of my story the story of What’s Essential about the present moment in business comes in the

—

—

form of a tombstone. epitaph that

I

a

It’s

most hope

tombstone that bears the

to avoid. To wit:

omas 3)~ Peters 1942— pttjeuefrer

‘(Efj

|Me fuoulit

hut Meanwhile,

tombstone

bant some

ijafre

fjts

I

realtor

coni stuff

...

truss fuoutfru’t let Ijtm

know

how

exactly

I

do want my

to read:

tUfjomos

3)-

Peters

1942— pitjeuefrer

MW W2& A PP,A1?P! Not “He got rich.” Not “He became famous.” Not even “He got things In

other words:

He

right.” Rather:

did oof

watch the world go by

sit

as

...

(if

No.

in

me

In fact,

the last several

on anything else, but spirit or

must agree with me on

— Being

and

was undergoing the most

it

you have a grain of integrity or

sidelines

...

not the last thousand years).

Agree or disagree with

nerve, you

a player.”

on the sidelines

profound shift of basic premises

hundred years

“He was

a Player

—

is

Being a Player

this:

spunk

or verve or

Getting off the

Not Optional. is ...

if

Essential!

Re-Imagining the Individual: Talent in a

Brand You World

Bland “unit” Job

for life

(Personnel at Big

file

Company)

Brand You! Gig for now (Portfolio of

temporary assignments)

come the compar

Benefits

Career strategy:

Do what you’re

told

Competence Reference group =

The corporation The Detroit model:

Punch

in at the factory

Work with the same old folks

day

Goal:

in

fits travel

1

and day out

Become the boss (after 2

gh

with you

life

Career strategy:

Do what you excel

at

Mastery

Reference group = Peers

in

my

craft

The Hollywood model: Join a

team

Work with

at a studio

a shifting

network of partners Goal:

Be the boss

(now!)

a

Promotion on seniority

Getting gigs on merit

Work your way up

Leap your way across

“the ladder” Vertical loyalty

Call the tech

gh

guy

the day

changing

terrain

Horizontal loyalty

Be the tech guy Goal: Get things done

12

!Rant We

are not prepared

. .

WE

KEEP TRYING (longing?) to veer back to the professional “career path” of old

in

of

employment

which Big Companies ruled

genuflected on •

model

a

and we

command.

DAZZLED BY THE STILL ABIDING

MYTH

OF SECURITY,

FROM RECOGNIZING

WE SHY AWAY THAT NEW MODES

OF ENTERPRISE REQUIRE NOTHING

LESS THAN THE

...

THE INDIVIDUAL

•

...

RE-IMAGINING OF

Now we must take Immediate Charge ... of our new-

fangled careers and identities careers and identities that

we

will

build piece by piece at a series of

companies, small and time. • THAT’S SCARY. • That’s Life

in

a

...

large, over •

That’s cool.

Brand You World.

13

{Vision I

A

imagine

...

truly creative society:

moves from from gig to

Each person

project to project, gig. •

Communities

Global Voluntary

of Interest, rather than

corporations, provide the bedrock

upon which we stand.

•

LEARNING

NEVER CEASES. SELF-RELIANCE

IS

THE

NORM. EACH CAREER CONSISTS OF

NUMEROUS “MINI-CAREERS,” WITH TIME-OUTS ALONG THE WAY. (The cubicle slave Agent!) •

is

dead! Long

live

the Free

People aren’t just “people,”

and they certainly aren’t just “employees.” PEOPLE ARE ... TALENT! •

And

they, like their “bosses,”

recognize that Talent Is All There

Is.

Talent Tale:

My

First

My

Labor Day 2000.

“Pitch”

mother-in-law’s 75th birthday. She

One of them: Boston’s fabled Fenway Park.

said she had but a handful of Big Wishes. to attend a

ballgame

at

So my brother-in-law took along.

We

her,

and my wife and

got lucky. Pedro Martinez

I

was pitching

Red Sox. He did what Pedro does. He made

tagged for the

utter fools

out of the nine talented athletes on the other team. For me,

sr

it

was

a great day.

PEDRO MARTINEZ THAN AM.

IS

I

learned something:

A BETTER BASEBALL PITCHER

I

Not But

much I

of an insight,

you

say.

disagree.

Some people are more talented than other people. FACT: Some people are a hell of a lot more talented FACT:

than other people. That’s what CP s KSSS5W

«

to the Talent

3

I

learned.

And

that’s

one

of the Big

Keys

Game.

Talent matters.

&> 0*3

What

3

SW

=T €S

is

...

ITS

is

a “baseball

ROSTER. But

doubt

of

won’t

make up

it.

all

team”? Simple: A baseball team

Sports marketing

is

important.

the sports marketing

for a

team

in

No

the world

that loses year after year.

the mid- to long-run, Talent Rules.

In

Term

“Talent,” the Talent.

I

love that word!

So

different from “employees.”

So

different from “personnel.”

So

different from

“human

Talent! Just uttering the

up and

word per se makes you puff

good about yourself!

feel

Talent.

resources.”

I

do indeed love that word!

“GREEN ROOM” MONSTER? Whenever do a TV I

interview,

producer’s instruction),

room.

”

/Is often

as

and

I

love

it

because

always arrive a half-hour early (per

invariably

not, there’s

Just walking under that sign

I

I

am

shepherded

into a

green

“

a sign over the door that says "TALENT.

makes me

of the

...

feel

about

images

six

...

inches

that

it

taller!

brings

Ma playing the cello. Pavarotti at full volume. Gene Hackman or Nicole Kidman in complete command of a scene. Derek Jeter immediately to mind. Yo-Yo

turning a double play. Michelle

Kwan doing

Michael Jordan “parting the waters”

...

a triple axel.

and making that

famous

shot that

last

championship during

won the Chicago

Bulls their sixth

team.

his reign with the

Oh, and the fabulous guy international-arrivals hall at

at, of all

Newark

places, the

airport

who

sings

—weary transatlantic travelers toward the

yes, sings

baggage-claim area

at

6 a.m.

TALENT!

What a word!

A True Recession-Proof Market

Talent Time:

Several years ago, back during the high-roller days of the late

1990s, there was clearly a

Guess what? Indeed,

2002.

Yes,

It

it

still

...

Major Talent Shortage.

exists!

persisted through the recession of

2001-

unemployment soared. Companies used the

downturn as temporary cover while they responded the permanent White-Collar Revolution. or another, they

recession

...

to

one guise

In

had been doing so even before the

and now they had

a

matchless opportunity

back on their “human

to accelerate the process of cutting

resources” burden.

But companies didn’t cut back across the board.

Nor did they typically

lay off

the “last hired.” Rather,

as several analysts noted, this was the

first

which seniority did not determine who did axed. Instead, layoffs were determined by

recession

in

or didn’t get ...

Talent!

Something dramatic was happening. Another development: Usually, a “softening” of the labor market brings with In this

it

a leveling-off of productivity.

Not this time.

instance, productivity continued to rock and

Then something

else

roll.

happened that contradicted

the historical norm. Even after the

economy began

to

rebound, employment numbers didn’t bounce back as quickly or as robustly as they had

in

the past. Companies

were accomplishing more than ever before with the smaller numbers of people the

...

Superior Talent

...

who remained

that remained.

—that

is,

with

(Hence the

productivity gains.) What’s more, this “Talent” continued to

command

hearty financial rewards.

17

Which

Talent matters to companies more than ever. to say, there is a talent shortage.

is

shortage for the foreseeable future

about “labor.” “bodies

about

is

And

score high on the “distinct” scale. true distinction

the world

...

will

be a talent

even when there

not about “head count.”

It’s

the cubicles.” Talent

in

...

will

Because talent

a “glut” in the “labor market.”

is

There

wait

not about

It’s

those

...

not

is

who

those with

for

in line

to acquire

their services.

WORSE FOR WAR Alas, not all for Talent.

of those

company

leaders understand that they are fighting a

didn’t coin that term, but

I

who

think that a

no longer need

change

this fight.

approve of it. Just as

in the

business cycle

I

disapprove

means

•

CD

3

that they

to fight (yes, fight) for talent.

Ed Michaels, former McKinsey Talent, led

I

War

...

director

and coauthor

an exhaustive study of how companies are

of The

War

(or are not)

for

waging

See the Cool Friend interview with Michaels, page 100.

I m i

Talent to Date: The Story Thus Far The

Age

Industrial

processing age

is

is

...

...

over.

TO

The white-collar paper-

over. “Great”

products are not

enough. (Not nearly enough.) “Great” services are not enough. (Not nearly enough.) You’re not going to “make in

it”

the

Quality

any

New Economy

Management)

solely by

or Cl

TQM

(Total

(Continuous Improvement) or

New Nostrums that we embraced so 30 years ago. New bases for value-added

of those other

20

vigorously

are required

or

— posthaste.

And those new sources ...

pushing

Creativity!

that stuff

Imagination!

...

is all

of

about

...

value-added are ...

(all)

Intellectual Capital!

first.

Been

No!

there,

I

done

And

Talent.

Fundamental premise: We have entered an Age Talent. “Okay, fine,”

about

of

can hear you saying. “Put people that.”

No!

No!

18

My

point

not that “people are cool,” or “people

is

are important.”

It

is

that

“people” (their talent, their

...

creativity, their intellectual capital, their entrepreneurial

drive)

is ... all

the hell there

is.

Alas, the language of “talent” has traditionally

been limited

to a

few rarefied realms. Talk opera. Talk

symphony. Talk movies. Talk sports. Talk Stanford’s physics department.

And the

talk inevitably turns to

...

this baritone or that soprano, this cellist or that violinist, this actress or that director, this first

baseman

or that

quarterback, this particle physicist or that mathematical taient

physicist.

The

exclusively to

But the ICIlHHi

...

other words, turns almost

talk, in ...

Talent.

Very

Same

to every other industry

private.

Logic

applies (must apply)

...

and enterprise, public as well as

Think Microsoft. Think Genentech. Think

Fidelity.

Think the U.S. Army. Yes, and think Joe and Joan’s Chevrolet

in

God-Knows-Where.

re-imagining

Talent Tomorrow: Dilbert Unbound! Work is changing. Irreversibly. And now ... the “worker” the

(me, you) must change along with the work. LAY OFF “WORKERS”

individual

First

order of business:

We must change

the words that

describe ourselves. Take the word "worker.

(TRASH CAN

TIME.

DAMN

”

Take

it ...

we use

to

and throw

it

away.

IT.)

We must expunge that word "worker" from our vocabulary! We are not "workers. ” We are individuals. We are ... Talent!

we undergo a massive We move off the farm, with

Every several generations,

upheaval its

in

our work

lives.

never-ending rituals (cows don’t take holidays; take

it

from a Vermonter), and into the factory. Then we move out of the factory, with

and

into white-collar

its

Simon

Legree-like supervisor,

nouveau prisons called Big City

High-rises.

Today, the software robots are taking over the (surprisingly mindless) white-collar jobs of yesteryear.

Once again we must

find

...

Entirely

New Ways

to

Add

“LAND” OF THE BRAVE

asset.

Stan Davis and

this insufficiently charted

Broad. Only

Christopher Meyer,

“territory" will test the

organizations are chock-

mettle of

a-block with obstreperous

writing

in their

book

And the

all

battle for

organizations,

pool

is

futureWEALTH: “When land

public as well as private.

people

was

And merely having

to

the productive asset,

nations battled over

same

is

it.

The

happening now

for talented people.”

Talent, indeed,

has

become the productive

...

a

both

who

...

Deep and

when our

are determined

bend the rules at every

and

couple of intrepid geniuses

turn

at the top won’t win this

something exciting

battle.

We

will

and the larger

battle

...

war

only

...

win this

when our

talent

...

to invent ...

before the other guy does.

20

Value. Yet this time around, the

change

SCARY AS

HELL

matter of

isn’t just a

moving by the millions

like

sheep from Job Slot A

in

factory to Job Slot B

the

the

in

high-rise.

“White-collar cubicle

1980, was not

slavery,” circa

all

that different from “blue-collar shop-

1920. Less heavy

floor slavery,” circa

the Conformity Quotient was about the same: talent

but

lifting, sure,

9 a.m.,

“It’s

park your uniqueness at the door, please.” But the next shift,

far

the one that

accelerating now, promises to be

is

more dramatic. Everything even vaguely

repetitive will

soon be automated. Our only recourse: moving beyond

any activity that

up

is

even remotely “rote,” and moving

— WAY UP! —the

New

Creativity Scale. Along the way,

banishing the Conformity Mandate for good.

We must become

re-imagining

least in spirit,

exhibit the

not immediately

if

New

men

(or

Sounds scary as But here’s what I

not

...

at

...

We must

convert ourselves

mere white-collar

me/you: Innovative, Risk-taking, Self-

sufficient Entrepreneurs

organization

in reality.

We must

True Distinction.

Genuine Businesspeople

into

ciphers. individual

...

Independent Contractors

...

— not smooth-functioning

women). You

hell, right? I

believe

and

...

bet. I

won’t mince words.

believe that Dilbert- style “cubicle slavery” stinks.

believe that the

change now under way

believe that the

chance

to tear

is

...

Cool.

I

I

down those wretched

cubicle walls, to take a pickax to that ergonomically

DEUTSCH (RE)MARK

CHINA SYNDROME

used

German Chancellor

Globalization joins

your dinner

Gerhard Schroeder:

automation

China are starving.’

“Either

we modernize

we

be modernized by

will

or

one-two punch against Dilbert-y ille.

Tom Friedman, June 2004

the unremitting forces of

writing

in

a

the market.”

column

in

the

Times:

“When

New I

say to me: ‘Finish

—

a powerful

in

to

York

was

growing up, my parents

people

in

I,

by contrast, find myself

wanting to say

to

my

daughters: ‘Finish your

homework

—

people

in

China and India are ”

starving for your job.’

21

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22

correct but numbingly insipid “cubicle furniture,” and to

make work

nothing short of

is

...

for ourselves in the

What

Liberation.

...

What an

a challenge!

wide-open world beyond

An

opportunity!

opportunity for immense, meaningful value creation! An opportunity for individual reinvention!

Madness

Millennial Could deal

be that the changing world of work

it

in

say

...

...

a

MILLENNIUM?

...

the biggest

is

That’s more or less

the stunning conclusion of a sober Princeton historian-

economist. Philip Bobbitt, author of The Shield of

War Peace and the Course of

Achilles:

one

,

;

History, calls this

human

of just a half-dozen turning points in

Nations for the

last several

hundred years have

And thence the

treated their territory as a closed system.

was

goal

make

to

history.

the lives of their citizens better, within

the confines (key word) of that territory. Well, that goal

no longer tenable, says Bobbitt. The Global Economy well

...

...

is

is

erasing that possibility.

Bobbitt claims that the mantle of authority-

governance

shifting from the mostly

is

autonomous

“nation state” to the globally dependent “market state.”

Big idea:

If

I,

as President or Prime Minister, can

no longer ensure your welfare within our nation state then what’s

...

tools to survive (and,

marketplace

me

left for I

to

do

is

to provide

hope, thrive)

in

you with

a truly borderless

for skilled providers of services. X

Bobbitt summarizes

brilliantly,

even

your hair curl: “What strategic motto

UNBALANCING ACT

“The global economy

The New (Global) Economy

is

will

throw many of our

most cherished notions off-kilter. life

Example: work-

balance.

Keith

Hammonds,

writing an October 2004

Fast

Company article

called “Balance

Is

Bunk!”:

antibalance. For as

if

will

does make

it

dominate

lot

more

you,

to gain

who

will

this

than

work harder

much as Accenture and

for less

Google say they value an

the job done. This

environment that allows

dark side of the ‘happy

workers balance, they’re

workaholic’ Someday,

increasingly competing

of

against companies that don’t. You’re

competing

against workers with a

us

money

will

have

to get

to

is

the

all

become

workaholics, happy or not, just to get by.”

23

transition from nation-state to market-state?

If

the slogan

that animated the liberal, parliamentary nation-state

was ‘make the world safe

for

democracy’

...

what

will

the forthcoming motto be? Perhaps ‘making the world available,’

which

to say creating

is

and protecting the autonomy President

Bill

Clinton,

of

new worlds

of choice

persons to choose.”

who Bobbitt argues understood

the coming tectonic economic shift (along with British

Prime Minister Tony “In a global

anybody

a

Blair),

echoed Bobbitt’s conception:

economy, the government cannot give

guaranteed success

story,

but you can give

people the tools to make the most of their own

BOTTOM

talent

lives.”

LINE:

NO NATION IS AN ISLAND. 2. DARWIN RULES! (DISTINCT ... OR EXTINCT.) 3. NO GUARANTEES! 4. HENCE THE ONLY QUASI-GUARANTEES ARE ... GREAT TOOLS WITH WHICH TO COMPETE IN THE (TRUE) GLOBAL VILLAGE. 1.

BOTTOM (BOTTOM)

LINE:

TERRIFYING. 2. EXHILARATING. 3. COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. 1.

re-imagining

the

individual

24

\

“FREE AGENT” notion For a precise and dramatic rendition of the shifting nature of

“employment,”

you’ll

better than to read 5L

do no

Dan Pink’s

masterful book Free Agent

3

Nation. Here are

some

cold,

compelling facts from his

file

(current as of April 2001): CD i

3 m ^S,

l|l l|l l|l ill l|l i|l l|l l|l l|l l|l II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

m “Fewer than

Z3

to land

3“ CD

3

£X

Marketing Puzzle than you

the past. Brand You World in

which you hung out

same 17 people

...

in

is

for

a long

20

way

years

the Credit and Collections

will

be going from project to

mostly working with strangers. Thus, on each

will

be selling yourself anew

— marketing your

point of view, marketing your worth, marketing

Me

Inc.

Pursue Mastery. Competence (and then some) in

baseline business skills like marketing and

networking

is

essential. But

it’s

not enough. To

survive the White-Collar Wipeout, you need to be Very

In a

—t cp

r*>

in

Department. Instead, you

Damn

I

CTQ,

on Oprah. But you do need to master

much more

with the

you

too

of Profit-Making Business.

Embrace Marketing. No, you don’t need

from the oid world

project

—

all

,

probably did

gig,

to

I

Free Agent Nation, that simply won't do. Being able

money”

The

to closing the deal,

frequently hired “brilliant people" from giant firms

the

sales.

good enough.

THE “PROVE IT” MOTIVE In my experience as an employer at a

In

is

Special at something of specific economic value.

word, you need to exhibit

...

True Mastery.

Survival merely as Jack R. Smith,

Badge 248,

iS

40

Purchasing Department,

is

consider Jack for a gig or a full-blown job,

much

as I

distinction

were considering

throwing set-up bullpen.

In

Jack World terms

in

want

I

— as

to

to see

would

if

fadeaway-

a trade for a left-handed,

man

I

I

go into the Boston Red Sox

Jack’s case, the equivalent of that impossible-

to-hit screwball

Latin

—

When

no longer tenable.

means being

best-in-industry

at, say,

American trade-accounting processes.

“Mastery” goes beyond just having distinct

skill.

Think

about athletes or actors who have records of sustained excellence. These folks are

consummate

pros

who work

5i CD

obsessively at their craft. You should approach your tradecraft

in

the

same

way.

INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MASTERY For a great discussion of the "tradecraft" ethos, pick up George Leonard’s slender gem of a book on that

The

topic.

(what

title

else?): Mastery.

CD i

3

Thrive on Ambiguity. Mastery

&>

m

essential. Yet

m CD

5’ Gt

Cultivate a Passion for Renewal. Picking up skills

new

on a catch-as-catch-can, as-needed basis

used to be a reasonable career strategy. But these

SfQ

3 CfQ

days, a passive approach to professional growth will leave

you gathering splinters on the bench, or entirely. Revolutionizing

every half-dozen years,

Minimum

off

the roster

your Portfolio of Skills not

if

more

often,

is

at least

...

now

a

Query: Do you have a formal R.I.P. (Renewal

BUILD YOUR BRAIN, BUILD YOUR BRAND Here,

I

adapted from an outstanding

recent book

—

Dennis

Littky’s

The Big

Picture: Education Is Everyone's |

I

you do have one,

(2004) should

—

is

another

make room

list of

is

it

as bold as

demand?

these bold times

I

if

Business

traits that you

for in your

Brand You

• Be creative • Be able to persevere • Have integrity and self-respect • Have moral courage • Be able to use the world around you • Be able to give back to your

|

I

I

Survival

Kit:

community

• Be a lifelong learner

• Be able to work independently and

• Be passionate

with others

• Be ready to take risks

• Speak well, write well, read well, and

• Be able to think critically

work well with numbers

• Be able to look at things differently

•TRULY ENJOY YOUR

LIFE

ET Q.

...

Survival Necessity.

Investment Plan)? And

zr CD

AND WORK

£= as

46

A “Brand You” Start the Brand You training offered by

In

Company, we provide concrete ways their

Brand You

portfolio.

Peters

for clients to

renew

They have found one exercise

particular to be of value.

in

Tom

We

call

Equity Evaluation. Each participant

it

the Personal Brand

is

asked to complete

the following statements:

I

am known

for

...

Si

m

S3

Next year at this time

I

will also

be known for

...

3 as

®S. S3

m

Z.

My

current project

New

things

I’ve

is

challenging

learned

in

me

the last

in

these ways

90 days

include

...

i

47

My

public “recognition program” consists of

Additions to

my Rolodex

in

the

last

...

90 days

include

...

5L CD

My resume last

today

is

my resume

Discernibly Different from

year at this time

in

these ways

» as

...

m SWOTBS

MSB#

CIS

5

*

CL CL as

There’s no magic here. But applying the “brand equity” idea to your career

keep

is

a clear winner, or so clients

telling us.

WORD EQUITY "

Personal Yes:

“Brand

You and

you and brand

" .

I

I

"

“Equity.

.

”

BRANDS.

are

/Is

much

as Coca-Cola

have a (high or low) (growing or declining)

is

a brand. Thus,

(solid or fragile)

equity.

Please: Don’t just

nod your head when you read

Please: Take in the

full

denotation

Words are important. They have

that.

and connotation of that

value.

They have (dare

I

term.

say?) equity.

48

Means Work

Talent

This chapter Talent

is

personal. This book

is

personal.

...

personal. For me. For you.

is

The theme of

...

Who We

of Talent

goes to

Are and What

We

...

Do.

the root and branch gets at

It

...

how we

contend with those millenial forces that are tearing

away

at White-Collar World.

The forces that are turning

Dilbert- style cubicle slavery into not just a joke, but an

unsustainable anachronism.

i

(

! 03

m m

my mantra

Again,

for

life

a Brand You world:

in

DISTINCT ... OR EXTINCT! What makes

for

True Distincion

in

this

Age

of Talent?

S*.

Truly distinct talent reveals itself through

S

Through weird, wild projects that add Incomparable Value

“

and effect Profound Transformation.

The remaining chapters

how

in

this

book

to distinguish yourself as Talent by

...

will

Work.

show you

adding

WOW

Projects to your “portfolio,” 4he Sales25 to your

and Weird Thinking

THE “SALLY” ADVANTAGE

My colleague

Helgesen provides a

list of

key attitudinal attributes in

her book Thriving in

24/7. She and

to your repertoire.

Start at the core. Take

regular inventory of where

Sally

skill set,

you are. To remain nimble, locate your “inner voice.”

Learn

to zigzag.

Think

Identify your market.

your own business.

Weave a strong web of inclusion. Build your

own support network.

“gigs.” Think life-long

Master the essential

at our ideas separately,

learning. Forget “old

“looking people up.”

but not surprisingly her

loyalty.”

approach

I

arrived

to “24/7 World"

matches my approach “Brand You World”:

to

Work on optimism.

Create your

own

work.

Articulate your value.

Integrate your passions.

Run

art of

->

'

>

r 1

r

1

...

mentality. Wean i,"

;

And

and

“job.” For the latter, think

general, think Talent

in

,

Talent, Talent!

—

star? You

B

__________________ ourself as a hot property

no one else

at

will hire

because “CEO

)ut

lay

it

up.

.

.

.

of Me, Inc.”

T.

fence

you

is

Namely, yourself. Assume

the only position that you can count on.

Branding

(for a

company,

Make

it

for you)

is

Figure

about it

out.

count.

‘equity” investor. Equity Evaluation that re a

See

dramatic difference. How are you unique

.

.

not because you aren’t Grade-A Talent.

.

.

you’re the star

bankable projects.

in

someone you know.

Hire

.

who deals

yourself from

I

At least once a year, do the

describe above (page 46). You

brand. Brands have equity. So keep close tabs on your equity.

Pick a recent project of yours, and write a review of jr .•

work on .

it

as

if

3ct

were a movie

,

...

and you were an actor

four stars!)

professional Designer to create a sell

yourself

...

and the process

ifine yourself.

3ft a

or a

report on “Me, Inc.” as

if

you were a

major (Talent!) brokerage firm.

ICk.

Lighting out for the Brave

mal. So remember: Distinct

New

—

Frontier of

or Extinct.

50

COOL FRIEND

Daniel Pink

:

Dan Pink is the author, most recently, of A Whole New Mind (Riverhead, March 2005). He is a contributing Wired magazine, and he has also written for the York Times, Harvard Business Review, and Fast

editor at

New

Company. Formerly Al Gore, he

now

a speechwriter for Vice President

D.C. Below are remarks that he with his

made

connection

in

book, Free Agent Nation: The Future of

first

Working

Washington,

lives the free-agent life in

for Yourself (2001).

* *

[W]e used to have a system

in this

companies offered employees offered

companies

still 1

Paternalism

and employees

security,

That bargain has come

loyalty.

undone. Anybody who

country where

believes

it

a fool.

is

* *

\

corporate America was something that was

in

not only prominent,

it

was

in

many ways

So the

explicit.

phone company where my grandfather worked was known as

“Ma

Bell.”

Kodak

in

Rochester,

New

York,

was known

as “The great yellow father.” Metropolitan Life Insurance

was known as “Mother Met.” There was that

companies would operate

would take care children. early

And

that

and they

like parents,

employees

came undone

in

like

they took care of

the late

1980s and

1990s.

And

for a lot of

of adolescence.

care

of their

this notion

of,

American workers,

it

was

They no longer were going

to

like

the end

be taken

and they had the simultaneously exhilarating and

terrifying feeling of being forced to navigate their

way. So the end of economic adolescence for

is

own

one reason

the beginning of free agency.

k Free agency

is

'>

essentially Karl Marx’s revenge,

workers can now own the means of production.

because In

the

51

industrial

were

economy, the tools you needed

and

large, expensive,

now

operate. But

the tools

difficult for

—such as

to create wealth

one person

a laptop

to

—are small,

affordable, and easy for one person to operate,

'

this office

in

one person

office. I’ve got

two computers

— more computing power than was on Apollo

And the

11.

home

have a modest

I

tools of the

means

of production are easy for

to operate.

* * [T]he nature of corporations has changed. For instance,

we used

to expect corporations to be

around

anymore. Think about Netscape. Netscape,

that’s not true

which was a success, a huge success, was founded

went public

‘94, early

So,

1999,

But

forever.

in

‘95, then essentially disappeared in

had a

It

was Netscape

in

life

span. of just over four years.

company

a

or

was Netscape

just a

really cool project?

And then you ask

yourself,

does

Because what did Netscape do? the market,

even matter?

put a good product on

challenged a big company,

it

people with new

of

It

it

skills

it

and connections,

equipped it

lots

made some

people wealthy. * * [T]he is

life

span

happening

individuals

at

is

company is shrinking. And this the same time that the life span of

of every

increasing. Basically, any individual can

expect to outlive any organization for which he or she works. So

me

let

how do you have

raise a Zen-like metaphysical question:

lifetime job security

when

you’re going

to outlive the organization?

much of your mortgage money you whether Amazon.com will be here in

Think about how

would bet on

10 in

years, or

10

day

if

whether even General Motors

years, or any other I

had said

company,.

Ma

to him,

Bell, will

company.

In

my

will

be here

grandfather’s

“Do you think the phone

be here

have said, “Of course.”, * *

in

10 years?” he would

52

I

think

in

general free agency

mind, the glass

is

is

my

a great thing. To

three-quarters

full.

* * [Tjhere

tremendous

is

a very different kind of loyalty

it’s

era.

...

loyalty.

You know, that was what It

And what

more horizontal It’s

colleagues,

call vertical

think

I

is

happening

to the

now

right

a

is

teams,

loyalty to projects,

it’s

it’s

loyalty

loyalty to colleagues,

it’s

loyalty to ex-

loyalty to professions,

it’s

loyalty to family.

it’s it’s

would

loyalty.

loyalty to

to products,

I

from the Eisenhower

and down, from the individual

ran up

organization.

work force today. Yet

loyalty in the

down node, you have multiple connections. And to my mind, that’s actually

Instead of a single up or horizontal

more robust form

a

of loyalty.

* *

The underlying operating system

economy

is

...

really

of the free

nothing more than the Golden Rule;

me— I’m

reciprocal altruism. “You’re good to

it’s

you.” And, you know, reciprocal altruism

many

agent

is

good

to

an aspect of

species, including ours, and reciprocal altruism,

the Golden Rule, also happens to be the cornerstone of every major world religion. ~k

When

my

your clone and

~k

clone

200

looking back at the regime of what

employment

—

full-time, year-round

years from

we consider work

in

now

traditional

the service of

a large organization, the predominant form of work last half of

the 20th century

wait a second, that Yet today

we

was

—they’re going

are

in

the

to say, “Ooh,

a very strange aberration.”

think that that form of

employment

is

the right and proper and natural form of employment, and that any deviation from [But]

I

it

is

some

actually think that the regime of big government,

big labor, big corporations

squashed a

fundamental human instincts ’

v

strange, exotic beast.

like

* *

‘

\

v ' •

A

lot of

these more

the Golden Rule.

...

53

Traditional jobs are beginning to resemble free agent

employment. Job tenure a job saying,

shrinking. People go into

around

stick

“I’ll

is

The

for a year or two.”

border between who’s a free agent and who’s a traditional

employee

is

going to be harder to detect, and

matter even Also,

less.

not as

it’s

you have to pick a side, and

if

then stay there forever.

...

be holding dual passports

More and more people

in

be going back, and so

in

Corporate

be coming to Free Agent Nation,

they’ll

will

Free Agent Nation and

in

Corporate America. They’ll be doing time

America,

going to

it’s

they’ll

forth.

* * [Wje’re on the brink of a feminine century. The border

between what

is

work and what

home

is

is

blurring,

becoming ambiguous. The border between what and what

play

is

is

blurring.

project

a

company and what’s

a

growing muddier. The borderline between who’s

is

an employee and who’s a free agent

Women,

work

becoming ambiguous.

It’s

The borderline between what’s

is

in

general, are

ambiguity than

men

much

is

growing murkier.

better at dealing with

are.

women are a comparative advantage, in that men are to start acting much more like women. Now

Given the way this economy operates, going to have going to have

fortunately for me,

two

girls

I

house with three women, or

live in a

and a woman. * *

I

what

have this notion of the new office that I

call

the Free Agent Elk’s Lodge.

Morgan area

of

they’re renting out desks

and

it

is,

but

So here

it’s

it’s it

is,

Adams-

Affinity Lab.” Essentially

common

entrepreneurs and free agents.

and

the

be

Washington, D.C., somebody has

opened something called “The

suite,

In

will

It’s

areas to small

not really an executive

not really an incubator. I’m not sure what

pretty cool. off

Adams-Morgan.

It’s

a free-agent Elk’s Lodge.

the pages of >

my

book, into the heart of

Contrasts Was

Is

A job

A performance

Puttin' in time

Puttin’ on the Ritz

“Phoning

Fuliy “in the

it

in”

Forgettable

A bureaucratic

task

Faceless

A descent

into routine

Largely invisible

Another day’s work

moment”

Memorable

A signature piece Full of “character”

A plunge

into the

unknown

Immediately transparent

A product

of

enormous

investment

“Acceptable work”

Numbing Enervated employees Tepid Pastel

Predictable

(It’s

“ho-hum”) Risk-averse

Hunkering down “Another day older” “ Colors within the lines”

Boss-driven

(Suck-up

City)

Mastery of craft Exhausting Energized performers

Hot Technicolor

Quirky

(“It

matters!”)

Adventuresome Reaching Out “A growth experience” “Curious to a fault” Project-driven

(Teamwork

City)

.

We We

are not prepared

. .

too often view ourselves as victims

of heartless organizations,

as pawns, as

hapless and helpless “cubicle slaves” •

WE MUST REMIND

OURSELVES

THAT THE WHITE-COLLAR REVOLUTION

WE MUST THE NEW

WILL ERASE ALL OF THAT.

UNDERSTAND THAT

IN

ECONOMY ALL WORK IS PROJECT WORK—AND THAT EVERY PROJECT MUST BE A WOW PROJECT. • (Or else.) • (“Or else” means “No role

whatsoever”

...

for cubicle slaves

content to perform “rote chores.”)

57

{Vision /

imagine

...

A world where

...

WORK MATTERS.

A world where

...

Dilbert

Is

Denied.

A world where ... WE LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY.

A

world where

...

we

revel in the

thrill of

changing times.

A world where

WHAT WE

...

WE CAN BRAG ABOUT

DO. (“Brag”

= Big Word.)

58

WOW—What In

Is

Good For?

It

my

The Leader’s Voice,

Ron Crossland

tell

a

wonderful story about Marilyn

When

Carlson Nelson.

colleagues Boyd Clarke and

Marilyn was a

she told her

girl,

dad, Kurt Carlson (owner of the Carlson Travel network), that she thought

time had come

it

CD

3

felt

the

go to adult church. Instead, he

to

told her: “If you don’t like

So she

She

an earful from Dear Old Dad. He

C. got

was not time

dull.

going to adult church.

for her to start

Young Miss said

Sunday School was

Sunday School, change

it.”

did-.

That was

...

WOW

Carlson’s First

now Big Boss

for all intents

and purposes

Marilyn

...

Project. But hardly her last. She’s

of the entire Carlson mega-enterprise.

Marilyn Carlson learned early on that the road to

success was paved with

...

WOW

Projects.

Project: a task that has a beginning CD

O

well as deliverables along the way.

WOW

that inspire.

o

one that has “goals and objectives”

Project:

xs (j

Begin

it

now.”

in

it.

“powerless

— 80

Idea— the “chain

type with a Seriously Cool

might as well be

What

Query:

Simple.

...

a chain gang.

constitutes a Seriously Cool Idea?

something that runs

It’s

command”

of

we do things around Cool Idea is— by definition— a “the way

directly counter to

here.” That

...

a Seriously

is,

Direct Frontal Attack on

the Holy Authority of Today’s Bosses.

Hence, the power

see, “they” can’t

kill!

What’s Wrong with This Picture? There you

are, low

look around.

What

sure

—are you

one

of

them

projects

own

WOW

a

It!

way

Project. But

— non-WOW projects,

involved in? Ask yourself:

in

Reframe

Or:

person on the organizational totem

pole, “powerless” to create your

...

I

“Boss-Free Implementation.” Or: What “they” can’t

call

O

what

of the “powerless” lies in

that lets

me

do

...

Can

to be

reframe

I

under the radar

Boss-Free Implementation of a Seriously Cool Idea?

My

view:

Accordingly,

The answer

is

almost invariably “Yes!”

bid you to consider the following

I

Reframers’ Rules, as

them.

call

I

for

the

Never accept an assignment as given.

“powerless

Only idiots accept assignments as given! Those who will

change the world

any assignment Cool

WOW

until

smallest of ways, even) twist

(in the' it

can be turned into a

apparently accounts

ADVENTURE

for

I

really believe in this of the

thing. After I

that’s

at

McKinsey & Co. that

led to the publication of In

Search of Excellence

(the offspring of

which

Freaks

business

I

these days).

how

approached the research

any Committed Junior

about 50 percent

of the firm’s

powerless”

all,

Seriously

Project.

MY “EXCELLENCE”

“power

...

My

my

stroke of great good

fortune):

NOBODY GAVE A

DAMN. Hence

I

could scurry

about pretty much as pleased.

I

I

could recruit

a

could find. And

One

did.

freaks

secret (and thus

I

I

those junior

became

decade

after

of

—

later,

well over

and long

was “urged

to

seek

other employment”

Managing

Director of the

Whole Shebang.

.

81

Rule #2: You are never so powerful as

when

you’re “powerless.”

When is

are you truly

hemmed

in?

When everybody

watching! Everybody views your slightest twitch

through an electron microscope. But when you are Officially

Powerless

any assignment

you are virtually free to dig into

...

and Raise

...

Si

"They” are

Hell at Will.

effectively blind to your machinations.

Rule #3: Every “small” project contains the

o $

DNA

of the entire enterprise.

T3

Perhaps this

T5'

B o

the “real” secret-of-secrets: Every

is

t

“small” project

is

a

Perfectly Transparent

...

on the Soul of the Organization, a far better “official policy.” In

sum: You don’t need an

Window ... window than

©

Officially Big

CD

Project to attack a Very Big Real Opportunity.

The Army

of

WOW

T5

O CO

Credo: Always Volunteer

Opportunities! They are always (ALWAYS!) lying around.

More often than

not, they’re lying

around

in

the form of

Crappy Jobs. Jobs that nobody else wants, seemingly

...

for

good reason.

RULES FOR THE

and union-organizing

GET (UN)REAL

“OVER-RULED”

militant Saul Alinsky.

Azar Nafisi, author of the

Back before my own book on

WOW

Projects

available,

text in its

Project training.

Rules for Radicals.

It

The message: Getting Things Done

my company

used an unusual

WOW

was

Title:

was

in

the Face

2004

best-seller

Conventional Wisdom

let reality

is

a Matter of Persistent

of

Community Organizing a

Matter

of

Engaging

written 30-odd years ago

Passionate (and Putatively

by the tough Civil Rights

“Powerless”) Others

get

Reading “Never

Lolita in Tehran-.

of

...

to

the

in

way

imagination.” I

love that quote (which

comes courtesy

of Audi’s

“Never Follow” Web

site).

V to to

Always Volunteer.

83

But think again

That

...

and follow the VFCJ Strategy.

Volunteer

is:

For Crappy Jobs. Yes, volunteer. In the Army, there used to be a credo.-

Never Volunteer. Don’t step out or stand out. Hide within the infantry ranks, and you’ll likely increase the odds of

coming home

New

Army, every soldier

Likewise,

Your for

safely. Well, that

in

Own Army

those

...

is

...

was the Old Army.

An Army

New Economy, you must Create WOW. Which means: Volunteer! Even

of

...

Crappy Jobs. Especially let

“nobody cares about”

The

...

for

those

...

Crappy

in

pivotal question:

Is

things that are out of sight '

that

“unwanted” project

“throw-away task,” a distraction to be “gotten out

way”? Or problem

is it

into

a

of the

a Stealth Opportunity to turn a “trivial” ...

a Seriously Cool

Great Cultural Issue

C

your tenure. Things

mind.

of (the boss’s)

C

you take independent

charge of things quickly and early

and out

One.

the

Jobs. Because Crappy Jobs

that

of

the

In

Chance

to

address a

r the

that strategically affects your

...

entire organization? Let’s get

down

“powerless

to cases:

Voluntary Contribution

Beyond Which

Company

is it?

#h ”

“It’s No Picnic. The “Oh-Shit-l-Wish-lt-Were-Over

Picnic”? Or: The “First Annual Seriously Cool

Celebration of Our Incredible Staff”?

Nobody wants the job

—the job

annual company picnic. But you opportunity! it.

But

Staff

ain’t

...

Doesn’t

in it

Nobody wants it

true that

of “boss” of the

say,

this thing.

we do have

a

“Aha! What an

Everybody hates ...

Seriously Cool

our 73-person Telemarketing Department?

make sense

to Celebrate their Seriously Cool

3

Greatness? And what better opportunity than the dreaded ...

Company

Picnic?”

So you cobble together

but determined volunteers. You

what may be on the verge

into

Project. You find

some

band

a little all

“powerless”

of

throw Heart and Soul

becoming

of

a

...

entertainers on the cheap. You

discover untapped skills

among

staff.

Friends of friends

provide other resources. For two months, you “real ...

work”

slip.

The

Great Event! There is

your

(“The Ball”

Ball.

Your Official Career.)

...

But the Dreaded Picnic becomes

you

let

The powers-that-be think you’re nuts

that you’re taking your eye off

meaning

WOW

an Insanely

...

Buzz. Serious Buzz. “Powerless”

is

“on the map.” (Your betters were watching!)

Plus, you gained the Unstinting

Respect

of

73

folks

in

the previously under-appreciated but vitally important

telemarketing department. Plus,

added Members

it

was Fun!

to your Network. (“It’s

all

Plus, you

about the

Rolodex, baby!”)

Voluntary Contribution #2:

Safety Is

it

First.

“Wrestle the

damn

safety

manual

into line with

new occupational-safety regs”? Or: “Make an Advance in the All-Important War for Talent by figuring out how Safety Matters help to make this an ... Insanely

the nutty

Great Place to Work”? X

Once more: Nobody wants the But you see

it

Major Battle

in

as an

...

job. (To put

Incredible Opportunity

it

mildly.)

...

to

Win

the Great War for Incredible Talent.

Voluntary Contribution

ft

.-

Process Makes Perfect. Is

it

“Fix these bloody customer problems that have

dogged the release

“Work with to gather

of the

a hotshot

new 2783B machine”?

young

customer input

GM

— not

Or:

on using Internet speed

just after, but also before

and during, the product-design process”?

a

86

Nobody wants the

Yet again:

now you

Okay, by

WOW

most

Like Is

it

CHOICE:

we answer

to take

yours for the taking.

...is

it.

FROM “CRAPPY” TO “COOL”

things in

a chore, or

you.

not official power, but the power

...

and Imagination

You just need

Nobody except

get the idea. Opportunities are where

you see them. Power of Initiative

job.

the

life,

meaning of a

a chance

is it

—a chance

that question says everything

project to

about

is all

...

attitude.

do Something Great?

How

about who we are and how we

see the world.

The way we respond Si CD

the degree to which “

mere

we

a "mere picnic”

to

give a

is

a perfect snapshot of

damn (OR DON'T) about our staff.

social event" provides a better tip-off of our

employees than 100 pages of turgid prose Likewise, the safety

an

in

approach

HR

That

to fellow

policy manual.

manual update provides a sparkling opportunity

how much we care (OR DON'T) about the Overall Context in which Our People Work. And those “little ” new- product problems are a

to highlight

Perfect

Window on

the

way we Value Customers (OR DON’T).

$ O S>

Plays Well with Others So success with several reframed crappy jobs

o

has earned you Gold Stars

...

and a

flicker

t/i

But truth be

of recognition.

told, you’re still

preoccupied with your own Seriously Cool Idea— CO

and frankly not much closer

to

launching

on the

it

*dT

o

world. As a

young engineer, your power score

S'

CD

low,

and your discretionary budget

ST

m m

Is

is

zero.

there any hope?

There’s more than that: There’s a Eureka

Moment

awaiting you.

To wit: Find a playmate!

What you need

is

one

sympathetic, enthusiastic, piratical, conspiratorial friend.

Yes, just one.

(One

is

plenty.

For now.)

You’ve done

some

research on, say, your radical notion of Totally

Transforming Project

i I

is still

!

87

Management. You’ve done some serious reading. And you’ve chatted up

some people who’ve

tried similar ideas

at other places.

Your excitement level.

You desperately want

announce

your frustration

level rises. So, too,

and

to collar your boss

that you have figured out a

way

to

...

Change

the World.

Don’t do

it!

Resist the temptation! Instead:

Head

to a

company

I

online chat room.

Attend a company meeting. Start cold-calling to set up

company you’ve short, the time has come to take this ... and start talking it up with some

lunches with interesting people gotten rumor

of.

In

Seriously Cool Idea

Would-Be Seriously Cool

the

Allies.

Another name that strategy

t

in

$ Q T3 —

like for this

I

“playmate”

is ...

the F4 Approach: Find a Freaky

2

*

« m o

Friend Faraway. CD

FREAK OUT: THE OUTSIDE-IN GAMBIT The Freaky Friend does not have colleague from your

ways

to

Innovate

company One

is to

recruit

to

be a

of the best

somebody from a

client organization. (A Cool Customer.)

Or somebody

in

a supplier company.

(A Vivacious Vendor.)

Again: You have that Seriously Cool Idea.

The “cool" part means that the

“establishment”

—including your

company’s hyper-conservative Crucial Customers (or Vaunted

Vendors)

— won't even consider

the idea.

So

find a small,

innovative customer (or

vendor) instead

—and

use that organization as

your playpen.

in in

.

9/mSgm*

— 89

A (Play)Date With Destiny An example

of the

F4 (Find

Find a

a

Freaky Friend Faraway) Approach:

You have a colleague

Nancy

her

—who runs

a

—

PLAYMATE

call

medium-

sized engineering unit within a

subsidiary of your company. Her office

few hours’ drive from the divisional

a

is

where you labor away as

HQ

Dude on the

a Junior

Engineering Staff.

You already know Nancy

The grapevine says

slightly.

she’s aggressive and energetic, and willing to try

near anything— as long as

talent

You drive

interesting.

it’s

damn

out to meet her for coffee, and the two of you dive into conversation. You talk up your Seriously Cool Idea.

Nancy enthuses over your she’s

and

now working on

for

pitch. Particularly since

a project that has

become

(Jj

stalled

which your Seriously Cool (and Potentially

WOW

Subversive) Idea might be just the thing.

Nancy says that while she’s not quite

“in love with” projects

your idea (that’s your job!), she

She

tells

out

some

you that

she’ll

of her staff

version of

it

in

“very intrigued” by

is

mull over your approach, sound

about

and look

it,

into testing

some

One

is

“powerless

One

the critical number.

excited

recruit at a time, at least in the beginning, at least until

Dramatic Demos and Small Wins are

in

place.

OUT OF SIGHT? Distance matters. Your goal must be

stay under the radar until your

to

idea hits cruising speed. "Out of sight, out of

axiom even Fact:

in the

Age of

mind” remains a potent

the Internet.

Most world-beating projects were incubated a long way from

HQ, a place where intriguing ideas invariably get

homogenized

into

submission. To

success that Bob Waterman and

this I

day

had

in

I

politicized

believe that

our "search

20-odd years ago stemmed from our being continent

the

on Finding that

in

Freaky Friend Faraway.

Again:

for

her shop.

Eureka! (Redux.) You’re closing first

it.

in

and

much

for

excellence”

San Francisco

away from McKinsey's Corporate Shark Tank

in

of the

—a

full

Manhattan.

90

Again: The Power of Prototyping

Try, Try

No

You’re junior. You’re “powerless.”

vice-presidential

chevrons on your sleeves. But you’ve got that Seriously

—that

And you’ve found Nancy Friend Faraway. What you need is ...

Cool Idea.

A record

first

Freaky

a track record.

events-cum-stories that send a signal that

of

“something’s up.”

There

one

is

—and only one —way

Seriously Cool Idea and get

it

and only one viable approach &>

And

CD

for that,

That

hone your

to creating a track record.

turn to innovation expert Michael Schrage.

I

of a

decade on what

an obscure, dry-as-dust topic: prototyping.

like

the process by which enterprises

is,

One

ready for Prime Time.

Schrage spent the better part

may seem

to

move from

abstract concept to concrete working model, and then

put that model through

Prototyping has

its

its

origins

paces

over and over again.

...

manufacturing, but the idea

in

goes way, way beyond that.

Schrage (who developed this thesis further Serious Play) argues that excellence is

in

in

book

his

Rapid Prototyping

the chief difference between organizations that innovate

brilliantly

...

and those that don’t. “Effective prototyping,”

he writes, “may be the most valuable ‘core competence’ an innovative organization can hope to have.”

Become

Strong language. The message:

a Rapid

Prototyping Maniac.

Come

Big “Wins”

Years (and years at the

for

Stanford Business School,

what

I

win.” That

now is,

call

the

your track record

IN

Small Packages and years) ago, in my Ph.D. dissertation in

THE “MEAN TIME”

I

coined another term

Rapid Prototyping. Namely: the “small

wee “demo” whose success adds ...

and thus

to

to your credibility.

the glimmer of a

ingredient to Sony’s

new

new

Michael Schrage cites

extraordinary record of

an interview with former

product development. At

test of that idea) is a

Sony CEO Nobuyuki

Sony, according to

f/Ve

who claimed prototyping

Idei,

that rapid

is

the essential

“Mean Time

Idei,

the

To Prototype"

(the elapsed time

between

and

a

idea

one-sixteenth-baked

working days.

mere

93

Yes, that “small win,” that “little test,” that “successful

shows that your Seriously Cool Idea

prototype,”

fantasy, after

become

well

all.

It

shows that your Seriously Cool Idea may

a Very Big Deal.

...

isn’t just a

An all-important

the credit side of your nascent track record.

and necessary step from Gleam

In fact,

Your Eye to

in

entry on

Dirt

Your Fingernails. A catalyst for buzz that begins to

way up the chain

a giant

Under

make

command.

of

Nor does the “small win” even need to be a “win”

comes

in

Sometimes

the obvious, conventional sense of the word. a small win

its

the form of a “quick loss.”

in

how Thomas Edison saw the matter. The Greatest Inventor of All went through some 9,000

talent

That’s certainly

experiments before he for his

finally

landed upon the right design

incandescent bulb. Did he see the

first

8,999

experiments as “failures”? Hardly! Each of those

earlier

“prototypes” was a Brilliant Demonstration of something that didn’t work

—

other words, a Clear Victory!

in

“Ouch,” you shout.

game

Who

WOW

has the time for a 8,999-

losing streak? Fair enough, but the Edisonian projects

“secret”

an Eternal Truth.

is

by getting out there

one failure

it,

“Success

FAIL

is

DEO

of

mine shared

his

Forward. Fast.

Fail.

it

another

twist:

Succeed sooner.

Glib? Perhaps.

Profound? Surely.

WOW POWER— TO

THE

CEO

POWER OF

10

& Saatchi

3. Hire

crazies!

dumb

4.

Ask

5.

Pursue

6.

Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

“Strategy” that every “powerless” would-be

7.

Spread confusion.

talent start would do well to follow:

8.

Ditch your office.

9.

Read odd

Kevin Roberts,

of

Worldwide and author

2004 (Lovemarks),

1.

Ready.

2.

If it

Fire!

Saatchi

of a great

offers a

break

book from

decalogue on

Aim.

ain’t broke,

for

the

“powerless

loss":

founder and innovation guru David Kelley gives

Fail faster.

the short

the ability to go from

A high-tech executive who attended a seminar

I

in

QUICK

on the theme of “quick

philosophy:

the long run

in

another with no loss of enthusiasm.”

to

THE REAL “FAIL-SAFE”: Variations

only win

— and getting bloodied —

As Churchill put

run.

We

it!

questions.

failure.

stuff.

10. Avoid moderation.

— 95

The Dance

Let’s Test Again:

of innovation

Rapid Prototyping turns out not to be about discrete “tests.”

It

is

a

...

Way

a particular series of steps of

it

as

...

Think

of Life.

and

of

it

as a dance. With

a particular rhythm.

the Dance of Innovation.

You get an idea. You run a

It

goes

Think

like this:

quick and (very) dirty

(very)

test.

That’s great. But you’ve only begun. Now, after that

first

hair-brained test, you immediately

sit

down

with your

co-conspirators and you ask yourselves: “What happened?

What can we

And then you

differently next time?”

“next time”

What can we do

learn from that test?

...

RIGHT AWAY. And

After a while, you get good at

get on with that

so on. Again and again. it.

You develop

...

ca co zs

a

rhythm. And that’s when innovation really starts to occur. Yes, your initial idea

you otherwise.) But

tell it

is

is

Seriously Cool. (Don’t it’s

just that

—an

anyone

let

As

idea.

yet,

only potentially subversive. As Schrage astutely

observes, the Real Work of Innovation

comes

with

...

the reaction to the prototype.

True innovation innovation

is

is

not about having a cool idea. True

about what you learn when you actually test

a potentially cool idea.

The

(big) idea here:

You can’t

innovate until you have something tangible (a prototype) that you can

PLAY WITH.

...

X3

o s

Play!

CD

Innovate!

CD

Fast!

w

Hence your prototypes that

goal: rapidly executed prototypes

may succeed

or

may

fail

...

...

but from which

you reap Quick Learning and generate Growing Excitement

and Growing

Credibility.

ALL THE WORLD’S A

...

PROTOTYPE The arts have

lots to

teach

We

Then we do

Growing Power.

...

Such “serious play”

and

bits

start

common

pieces of the prospective

is

performance at

in sports).

full

speed.

(More prototypes.) Then we

us about innovation.

Consider theater.

And, yes

practice

full

scenes. (Yet

prototypes.) Then

by reading through the

more

play. (Proto-Prototype.)

comes the dress

Then we have slow walk-

(Mega-prototype.) Then

throughs. (Prototypes.)

put on the play for real.

unusual

It

in

where we

in

arts (and

is

highly

business

typically plan

and plan, and meet and

rehearsal.

we

meet, before anything.

we ever do

Power Suite: Tools for the Putatively Si

for

your customer.

CD

Oh, and while I’m at

it:

Remember

And flowers when appropriate.

birthday cards.

touches” are never

Send

birthdays.

“Little

little.

CAPITAL IDEA I

had a boss

in

Washington years ago. Insanely busy. But, on Day One

of working with him,

S3

CD

7 p.m.

t/>

/\

for

observed that he closed his

I

office

door at about

a half-hour.

nip of Chivas Regal? Hardly.

CD

m

He

ro tn

spent those 30 minutes dictating

religiously

back then) a dozen or more simple

"

thank-yous ”

(that’s

to

what we did

people he'd met

during the day. People who had "gotten him a meeting ” with someone

he needed

needed

really

or

to see,

who had made a supportive comment when he

it.

Result (no overstatement):

throughout

He had

a slavish network of devotees

Den of Cynicism).

D. C. (aka

23. Make Your Customer a Hero. When you look across the table at your customer, think religiously and repeatedly to yourself: “How can make this dude or dudette rich and famous? How can get him I

1

or her It’s

promoted?”

enough

not

to focus

on making the customer’s

organization “successful.” Yes, that’s clearly the long-

term goal. But the practical, near-term imperative to

make

a Solid

Individual

who

Gold Hero is

(or

is

Heroine) out of the

responsible for buying (and using) your

product or service. Consider: I

am

in the

I

am

not

in

the “widget-selling business.”

“Hero- (Heroine-) Making Business.”

"

125

“Companies” don’t buy “things” from other “companies.” Rather: Individuals

buy Successful Relationships from other Individuals.

24. Keep Your Slides Simple. If

you’re

again,

in

sales (and

you’re

if

the

in

WOW

Project Business, you’re

in

the

Full-Time Sales Business), sooner or later you drag out

Ye Olde PowerPoint presentation. So: Keep those bloody presentation slides lean and

As noted,

full of

meaning!

Sales25 discussion stems from

this

a

made to salespeople at a major tech company. As part of my prep work, reviewed some of their presentations. And was ... appalled. This is a company that peddles some great products. But each of their slides had way too much stuff on it. Is it just my age? Am just too old to see the fine print? No, damn it! The point of a presentation is to presentation that

I

I

I

I

persuade

...

not to perplex.

SETH SPEAKS

— VERY BRIEFLY

Consider the immortal words of Seth Godin: position in eight words or less,

McKinsey & In

I

Always use the word “we.”

talking with customers, say,

take this approach Sure,

it’s

word)

is

“We

will

...”

a “trick.” But the person you

end up tricking

(in

the best sense of that

position

.

WOW

Don’t

let

your slide show

become

a side-

show. Here are a few basics on keeping the pith in your pitch:

• Keep

it

clear.

•

it

simple.

Keep

• Declare your benefits.

• State your case.

yourself!

Again: Every

can’t describe your

SLIDE RULES

picked up long ago at

Co.:

you

you don't have a

THE LOYAL “WE” Here’s a trick

"If

Project

partnership! A “we” thing.

is

a

...

•

Tell

your (COMPELLING) “story.”

• Sit down.

• Shut up.

126

25. Aim to Change-

the-Damn-World! Selling

is

Cool.

...

Very Cool.

really

I

do believe, when

I

hawk my “wares” (when

present a

I

seminar

or write a

book), that I’m doing

more than buttering the bread and paying Si

m

the property taxes. While don’t think

routinely

I

I

change

the world for large numbers of people, a

know

that

damn about what

doing as

I

—that

give

I

I’m

I’m excited

about delivering

my

product-service-experience.

tn

Si

Note well this

cri

de coeur offered by Apple Computer

to

m N> cn

boss Steve Jobs: “Let’s I

make

a dent in the universe.”

think the notion that selling can be

denting”

...

is

...

“universe-

what keeps us motivated, and able

to look

at ourselves in the mirror.

We

Are

Want

Salespeople Now my dander up? Try saying,

All

to get

finance guy.

I

“Hey, I’m a

don’t ‘do’ sales.”

No! No! No!

Success

=

Sales Success.

Everywhere. Period.

We're All

all in

the Time.

sales.

...

.

.

TOP 10 TO-DOs 1

.

Case

the joint.

...

Your \o\nt,

mean.

1

List five key

“players” within your company. For each person, write a Sales Profile:

hat motivates him/her?

!.

Case

How can we make him/her

your competition.

. . .

ompany’s prime competitor hired you today on a sales call tomorrow.

know “the other guy”

3.

Case

(biggest,

.

.

most important)

Love

Revel

5.

in

it.

Live

world. After

6.

Own

interaction

Yes,

.

it

it's

it

right now.

messy. Yes,

at “the

Take

.

Prune

it

Pull

up your latest

ruthlessly of that which

is

rigorously according to the Logic of the Sale.

politics that is it’s

...

Embody the Brand

.

all,

make

to

slide show.

Embrace the

.

.

enough

insisted that you go

that pitch 7 You should

your presentation.

.

superfluous. Order

4.

well

Imagine that your

—and

How would you make

a hero or heroine 7

end

endemic

What You

to sales work.

Do.

Story that you seek to sell to the

of the day,” that is

(total) responsibility for

what customers

really buy.

every nuance of every

between your company and your customer. Mantra (again):

Ali

customer problems are your problems'.

1.

Respect

with honor.

ustomers, colleagues, competitors)

Reme

only by

making them heroes.

1

8

.

Walk

don a sale or a prospect too high. Respect your Talent.

(financia

if

And stay

anK-you notes promiscuously.

endar each week

lurture within yourself

for writing

You must ,

sell

sell

your fa/e/rf (everywhere). |

.

I

11

Tip:

Block

them.

an Unmitigated Sales Ethos,

your product (externally). You must ).

the “cost”

your project

128

COOL FRIEND:

Robert Sutton

Robert Sutton, Professor of Management Science and Engineering at the Stanford Engineering School, co-director of the Center for Work, Technology, and Organization. Sutton, who lives in Menlo Park, is

California,

uVz

is

Weird Ideas That Work: Promoting, Managing, and Sustaining

the author of

Practices for

Innovation (zooi). Below are some remarks that he made about the “ weird ideas ” in that hook. k k

you want to have an organization or a group of people that keeps breaking from the pack, you need to have If

and ideas that are floating around the group the company wide variations and you need to have people who have what call “vu jade,” which is the

variation

or

—

—

^

I

opposite of deja vu.

It’s

this ability to

keep seeing the

...

old thing as brand new.

same

k k [M]ost managers, most of the time, are managing routine stuff. And when you show them things that are empirically based and are proven to enhance innovation, it

looks downright weird.

Hence you have ideas

in

[my]

book such as “Hire ‘Slow Learners’ (of the Organizational Code).” Why? Because you need people who see the world differently than most people in the company and

who

bring

in

*;’

varied ideas.

k k

''» ;

[Y]ou should reward failure. Well actually,

you should reward failure

I

don’t think

among people who

are learning

routine tasks like surgery or flying an airplane, because

you can identify the difference between success and failure very reliably,

to

do

when You

it

and there’s a

right

and a wrong way

And you don’t want doctors experimenting on you

they’re doing a routine, operation, an appendectomy.

really don’t.

But then there’s the percentage the percentage

will

of the

time— and

vary from industry to industry and

129

company to company— where it’s necessary to go into this mode of being innovative. And then you have to do things reward a high failure

like

rate.

* *

My

favorite weird idea

Do something

is

that will probably

and then convince everybody around you that success is certain. And this is how the best venture fail,

and the best product-development managers

capitalists

work. It's

[I]t’s

...

a paradox, but

it’s

how

Silicon Valley works.

an incredible model of self-delusion.

The reason you want probably

fail is

that

do something that

to

will

you’re doing something that will

if

succeed, by definition you’re imitating something that’s proven.

When

you define innovation,

imitation of the past.

So,

...

And most venture

product development

capitalists,

in

a

team and

most people who do

know

fail

this.

a lot of IT research at Intel.

she’ll criticize

people for not

having a high enough failure rate. She says, not going to

in

accept some failure

big organizations,

Mary Murphy-Hoye does

She leads

going to be an

you want learning, and

‘if

this case, innovation, you’ve got to rate.

it’s

“If

you’re

eight out of ten times, we’re doing

something wrong.” -

* *

" .

;

...

[T]he most well-proven motivational tool on earth, and

ng prophecy. If someone convinced that they're wonderful and they’ll succeed,

the cheapest, is

.is

the self-f u If

i

IJ

i

'

c. r

their

odds

of actually

•

•

succeeding go way up. -

* *

who are like us, who agree with us, see the world in the same way, have the same training, the same background, those are the people who we automatically and unconsciously like. The logic of hiring people who we don’t like, who make us uncomfortable, is that they very often will be people who have different ideas than we do. .:. don’t think you should hire zillions of them, People

I

because

much

if

everybody hates everybody

warfare. But you

world differently.

want

to

it’ll

be, like,. too ;

have people who see the

Thinking Weird:

The Transcendent Talent

”

Contrasts Was “Be ahead of the pack

Get big “Size will

fast:

defend us”

Maximize revenue by focusing on a few

big customers

Benchmark agar “industry ieadt “Strategic ” suppliers

Reliable employees

Hire the guy (gai) from

a prestigious school Passive board of directors Acquisitions: W'd

buying bulk “Safety-first” partners

Playing

it

safe

(“Cover all the bases ”)

Is

“Be ahead

of the curve”

Get a clue: “Size

is

no defense”

Maximize innovation by seeking out “strange” small customers

enchmark against eading-edge firms Fringe suppliers

Rambunctious employees Hire the guy (gal) with a freaky portfolio

Pushy board

of directors

Acquisitions:

buying innovation “Risk-ready” partners Playing

(“Burn

it

all

“weird” the ships”)

.

132

!Rant We are not prepared WE CHAMPION we

roll

INNOVATION. But then

over and play dead

customer “urges” us

dumb down

. .

a risky

when

a giant

to cancel or

new product

that would upset the status quo. •

WE

BEG FOR “MORE RISK TAKING.”

But then

we videotape

the “be daring”

speech featuring the boss

in a

Brooks

Brothers suit, sitting behind an old

oaken desk.

•

“GET WITH THE But then

WE EXHORT PEOPLE TO NEW TECHNOLOGIES.”

we freeze technology spending

and require people vendors. •

to

work with only “safe”

(No wonder the “innovative

organization” remains a chimera.)

.

133

IVision /

imagine

. .

team that exerts as much energy to land “THE STRANGE ACCOUNT” as it does to land

A

sales

“the Big Account.”

A

hiring

manager who says

to

interviewees, “Describe the weirdest project you’ve ever undertaken, and

you lived to

tell

how

the tale.”

A purchasing manager who looks for suppliers who will not just fill Ongoing By-the-Book Needs, also present

but

EMERGING OFF-THE-WALL

OPPORTUNITIES.

A CEO who

insists that his board

of directors include, along with the

usual yes-men, a goodly allotment freaks

—men and women who

“YES" without

also saying

of

can’t say

“BUT

...”

With a

Little

Along about 1984, mired

My

Help From

was stuck

I

(Freaky) Friends

My

in a rut.

thinking was

the big-company theory and practice that

in

acquired at McKinsey

Then

got lucky.

I

I

&

I’d

Co.

met Frank Perdue,

Perdue

of

&

And Bill and Vieve Gore, of W.L. Gore. And Tom Monaghan, of Domino’s Pizza. And Les Wexner, of The Limited. And Don Burr, of People Express. And Anita Roddick, of The Body Shop. Farms. And Roger Milliken, of Milliken

began

I

to

Co.

hang out with those and other

we-

feisty,

talent

can-change-the-world-and-damn-well-are-changing-it-andIt isn’t-that-a-kick characters.

rubbed

on me.

off

And

And guess what? Their

was dragged

I

spirit

into their quirky world.

never looked back!

I’ve

“

1

Along the way, lesson:

INNOVATION

IS

me

can handle

Call

thinking

insane.

“Innovation”

makes

EASY.

me

out.

—the talent that

other talents relevant,

all

the sina

qua non

excellence is

I

But kindly hear

that.

weird

picked up a hard

I

in

of achieving

a disruptive

age—

easy. Not hard.

Fundamental proposition: Hang out with

and you will become more weird. Hang out and you will become more dull.

weird ... dull

...

Could

really

it

Though

I

be that simple? \

much

think so.

have often been called an “organizational

change consultant,” don’t

I

with

I

don’t

much

believe

change.

in

I

believe that launching a “strategic initiative”

or creating a “brilliant training

program”

cause people to lose their fear

of failure, to

will

suddenly

become

entrepreneurial, or whatever.

What

I

do believe

is

that

contact with “strange stuff” will

if

...

I

can force myself

into

then that strange stuff

drag me, willingly or not, toward something new and

thrilling,

something weird and wonderful.

because

of

one and only one thing:

I’ve

I

will

change

been forced

to!

135

The “Big” Problem: Poor In

Little

Rich

Company

2002, Advertising Age reported that domestic sales are

20

declining

in

categories

— including 7

of Procter

& Gamble’s 26 major product

of the top

10

categories.

Staggering! talent

Some

What’s the reason? they call the

“bill ion-dol lar

I

analysts point to what

problem”: Given P&G’s

company rarely looks at a new product opportunity unless it has humongous potential. And in this case, “humongous” means ... about a billion bucks. enormous

the

size,

But therein

lies a

“demonstrated” definition,

bill

“more

people

ion-dol lar potential

of the

of product, sold in

of

problem. Anything with

whom P&G

at over-sized

focus groups after

— more

has sold to

—devoted

in

thinking

almost by

same kind the same kind

of the

mostly the same way to

change, big companies

aimed

same”

is,

j i

the past.

In

to over-sized

weird

times of

products

customers, enamored of “me-too”

— are doomed

to the prospect of

waddling

slow growth.

Simple and oft-demonstrated fact from the world

of

world-flipping innovation: Things that alter the world invariably enter by the side door.

A small group

of

pioneering customers (“early adopters”), paired with a pioneering vendor, act as flag bearers and trailblazers for the rest of the world.

SMALL

IS

BANKABLE

Seth Godin, writing

the thinking goes, not worth

in

Fast Company:"' Think small.

One vestige

it.

...

it’s

Think of

the smallest conceivable

of the

TV-industrial complex

is

a need to think mass.

If

market and describe

a

product that overwhelms it

doesn’t appeal to everyone,

with

its

remarkability. Go

from there.”

it

V

136

Disruptive Criticism: Being Safe and Sorry The most articulate spokesman for the perils of “playing Dru.

it

safe”

is

TBWA/Chiat/Day CEO Jean-Marie

He summarized

called Disruption

...

his views in a magnificent

book

which he followed up with another

Beyond Disruption. Dru claims

magnificent book called

there are three primary obstacles that keep companies

from adopting “disruptive” strategies:

Fear .of “cannibalism.” Companies worry that as

introducing a Cool Product might “confuse” the

SS

marketplace and impinge on sales of their current

market leaders. (Presumably, as if

those “leaders” are declining

An “excessive

in

the case of P&G, even

in sales.)

of the consumer.” Too great

cult

an emphasis on a “customer-driven” approach results in “slavery to

demographics, market

research and focus groups.” Could that old stand-by, “listening to customers,” really be the No. 1 sin SB,

a

in

marketing? Well, that’s more or less what Dru says, and I

think he’s more or less right. Account planning at ad

agencies, says TBWA/Chiat/Day creative director Lee Clow, “has

become

‘focus group balloting.’

”

The “sustainable advantage” seduction. Sustainable advantage, Dru contends, a

is

a snare,

myth, a delusion' Instead companies should

focus on achieving a Current Advantage pray that they can hold onto

it

—and then

long enough to invent

something new.

THE CUSTOMER

mass

IS

of “pioneering

ALWAYS LATE

users”

emerged — and

Who wanted

traffic

began

Post-it

to soar

notes? Nobody, for a

exponentially.

Who wanted

dozen years. Then they

CDs? Nobody,

or at least

become

inevitable.

Who

none

of us

who had

just

wanted fax machines?

been through the transition

Nobody, for the longest

from phonograph records

time. Then a critical

to cassette tapes.

Then

our kids started using

CDs— and

we

noticed that

the quality of the sound

was awesome. Ka-boom.

—

"

138

The Next Weird Thing

WEIRD, “WIDE" STUFF

The

I

term

statistical

considered my “weird"

argument to be wholly

“standard deviation” stands

original—that is, until i for,

approximately, the

stumbled across Wayne

average difference from the

among a given

average

Burkan’s marvelous book

set

Wide Angle

Beat Your

Vision:

Competition by Focusing

of observations. A “low”

on Fringe Competitors, Lost

standard deviation signals a

Customers, and Rogue

very “tight” distribution: All

Employees, in a messy

the observations are close

A “high” standard

g

together.

g

deviation,” on the other

Burkan argues,

world,

those

who lead us

to

salvation (or at least save

hand, connotes a very “loose”

us from

extinction) will

be precisely the kinds of distribution:

B

are

all

The observations

over the map.

people

big companies are wont to

Using this language,

dismiss or ignore.

I

Burkan

^

would argue that we are

3*

an Age of High Standard

5

Deviation. All kinds of weird

in

Corporate consciousness

3

0 =r

is

going

on. All

predictably centered

around the mainstream.

ffQ

stuff

writes:

"

is '

and enterprises that

kinds of

The best customers, biggest

.

,

weird competitors are popping

competitors,

up

employees are almost

—from

terrorists, in

the

and model

exclusively the focus

realm of national defense,

ofattention. to upstarts like Dell

and

Wal-Mart and eBay,

in

This chapter, i gleefully

the

admit, piggybacks off Mr.

realm of commerce.

Burkan’s ideas.

—_—__

How do we to introduce

...

——

deal with weirdness? Get weird!

Weirdness

in

—

...

i

We need

Our Midst. Weird customers.

Weird employees. Weird vendors. Weird alliance partners. Weird members on Boards of Directors. And so on.

The main

idea, then,

is

incredibly simple (and,

quite sure, incredibly powerful):

Hang

with the dull

I

am ...

139

and you become weird I

...

will

Hang

dull. Dreadfully dull.

with the

and you become weird. Wonderfully weird. go way out, to the end of a limb, and argue

that Thinking Weird

is

the only surefire strategy for

...

Continual Personal Renewal and Radical Organizational Innovation.

Now more

than ever.

Weird Customers: Always Check the Sell-By Date “Future-defining customers

may account

for only

two

percent to three percent of your total,” concedes Adrian

Slywotzky of Mercer Management Consulting. But, he adds, “They represent a crucial

window on the

future.” In

sum, Slywotzky writes (paraphrasing science-fiction writer William Gibson): “The future has already happened.

It’s

just not evenly distributed.”

So what

EXACTLY

...

that your Portfolio of

weirdos”? to

I

measure

portfolio.

am ...

...

have you done to insure

Customers includes “four-sigma

encouraging you, actually begging you,

quantitatively

...

each customer

in

that

ARE THERE ENOUGH FREAKS ON BOARD?

(Warning:

If

you find yourself unable to sign up

freakish customers, then your product or service portfolio really is in trouble!)

DULL CUSTOMERS = DULL YOU. COOL CUSTOMERS - COOL YOU.

CONSUMER RETORTS

(I)

CONSUMER RETORTS

(II)

Joseph Morone, president of Bentley

Doug

College and former dean of RPI business

Harty: “These days, you can’t

school: “If you worship at the throne of

company

Atkin, partner at Merkley

if

you’re

Newman

succeed as

consumer-led —

because,

much constant

the voice of the customer, you’ll get only

in a

incremental advances.”

change, consumers can’t anticipate the

world so

full of

next big thing. led

and

so

a

Companies should be ideainformed!'

Weird Competitors: Don’t Fence Yourself I’m not a fan of “benchmarking.” To be sure,

“learning”

in

But here

is

GM

(say)

(BIG) problem: is

In

done against the “industry

measures

still

I

nine cases out of ten,

its

leader.”

management

supply-chain

practices against (say) Toyota. While that Toyota

that,

the useful idea behind benchmarking.

is

my

benchmarking

A

believe

I

—from anybody and everybody. And

readily admit,

In

I’ll

acknowledge

probably has the drop on

GM

in

supply-

chain practices, they aren’t the right “benchmark.”

“Benchmarking”

cool

— but only

that

benchmark

is

a

truly cool, far-out, four-sigma (six-sigma!?) organization

..

is

if

Si. 3f:

doing something wild and wacky and oh-so-2013.

THE GOAL STANDARD When Jacques Nasser was CEO at Ford, he Why? His “benchmark" was

applauded.

Dell! That is,

his rather screwed-up industry. Likewise, the

benchmarking its supply-chain

activities

“benchmarked.

"And /

a company outside

US. Marine Corps

against

.

.

.

is

Wat*Mart. Hooray!

3sf

m3 Arguably, the

2 was none —t ,

first

noteworthy

critic of

Benchmarking

other than Mark Twain. “The best

swordsman

W’..

the world doesn't need to fear the second best

in

swordsman for

him

in

the world,” Twain wrote. “No, the person

to be afraid of

has never had a sword

is

some

ignorant antagonist

hand before; he doesn't do

in his

the thing he ought to do, and so the expert for it

isn’t

prepared

him; he does the thing he ought not to do: and often

catches the expert out Twain’s

of the

a'nd

ends him on the spot.”

comment amounts

to best analysis I’ve

seen

problems that beset formerly invincible IBM

Many say and complacent. My contact during the 1980s.

IBM was arrogant with the company would

that

support the “arrogant” allegation, but

“complacent” ...

who

quaked

bit for a

in its

boots.

I

don’t buy the

minute. IBM always

...

by design

The problem: IBM was quaking

over the wrong competitor.

The “invincible” firm had watched “invincible” Detroit

humbled by

brilliant

and Germany. Hence, as

I

competitors from Japan

hung around IBM

in

the early

141

1980s,

its

leaders were mortified

by the threats from Germany’s

Siemens and Japan’s

Fujitsu.

Meanwhile, a bunch of geeky kids

—with

names

Jobs— reinvented right out feet.

Gates and

like

the industry

from under IBM’s

To be sure, IBM

made

a

remarkable recovery during the

1990s, but

late

its

situation

was touch-and-go before Lou Gerstner’s makeover. So:

How do

you keep the competitors

truly weird, upstart

the center of your radar

in

screen?

How do

you spot

the next generation of

Bill

Gateses, Steve Jobses, Charles Schwabs,

Ned Johnsons, Michael

Benchmark? Sure! But that are worthy of

and Les Wexners?

Dells,

identify the fringe players

first,

benchmarking against. Then track

them, engage them

joint ventures;

in

the Cisco-Microsoft-Omnicom Model

perhaps even follow

—and buy them!

DULL COMPETITORS - DULL YOU. COOL COMPETITORS - COOL YOU.

“IMPOSSIBLE” DREAM

Why the

is

Thinking Weird

...

quintessential

Talent? Because

“If

You

Consider this zinger

from the prologue:

Can Think Impossible

the

Thoughts, You Can Do

ballplayers with white

Impossible Things.”

shirts pitched a ball

That’s the tag line

and

even see the

“What

subjects to count of

work that they didn’t

their

“Researchers asked

number

their noses so buried in

gorilla.

gorillas are

moving through your

times

back

forth in a video.

field

of vision while you are so

hard at work that you fail to

see them? Will

on the cover of a mind-

Most subjects were so

some

stretching recent (2004)

thoroughly engaged

gorillas ultimately disrupt

book: The Power of

watching white

Impossible Thinking, by

that they failed to notice

Yoram

a black gorilla that

can’t see Weird, you can’t

Colin Crook. The authors

wandered across the scene

do Weird.

back up their argument

and paused

with “hard”

to beat his chest.

(Jerry)

Wind and

research.

in

in

shirts

the middle

They had

your In

of

these 800-pound

game?” other words:

If

you

Are there enough freaks on board?

talent

Weird People: Hire

never met Craig Venter, but I’m told that he’s a

I’ve

1

J 1 thinking

for Latitude

of a pain.

(Some colleagues

“a bit”

understatement.) Venter was

is

of his

me

have told

CEO

bit

that

of Celera

Genomics, the upstart that successfully mapped the

—

human genome and in the process embarrassed much better-funded Human Genome Project. I

had the opportunity

to

the

address the leadership of a

giant pharmaceutical company’s laboratory. At one point, weird I

queried them, “Do you think that Craig Venter would

have come to work

Few questions,

for I

you?”

would contend, are more important:

—especially those companies — the Can you

attract

I

of

you

in

“established”

ikes^of Craig Venter?

At a business leadership roundtable

few years ago,

Among

I

in

London

a

witnessed an extraordinary exchange.

those present was an old friend

senior professor of business strategy

in

who was

a

Sweden. Also

attendance was the top management team of a

in

large,

revered Swedish technology company. Perhaps an extra glass of wine or two, or something stronger,

At one point,

my

of the “revered”

word): “I’ve got in

of

friend the professor

was imbibed.

approached the CEC

company and said (I remember every about 20 of the sharpest kids in Sweden

my advanced business-strategy seminar. Every one them tells me he’d sooner die than come to work for

you. They’re not willing to ‘wait their turn’ before taking

charge of something interesting.” There were perhaps 40

sa

of us in the room.

But

was one

it

My

friend hardly

boomed

his

comment.

#'

moments: A hush swept the room

of those

and you could have heard that

proverbial pin drop.

You know what:

MY PAL WAS ON TO SOMETHING!

£

2 “s

.

a.

Far Established enterprises tend to reject mavericks. them to begin worse, mavericks wouldn’t consider joining of “vast resources” with. Sure, Big Co. has the benefit the hell cares, and a “vast distribution network.” But who 98.6 percent of your youthful if

you have to expend

energy fighting

week

...

month

city hall

after

...

month

day after day ...

...

week

year after year?

LAB TEST

.

with / recall another encounter industry. This

if I

had

a leader from the pharmaceutical

lab, pulled me woman, the head of a giant meeting, was leaving our recent board

of my seminars. "As I 7 as accosted by our

J

after

vice chairman,

aside, after

said,

who once ran R&D. He asked me

labs these days. ‘enough weird people in the '

she

one

144

n One

my hobbies

of

of innovation.

complex,

While

I

is

reading about the history

acknowledge that the issue

also think there

I

lesson: Innovation

is

is

a rather simple primary

Source No.l

Pissed-Off People.

is

Anger. That’s the source of serious innovation. Which

must, of course, be coupled with spine

And

take on the powers that be.

risk

—

all.

it

come

Question: Would Craig Venter

a willingness to

work

to

for

you?

Are you able to attract freaks and weirdos and angry world flippers?

DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH FREAKS AND WEIRDOS ON THE PAYROLL? In Big Co.? In your 28-person HR unit? DULL EMPLOYEES = DULL YOU. COOL EMPLOYEES = COOL YOU. Measurement

is

once again called

for:

Cl „ Weird Suppliers: Hey, Big Vendor

...

Go Away

S*

“Strategic suppliers” has been one of the hottest topics

S'

in

£

supplier base from an unwieldy

S*

whom

management

number

packs sucked, because

Frustration begets

they did

innovation. Case

Mickey

I:

Gap

Drexler started

—

find a place to buy decent

Case

II:

own

Phil

invented the baby

jogger

—

because he

wanted

to continue jogging

after a

baby came

his

life.

“When I

was working

shift as local

way

my

I

was

mechanic,

I

remembered

it

would be

great to be able to push

some

him around

in

of chariot.

got an old

stroller,

I

a couple of bike wheels,

an editor at the

make

three wheeler, and

newspaper. The only

the road.

could get out for

turned into ‘What

to figure out a

way

take him with me. Baby

sort

welded a piece of

on the front to

a night

to

...

it

we

a hit

‘Great idea’ if?’

I

made some

is

so

prototypes,

stuck a mail-order ad in it

Runner's World mA

was

off to the

entrepreneurial (rat) races.”

the early bike trailers

stuck a Schwinn fork

born,

runs during the day

was

also

pipe on the back to hold

into

Here’s Phil’s story:

Travis

was

former bicycfe racer and

and thought

kid.

Baechler

all

was bounce him

around. Sincel a

because he couldn’t

clothes for his

it

that’s usually true.

ANGER MANAGEMENT

Kids

to a handful with

you can reliably “partner.” Efficiency follows,

And

said.

over the last decade. Idea: Prune your

146

So what’s the problem? Here’s the problem, and enormous: Strategic suppliers have relative to I

you

— namely

a principal goal in

SUCKING

...

is

it

life

UP.

recently spoke to an association of

equipment

producers that supply a single industry. The good news:

They were emerging from the “strategic supplier” revolution. Big

simplify

life

customers had decided they wanted to

by getting

producers. BIG

ONES

all ...

OF SCALE. Problem: The 8J *»*£ saw#

of smallish

their

equipment from one

that could offer

industry

is

...

or

two

ECONOMIES

loaded with dozens

and middle-sized suppliers that are doing

seriously innovative things. Since those suppliers were effectively shut out of the big customers’ business, they

had turned

to middle-sized

and small-ish customers.

Hence, within the supply chain,

it

was the middle-sized

customers, paired with the middle-sized

(or smaller)

producers, that were introducing the innovative stuff!

It

sr *®sst*

took a half-dozen years, but the “big customers” woke up

«asse

to the fact that they off

had unintentionally cut themselves

from interesting equipment innovations. As

I

addressed

the group, the tide was reversing. “Strategic supplier” had

almost become a contemptuous phrase.

Message: Do you have enough in

...

Weird Suppliers

...

your portfolio? Or are you too dependent on a small

number

of

Suck-Up

(Big) Suppliers?

DULL SUPPLIERS = DULL YOU. COOL SUPPLIERS = COOL YOU.

Weird Acquisitions: Buy the Company, Keep the “Change” am well known as a Noisy Public Enemy of giant I

corporate acquisitions. Mating dinosaurs,

again and again,

is

[A strategic supplier]

YOU DEMAND

not likely to function as

in

Wide Angle

“There

is

downside

writing Vision:

is

any more than a mirror to your organization.

an ominous

Fringe suppliers that

tc strategic

offer innovative business

supplier relationships.

have said

utterly out of step with the

THEY SUPPLY,

Wayne Burkan,

I

practices need not apply.”

times

...

which put a premium on speed and nimbleness. But my aversion to dinosaur duos does not make me an enemy of acquisitions per se.

One

of the biggest

problems

pharmaceutical companies,

for

at the giant

example,

is

the hopelessly

complicated drug-discovery processes they’ve

upon themselves

— partly

in

inflicted

response to the hopelessly

complicated government approval process,

partly in

response to the increasingly complicated scientific and administrative processes that obtain within companies. In

any event, some

of the wiser

pharma companies have

invested significant resources into partnering with, and

sometimes acquiring, smaller said to have This,

Wise

I

...

1,000 such

believe,

is

start-ups. (Pfizer alone

BssS

is

alliances.)

wise.

but not easy to execute. Anything but

automatic. Most acquiring giants end up driving away the

ST

leaders of the acquired start-ups, even as they give those

renegades very sweet compensation packages. They’re left with only a shell of their purchase. Cisco Systems least

when

its

3 ffQ

(at

stock was soaring), the ad giant Omnicom,

and damn few others have beaten that rap by creating post-acquisition environments that give leaders of the the acquired firm access to big markets without quashing entrepreneurial fervor that in

the

first

make

a start-up worth buying

place.

DULL ACQUISITIONS - DULL YOU. COOL ACQUISITIONS = COOL YOU.

2 "*

.

a

148

Weird Directors: Get “Board” Out

Your Skull All you have to do is look! LOOK AT A DAMN PICTURE OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS IN ALMOST ANY

ANNUAL REPORT.

of

Old. Old. Old. Tired. Tired. Tired.

Unweird. Unweird. Unweird. And frighteningly, hopelessly unrepresentative of the market being served.

Boards matter. (A

lot.)

So: Appoint weird outsiders to

your board!

g Ask yourself: Does your Board of I Directors include ... • At least 30 percent women? • At least one Hispanic? “ • At least two African-Americans? 1 • A couple of people under the

|

i

age of 35? • About as many non-U.S.

members as your share

of

non-U.S. sales? am /^/championing “quotas,” even if the reeks thereof. am championing a board whose I

above

I

composition mirrors the market (which

is

diverse)

and

technologies (which are youth-driven) that represent our biggest challenges.

DULL BOARD = DULL YOU. COOL BOARD = COOL YOU. BOARDROOM BRAWL?

performing companies,

Yale School of

he concludes, are marked

Management

prof Jeffrey

by “extremely contentious

Sonnenfeld has done

boards that regard dissent

research on boards of

as an obligation and

directors.

The upshot:

“Weird” wins! Top-

that treat no subject as

undiscussable.”

149

Weird Projects: Measure

WOW

Projects. Weird projects.

You define yourself by your your department defines

Madness

for

Same

idea, in essence:

portfolio of projects. Likewise,

itself

by

its

portfolio of projects.

So: is your project portfolio as weird as the times All of (enterprise) life

and your

comes down

to

your roster

...

portfolio.

Departments have people. Departments That’s

it.

So:

demand?

That’s

all

they are

...

and

Measure your department

that’s

for

...

tfb projects.

they do.

all

weirdness.

ARE THERE ENOUGH “WEIRD PEOPLE” IN YOUR 26-PERSON TRAINING DEPARTMENT? 1.

(ROSTER = PORTFOLIO.) 2. ARE THERE ENOUGH “WEIRD PROJECTS” IN YOUR DEPARTMENT’S PORTFOLIO? (DEPARTMENT = PORTFOLIO OF PROJECTS.) Idea

them

in detail:

are major.

You’ve got 14 active projects; 4 of

On

current apples” 10

a strangeness scale (1

= “Far

=

Polishing

how many of above? Of the 4 major

out, dude”),

the 14 active projects score 7 or above? projects, how many score 6 or

DULL PROJECTS = DULL YOU. COOL PROJECTS = COOL YOU. of mediocrity. The very fact

OVERSIGHT OVERKILL A Hollywood producer

me

in

let

on a not-so-little

secret about the movie biz:

“Giant projects often

contain within them the

almost certain seeds

of

their size

causes constant,

microscopic scrutiny

and hence constant ‘political’ interference.

Such oversight saps the passion of champions,

and

— —

to the point of

risks

certainty

fatal

‘dumbing

down’ and thence loss

of

the very distincfion and quirkiness sought first

place.”

in

the

150

Weird Encounters: Let’s Re-Do “Lunch” Who did you go to lunch with today? Same-old, same-old? Or some weird new somebody? Fred Smith, founder and

me We

with ago.

CEO

of Federal Express, sat

on an economic-forecasting panel a few years chatted a

before

bit

me

point he turned on

we

got going, and at one

with a look of determination

in

“Tom, who’s the most interesting person you’ve

his eyes:

90 days? And how do

met

in

him

or her?” Honestly, that’s exactly

gy

was

a

to

make

sure

§

that his business remained a half-dozen years

ahead

of

its :

the last

Collector of “Weirdos.”

...

vigorous

needed

get

touch with

in

what he

He wanted

said. Fred

To have even a chance of doing so, he

to put himself perpetually in contact with

who were

3

rivals.

I

people

half-dozen years ahead of the norm.

(at least) a

How do you do that? HANG WITH THEM. “

Measure

ST x* IS

:

(again!): Carefully

examine your

last

10

business lunches. (Check your calendar. No fudging.)

8Q.-

how many

Exactly C0

a.

newbies

8

(to

of those

who would

you)

or higher, out of 10,

on a

Strangeness Scale?

Strangeness

is

never

easy. “Comfortable” far easier.

The problem:

“Comfortable” well-nigh

is

...

is

also

USELESS.

These ^/estrange times. Strange times call for

strange

companions.

DULL

ENCOUNTERS DULL YOU. COOL

ENCOUNTERS = COOL YOU.

lunches have been with score

.

TALENT: YOU

KNOW

Thinking Weird is

an

a

IT

WHEN YOU

preeminent talent,

...

intangible talent, in this

when

(CAN’T)

SEE

IT

ever so importantly,

it is also,

age of Value-Added Intellectual Capital

—

—

value derives less from solid lumps than from weightless ideas

the key to talent is usually something that you can 't ... put a finger on.

Below is a Talent.

A

list

of intangible attributes that mark

"talent” as, well,

true exemplar of “talent” ...

DISPLAYS PASSION. There are

enthusiasts

...

those

who are

and passionate about everything. And there are those who are not. Be among the enthusiasts. INSPIRES OTHERS. Inspirational ability is elusive. The best visibly energetic

test:

Does

this

person inspire me?

LOVES PRESSURE. One reason former athletes tend to do relatively well in leadership positions:

in

—for instance,

a cauldron of chaos

of a football game. These are often

bumble when

things are calm

They have been tested in the last

folks

who

talent

two minutes

blather and

—and then come into their

.

.

when mess and mayhem occur. Awesome Own CRAVES ACTION. Former Honeywell boss Larry Bossidy .

.

.

says that he interviews two kinds ofpeople. Those who

talk

and philosophy. ” And those who talk about the and Grubby Details of the Stuff That They've Gotten Done

about

“vision

thinking

...

the Barriers They've

Smashed to Get It Done. Be one of the

latter—an action fanatic.

KNOWS HOW TO great at the

“first

“political loose

FINISH THE JOB. A

98 percent”

...

lot

but fail to

weird

of folks are "tidy

up” the

ends” (or whatever) that are the Essence of

Implementation with Impact.

Be a

“last

two percent” person.

THRIVES ON WOW. A true “talent” has a fat “WOW Projects Projects ” Portfolio—and loves to talk about .

.

.

that

“took Flew in the Face of Conventional Wisdom. Efforts that on " the bureaucracy. Jobs that nobody e/se wanted that

resulted in

Gems of Achievement.

Don’t Ask EXHIBITS CURIOSITY. There are those who Stop Asking Questions. And there are those who ... Can’t ...

Be known as an Asker of Questions. any EXUDES A SENSE OF FUN. The greatest “catch” for

Questions.

with a “twinkle in employer or team leader is the world-beater for " The performance fanatic who also has a knack

the eye.

This quality is as valuable in creating a spirited environment. Officer. 23-year-old recruit as it is in a Senior

a

THINKS AT A HIGH LEVEL.

-}

Is intelligence “all-important”?

(Raw

attributes listed here. No, not compared with other as / see it.) But the smarts is not even dose to the top,

today does require a decent challenging nature of business

degree of intelligence.

How

Weird Ideas:

to

Achieve “Sutton” Impact

For a matchless exposition of the Power of Weird, inhale

Bob Sutton’s book Weird Ideas That Work: 11 ¥2 Practices for

and

Promoting, Managing,

Sustaining innovation. Here,

in

summary, are

his 11-

plus strange practices: 1.

Hire slow learners (of the

organizational code). 1.5 Hire people

who make you

uncomfortable, even those you dislike.

2 Hire people you (probably) don’t need. .

3 Use job interviews to get ideas, not

(just) to

.

screen candidates.

4 Encourage people .

to ignore

and defy superiors

as well as peers.

5 Find some happy people and get them to .

6 Reward success and .

failure,

7 Decide to do something that .

punish inaction. will

probably

fail,

convince yourself and everyone else that success

8 Think .

of

some

fight.

is

then

certain.

ridiculous, impractical things to do,

then do them.

9 Avoid,

distract,

.

anyone who .

to

wants

just

10 Don’t

and bore customers, to talk'about

try to learn

critics,

and

money.

who seem

anything from people

have solved the problems you face. 11. Forget the past

—

particularly your

company’s

past success.

DULL PRACTICES = DULL YOU. COOL PRACTICES =» COOL YOU. SUTTON DEPTH I love

Bob Suttons Weird

Ideas That Work.

over-heels in love with the fact that such

was

written

deemed For more on how

with Sutton,

a book even

I

exists,

am headand that it

by a Tenured Professor of Industrial Engineering at no less

than Stanford University. Are we ideas " are

But even more,

.

.

finally

reaching a point where "strange

not so strange?

.

weird ideas

“

page 128.

...

work, ” see the Cooi Friends interview

153

The Obsolescence of “Planning” Those HVz Weird Ideas, think, could almost I

be reduced

to one:

FIRE THE PLANNERS. HIRE THE FREAKS. We plan!

don’t need elaborate plans! There

WE NEED

Heroes

...

...

no time to

WE NEED HEROES!

ACTION!

freaks

is

people who have the nerve to

m mm m

w

stand up, stick out, and fight conventional wisdom.

* 8®

These are “weird times.” Therefore, we must think “weird.” Forget “plans.” Forget “processes.” Instead:

Focus on finding a host

New Exemplars

of

...

folks

whom

you can ferret out of the boondocks and parade before

New Culture Carriers. DULL MATES = DULL YOU. COOL MATES - COOL YOU.

their peers as

...

J 3* sr

s

to 3E

Of Ships and Fools: Brute Force, Brave Freaks Real innovation is all about ... FORCE. Forcing yourself into contact with those who will force you to move in a direction that

is

significantly different from your prior

path to success.

FROM “GOOD” TO

FROM CRAZY TO

...

CRAZY Hajime Mitarai, CEO

of

CRAZY THOUGHT?

...

CRAZIER!

Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor at

Nobel-awarded physicist

Stanford Graduate School

Canon: “We should do

Niels Bohr reportedly once

of Business,

something when people

said to fellow physicist

in

say

it

is ‘crazy.’ If

say something

means is

that

is

‘good,’

someone

already doing

Wolfgang

people

it.”

it

else

Pauli:

“We are

agreed that your theory crazy.

all is

The question, which

divides us,

is

whether

it’s

2004: “There

is little

evidence that mastery

Operational suggestion: you’re considering

people’s careers, or that

MBA

credential itself has

much

effect on

graduates’ salaries or

next project meeting, ask

career attainment."

it

and the group,

crazy enough?”

“Is

in

business schools enhances

your a course of action at

yourself

of

the knowledge acquired

even attaining the

crazy enough.”

When

speaking

One thing

is

certain:

You won’t learn to Think Weird at most B-schools.

2

.

Q.

—

The ultimate exponent

approach was an

of that

Hernando Cortez. As the

explorer.

story goes, Cortez

landed with his hearty band of soldiers

in

Veracruz,

Mexico. They headed inland. They faced disease, brutal

and a resolute enemy. Fearing that the

living conditions,

soldiers might flag in their determination to keep going,

He

Cortez resorted to a brutal, beautifully simple remedy:

burned the ships that could have taken the soldiers home.

BURN THE

SHIPS. Now, that

is

a Bold Strategy.

HAVE YOU “BURNED YOUR SHIPS”? HAVE YOU DUMPED ANY OF THE ONES WHO BRUNG YOU? Question:

ss

In

cleansing your portfolio of

its

that “get

...

“successful” yesterdays.

There are companies out there

•

means

practical terms, “burning your ships”

—even

Big Companies

it.”

Hewlett-Packard sold

off several divisions that

were

the founding pillars of the company.

• 3M

sold off several divisions that were the

founding

•

Corning sold

founding

•

off several divisions that

off virtually all the literal

pillars (that

is,

were the

the company.

pillars of

Nokia sold

How do

the company.

pillars of

trees) of the

you put yourself

in

founding

company.

a “ship-burning” state of

mind? Simple:

FIND THE FREAKS! SIGN ’EM UP! LISTEN TO ’EM!

TAKE ’EM INTO YOUR CONFIDENCE! MAKE ’EM YOUR PARTNERS! LET ’EM HELP YOU MAKE REVOLUTION! WE

GRAVEYARD SHIFT

HAVE IGNITION -

Jack Kerouac, writing

On

the RoadO The

me

are the

mad

ones, the

mad

to live,

mad

to talk,

only people for

ones who are

in

1

mad

to be saved, desirous of everything at the

same

time, the ones

who never yawn

like

exploding

fabulous yellow roman candles like

spiders across the stars.”

is

a wretched old saying in the world

of science: “If it’s

not good

to retire.

A

or

say a commonplace thing, but bum, burn, burn

There

I

you want a paradigm

enough

for

shift,

the old professors

They must die."

little

BELIEVE

strong? No doubt. However: IT.

.

TOP 10 TO-DOs 1

Sell Weird.

.

will

set.

wants

Toe the Line.

4

Weird.

to be)

for in

In

/yj?

lack

in

prophecy.

.

...

but

“Who

is (or will

—whether we know

your ranks with people

Fill

who

it

or not?"

are too Teed-Off to

other words: Hire angry..

Buy Weird. Prune your supplier

.

.

What they

Look far beyond your “natural” competitive

competing against

Hire Weird.

.

make up

Ask not “Who are we competing against?”

be, or

3

they more than

Compete

.

whose “weird" demands

propel you into the Freaky Future of your industry.

profitability,

2

Cultivate customers

whose strategy amounts

to blocking your

list

of “strategic suppliers”

access to True Innovation.

'eird. Use mergers and acquisitions Buy only those companies that

not to Get Big

will force

you out of

nd please: Don’t force them into\ hat zone.)

6

Govern Weird Spice your Board of Directors with a

.

array of mold-breaking types.

takes to create a board that

7

I

is

hate quotas.

I

diverse

love doing whatever

it

Weird enough for these Weird Times.

Measure Weird. Shake up the metrics that you use to rate

.

people and projects.

Make

official:

it

Create a “W” score, for example, that

lets

you rank projects according to their Weird Potential.

8

Meet Weird Schedule

.

who

strike you as strange

9

Think Weird

.

.

.

.

10.

of

who embarrass you

...

who scare you.

That Consult Robert Sutton’s “llVz Weird Ideas

Work.” Plan to act on at least “act on”

(tohay/Akee lunch dates with people

6% of those

ideas. (Don’t

know how

an idea? Obviously, you're not Weird enough

Work Weird.

Every day remind yourself (put

it

yet')

on a 3x5

derives from Talent card that you carry everywhere) that success

twin axes of Talent derives from working along the

WOW

to

.

.

anti Weird.

.

and

156

INDEX

competence 39-40

Gandhi,

competitors 110, 112,

Gates,

121-2, 140-1, 155

Mahatma

Bill

78,

99

141

Gates, Henry Louis,

Jr.

60

acquisitions 146-7, 155

General Motors 51

conformity 20

age divide 26, 30, 43 Cortez,

Geppi-Aikens, Diane 70

Hernando 154

aims 58 Gibson, William 139

Covey, Stephen 30 Alinsky, Saul 81 creativity 17-18,

Glass, David 42

20

Allende, Isabel 32

economy 22-3

Crook, Colin 141

global

Crossland, Ron 58

globalization 20

cubicle slavery 13, 20-2, 56

goals 63, 70-1,73, 101

customers 106

Godin, Seth 125, 135

altruism, reciprocal 52

Amazon.com 51 ambiguity 40

anger 144

assignments 80-9 Atkin,

Doug 139

bad 119-20 contacts

in

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang

company 119

von 79

knowing 109

Golden Rule 52

listening to 136

Goldhaber, Michael 26

attitude 28-30, 36-48, 86

automation 20 portfolio of

122-3

goodwill 116

problems with 117

Gore, Al 50

raving reviews from 61

Gore,

relationships with 111,

green room 15

Baechler, Phil 144

a

Bill

and Vieve 134

baseball 14 Bell

Telephones 50

123-5

Guitry,

Norman 110

Bellow, Saul 31

|

a

benchmarking 140-1 Blair,

board of directors 148, 155 Bobbitt, Philip 22 Bohr, Niels 153

Boorstin, Daniel 31

Bossidy, Larry 151

Bowles, Sheldon 61

bragging 57, 73 brand value 116

Brand You 33-49 branding 34, 49 Buell,

Don 134

72

Daniels, Phil 65, 66, 69

Hall, Sir Peter

Davidson, James 33

Helgesen, Sally 48

Davis, Stan 19, 69

help, asking for

de Gaulle, Charles 78, 79

hierarchies 76, 104, 106

Diaghilev, Sergei

humor, sense

60

of

114

40-2

directors 148, 155

disruptive strategies 136 distinction 34, 48,

49

Domingo, Placido 72 Drexler,

IBM 140-1 Idei,

Noboyuki 90

imagination 17, 81

independent contractors

Mickey 144

Dru, Jean-Marie 136

25, 30

independent contributors 77

Lawrence 28

Burkan, Wayne 138, 146 Burr,

Hackman, Gene 15

Tony 23

Blanchard, Ken 61

.

weird 139

Edison,

Thomas 93

information, sharing 119

Emerson, Ralph Waldo

innovation 123, 129, 132,

28, 29

134-5, 136, 144, 146,

career 12, 13

employment, length

Carlson, Kurt 58

entrepreneurs 20, 36

Carlson Nelson, Marilyn 58

epitaphs 71, 73

of

25

153-4 intellectual capital 17-18,

106, 151

Carnegie, Dale 29

chain of

command 79-80

change 134-5

failures 42, 64, 65-6, 73,

116, 128-9

Chicago Bulls 16

Forbes 111

Churchill, Winston 93

force 153-4

Clarke, Boyd 58

Fortune 500 companies 24

Clinton,

Bill

23

closing the deal 36-9 Clow, Lee 136

Franklin,

Benjamin 29

freaky friends 87-90,

97-8, 134

Jeter,

Derek 15

Jobs, Steve 71, 126, 141

Jordan, Michael 15-16

Kelley,

David 93

Kerouac, Jack 14

Kidman, Nicole 15 King, Martin Luther 78, 99

free agent nation 24-30, 50-3

knowledge 108-9

communication 112

freelancers 25

Kodak 50

companies 50-1, 108-9, 116

Friedman, Tom 20

Kunde, Jesper 34

Collins, Jim

63

language 18

Pilgrim Fathers 29

legacy 63

Pink,

Lemmey, Tara 33

planning 153

Leonard, George 40

politics 107,

logo 49, 71-2

Dan

52

Ken 71-2

Silvia,

skills 45,

109-10,

119, 127

loyalty 43-5, 50,

Pollock, Jackson

129

Silicon Valley 66,

24, 25, 50-3

101

Slywotzky, Adrian 139

Smith, Fred 150

42

software 18

powerlessness 76, 78-98

solutions, selling 114

Ma, Yo-Yo 15

practices, strange 152

Sonnenfeld, Jeffrey 148

McIntosh, David 69

presentations 125, 127

Sony 90

Mackerras,

prices 120-1

spirit

problems, taking blame

standard deviation 138

Charles 72

Sir

McKinsey & Co. 79, 80, 100, 125

Manpower

for

24

Inc.

117

Procter

31

successes, mediocre 64,

& Gamble

135, 136

66-72, 73

market state 22-3

product knowledge 108

Summers,

marketing 39

productivity 16

suppliers 144-6, 155

Martinez, Pedro 14

professors 34

Sutton, Robert 128-9,

Marx, Karl 50-1

profit-making 39

mastery 39-40

projects 56, 58-73, 99,

149, 151

mavericks 143 mediocrity 64, 66-72, 73

evaluating 61-2

meetings 150, 155

selling

Meyer, Christopher 19

106

prototyping 90-5, 97-8

152, 155

talent:

fighting for 17, 19

importance

language

of

of

14-16

18

shortage of 16-17

Michaels, Ed 17, 100-1

Michelangelo Buonarroti 58

Larry 69

questions, asking 151

technology, appetite for 42-3

temps 24-5

microbusinesses 25 recession 16

thank-you notes 123-4, 127

Mitarai, Hajime 153

Rees-Mogg, William 33

“To-do"

Monaghan, Tom 134

reframing 80-6, 99

Morone, Joseph 139

reinvention 28-47

training 101

relationships 111, 123-5

Twain, Mark 140

Milliken,

Morris,

Roger 134

Tom 116

Murphy-Hoye, Mary 129

nation state 22-3

responsibility, taking

117, 127

Netscape 51

resume

network 43-5

risk

airport 16

Nike 72

Ogilvy, David

127, 155

university professors 34

respect 110, 127

81

Nasser, Jacques 140

Newark

49, 73, 99,

renewal 45 repeat business 117

Nafisi, Azar

lists

60

organization ladder 76

36, 73

value-added 17 Venter, Craig 142, 144

volunteering 81-6

taking 132

Robbins, Rony 30

Wall Street Journal 33, 66

Sam Moore 42

Roberts, Kevin 93

Walton,

Roberts, Paul 30

Waterman, Bob 89

Roddick, Anita 134 Rubin, Harriet 60

weird ideas 123, 128-9,

130-55 Welch, Jack 69

over-promising 112 sales 104, 106-27 Parcells,

Bill

33

partnership 123, 125

security 12, 50, 51

paternalism 60

Wolfgang 153

Pavarotti, Luciano 15

Perdue, Frank 134 Pfeffer, Jeffrey

Schrage, Michael 90 Schroeder, Gerhard 20

passion 70

Pauli,

schedules 112

153

self-delusion 129

Wexner, Les 134 white-collar workers 20, 26, 56

Wind, Yoram

women

(Jerry)

141

41, 53, 60

workers 18

self-employment 25 self-reinvention 28-47 self-reliance 13, 28

Yamauchi, Hiroshi 60

young people 43

158

PICTURE CREDITS

AUTHOR’S

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Picture Researcher

It

DK

required a far-flung virtual village to

make

this book. Here

editor,

Re-imagine !) so sharply compelling.

make

to

like to

thank the

following for their kind permission to

and Jason Godfrey,

reproduce their photographs; (Abbreviations key; t=top, b=below, r=right,

work that helped make my previous book

adapting that book

:

The publisher would

designer, both continued the sterling

(

Richard Dabb

wish to note a few

I

“essential” residents of that village:

Michael Slind,

Picture Library

Sarah Hopper

:

l=left,

c=centre, a=above, tl=top

left,

In

tr=top right, bl=below

this one, they

left,

br=below

right)

both achieved the noble feat of reinventing 10: Getty

the project from within.

Stephanie Jackson,

pushed and pushed

charmed

A W w

O

Jim Craigmyle

of Dorling Kindersley,

— and charmed and

—

Keline

this book into being. Also at DK,

Dawn Henderson

in his

(t),

to

them

Sutton (be), Ronald

Simmons;

(br);

27: Getty

(b)

;

32:

www.bridgeman.

Images/ Warren Bolster; 41: Zefa Visual

my

Media/Mika; 44: Corbis/Lito C.Uyan; 54: Getty Images/Ellen Stagg; 59: Science

and factual

Photo Library/NASA; 60: Corbis/E.O. Hoppe

accuracy with her typical vigilance.

My thanks

(tr),

NY; 37: Corbis/Gary Houlder; 38: Getty

publishing ventures. Cathy Mosca attended to details of authorial execution

Corbis/Howard

co.uk/Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown,

capture the unique mix of doggedness to all of

(tl),

(tc),

The Art Archive/National Archives,

Washington D.C.

usual role of

and nimbleness that he brings

ArenaPAL

Images/Walter Hodges; 29: The Art Archive

“project manager,” though that term fails to

E.

21: Getty Images/Tim

applied

crucially at every stage of the project.

Hansen served

15:

Grant Archive/Twentieth Century Fox

her editorial talent deftly, creatively, and

Erik

;

Corbis/Kraig Geiger

(bl),

Corbis/Steven

produce a “small” book with big

impact, and

(b)

Corbis/Chris Trotman

Peter Luff used his sense of visual panache to help

Images/Ellen Stagg; 14: Corbis/

Topfoto.co.uk/2005 UPP

(b),

(t);

67:

all.

Lane Productions/Corbis; 74: Getty

Left

Images/Ellen Stagg; 78: Corbis/Bettmann 82: Corbis/Marco Cristofori; 85:

(b);

DK

Images/Gift of Rolodex Corporation/ v

Cooper Hewitt Museum; 88: Science Photo Library/Colin Cuthbert; 92: Corbis/

Bettmann; 102: Getty Images/Ellen Stagg; 115: Corbis/Bruce Miller

(b);

120-121:

Corbis/Anthony Redpath; 122: Corbis/Doug Wilson; 126: Getty Images/Shannon Fagan; 135: Getty Images/Martin Barraud; 137:

Getty Images/Bruce Laurance; 141: Corbis; 142: Corbis/Anthony Redpath

Bettmann

FOR THE CURIOUS

...

(tl);

(tr),

143: Corbis/Peter M. Fisher

Images/Jana Leon

cited in this book are available online

Beavis

(www.tompeters.com/essentials/notes.

Corbis/Didier Robcis.

(tl);

(tr),

(tc),

Getty

Getty Images/Peter

144: Corbis/Patrick Ward; 150:

php). Also on the Web are complete All

Corbis/

Corbis/Larry Hirshowitz

Source notes on the stories and data

versions of the Cool Friends interviews

(tc),

other images

© Dorling Kindersley.

For further information see:

excerpted

in

the book (www.tompeters.

www.dkimages.com com/cool_friends/friends.php).

Hear Tom Peters Live with Red Audio (TM).

"

"

ABOUT THE AUTHOR The Economist called Tom Peters the Uber-guru. BusinessWeek labelled him "business’s

best friend and worst nightmare.

and compared him HI. Mencken.

to

an in-depth study released by Accenture's

In

2002, he scored second

and ahead

2004

In

Fortune tagged him as the Ur-guru of management,

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and

among

the top

50 "Business

Institute for Strategic

Intellectuals, ”

Change

behind Michael Porter

of Peter Drucker.

the compilers of Movers and Shakers: The Brains and Bravado Behind Business

reviewed the contributions of 100 business thinkers and practitioners, from Machiavelli J.P

Morgan

to

Jack Welch. Here's how the book summarized Tom’s impact: "Tom Peters has

to

probably done more than anyone else

debate on management from the confines

to shift the

and consultancies

of boardrooms, academia,

become

In

to

a broader, worldwide audience, where

and managers

the staple diet of the media

alike.

and his ideas have withstood a longer test of time, but

has

Peter Drucker has written more

it is

— whose

and stage performer

columnist, seminar lecturer,

it

Peters

—as

consultant, writer,

energy, style, influence,

and ideas

have shaped new management thinking

.

Tom’s

first book,

coauthored with Robert J. Waterman, was

National Pubiic Radio in 1999 placed the book the Century, "

and a

poll

by Bloomsbury Publishing

business book of all time.

A Passion

”

(1992), The

(1993), The Pursuit of

Tom

WOW

in

Search

Three Business Books of

" Top

the

2002 ranked

Project50,

and The

aims

I

best-sellers:

(1987), Liberation

(1994); The Circle of Innovation: You Can’t Shrink Your

Professional Service Firm50 (1999). In

to reinvent the

ideas, immediately

“greatest

as the

Peters Seminar: Crazy Times Call for Crazy Organizations

became an

—The Brand

2003 Tom joined

Dorling Kindersley to release Re-imagine! Business Excellence book, which

it

Nancy Austin), Thriving on Chaos

Greatness (1997), and a series of books on Reinventing Work

to

of Excellence (1982).

Tom followed Search with a string of international

for Excellence (1985, with

Management

among

In

in

Way

You50, The

with publisher

a Disruptive Age. That

business book through energetic presentation of

critical

international No.l bestseller.

both Tom and Peter Drucker Leadership guru Warren Benms, the only person who knows

first

Tom Peters vivified it.” Peter Drucker invented modern management, passion has been passion. Among his current Indeed, throughout his career, Tom’s overriding design in product and service differentiation; passions: women as leaders; the supreme role of Cirque du Soleil performance; and the the creation of customer experiences that rival a represented by women and by Boomers. hand, told a reporter,

"If

enormous, underserved markets

and now Northern California from 1974 to 2000 orn in Baltimore in 1942, Tom resided in has degrees Vermont with his wife, Susan Sargent. He ves on a 1,600-acre working farm in business from Stanford University (B.C.E., M.C.E.) and in civil engineering from Cornell including doctorates from several institutions, n /versify (M.B..A., Ph.D.). He holds honorary i

le

State University of

Management

in

Moscow

(2004). Serving in the U.S.

Navy from 196

survive a our in Vietnam (as a Navy Sea bee) and advisor from 1973 to 1974. White House drug-abuse entagon He also served as a senior becoming a partner and Organization om 1974 to 1981 he worked at McKinsey & Co., Academy of a Fellow of the International practice leader in 1979. Tom is 1

1970, he

made two deployments

to

ffectiveness

Customer Service Association, the International 'anagement, the World Productivity and Participation Today, he ssociation,

and

the Society for Quality

ajor seminars each year (half of

them outside the United

jmerous other learning events, both

in

States),

person and on the Web.

and

participates

m

le

.

"

160

SAY

LOUD - THE ESSENTIALS MANIFESTO

IT

They

say...

”

we need “change

Sure,

Your (my) language I

I

Brand You

is

extreme.

am

extreme.

demand is

too

say...

I

much.

not for everyone.

Take a deep breath. Be calm.

We need REVOLUTION. NOW. The times are extreme. I

am

“They” accept mediocrity too readily.

The alternative Tell Tell

What's wrong with a

good product "?

“

a realist.

to

it

Wal-Mart.

to India. Tell

it

unemployment.

is

Wal*Mart

it

China

or

to eat your lunch.

Tell

to

it

China.

to Dell. Tell

or both are

Why

to Microso

it

about

can’t you provide

instead a Fabulous Experience?

The

Web

” is

a “ useful

We need an

(I)

is nice.

overplay the “women's thing.

The Web changes everything. Now.

We need

“initiative.

Great Design You

tool.

”

Dream. And Dreamers.

a

Great Design

The minuscule share

of

Women

Leadership Positions

is

a

and

a Disgrace

We need a

“project "

to explore

“new markets.

“Wow” We

like

determination, say,

“I

can make

We

"WOW"

Tom.

” it

better.

speed things

We need

I

Marketing

Realignment

Women and Boomer

a

is

Minimum

Senior

in

Waste and

a Strategic

Total Strategic

exploit the

people who, with steely

Let's

We want

is “typical

mandatory.

is

Errc

to

markets.

Survival Requiremen

maniaca

love people who, with a certain

gleam

in

say,

can turn the world upside-down!”

“I

their eye.

perhaps even

a giggle,

up.

Let's

transform the Corporate Metabolism

\

until

Insane Urgency becomes a Sacramei

Those "spots" are what defines Talent.

recruits with "spotless records.

favor a “team " that works in “harmony.

”

Give

me

a

among

raucous brawl

the most

creative people imaginable.

We want “happy" customers.

Give

me

pushy, needy, nasty, provocative

customers who

will

drag

me down

Innovation Boulevard at lOOmph.

We want

to

partner with "best of breed.

Happy balance. Peace, brother.

Give

me

Coolest of Breed.

Creative Tension.

Bruise

my

feelings. Flaffen

SAVE MY JOB. Plan

it.

Market share. Basic black.

Conglomerate and Imitate. Improve and Maintain.

DO

IT.

Market Creation.

TECHNICOLOR RULES! Create and Innovate.

DESTROY and RE-IMAGINE!

my

ego.

Tom

Peters

influential

is

the most

business thinker

of our age.

He has been

hailed as the guru of

management

His

first

book,

gurus.

Search of Excellence,

In

co-authored with Robert Waterman, was

named time”

the “greatest business book of

in

a

poll

Publishing.

all

conducted by Bloomsbury

He has

followed that with a

string of international bestsellers.

Tom

is

also founder of

Tom

Peters Company, a

global training

and consulting organization

advises major

clients, including

Rolls-Royce,

Starbucks, Bank of America, Continental Virgin Direct,

and

'"transformations

Also by

Tom

in

Intel,

that

Airlines,

on organizational

readiness for future changes.

Peters, available from DK:

Re-imagine! ‘‘Peters is passionate, egotistical, evangelical,

outrageous and often maddeningly but always provocative and

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he’s

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ISBN 0-7566-1056-7

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right.

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simplistic

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—The Economist

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Other titles

in

endeavor

way you work

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•

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•

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