Human Resource

HRmaster
Tom Peters/HR.com/10.26.2004
Tom Peters’
Re-Imagine!
Business Excellence in
a Disruptive Age
HR.com/Phoenix/26October2004
Slides at …
tompeters.com
Re-imagine!
Summer 2004:
Not Your Father’s
World I.
International Herald Tribune
p.1/600
/09.13.2004:
foreign R&D labs

in China, 200 new
per year
60,000*
*New factories in China opened by foreigners/2000-2003/
Edward Gresser, Progressive Policy Institute/Wall Street Journal 09.27.04

“Reuters Plans
To Triple Jobs at
Site In India” —Headline/
New York Times/ World Business/10.08.04/
10% of total workforce in Bangalore by 2006
Level 5 (top)
ranking/Carnegie Mellon
Software Engineering
Institute: 35 of 70
companies in world are
from India
Source: Wired/02.04
Re-imagine!
Summer 2004:
Not Your Father’s
World II.
“A focus on cost-cutting and
efficiency has helped many
organizations weather the downturn,
but this approach will ultimately
render them obsolete. Only the
constant pursuit of innovation can
ensure long-term success.” —Daniel Muzyka,
Dean, Sauder School of Business, Univ of British Columbia (FT/09.17.04)
“We’re now entering a new phase of
business where the group will be a
franchising and management company
where brand management is central.” —David
Webster, Chairman, InterContinental Hotels Group
“InterContinental will now have far more to

do with brand ownership than hotel
ownership.” —James Dawson of Charles Stanley (brokerage)
Source: International Herald Tribune, 09.16, on the sacking of CEO Richard North,
whose entire background is in finance
My Story.
A Coherent Story: Context-Solution-Bedrock
Context1: Intense Pressures (China/Tech/Competition)
Context2: Painful/Pitiful Adjustment (Slow, Incremental, Mergers)
Solution1: New Organization (Technology, Web+ Revolution,
Virtual-“BestSourcing,”“PSF” “nugget”)
Solution2: No Option: Value-added Strategy (Services-
Solutions-Experiences-DreamFulfillment “Ladder”)
Solution3: “Aesthetic” “VA” Capstone (Design-Brands)
Solution4: New Markets (Women, ThirdAge)
Bedrock1: Innovation (New Work, Speed, Weird, Revolution)
Bedrock2: Talent (Best, Creative, Entrepreneurial, Schools)
Bedrock3: Leadership (Passion, Bravado, Energy, Speed)
1. Re-imagine
Everything: All
Bets Are Off.
Jobs
New Technology
Globalization
Security
“Income Confers No
Immunity as Jobs
Migrate”
—Headline/USA Today/02.04
“One Singaporean worker
costs as much as …
3 … in Malaysia
8 … in Thailand
13 … in China
18 … in India.”
Source: The Straits Times/08.18.03

“Thaksinomics” (after Thaksin
Shinawatra, PM)/ “Bangkok
Fashion City”/ “managed asset
reflation” (add to brand value of
Thai textiles by demonstrating flair
and design excellence)
Source: The Straits Times/03.04.2004

E.g. …
Jeff Immelt: 75% of “admin, back

room, finance” “digitalized” in
years.
Source: BW (01.28.02)
“Asia’s rise is the economic
event of our age. Should it
proceed as it has over the last few
decades, it will bring the two centuries
of global domination by Europe and,
subsequently, its giant North American
offshoot to an end.”
—Financial Times (09.22.2003)
“This is a dangerous world and
it is going to become more dangerous.”
“We may not be

interested in chaos but
chaos is interested
in us.”
Source: Robert Cooper, The Breaking of Nations:
Order and Chaos in the Twenty-first Century
2. Re-imagine
Permanence:
The Emperor Has
No Clothes!
Forbes100 from 1917 to 1987: 39
members of the Class of ’17 were alive
in ’87; 18 in ’87 F100; 18 F100
“survivors” underperformed the market
by 20%; just 2 (2%), GE & Kodak,
outperformed the market 1917 to 1987.
S&P 500 from 1957 to 1997: 74 members of the Class of ’57 were
alive in ’97; 12 (2.4%) of 500 outperformed the market from 1957
to 1997.
Source: Dick Foster & Sarah Kaplan, Creative Destruction: Why
Companies That Are Built to Last Underperform the Market
“Good management was the
most powerful reason [leading
firms] failed to stay atop their
industries. Precisely because these firms
listened to their customers, invested aggressively in
technologies that would provide their customers more
and better products of the sort they wanted, and
because they carefully studied market trends and
systematically allocated investment capital to
innovations that promised the best returns, they lost
their positions of leadership.”
Clayton Christensen, The Innovator’s Dilemma
3. Re-imagine
Organizing I:
IS/IT Leads the
(Virtual) Way!
Productivity!
McKesson 2002-2003:
Revenue … +$7B
Employees … +500
Source: USA Today/06.14.04

“Don’t own nothin’
if you can help it.
If you can, rent
your shoes.”
F.G.
Ford: “Vehicle brand
owner” (“design, engineer, and
market, but not actually make”)
Source: The Company, John Micklethwait & Adrian Wooldridge

07.04/TP In Nagano …
Revenue: $10B
FTE: 1*
*Maybe
Not “out sourcing”
Not “off shoring”
Not “near shoring”
Not “in sourcing”
but …
“Best Sourcing”
4. Re-imagine the
Organizing II: The
Professional Service
Firm (“PSF”)
Imperative.
Sarah: “ Papa, what do
you do?”
Papa: “I’m ‘overhead.’ ”
Sarah: “ Daddy, what do
you do?”
Papa: “I manage a ‘cost
center.’ ”
Sarah: “ Daddy, what do
you do?”
“I’m a
Papa:
‘bureaucrat.’ ”
Answer: PSF!
[Professional Service Firm]
Department Head
to …
Managing Partner,
Finance [IS, etc.] Inc.
“Typically in a mortgage company or
financial services company, ‘risk
management’ is an overhead, not a
revenue center. We’ve become more
We pay for
than that.
ourselves, and we
actually make money
for the company.” —Frank Eichorn,
Director of Credit Risk Data Management Group, Wells Fargo
Home Mortgage (Source: sas.com)
Eichorning
Mantra: “Eichorn it!”

Eichorning
Mantra: “We’re
Eichorning”
5. Re-imagine Business’
Basic Value Proposition:
PSFs Unbound/ The
“Solutions Imperative.”
“The ‘surplus society’ has a surplus of
similar companies, employing
similar people, with similar
educational backgrounds, coming up
with similar ideas, producing
similar things, with similar prices
and similar quality.”
Kjell Nordström and Jonas Ridderstråle, Funky Business
And the “M” Stands for … ?
“Systems
Gerstner’s IBM:
Integrator of
choice.” (BW)
IBM Global Services: $35B

New York-Presbyterian: 7-year,
$500M consulting (systemic)
and equipment contract with
GE Medical Systems
Source: NYT/07.18.2004
“Big Brown’s New
Bag: UPS Aims to Be
the Traffic Manager
for Corporate
America”—Headline/BW/07.19.2004
6. Re-imagine
Enterprise as
Theater I: A World
of Scintillating
“Experiences.”
“Experiences are as
distinct from services
as services are from
goods.”
Joseph Pine & James Gilmore, The Experience Economy:
Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage
Experience: “Rebel Lifestyle!”
“What we sell is the ability for

a 43-year-old accountant to
dress in black leather, ride
through small towns and have
people be afraid of him.”
Harley exec, quoted in Results-Based Leadership
WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?
The “Experience Ladder”
Experiences
Services
Goods
Raw Materials
“Most executives have no
idea how to add value to a
market in the metaphysical
world. But that is what the market
will cry out for in the future. There
is no lack of ‘physical’ products to
choose between.”
Jesper Kunde, Unique Now ... or Never [on the
excellence of Nokia, Nike, Lego, Virgin et al.]
7. Re-imagine
Enterprise as
Theater II:
Embracing the
“Dream Business.”
DREAM: “A dream is a complete
moment in the life of a client.
Important experiences that tempt
the client to commit substantial
resources. The essence of the
desires of the consumer. The
opportunity to help clients become
what they want to be.” —Gian Luigi
Longinotti-Buitoni
“The sun is setting on the Information Society—even before we
have fully adjusted to its demands as individuals and as
companies. We have lived as hunters and as farmers, we have
worked in factories and now we live in an information-based
We stand
society whose icon is the computer.
facing the fifth kind of

society: the Dream Society.
… Future products will have to appeal to our hearts, not to our
heads. Now is the time to add emotional value to products and
services.” —Rolf Jensen/The Dream Society:How the Coming Shift from
Information to Imagination Will Transform Your Business
Experience Ladder/TP
Dreams Come True
Awesome Experiences
Solutions
Services
Goods
Raw Materials
Six Market Profiles
1. Adventures for Sale

2. The Market for Togetherness, Friendship
and Love
3. The Market for Care
4. The Who-Am-I Market
5. The Market for Peace of Mind
6. The Market for Convictions
Rolf Jensen/The Dream Society: How the Coming Shift from

Six Market Profiles
1. Adventures for Sale/IBM

and Love/IBM
3. The Market for Care/IBM
4. The Who-Am-I Market/IBM
5. The Market for Peace of Mind/IBM
6. The Market for Convictions/IBM

’70s: Cost (BCG’s “cost curves”)
’80s: TQM-CI (Japan)
’90s: Service
’00s: Solutions/Experiences
’10s: Dream Fulfillment
8. Re-imagine the
“Soul” of Enterprise:
Design Rules!
All Equal Except …
“At Sony we assume that all products of
our competitors have basically the same
technology, price, performance and
Design is the only
features.
thing that differentiates one
product from another in the
marketplace.”
Norio Ohga
“Having spent a century or more focused on other
goals—solving manufacturing problems, lowering
costs, making goods and services widely available,
increasing convenience, saving energy—we are
increasingly engaged in making our world special.
More people in more aspects of life are drawing
pleasure and meaning from the way their persons,
places and things look and feel. Whenever we have the
chance, we’re adding sensory, emotional appeal to
ordinary function.” — Virginia Postrel, The Substance of Style: How
the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture and
Consciousness
9. Re-imagine the
Fundamental Selling
Proposition: “It” all adds
up to …
THE BRAND
(THE STORY).
“WHO ARE
WE?”
“WHAT’S
OUR
STORY?”
“WHAT’S
THE
DREAM?”
“We are in the twilight of a society based on data. As
information and intelligence become the domain of
computers, society will place more value on the one
human ability that cannot be automated: emotion.
Imagination, myth, ritual - the language of emotion -
will affect everything from our purchasing decisions
Companies will
to how we work with others.
thrive on the basis of their stories
and myths. Companies will need to understand
that their products are less important than
their stories.”
Rolf Jensen, Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies
Story > Brand
10. Re-imagine the
Roots of Innovation:
THINK WEIRD … the
High Value Added
Bedrock.
FLASH:
Innovation
is easy !
Saviors-in-Waiting
Disgruntled Customers
Off-the-Scope Competitors
Rogue Employees
Fringe Suppliers
Wayne Burkan, Wide Angle Vision: Beat the Competition by Focusing on

Fringe Competitors, Lost Customers, and Rogue Employees
“To grow, companies
need to break out of a
vicious cycle of
competitive
benchmarking and
imitation.” —W. Chan Kim & René
Mauborgne, “Think for Yourself —Stop Copying a Rival,”
Financial Times/08.11.03
“How do dominant
companies lose there
position? Two-thirds of
the time, they pick the
wrong competitor to
worry about.” —Don Listwin, CEO,
Openwave Systems/WSJ/06.01.2004 (commenting on Nokia)
Kodak …. Fuji
GM …. Ford
Ford …. GM
IBM …. Siemens, Fujitsu
Sears … Kmart
Xerox …. Kodak, IBM
“This is an essay about what it takes to create and sell something
remarkable. It is a plea for originality, passion, guts and daring. You can’t be
remarkable by following someone else who’s remarkable. One way to figure
out a theory is to look at what’s working in the real world and determine what
the successes have in common. But what could the Four Seasons and Motel
6 possibly have in common? Or Neiman-Marcus and Wal*Mart? Or Nokia
(bringing out new hardware every 30 days or so) and Nintendo (marketing
the same Game Boy 14 years in a row)? It’s like trying to drive looking in the
rearview mirror. The
thing that all these companies
have in common is that they have nothing in
common. They are outliers. They’re on the fringes. Superfast or
superslow. Very exclusive or very cheap. Extremely big or extremely small.
The reason it’s so hard to follow the leader is this: The leader is the leader
precisely because he did something remarkable. And that remarkable thing
is now taken—so it’s no longer remarkable when you decide to do it.” —Seth
Godin, Fast Company/02.2003
“The Bottleneck is at the
Top of the Bottle”
“Where are you likely to find people with the

least diversity of experience, the largest
investment in the past, and the greatest
reverence for industry dogma?
At the top!”
— Gary Hamel, “Strategy or Revolution”/
Harvard Business Review
Innovation!
NOT
Imitation
Measure “Strangeness”/Portfolio Quality
Staff
Consultants
Board
Vendors
Out-sourcing Partners (#, Quality)
Innovation Alliance Partners
Customers
Competitors (who we “benchmark” against)
Strategic Initiatives
Product Portfolio (LineEx v. Leap)
IS/IT
HQ Location
Lunch Mates
Language
11. Re-imagine the Customer I:
Trends Worth Trillion$$$ …
Women Roar.
?????????
Home Furnishings … 94%
Vacations … 92% (Adventure Travel … 70%/ $55B travel equipment)
Houses … 91%
D.I.Y. (major “home projects”) … 80%
Consumer Electronics … 51% (66% home computers)
Cars … 68% (90%)
All consumer purchases … 83%
Bank Account … 89%
Household investment decisions … 67%
Small business loans/biz starts … 70%
Health Care … 80%
91% women:
ADVERTISERS DON’T
UNDERSTAND US.
(58% “ANNOYED.”)
Source: Greenfield Online for Arnold’s Women’s Insight Team
(Martha Barletta, Marketing to Women)
1. Men and women are different.
2. Very different.
3. VERY, VERY DIFFERENT.
4. Women & Men have a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y
nothing in common.
5. Women buy lotsa stuff.
6. WOMEN BUY A-L-L THE STUFF.
7. Women’s Market = Opportunity No. 1.
8. Men are (STILL) in charge.
9. MEN ARE … TOTALLY, HOPELESSLY
CLUELESS ABOUT WOMEN.
10. Women’s Market = Opportunity No. 1.
12. Re-imagine the
Customer II: Trends Worth
Boomer
Trillion$$$ …
Bonanza/ Godzilla
Geezer.
2000-2010 Stats
18-44: -1%
55+: +21%
(55-64: +47%)
“The New Customer
Majority [age 44-65] is the only
adult market with realistic
prospects for significant
sales growth in dozens of
product lines for thousands
of companies.” —David Wolfe & Robert
Snyder, Ageless Marketing
“Marketers attempts at
reaching those over 50 have
been miserably
unsuccessful. No market’s
motivations and needs are
so poorly understood.”—Peter
Francese, founding publisher, American Demographics
Bonus.
The Hunch of a Lifetime: An Emergent (Market) Nexus
I have a sense/hunch there’s an interesting nexus among several of the ideas
about New Market Realities that I promote … namely Women-Boomers-Wellness-
Green-Intangibles. Each one drives the Fundamental (Traditional) Economic Value
Proposition toward the “softer side”: From facts- & figures-obsessed males
toward relationship-oriented Women. From goods-driven youth toward
“experiences”-craving Boomers. From quick-fix & pill-popping “healthcare”
toward a holistically inclined “Wellness Revolution.” From mindless exploitation of
the Earth’s resources toward increased awareness of the fragility and
preciousness of our Environment. From “goods” and “services” toward Design-
& Creativity-rich Intangibles-Experiences-Dreams Fulfilled. This so-called “softer
side”—as the disparate likes of IBM’s Sam Palmisano and Harley-Davidson’s Rich
Teerlink teach us—is now & increasingly “where the loot is,” damn near all the
loot. That is, the “softer side” has become the Prime Driver of tomorrow’s “hard”
economic value. Furthermore, each of the Five Key Ideas (Women-Boomers-
Wellness-Green-Intangibles) feeds off and complements the other four. Dare I use
the word “synergy”? Perhaps. (Or: Of course!) I can imagine an enterprise defining
its raison d’etre in terms of these Five Complementary Key Ideas. (HINT: DAMN
FEW DO TODAY.)
An Emergent Nexus
Men …………………………….……………….... Women

Youth ………………………………… Boomers/Geezers
“Fix It”Healthcare………………... Wellness/Prevention
Exploit-the-Earth ……...... Preserve/Cherish the Planet
Tangibles ……………………………………… Intangibles
13. Re-imagine
Excellence I: The
Talent
Obsession.
Brand =
Talent.
Agriculture Age (farmers)
Industrial Age (factory workers)
Information Age (knowledge workers)
Conceptual Age (creators and
empathizers)
Source: Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind

From “1, 2 or you’re out” [JW]
to …
“Best Talent in each

industry segment to build
best proprietary
intangibles” [EM]
Source: Ed Michaels, War for Talent
“The leaders of Great
Groups love talent and know
where to find it. They revel in
the talent of others.”
Warren Bennis & Patricia Ward Biederman,
Organizing Genius
Did We Say “Talent Matters”?
“The top software developers
are more productive than
average software developers
not by a factor of 10X or 100X,
or even 1,000X,
but 10,000X.” —Nathan Myhrvold,
former Chief Scientist, Microsoft
14. Re-imagine
Excellence II: Meet the
New Boss … Women
Rule!
“AS LEADERS, WOMEN
RULE: New Studies find
that female managers
outshine their male
counterparts in almost
every measure”
Title, Special Report/BusinessWeek
Women’s Strengths Match New Economy
Imperatives: Link [rather than rank] workers;
favor interactive-collaborative leadership style
[empowerment beats top-down decision making];
sustain fruitful collaborations; comfortable with
sharing information; see redistribution of power
as victory, not surrender; favor multi-dimensional
feedback; value technical & interpersonal skills,
individual & group contributions equally; readily
accept ambiguity; honor intuition as well as pure
“rationality”; inherently flexible; appreciate
cultural diversity.
Source: Judy B. Rosener, America’s Competitive Secret: Women Managers
15. Re-imagine
Excellence III: New
Education for
A New World
“My wife and I went to a [kindergarten] parent-
teacher conference and were informed that our
budding refrigerator artist, Christopher, would be
receiving a grade of Unsatisfactory in art. We
were shocked. How could any child—let alone
our child—receive a poor grade in art at such a
young age? His teacher informed us that he
had refused to color within the lines, which
was a state requirement for demonstrating
‘grade-level motor skills.’ ”
Jordan Ayan, AHA!
Ye gads: “Thomas Stanley has not only found no
correlation between success in school and an
ability to accumulate wealth, he’s actually found
a negative correlation. ‘It seems that school-
related evaluations are poor predictors of
economic success,’ Stanley concluded. What did
predict success was a willingness to take risks.
Yet the success-failure standards of most
schools penalized risk takers. Most educational
systems reward those who play it safe. As a
result, those who do well in school find it hard to
take risks later on.”
Richard Farson & Ralph Keyes, Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins
16. Re-imagine Leadership
for Totally Screwed-Up
Times:
The Passion
Imperative.
Start a
Crusade!
“Create a
G.H.:
‘cause,’ not
a ‘business.’ ”
“Beware of the
tyranny of making
Small Changes to Small
Things. Rather, make
Big Changes to Big
Things.” —Roger Enrico, former Chairman, PepsiCo
Make It a
Grand
Adventure!
“Ninety percent of what
we call ‘management’
consists of making it
difficult for people to
get things done.” – Peter Drucker
“I don’t
know.”
Quests!
Organizing Genius / Warren Bennis
and Patricia Ward Biederman
“Groups become great only when

everyone in them, leaders and
members alike, is free to do his or
her absolute best.”
“The best thing a leader can do for a
Great Group is to allow its
members to discover their
greatness.”
Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“free to do his or her
absolute best” …
“allow its members
to discover their
greatness.”
“Reward
excellent
failures. Punish
mediocre successes.”
Phil Daniels, Sydney exec (and, de facto, Jack)
Dispense
Enthusiasm!
BZ: “I am a …
Dispenser of
Enthusiasm!”
“You must be
the change you
wish to see in
the world.”
Gandhi
New Economy Biz Degree Programs
MBA (Master of Business Administration)
MMM1 (Master of Metaphysical Management)
MMM2 (Master of Metabolic Management)
MGLF (Master of Great Leaps Forward)
MTD (Master of Talent Development)
W/MwGTDw/oC (Guy/Gal Who Gets Things Done
without Certificate)
DE (Doctor of Enthusiasm)
Hardball: Are You Playing to Play or Playing to Win? by
George Stalk & Rob Lachenauer/HBS Press
“The winners in business have always played hardball.”

“Unleash massive and overwhelming force.” “Exploit
anomalies.” “Threaten your competitor’s profit sanctuaries.”
“Entice your competitor into retreat.”
Approximately 640 Index entries: Customer/s (service,

retention, loyalty), 4. People (employees, motivation, morale, worker/s), 0.
Innovation (product development, research & development, new products), 0.
“You can’t behave
in a calm, rational
manner. You’ve got
to be out there on
the lunatic fringe.”
— Jack Welch
Importance of Success Factors by Various
“Gurus”/Estimates by Tom Peters
Strategy Systems Passion Execution
Porter 50% 20 15 15
Drucker 35% 30 15 20
Bennis 25% 20 30 25
Peters 15% 20 35 30
“In Tom’s world, it’s
always better to try a swan
dive and deliver a
colossal belly flop than to
step timidly off the
board while holding your
nose.” —Fast Company /October2003
Re-imagine Leadership for
Totally Screwed-Up Times:
The Passion
Imperative.
Start a
Crusade!
“Create a
G.H.:
‘cause,’ not
a ‘business.’ ”
“Beware of the
tyranny of making
Small Changes to Small
Things. Rather, make
Big Changes to Big
Things.” —Roger Enrico, former Chairman, PepsiCo
“A key – perhaps the key –
to leadership is
the effective
communication
of a story.”
Howard Gardner
Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership
Make It a
Grand
Adventure!
“I don’t
know.”
Quests!

greatness.”
Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“free to do his or her
absolute best” …
“allow its members
to discover their
greatness.”
Insist on
Speed &
Excellence!
The Kotler Doctrine:
1965-1980: R.A.F.
(Ready.Aim.Fire.)
1980-1995: R.F.A.
(Ready.Fire!Aim.)
1995-????: F.F.F.
(Fire!Fire!Fire!)
“Reward
excellent
failures. Punish
mediocre successes.”
Phil Daniels, Sydney exec (and, de facto, Jack)
Dispense
Enthusiasm!
BZ: “I am a …
Dispenser of
Enthusiasm!”
“Nothing is so
contagious as
enthusiasm.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“You must be
the change you
wish to see in
the world.”
Gandhi
15 “Leading” Biz Schools
Design/Core: 0
Design/Elective: 1
Creativity/Core: 0
Creativity/Elective: 4
Innovation/Core: 0
Innovation/Elective: 6
Source: DMI/Summer 2002


idea how to add value to
a market in the
metaphysical world. But
that is what the market will cry
out for in the future. There is no
lack of ‘physical’ products to
choose between.”
Jesper Kunde, Unique Now ... or Never [on the excellence of Nokia, Nike, Lego, Virgin
et al.]
“Strategy meetings held once
or twice a year” to “Strategy
meetings needed several
times a week”
Source: New York Times on Meg Whitman/eBay
Have you
changed
civilization
today?
Source: HP banner ad
“When assessing candidates, the first
thing I looked for was energy and
enthusiasm for execution. Does she
talk about the thrill of getting things
done, the obstacles overcome, the role
her people played—or does she keep
wandering back to strategy or
philosophy?” —Larry Bossidy,
Honeywell/AlliedSignal, in Execution
in a calm, rational
to be out there on
— Jack Welch
Porter 50% 20 15 15
Drucker 35% 30 15 20
Bennis 25% 20 30 25
Peters 15% 20 35 30
dive and deliver a
Creativity:
Short Takes
Tom Peters/10.26.2004
Work
Stats
-
Formulaic intelligence (health record clerks, 63%/36K;
secretaries & typists, 30%/1.3M; bookkeepers,
13%/247K)
Manual dexterity (sewing machine ops, 50%/347K;

lathe ops, 49%/30K; butchers, 23%/67K)
Muscle power (timber cutters, 32%/25K; farm workers,

20%/182K)
Source: “Where the Jobs Are”/NYT/05.13.2004/data 1994-2004

+
People skills & emotional intelligence (financial service
sales, 78%/248K; RNs, 28%/512K; lawyers, 24%/182K)
Imagination & creativity (architects, 44%/60K;

designers, 43%/230K; photographers, 38%/50K)
Analytic reasoning (legal assts, 66%/159K; electronic

engs, 28%/147K)
Source: “Where the Jobs Are”/NYT/05.13.2004/data 1994-2004

“Over the past decade the biggest employment
gains came in occupations that rely on people
skills and emotional intelligence ... and among
jobs that require imagination and creativity. …
Trying to preserve existing jobs will prove
futile—trade and technology will transform the
economy whether we like it or not. Americans
will be better off if they strive to move up the
hierarchy of human talents. That’s where our
future lies.” —Michael Cox, Richard Alm and Nigel
Holmes/“Where the Jobs Are”/NYT/05.13.2004
Frameworks
Age of Agriculture
Industrial Age
Age of Information Intensification
Age of Creation Intensification
Source: Murikami Teruyasu, Nomura Research Institute
empathizers)

“The Dawn of the Creative Age”
“There’s a whole new class of workers in the U.S. that’s 38-
million strong: the creative class. At its core are the scientists,
engineers, architects, designers, educators, artists, musicians
and entertainers whose economic function is to create new
ideas, new technology, or new content. Also included are the
creative professions of business and finance, law, healthcare
and related fields, in which knowledge workers engage in
complex problem solving that involves a great deal of
independent judgment. Today the creative sector of the U.S.
economy, broadly defined, employs more than 30% of the
workforce (more than all of manufacturing) and accounts for
more than half of all wage and salary income (some $2
trillion)—almost as much as the manufacturing and service
sectors together. Indeed, the United States has now
entered what I call the Creative Age.” —“America’s Looming
Creativity Crisis”/ Richard Florida/ HBR/10.04
TP’s “New World of Work”/Circa 1995
Context: White-collar Bloodbath

Work: WOW Projects!
Individual: Brand You
Org: PSF (Professional Service Firm) “Model”
Stuff
“When land was the scarce
resource, nations battled
over it. The same is
happening now for
talented people.”
Stan Davis & Christopher Meyer, futureWEALTH
“Historically, smart
people have always
turned to where the
money was. Today,
money is turning to
where the smart people
are.” —FT/06.03.03
Talent!
Tina Brown: “The first thing

to do is to hire enough
talent that a critical mass
of excitement starts to
grow.”
Source: Business2.0/12.2002-01.2003
Schools:
K-MBA
“Our education system is a
second-rate, factory-style
organization, pumping out
obsolete information in
obsolete ways. [Schools] are
simply not connected to the
future of the kids they’re
responsible for.”
Alvin Toffler, Business 2.0
“The main crisis
in school today is
irrelevance.” —Daniel Pink,
Free Agent Nation
“My wife and I went to a [kindergarten] parent-
teacher conference and were informed that our
budding refrigerator artist, Christopher, would be
receiving a grade of Unsatisfactory in art. We
were shocked. How could any child—let alone
our child—receive a poor grade in art at such a
young age? His teacher informed us that he
had refused to color within the lines, which
was a state requirement for demonstrating
‘grade-level motor skills.’ ”
Jordan Ayan, AHA!
“How many artists are there in the room? Would you please raise
your hands. FIRST GRADE: En mass the children leapt from their
seats, arms waving. Every child was an artist. SECOND GRADE:
About half the kids raised their hands, shoulder high, no higher.
The hands were still. THIRD GRADE: At best, 10 kids out of 30
would raise a hand, tentatively, self-consciously. By the time I
reached SIXTH GRADE, no more than one or two kids raised their
hands, and then ever so slightly, betraying a fear of being
Every
identified by the group as a ‘closet artist.’ The point is:
school I visited was was participating

in the suppression of creative genius.”
Gordon MacKenzie, Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace
Design/Core: 0
Design/Elective: 1
Creativity/Core: 0
Innovation/Core: 0
Richard
Florida
“The global talent pool and the high-end, high margin creative industries that
used to be the sole province of the U.S., and a critical source of its prosperity,
have begun to disperse around the globe. A host of countries—Ireland,
Finland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, among them—are investing in higher
education, cultivating creative people, and churning out stellar products, from
Nokia phones to the Lord of the Rings movies.. Many of these countries have
learned from past U.S. success and are shoring up efforts to attract foreign
talent—including Americans. … The United States may well be the Goliath of
the twentieth century global economy, but it will take just half a dozen twenty-
first-century Davids to begin to wear it down. To
stay innovative,
America must continue to attract the world’s sharpest
minds. And to do that, it needs to invest in the further
development of its creative sector. Because wherever
creativity goes—and, by extension, wherever talent
goes—innovation and economic growth are sure to
follow.” —“America’s Looming Creativity Crisis”/Richard Florida/HBR/10.04
“The Dawn of the Creative Age”
“There’s a whole new class of workers in the U.S. that’s 38-
million strong: the creative class. At its core are the scientists,
engineers, architects, designers, educators, artists, musicians
and entertainers whose economic function is to create new
ideas, new technology, or new content. Also included are the
creative professions of business and finance, law, healthcare
and related fields, in which knowledge workers engage in
complex problem solving that involves a great deal of
independent judgment. Today the creative sector of the U.S.
economy, broadly defined, employs more than 30% of the
workforce (more than all of manufacturing) and accounts for
more than half of all wage and salary income (some $2
trillion)—almost as much as the manufacturing and service
sectors together. Indeed, the United States has now
entered what I call the Creative Age.” —“America’s Looming
Creativity Crisis”/ Richard Florida/ HBR/10.04
CM Prof Richard Florida on
“Creative Capital”: “You cannot
get a technologically
innovative place unless it’s
open to weirdness,
eccentricity and difference.”
Source: New York Times/06.01.2002
Dan
Pink
“The era of ‘left brain’
dominance—and the
Information Age it engendered—
Is giving way to a new world in
which ‘right brain’ qualities—
inventiveness, empathy,
meaning—will govern.” —Dan Pink, A
Whole New Mind
“The past few decades have belonged to a certain kind
of person with a certain kind of mind—computer
programmers who could crank code, lawyers who
could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch
numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing
hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of
person with a very different kind of mind—creators
and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning
makers. These people—artists, inventors, designers,
storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture
thinkers—will now reap society’s richest rewards and
share its greatest joys.” —Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind
L-Directed Thinking: sequential,
literal, functional, textual,
analytic
to
R-Directed Thinking:
simultaneous, metaphorical,
aesthetic, contextual, synthetic
Source: Dan Pink/A Whole New Mind
“Left-brain style thinking used to be the
driver, and right-brain style thinking the
passenger. Now R-Directed Thinking is
suddenly grabbing the wheel, stepping on
the gas, and determining where we’re
going and how we’re going to get there. L-
Directed aptitudes—the kind measured by
the SAT and employed by CPAs—are still
necessary. But they’re no longer
sufficient.” —Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind
The Big Three Drivers of Change
Abundance
Asia
Automation
Source” Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind
“But abundance has also produced an
ironic result: The very triumph of L-
Directed Thinking has lessened its
significance. The prosperity it has
unleashed has placed a premium on
things that appeal to less rational,
more R-Directed sensibilities—beauty,
spirituality, emotion.” —Dan Pink,
A Whole New Mind
India
350,000 engineering grads per year
>50% F500 outsource software work to
India
GE: 48% of software developed in India
(Sign in GE India office: “Trespassers will be recruited”)

Software’s Enormous Inroads
Docs
Lawyers
Accountants
empathizers)

“The MFA is
the new
MBA.” —Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind
“What does this mean for you and me? How can
we prepare for the conceptual age? On one
level, the answer is straightforward. In a world
tossed by Abundance, Asia and Automation, in a
which L-Directed Thinking remains necessary
but no longer sufficient, we must become
proficient in R-Directed Thinking and master
aptitudes that are ‘high concept’ and ‘high
touch.’ But on another level, that answer is
inadequate. What exactly are we supposed to
do?” —Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind
Design.
Story.
Symphony.
Empathy.
Play.
Not just function, but also … DESIGN.
Not just argument, but also … STORY.
Not just focus, but also … SYMPHONY.
Not just logic, but also … EMPATHY.
Not just seriousness, but also … PLAY.

New Economy.
New Biz Degrees.
MFA (Master of Fine Arts)
MMM2/MM (Master of Metabolic Management, or
Master of Madness)
G/GWGTDw/oC (Guy/Gal Who Gets Things Done
MBA
“Good management was the
most powerful reason [leading
firms] failed to stay atop their
industries. Precisely because these firms
listened to their customers, invested aggressively in
technologies that would provide their customers more
and better products of the sort they wanted, and
because they carefully studied market trends and
systematically allocated investment capital to
innovations that promised the best returns, they lost
their positions of leadership.”
Clayton Christensen, The Innovator’s Dilemma
“Never mind your
happiness; do your
duty.” —Peter Drucker
(BrainyQuote.com)


“When asked to name just one big merger
that had lived up to expectations, Leon
Cooperman, former cochairman of
Goldman Sachs’ Investment Policy
I’m sure
Committee, answered:
there are success stories
out there, but at this
moment I draw a blank.”
Mark Sirower, The Synergy Trap
Design/Core: 0
Design/Elective: 1
Creativity/Core: 0
Innovation/Core: 0
“There is little evidence that
mastery of the knowledge
acquired in business schools
enhances people’s careers, or
that even attaining the MBA
credential itself has much effect
on graduates’ salaries or career
attainment.” —Jeffrey Pfeffer (tenured professor,
Stanford GSB/2004)
Master of Madness)
MFA
(Master of Fine Arts)
“The past few decades have belonged to a certain kind
of person with a certain kind of mind—computer
programmers who could crank code, lawyers who
could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch
numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing
hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of
person with a very different kind of mind—creators
and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning
makers. These people—artists, inventors, designers,
storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture
thinkers—will now reap society’s richest rewards and
share its greatest joys.” —Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind
empathizers)

“The MFA is
the new
MBA.” —Dan Pink, A Whole New
Mind
“Having spent a century or more focused on other
goals—solving manufacturing problems, lowering
costs, making goods and services widely available,
increasing convenience, saving energy—we are
increasingly engaged in making our world special.
More people in more aspects of life are drawing
pleasure and meaning from the way their persons,
places and things look and feel. Whenever we have the
chance, we’re adding sensory, emotional appeal to
ordinary function.” — Virginia Postrel, The Substance of Style: How
the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture and
Consciousness
All Equal Except …
“At Sony we assume that all products of
our competitors have basically the same
technology, price, performance and
Design is the only
features.
thing that differentiates one
product from another in the
marketplace.”
Norio Ohga
“We don’t have a good language to talk
about this kind of thing. In most people’s
vocabularies, design means veneer. … But
to me, nothing could be further from the
Design is
meaning of design.
the fundamental soul

of a man-made creation.”
Steve Jobs
Master of Madness)
MMM 1
(Master of Metaphysical Management)
“We’re now entering a new phase of
business where the group will be a
franchising and management company
where brand management is central.” —David
Webster, Chairman, InterContinental Hotels Group
“InterContinental will now have far more to

do with brand ownership than hotel
ownership.” —James Dawson of Charles Stanley (brokerage)
Source: International Herald Tribune, 09.16, on the sacking of CEO Richard North,
whose entire background is in finance
Ford: “Vehicle brand
owner” (“design, engineer, and
market, but not actually make”)
Source: The Company, John Micklethwait & Adrian Wooldridge

“Experiences are as
distinct from services
as services are from
goods.”
Joseph Pine & James Gilmore, The Experience Economy:
Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage
“Club Med is more
than just a ‘resort’; it’s a
means of rediscovering
oneself, of inventing an
entirely new ‘me.’ ”
Source: Jean-Marie Dru, Disruption
“The [Starbucks] Fix” Is on …
“We have identified a ‘third
place.’ And I really believe that
sets us apart. The third place is
that place that’s not work or
home. It’s the place our
customers come for refuge.”
Nancy Orsolini, District Manager
“With its carefully conceived mix of colors and
textures, aromas and music, Starbucks is more
indicative of our era than the iMac. It is to the Age of
Aesthetics what McDonald’s was to the Age of
Convenience or Ford was to the Age of Mass
Production—the touchstone success story, the
exemplar of all that is good and bad about the
aesthetic imperative. … ‘Every Starbucks store is
carefully designed to enhance the quality of everything
the customers see, touch, hear, smell or taste,’ writes
CEO Howard Schultz.” —Virginia Postrel, The Substance of Style:
How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture and
Consciousness

“I see us as being in
Bob Lutz:
the art business. Art,
entertainment and mobile
sculpture, which,
coincidentally, also
happens to provide
transportation.”
Source: NYT 10.19.01
“By making the Global Delivery Model both legitimate and
mainstream, we have brought the battle to our territory. That is,
after all, the purpose of strategy. We have become the leaders,
and incumbents [IBM, Accenture] are followers, forever playing
catch-up. … However, creating a new business innovation is not
enough for rules to be changed. The innovation must impact
clients, competitors, investors, and society. We have seen all
this in spades. Clients have embraced the model and are
demanding it in even greater measure. The acuteness of their
circumstance, coupled with the capability and value of our
solution, has made the choice not a choice. Competitors have
been dragged kicking and screaming to replicate what we do.
They face trauma and disruption, but the game has changed
forever. Investors have grasped that this is not a passing fancy,
but a potential restructuring of the way the world operates and
how value will be created in the future.”
—Narayana Murthy, chairman’s letter, Infosys Annual Report 2003
DREAM: “A dream is a complete
moment in the life of a client.
Important experiences that tempt
the client to commit substantial
resources. The essence of the
desires of the consumer. The
opportunity to help clients become
what they want to be.” —Gian Luigi
Longinotti-Buitoni
Six Market Profiles
1. Adventures for Sale

and Love
3. The Market for Care
4. The Who-Am-I Market
5. The Market for Peace of Mind
6. The Market for Convictions

Furniture vs. Dreams
“We do not sell ‘furniture’ at Domain. We
sell dreams. This is accomplished by
addressing the half-formed needs in our
customers’ heads. By uncovering these
needs, we, in essence, fill in the blanks. We
convert ‘needs’ into ‘dreams.’ Sales are the
inevitable result.”
— Judy George, Domain Home Fashions
“The Ritz-Carlton
experience enlivens the
senses, instills well-
being, and fulfills even
the unexpressed wishes
and needs of our guests.”
— from the Ritz-Carlton Credo
idea how to add value to a
market in the metaphysical
world. But that is what the market
will cry out for in the future. There
is no lack of ‘physical’ products to
choose between.”
Jesper Kunde, Unique Now ... or Never [on the
excellence of Nokia, Nike, Lego, Virgin et al.]
“The sun is setting on the Information Society—even before we
have fully adjusted to its demands as individuals and as
companies. We have lived as hunters and as farmers, we have
worked in factories and now we live in an information-based
We stand
society whose icon is the computer.
facing the fifth kind of society: the

Dream Society. … The Dream Society is emerging
this very instant—the shape of the future is visible today. Right
now is the time for decisions—before the major portion of
consumer purchases are made for emotional, nonmaterialistic
reasons. Future products will have to appeal to our hearts, not to
our heads. Now is the time to add emotional value to products
and services.” —Rolf Jensen/The Dream Society:How the Coming Shift from
“We are in the twilight of a society based on data. As
information and intelligence become the domain of
computers, society will place more value on the one
human ability that cannot be automated: emotion.
Imagination, myth, ritual - the language of emotion -
will affect everything from our purchasing decisions
Companies will
to how we work with others.
thrive on the basis of their stories
and myths. Companies will need to understand
that their products are less important than
their stories.”
Rolf Jensen, Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies
Market Power =
Story Power
Brand = Story
Story > Brand
Master of Madness)
MMM /MM 2
(Master of Metabolic Management/Master of Madness)
“The organizations we created have
become tyrants. They have taken
control, holding us fettered, creating
barriers that hinder rather than help
our businesses. The lines that we
drew on our neat organizational
diagrams have turned into walls
that no one can scale or penetrate
or even peer over.” —Frank Lekanne Deprez &
René Tissen, Zero Space: Moving Beyond Organizational Limits.
“This is a dangerous world and
it is going to become more dangerous.”
“We may not be

interested in chaos but
chaos is interested
in us.”
Source: Robert Cooper, The Breaking of Nations:
Order and Chaos in the Twenty-first Century
“We are in a
brawl with no
rules.”
Paul Allaire
“How we feel about the evolving future tells us who we
are as individuals and as a civilization: Do we search
for stasis—a regulated, engineered world? Or do we
embrace dynamism—a world of constant creation,
discovery and competition? Do we value stability and
control? Or evolution and learning? Do we think that
progress requires a central blueprint? Or do we see it
as a decentralized, evolutionary process? Do we see
mistakes as permanent disasters? Or the correctable
byproducts of experimentation? Do we crave
predictability? Or relish surprise? These two poles,
stasis and dynamism, increasingly define our political,
intellectual and cultural landscape.” —Virginia Postrel,
The Future and Its Enemies
“Strategy meetings held once
or twice a year” to “Strategy
meetings needed several
times a week”
Source: New York Times on Meg Whitman/eBay
“Don’t own nothin’
if you can help it.
If you can, rent
your shoes.”
F.G.
“Organizations will still
be critically important in
the world, but as
‘organizers,’ not
‘employers’!” — Charles Handy
07.04/TP In Nagano …
Revenue: $10B
FTE: 1*
*Maybe
“Ebusiness is about rebuilding
the organization from the
ground up. Most companies today
are not built to exploit the Internet.
Their business processes, their
approvals, their hierarchies, the
number of people they employ … all of
that is wrong for running an
ebusiness.”
Ray Lane, Kleiner Perkins
Fail.
Forward.
Fast.
–High-tech Exec
“I’m not comfortable
unless
I’m uncomfortable.”
—Jay Chiat
“If things seem
under control,
you’re just not
going
fast enough.”
Mario Andretti
“Blitzkrieg is far more than lightning
thrusts that most people think of
when they hear the term; rather it was
all about high operational tempo
and the rapid exploitation of
opportunity.”/ “Arrange the mind of
the enemy.”—T.E. Lawrence/
“Float like a butterfly, sting like a
bee.”—Ali
BOYD: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed
the Art of War (Robert Coram)
“Maneuverists”
BOYD: The Fighter Pilot Who
Changed the Art of War (Robert Coram)
“If it works,
it’s obsolete.”
—Marshall McLuhan
Master of Madness)
MGLF
(Master of Great Leaps Forward)
“A focus on cost-cutting and
efficiency has helped many
organizations weather the downturn,
but this approach will ultimately
render them obsolete. Only the
constant pursuit of innovation can
ensure long-term success.” —Daniel Muzyka,
Dean, Sauder School of Business, Univ of British Columbia (FT/09.17.04)
Forbes100 from 1917 to 1987: 39
in ’87; 18 in ’87 F100; 18 F100
to 1997.
BUILT TO … DETERIORATE!
“When it comes to investing, I am old school. Buy a good stock, stick it in
the drawer and when you check back years later the stock should be
worth more. There’s only one problem. When I checked the drawer
recently it was full of clunkers, including Lucent, down 94 percent from its
1999 high. Maybe once upon a time buy and hold was a viable strategy.
Today, it no longer makes sense.”—Charles Stein/ “Investment Strategies
Must Shift with Realities”/Boston Globe/10.10.04
A sample of Stein’s “Blue Chip-turned-clunker” examples: Fannie Mae
(featured in Collins’ Good to Great). Coke. (“Clunker,” make that “Stinker.”)
Merck. (The mightiest fall—stock down 63 percent since 2000; tumble
preceded Vioxx) Uh … Microsoft. (“Microsoft’s stock price is no higher
today than it was in 1998.”)
“It is not clear there is such a thing as a ‘Blue Chip,’” Shawn Kravetz,
president of Boston-based hedge fund Esplanade Capital, told Stein.
“Kravetz’s point is a serious one,” Stein continues. “Greatness is not
permanent. … This process of creative destruction isn’t new. But with the
world moving ever faster, and with competition on steroids, the quaint
notion of buying and holding is hopelessly out of step.”
“The corporation as we know it,
which is now 120 years old, is
not likely to survive the
next 25 years. Legally and
financially, yes, but not
structurally and economically.”
Peter Drucker, Business 2.0
No Wiggle Room!
“Incrementalism
is innovation’s
worst enemy.”
Nicholas Negroponte
Forget>“Learn”
“The problem is never how
to get new, innovative
thoughts into your mind,
but how to get the old
ones out.”
Dee Hock
Just Say No …
“I don’t intend to be
known as the ‘King of
the Tinkerers.’ ”
CEO, large financial services company
“To grow, companies need
to break out of a vicious
cycle of competitive
benchmarking and
imitation.” —W. Chan Kim & René Mauborgne,
“Think for Yourself —Stop Copying a Rival,” Financial
Times/08.11.03
“Beware of the
tyranny of making
Small Changes
to Small Things.
Rather, make Big
Changes to Big
Things.”
—Roger Enrico, former Chairman, PepsiCo
“This is an essay about what it takes to create and sell something
remarkable. It is a plea for originality, passion, guts and daring. You can’t be
remarkable by following someone else who’s remarkable. One way to figure
out a theory is to look at what’s working in the real world and determine what
the successes have in common. But what could the Four Seasons and Motel
6 possibly have in common? Or Neiman-Marcus and Wal*Mart? Or Nokia
(bringing out new hardware every 30 days or so) and Nintendo (marketing
the same Game Boy 14 years in a row)? It’s like trying to drive looking in the
rearview mirror. The
thing that all these companies
have in common is that they have nothing in
common. They are outliers. They’re on the fringes. Superfast or
superslow. Very exclusive or very cheap. Extremely big or extremely small.
The reason it’s so hard to follow the leader is this: The leader is the leader
precisely because he did something remarkable. And that remarkable thing
is now taken—so it’s no longer remarkable when you decide to do it.” —Seth
Godin, Fast Company/02.2003
“Wealth in this new regime flows
directly from innovation, not
optimization. That is, wealth is not
gained by perfecting the known,
but by imperfectly seizing the
unknown.”
Kevin Kelly, New Rules for the New Economy
Re-imagine General Electric
“Welch was to a large degree a growth by acquisition
man. ‘In the late ’90s,’ Immelt says, ‘we became
business traders, not business growers. Today organic
growth is absolutely the biggest task of everyone of
our companies. If we don’t hit our organic growth
targets, people are not going to get paid.’ … Immelt
has staked GE’s future growth on the force
that guided the company at it’s birth and
for much of its history: breathtaking,
mind-blowing, world-rattling technological
innovation.” —“GE Sees the Light”/Business 2.0/July 2004
“Acquisitions are about
buying market share. Our
challenge is to
create markets.
There is a big difference.”
Peter Job, CEO, Reuters
Bottom line: No promotion to senior levels of public or private
enterprise should ever again be granted to anyone who does not
present a CV saturated by a clear and compelling demonstration of
sustained commitment to Radical Change. Do we wish for “good
strategists”? Why not! But the heart of the matter goes far beyond
any plan, no matter how brilliant. The heart of the matter is Heart &
Will ... a record of upsetting apple carts, dislodging
“establishments,” and fundamentally altering deep-rooted
“cultures” to embrace change of the most primal sort. I titled my
most recent book Re-imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive
Age. “Excellence” in a “disruptive age” is not excellence amidst
placid waters. The notion of excellence itself changes ...
dramatically. We need our public and private Churchills, leaders
who can re-imagine, who can call forth wellsprings of daring and
guts and spirit and spunk, from one and all, to topple the way
things may have been for many generations—and who inspire us
to venture forth into today’s and tomorrow’s whitewaters with
insouciance and bravado and determination.
Kevin Roberts’ Credo
1. Ready. Fire! Aim.
2. If it ain’t broke ... Break it!
3. Hire crazies.
4. Ask dumb questions.
5. Pursue failure.
6. Lead, follow ... or get out of the way!
7. Spread confusion.
8. Ditch your office.
9. Read odd stuff.
10. Avoid moderation!
“Reward excellent
failures. Punish
mediocre
successes.”
Phil Daniels, Sydney exec
They say “Improve.”
I say “Re-imagine!”
Master of Madness)
MTD
(Master of Talent Development)
empathizers)

Brand =
Talent.
Organizing Genius
PARC’s Bob Taylor:
“Connoisseur
of Talent”
to …

best proprietary
intangibles” [EM]
“We believe companies can increase their
market cap 50 percent in 3 years. Steve
changed 20 of
Macadam at Georgia-Pacific
his 40 box plant managers to put
more talented, higher paid
managers in charge. He increased
profitability from $25 million to $80 million
in 2 years.”
Ed Michaels, War for Talent
Did We Say “Talent Matters”?
“The top software developers
are more productive than
average software developers
not by a factor of 10X or 100X,
or even 1,000X,
but 10,000X.” —Nathan Myhrvold,
former Chief Scientist, Microsoft
“Top performing companies are
two to four times more likely
than the rest to pay what
it takes to prevent losing
top performers.”
Ed Michaels, War for Talent (05.17.00)
The Cracked Ones Let in the Light
“Our business needs a massive
transfusion of talent, and talent, I
believe, is most likely to be found
among non-conformists,
dissenters and rebels.”
David Ogilvy
“H.R.” to “H.E.D.” ???
Human
Enablement
Department
“Firms will not ‘manage the
careers’ of their employees. They
will provide opportunities to
enable the employee to develop
identity and adaptability and
thus be in charge of his or her
own career.”
Tim Hall et al., “The New Protean Career Contract”
Quests!

greatness.”
Our Mission
To develop and manage talent;
to apply that talent,
throughout the world,
for the benefit of clients;
to do so in partnership;
to do so with profit.
WPP
outshine their male
every measure”
Title, Special Report/BusinessWeek
cultural diversity.
Source: Judy B. Rosener, America’s Competitive Secret: Women Managers
“It was much later that I realized Dad’s
secret. He gained respect by giving it. He
talked and listened to the fourth-grade kids
in Spring Valley who shined shoes the
same way he talked and listened to a
bishop or a college president. He
was
seriously interested in who you
were and what you had to say.”
Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Respect
Master of Madness)
GGWGTDw/oC
(Guy/Gal Who Gets Things Done without Certificate)
The Kotler Doctrine:
1965-1980: R.A.F.
(Ready.Aim.Fire.)
1980-1995: R.F.A.
(Ready.Fire!Aim.)
1995-????: F.F.F.
(Fire!Fire!Fire!)
“When assessing candidates, the first
thing I looked for was energy and
enthusiasm for execution. Does she
talk about the thrill of getting things
done, the obstacles overcome, the role
her people played—or does she keep
wandering back to strategy or
philosophy?” —Larry Bossidy,
Honeywell/AlliedSignal, in Execution
“We have a
‘strategic’ plan.
It’s called doing
things.”— Herb Kelleher
A man approached JP Morgan, held up an envelope,
and said, “Sir, in my hand I hold a guaranteed formula
for success, which I will gladly sell you for $25,000.”
“Sir,” JP Morgan replied, “I do not know what is in the
envelope, however if you show me, and I like it, I
give you my word as a gentleman that I will pay you
what you ask.”
The man agreed to the terms, and handed over the
envelope. JP Morgan opened it, and extracted a single
sheet of paper. He gave it one look, a mere glance, then
handed the piece of paper back to the gent.
And paid him the agreed-upon $25,000.

1. Every morning, write a list
of the things that need to
be done that day.
2. Do them.
Source: Hugh MacLeod/tompeters.com/NPR

“If Microsoft is good at anything, it’s
avoiding the trap of worrying about
criticism. Microsoft fails constantly.
They’re eviscerated in public for lousy
products. Yet they persist, through
version after version, until they get
something good enough. Then they
leverage the power they’ve gained in
other markets to enforce their standard.”
Seth Godin, Zooming
“A body can pretend
to care, but they
can’t pretend to be
there.”
— Texas Bix Bender
“My education was a
prolonged and
concerted attack on
my individuality.” —Neil
Crofts, Authentic
“Leaders don’t
‘want to’ win.
Leaders ‘need
to’ win.”
#49
Master of Madness)
DE!
(Doctor of Enthusiasm) (!)
Hackneyed but none the less
LEADERS SEE
true:
CUPS AS “HALF
FULL.”
“[Ronald
Half-full Cups:
Reagan] radiated an
almost transcendent
happiness.”
Lou Cannon, George (08.2000)
“I’m not sure about his
politics, but that’s not
what made him great.
He inspired people. He
made us all feel better
about ourselves.” —bystander,
California, during RR funeral
“A leader is a
dealer in
hope.”
Napoleon
(+TP’s writing room pics)
USN&WR/What traits do successful
activists share?
“They
Studs Terkel, age 91:
have hope, and
they imbue others
with hope.”
BZ: “I am a …
Dispenser of
Enthusiasm!”
“Nothing is so
contagious as
enthusiasm.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“The leader must have
infectious optimism. … The final
test of a leader is the feeling you
have when you leave his
presence after a conference.
Have you a feeling of uplift and
confidence?” —Field Marshall Bernard
Montgomery
“Make it fun to work
at your agency. …
Encourage
exuberance. Get rid
of sad dogs who
spread gloom.” —David Ogilvy
“Astonish me!” / S.D.
“Build something great!” /

H.Y.
“Immortal!” / D.O.
dive and deliver a
“If you ask me what I
have come to do in
this world, I who am
an artist, I will reply:
I am here to live my
life out loud.” — Émile Zola
“You can’t lead a
cavalry charge if
you think you
look funny on a
horse.” —John Peers, President, Logical
Machine Corporation
Have you
changed
civilization
today?
Porter 50% 20 15 15
Drucker 35% 30 15 20
Bennis 25% 20 30 25
Peters 15% 20 35 30
The Re-imagineer’s Credo … or,
Pity the Poor Brown*
Technicolor Times demand …

Technicolor Leaders and Boards who recruit …
Technicolor People who are sent on …
Technicolor Quests to execute …
Technicolor (WOW!) Projects in partnership with …
Technicolor Customers and …
Technicolor Suppliers all of whom are in pursuit of …
Technicolor Goals and Aspirations fit for …
Technicolor Times.
*WSC
Kevin Roberts’ Credo
1. Ready. Fire! Aim.
2. If it ain’t broke ... Break it!
3. Hire crazies.
4. Ask dumb questions.
5. Pursue failure.
6. Lead, follow ... or get out of the way!
7. Spread confusion.
8. Ditch your office.
9. Read odd stuff.
10. Avoid moderation!
Sir Richard’s Rules:
Follow your passions.
Keep it simple.
Get the best people to help you.
Re-create yourself.
Play.
Source: Fortune/10.03
in a calm, rational
to be out there on
— Jack Welch
“Dream as if
you’ll live forever.
Live as if you’ll
die today.”
—James Dean
Master of Madness)
Tom Peters’
The
Talent50
The Talent50
1. People first!
2. Soft is Hard.
3. FUNDAMENTAL PREMISE: We are in an Age
of Talent/ Creativity/ Intellectual-capital
Added.
4. Talent “excellence” in every part of the
organization.
5. P.O.T./Pursuit Of Talent = Obsession.
6. HR sits at The Head Table.
7. HR is “cool.”
The Talent50
8. Re-name “HR.” (Talent Department, Center of Talent
Excellence)
9. There’s an HR Strategy
10. There is a FORMAL Recruitment Strategy.
11. There is a FORMAL Leadership Development
Strategy.
12. There is a “world class” Leadership Development
Center.
13. There is a FORMAL-STRATEGIC HR Review
Process.
14. The “Top100,” and every unit’s Top10, are
consciously managed.
The Talent50
15. “People/Talent Reviews” are the FIRST reviews.
16. HR Strategy = Business Strategy.
17. Make it a Cause Worth Signing Up For..
18. Set Sky High Standards.
19. Enlist everyone in
Challenge Century21.
20. Pursue the Best!
21. Up or Out.
22. Ensure that the Review Process has INTEGRITY.
23. Pay!
The Talent50
24. Training I: Train! Train! Train!
25. TII: 100% “business people.”
26. TIII: 100% Leaders.
27. TIV: Boss as Trainer-in-Chief.
28. Open Communication I: NO BARRIERS.
29. Open Communication II: Share Information.
(ALL!)
30. Respect!
31. INTEGRITY!
32. Treat the Whole Individual.
The Talent50
33. Places of “grace.”
34. MBWA: The “Rudy Rule.”
35. Thank You!
36. Promote for “people skills.”
(ALL ELSE IS SECONDARY.)
37. Honor youth.
38. Early leadership assignments.
39. Fast Tracking is the norm.
40. Create a System of Mentoring.
The Talent50
41. Diversity!
42. Diversity starts on the Board of
Directors.
43. WOMEN RULE.
44. Weird Wins.
45. We are all unique.
46. Bosses “win people over.”
47. GOAL: Adventures of Mutual
Discovery.
48. Foster Independence.
49. Enthusiasm!
The Talent50
50. Talent =
Brand.
Tom Peters’
The
Talent50
02.20.2003
1. People
First!
“When land was the scarce
resource, nations battled
over it. The same is
happening now for
talented people.”
Talent!
Tina Brown: “The first thing

to do is to hire enough
talent that a critical mass
of excitement starts to
grow.”
Source: Business2.0/12.2002-01.2003
Whoops: Jack
didn’t have a vision!*
*GE = “Talent Machine” (Ed Michaels)
2. Soft Is
Hard.
“Soft” Is
“Hard”
- ISOE
3. FUNDAMENTAL
PREMISE: We Are in an
Age
of Talent/ Creativity/
Intellectual-capital
Added.
Age of Agriculture
Industrial Age
Age of Information Intensification
Age of Creation Intensification
Source: Murikami Teruyasu, Nomura Research Institute

4. Talent
“Excellence” in
Every Part of the
Organization.
5. P.O.T./
Pursuit Of
Talent =
OBSESSION.
Model 25/8/53
Sports Franchise GM*
*48 = $500M
Organizing Genius
PARC’s Bob Taylor:
“Connoisseur
of Talent”
Les Wexner: From
sweaters to people!
6. Talent Masters
Understand Talent’s
Intangibles.
Visibly energetic/ Passionate/ Enthusiastic … about
everything.
Engaging/ Inspires others. (Inspires the
interviewer!)
Loves messes & pressure.
Impatient/ Action fanatic.
A finisher.
Exhibits: Fat “WOW Project” Portfolio. (Loves to talk about
her work.)
Smart.
Curious/ Eclectic interests/ A little (or more) weird.
Well-developed sense of humor/ Fun to be around.
******
No. 1 re bosses: Exceptional talent selection & development
record. (Former co-workers: “Did you visibly grow while
working with X?” / “How has the department/team grown
on a ‘world-class’ scale during X’s tenure?”)
7. HR Is
“Cool.”
Chicago
November 1999:
HRMAC
“support function” / “cost
center” / “bureaucratic
drag”
or …
Are you “Rock
Stars of the
Age of Talent”
Have you
changed
civilization
today?
8. HR Sits at
The Head
Table.
DD$21M
9. Re-name
“HR.”
Talent
Department
People Department
Center for Talent Excellence
Seriously Cool People Who Recruit

& Develop Seriously Cool People
Etc.
10. There Is
an “HR
Strategy.”
11. There Is a
FORMAL
Recruitment
Strategy.
The NFL
Standard!
12. There Is a
FORMAL Leadership
Development
Strategy.
13. There is a
“World Class”
Leadership
Development
CENTER.
DD: 0 to 60 in a
flash (months)
14. There Is a
FORMAL STRATEGIC
HR Review Process.
15. The “Top100,”
and Every Unit’s
Top10, Are
Consciously
Managed.
“In most companies, the Talent Review
Process is a farce. At GE, Jack Welch and
his two top HR people visit each division
for a day. They review the top 20 to 50
people by name. They talk about Talent
Pool strengthening issues. The Talent
Review Process is a contact sport at GE; it
has the intensity and the importance of the
budget process at most companies.”—Ed
Michaels
16. “People”/
Talent” Reviews
Are the FIRST
Reviews.
17. HR Strategy =
Business Strategy.
18. Make it a
“Cause Worth
Signing Up For.”
“Create a
G.H.:
‘cause,’ not a
‘business.’ ”
Leaders don’t just make products
and make decisions.
Leaders make
meaning. – John Seeley Brown
19. Set Sky
High
Standards.
to …

best proprietary
intangibles” [EM]
20. Enlist
Everyone in
Challenge
Century21.
“If there is nothing
very special about
your work, no matter how
hard you apply yourself, you
won’t get noticed, and that
increasingly means you won’t
get paid much either.”
Michael Goldhaber, Wired
108 X 5
vs.
8X1
= 540 vs. 8 (-98.5%)
IBM’s Project
eLiza!*
* “Self-bootstrapping”/ “Artilects”
E.g. …
Jeff Immelt: 75% of “admin, back

room, finance” “digitalized” in
years.
Source: BW (01.28.02)
BW Cover/02.2003
“IS YOUR JOB NEXT? A

New Round of GLOBALIZATION Is
Sending Upscale Jobs Offshore.
They Include Chip Design, Basic
Research—even Financial
Analysis. Can America Lose These
Jobs and Still Prosper?”
21. Pursue
the Best!
“Differentiation is all about being
extreme, rewarding the best and
weeding out the ineffective. … You
build strong teams by treating
individuals differently. Just look at
the way baseball teams pay 20-
game winning pitchers and 40-plus
homerun hitters.”—Jack Welch
“best person in
the world” —Arthur
Blank
22. Up or
Out.
“We believe companies can increase their
market cap 50 percent in 3 years. Steve
changed 20 of
Macadam at Georgia-Pacific
his 40 box plant managers to put
more talented, higher paid
managers in charge. He increased
profitability from $25 million to $80 million
in 2 years.”
Ed Michaels, War for Talent
Message: Some
people are
better than other
people. Some people
are a helluva lot
better than other
people.
23. Ensure that
the Review
Process Has
INTEGRITY.
25 = 100*
* “But what do I do that’s more important than developing
people? I don’t do the damn work. They do.”
24. Fork
Over!
“Top performing companies are
two to four times more likely
than the rest to pay what
it takes to prevent losing
top performers.”
Ed Michaels, War for Talent (05.17.00)
25. Training I:
Train! Train!
Train!
3 Weeks in May
“Training” & Prep: 187

“Work”: 41
(“Other”: 17)
1%
vs.
367%
Divas do it. Violinists do it.
Sprinters do it. Golfers do it.
Pilots do it. Soldiers do it.
Surgeons do it. Cops do it.
Astronauts do it. Why don’t
businesspeople do it?
“Knowledge becomes obsolete
incredibly fast. The
continuing professional
education of adults is the
No. 1 industry in the next 30
years … mostly on line.”
Peter Drucker,
Business 2.0 (22August2000)
Edward Jones’ Training Machine*
146 hours/employee/year
New hires: 4X avg.
3.8% of payroll
* #1, “The 100 Best Companies To Work
For”/Fortune/01.2003
26. Training II:
100% “Business
People.”
27. Training III:
100%
LEADERS.
“I start with the
premise that the
function of leadership
is to produce more
leaders, not more
followers.”—Ralph Nader
Brand You, Big Time!
I AM AN
ARMY OF
ONE
28. Training IV:
Boss as Trainer-
in-Chief.
Workout = 24
DPY in the
Classroom
29. Open
Communication I:
NO BARRIERS.
“The organizations we created have
become tyrants. They have taken
control, holding us fettered, creating
barriers that hinder rather than help
our businesses. The lines that we
drew on our neat organizational
diagrams have turned into walls
that no one can scale or penetrate
or even peer over.” —Frank Lekanne Deprez &
Rene Tissen, Zero Space: Moving Beyond Organization Limits.
“Dawn Meyerreicks, CTO of the Defense Intelligence Systems Agency, made
one of the most fateful military calls of the 21st century. After 9/11 … her office
quickly leased all the available transponders covering Central Asia. The
implications should change everything about U.S. military thinking in the
years ahead.
“The U.S. Air Force had kicked off its fight against the Taliban with an
ineffective bombing campaign, and Washington was anguishing over whether
to send in a few Army divisions. Donald Rumsfeld told Gen. Tommy Franks to
give the initiative to 250 Special Forces already on the ground. They used
satellite phones, Predator surveillance drones, and GPS- and laser-based
targeting systems to make the air strikes brutally effective.
“In effect, they ‘Napsterized’ the battlefield by cutting out the middlemen
(much of the military’s command and control) and working directly with the
real players. … The data came in so fast that HQ revised operating procedures
to allow intelligence analysts and attack planners to work directly together.
Their favorite tool, incidentally, was instant messaging over a secure
network.”—Ned Desmond/“Broadband’s New Killer App”/Business 2.0/
OCT2002
30. Open
Communication II:
Share (ALL)
Information.
m-“On” or Out of the Loop
“Managers in Finland always keep
their phones on. Customers expect
fast reactions. And if you can’t reach a
superior, you make many decisions
yourself—managers who want to
influence decisions of subordinates
must keep their phones open.” —Risto
Linturi, Finnish m-guru, in Howard Rheingold’s Smart
Mobs
31. Respect!
“It was much later that I realized Dad’s
secret. He gained respect by giving it. He
talked and listened to the fourth-grade kids
in Spring Valley who shined shoes the
same way he talked and listened to a
bishop or a college president. He
was
seriously interested in who you
were and what you had to say.”
Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Respect
“Leaders are living
individuals whom
employees smell,
feel, touch their
presence.”
#49
32. Embrace
the Whole
Individual.
33. Build
Places of
“Grace.”
“My favorite word is grace –
whether it’s amazinggrace,
saving grace, grace under
fire, Grace Kelly. How we live
contributes to beauty – whether
it’s how we treat other people or
the environment.”
Celeste Cooper, designer
Rodale’s on “Grace” …
elegance … charm …
loveliness … poetry in
motion … kindliness ..
benevolence … benefaction
… compassion … beauty
34. MBWA:
The “Rudy
Rule.”
“The first and greatest
imperative of command
is to be present in
person. Those who
impose risk must be
seen to share it.” —John
Keegan, The Masks of Command
35. Thank
You!
“The deepest human
need to
need is the
be appreciated.”
William James
“The two most powerful things
a kind
in existence:
word and a
thoughtful
gesture.”
Ken Langone, CEO, Invemed Associates [from Ronna
Lichtenberg, It’s Not Business, It’s Personal]
36. Promote for
“people skills.”
(THE REST IS
DETAILS.)
33 Division Titles. 26
League Pennants. 14
World Series: Earl Weaver—0.
Tom Kelly—0. Jim Leyland—0.
Walter Alston—1AB. Tony
LaRussa—132 games, 6 seasons.
Tommy Lasorda—P, 26 games.
Sparky Anderson—1 season.
37. Honor
Youth.
“Why focus on these late teens and twenty-
somethings? Because they are the first
young who are both in a position to
change the world, and are actually
doing so. … For the first time in history,
children are more comfortable, knowledgeable
and literate than their parents about an
innovation central to society. … The Internet has
triggered the first industrial revolution in history
to be led by the young.”
The Economist [12/2000]
8 Minutes*
—Dr. Sugata Mira, NIIT/ New Delhi/
1999**
*Ignorance to Surfing
**And then there’s oya yubi sedai, the “thumb generation”
38. Provide Early
Leadership
Assignments.
39. Create a
FORMAL System
of Mentoring.
W. L. Gore
Quad/Graphics
40. Diversity!
“Diversity defines the health
and wealth of nations in a new
century. Mighty is the mongrel. The hybrid is hip.
The impure, the mélange, the adulterated, the
blemished, the rough, the black-and-blue, the mix-
and-match – these people are inheriting the earth.
Mixing is the new norm. Mixing trumps isolation. It
spawns creativity, nourishes the human spirit, spurs
economic growth and empowers nations.”
G. Pascal Zachary, The Global Me:
New Cosmopolitans and the Competitive Edge
CM Prof Richard Florida on
“Creative Capital”: “You cannot
get a technologically
innovative place unless it’s
open to weirdness,
eccentricity and difference.”
Source: New York Times/06.01.2002
“Where do good new ideas come
from? That’s simple! From
differences. Creativity comes
from unlikely juxtapositions.
The best way to maximize differences
is to mix ages, cultures and
disciplines.”
Nicholas Negroponte
Duh!
“We want our associate population to mirror our
customer population at every level, from the executive
suite all the way to the retail floor. In the marketplace,
basically what I want to do is draw a concentric circle
around every one of our 2,300 stores, and I want the
assortment in that store to match the ethnicity of the
neighborhood it’s in. Some neighborhoods are all
Hispanic, so we can put in a full Hispanic format. That’s
what Super Saver is. All the signage is in both
languages. There’s a 100 percent Spanish-speaking
staff in the store.”—Larry Johnston, CEO, Albertson’s
41. WOMEN
RULE.*
*Duh.
outshine their male
every measure”
Title, Special Report, Business Week, 11.20.00
“American women possess leadership
abilities that are particularly effective in
today’s organizations, yet their abilities
remain undervalued and underutilized.
In the future, what will distinguish one
organization and one country from
another will be its use of human
resources. Today human resource
utilization is not only a matter of social
justice but a bottom-line issue.”
Judy Rosener, America’s Competitive Secret
cultural diversity.
Source: Judy B. Rosener, America’s Competitive Secret
“TAKE THIS QUICK QUIZ: Who manages more things
at once? Who puts more effort into their appearance?
Who usually takes care of the details? Who finds it
easier to meet new people? Who asks more
questions in a conversation? Who is a better
listener? Who has more interest in communication
skills? Who is more inclined to get involved?
Who encourages harmony and agreement? Who
has better intuition? Who works with a longer ‘to do’
list? Who enjoys a recap to the day’s events?
Who is better at keeping in touch with others?”
Source: Selling Is a Woman’s Game: 15 Powerful Reasons Why

Women Can Outsell Men, Nicki Joy & Susan Kane-Benson
“Investors are looking more and more
for a relationship with their financial
advisers. They want someone
they can trust, someone who
listens. In my experience, in general,
women may be better at these
relationship-building skills than are
men.”
Hardwick Simmons, CEO, Prudential Securities
“Thank you”
17 Men: 8
4 Women: 19
“Women speak and hear a language of
connection and intimacy, and men
speak and hear a language of status
and independence. Men communicate
to obtain information, establish their
status, and show independence.
Women communicate to create
relationships, encourage interaction,
and exchange feelings.”
Judy Rosener, America’s Competitive Secret
63 of 2,500 top earners in F500
8% Big 5 partners
14% partners at top 250 law firms
43% new med students; 26% med
faculty; 7% deans
Source: Susan Estrich, Sex and Power

Opportunity!
U.S. G.B. E.U. Ja.
M.Mgt. 41% 29% 18% 6%
T.Mgt. 4% 3% 2% <1%
Peak Partic. Age 45 22 27 19
% Coll. Stud. 52% 50% 48% 26%
Source: Judy Rosener, America’s Competitive Secret

Ass Of The Year2002 (?): Maurice Greenberg, A.I.G., on
the Company’s New (All Male) Leadership Team
“In a lot of countries of the world, it

would be very difficult for a woman to
be a good CEO. … I have a
responsibility to do the best we can for
shareholders.” * **
*Source: New York Times/05.05.02
**Wouldn’t you love to watch him tell that … face-to-
face … to Margaret Thatcher or Carly Fiorina? (I would.)
“Deloitte was doing a great job of hiring high-
performing women; in fact, women often earned
higher performance ratings than men in their first
years with the firm. Yet the percentage of women
decreased with step up the career ladder. … Most
women weren’t leaving to raise families; they
had weighed their options in Deloitte’s male-
dominated culture and found them wanting.
Many, dissatisfied with a culture they perceived as
endemic to professional service firms, switched
professions.”
Douglas McCracken, “Winning the Talent War for Women” [HBR]
“The process of assigning plum
accounts was largely unexamined. …
Male partners made assumptions:
‘I wouldn’t put her on that kind of
company because it’s a tough
manufacturing environment.’ ‘That
client is difficult to deal with.’ ‘Travel
puts too much pressure on women.’ ”
Douglas McCracken, “Winning the Talent War for
Women” [HBR]
Goldsmith College research (UK): Gender
stereotypes re-enforced. Men who extoll
successes rewarded, women not. Men
who face interviewer head on upgraded;
women who look at floor or use sidelong
glances do better. Women who nod
repeatedly do better, not men. Men who
give long answers score well, women who
give short answers do well. (College grads
seeking jobs; HR interviewers—2 M, 2F.)
Source: The Observer/ London/ 01.12.2003
The Core Argument
1. We are in a War for Talent.

2. The war will intensify.
3. Women are under-represented in our leadership
ranks.
4. Women and men are different.
5. Women’s strengths match the New Economy’s
leadership needs—to a striking degree.
6. Women are also the principal purchasers of goods
and services—retail and commercial.
7. Ergo, women are a large part of “the answer” to the
War for Talent issue/opportunity.
42. Diversity Starts
on the Board of
Directors.
“Would Congress [the
Boardroom] be a different
place if half the members
were women?”
From Sex and Power, Susan Estrich
Norwegian Law: Boards must have
at least
women.
43. Hire (&
Protect)
Weird.
enough
“Are there
weird people in
the lab these days?”
V. Chmn., pharmaceutical house, to a lab director (06.01)
The Cracked Ones Let in the Light
“Our business needs a massive
transfusion of talent, and talent, I
believe, is most likely to be found
among non-conformists,
dissenters and rebels.”
David Ogilvy
“Deviance tells
Deviants, Inc.
the story of every mass
market ever created. What
starts out weird and dangerous
becomes America’s next big corporate
payday. So are you looking for the next
mass market idea? It’s out there … way
out there.”
Source: Ryan Matthews & Watts Wacker, Fast Company (03.02)
Saviors-in-Waiting
Disgruntled Customers
Off-the-Scope Competitors
Rogue Employees
Fringe Suppliers
Wayne Burkan, Wide Angle Vision: Beat the Competition by Focusing on

Fringe Competitors, Lost Customers, and Rogue Employees
“Rumsfeld values
mavericks and tries
to protect and
promote them.” —
Newsweek/ 09.16.02
44. Cherish
Boldness!
No Wiggle Room!
“Incrementalism
is innovation’s
worst enemy.”
Nicholas Negroponte
“In the modern military, risk is
anathema to rising stars, who
cannot afford any slip-ups on
their records. ‘Zero defects’ and
‘zero tolerance’ are common
bywords.”—Newsweek/09.16.02
“Reward excellent
failures. Punish
mediocre
successes.”
Phil Daniels, Sydney exec
45. We Are All
Unique.
Beware Lurking HR Types …
One size
NEVER fits all.
One size fits
one. Period.
48 Players =
48 Projects =
48 different success
measures.
46. Bosses
“Win People
Over.”
WHAT AN IDIOT: “Instead
of employees being in the driver’s
seat, now we’re in the driver’s
seat.”
“Coaching
PJ:
is winning
players over.”
47. GOAL:
Voyages of
Mutual
Discovery.
I am inalterably opposed to
“organization change,”
“empowerment,” “motivation.” The
goal: to awaken the latent talent
already within, by providing
opportunities worthy of the
individual’s investment of her or
his most precious resources …
time and emotional commitment.
Leaders-Teachers Do Not “Transform People”!
Instead leaders-mentors-teachers (1) provide a
context which is marked by (2) access to a luxuriant
portfolio of meaningful opportunities (projects) which
(3) allow people to fully (and safely, mostly—caveat: “they”
don’t engage unless they’re “mad about something”) express
their innate curiosity and (4) engage in a vigorous
discovery voyage (alone and in small teams, assisted by an
extensive self-constructed network) by which those people
(5) go to-create places they (and their mentors-teachers-
leaders) had never dreamed existed—and then the
leaders-mentors-teachers (6) applaud like hell, stage
“photo-ops,” and ring the church bells
100 times to commemorate the bravery of their
“followers’ ” explorations!
“Firms will not ‘manage the
careers’ of their employees. They
will provide opportunities to
enable the employee to develop
identity and adaptability and
thus be in charge of his or her
own career.”
Tim Hall et al., “The New Protean Career Contract”
“H.R.” to “H.E.D.” ???
Human
Enablement
Department
48. Foster
Independence.
“You must realize that how you invest your
human capital matters as much as how you
invest your financial capital. Its rate of return
determines your future options. Take a job for
what it teaches you, not for what it pays.
Instead of a potential employer asking,
‘Where do you see yourself in 5 years?’
you’ll ask, ‘If I invest my mental assets with
you for 5 years, how much will they
appreciate? How much will my portfolio of
career options grow?’ ”
THE rise up and flee
your cubicle STREET
JOURNAL
Adventures in Capitalism
THE I work for a
company called Me
STREET JOURNAL
Adventures in Capitalism
Thriving in 24/7 (Sally Helgesen)
START AT THE CORE. Nimbleness only possible if we

“locate our inner voice,” take regular inventory of
where we are.
LEARN TO ZIGZAG. Think “gigs.” Think lifelong
learning. Forget “old loyalty.” Work on optimism.
CREATE OUR OWN WORK. Articulate your value.
Integrate your passions. I.D. your market. Run your
own business.
WEAVE A STRONG WEB OF INCLUSION. Build your
own support network. Master the art of “looking
people up.”
49.
Enthusiasm!
BZ: “I am a …
Dispenser of
Enthusiasm!”
“A leader is a
dealer in
hope.”
Napoleon
(+TP’s writing room pics)
50. Talent =
Brand.
What’s your company’s …
Employee Value Proposition, per Ed

Michaels et al., The War for Talent
EVP = Challenge,
professional growth,
respect, satisfaction,
opportunity, reward
Source: Ed Michaels et al., The War for Talent
The Top 5 “Revelations”
Better talent wins.
Talent management is my job as leader.
Talented leaders are looking for the moon
and stars.
Over-deliver on people’s dreams – they are
volunteers.
Pump talent in at all levels, from all
conceivable sources, all the time.
Source: Ed Michaels et al., The War for Talent
MantraM3
Talent = Brand
Tom Peters Squares Off with
Jim Collins. Or:
The Case for …
Technicolor!
“intrepid, unprincipled,
reckless, predatory, with
boundless ambition,
civilized in externals but
a savage at heart.”
Herman Melville on JPJ:
boundless ambition,
civilized in externals but a
savage at heart.” —from Evan
Thomas, John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father
of the American Navy
Huh?
“Humility: The Surprise Factor in
Leadership … bosses with Gung-
ho Qualities and Charisma May Be
Out of Fashion” —Headline/FT/
re JCollins/10.03
Jim & Tom.
Joined at the
hip. Not.
I. Good to Great
II. Built to Last
III. Quiet, Humble Leaders
I. Good to Great
II. Built to Last
Good to Great: Fannie Mae …
Kroger … Walgreens … Philip
Morris … Pitney Bowes … Abbott
… Kimberly-Clark … Wells Fargo
Good to Great: Fannie Mae …
Kroger … Walgreens … Philip
Morris … Pitney Bowes … Abbott
… Kimberly-Clark … Wells Fargo
Good to Great: “Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac receive as much as
$164 billion in implicit federal
subsidies but have done little to
increase home ownership or
reduce the cost of home loans,
according to a draft study by the
Federal Reserve.” —New York Times/12.23.03
(Average rate reduction is 7 basis points, or .07%)
SET
Great Companies …
THE AGENDA.
(Period.)
AGENDA SETTERS: “Set the Table”/
Pioneers/ Questors/ Adventurers
US Steel … Ford … Macy’s … Sears …
Litton Industries … ITT … The Gap …
Limited … Wal*Mart … P&G … 3M …
Intel … IBM … Apple … Nokia … Cisco
… Dell … MCI … Sun … Oracle …
Microsoft … Enron … Schwab … GE …
Southwest … Laker …People Express
… Ogilvy … Chiat/Day … Virgin … eBay
… Amazon … Sony … BMW … CNN …
T & B: Atari, DEC, WANG?
J vs. T: HP/CarlyF?
I. Good to Great
II. Built to Last
Built to Last v. Built to Flip
“The problem with Built to Last is that it’s a
romantic notion. Large companies are
incapable of ongoing innovation, of
ongoing flexibility.”
“Increasingly, successful businesses will
be ephemeral. They will be built to yield
something of value – and once that value
has been exhausted, they will vanish.”
Fast Company
Warren Bennis & Patricia Ward Biederman/
Great
Organizing Genius:
Groups Don’t
Last Very Long!
W.A. Mozart
1756 – 1791
HE CHANGED THE WORLD

AND
ENRICHED HUMANITY
“We are in a
brawl with no
rules.”
Paul Allaire
Forbes100 from 1917 to 1987: 39
in ’87; 18 in ’87 F100; 18 F100
to 1997.
“The difficulties … arise from the inherent conflict
between the need to control existing operations and
the need to create the kind of environment that will
permit new ideas to flourish—and old ones to die a
timely death. … We believe that most
corporations will find it impossible to
match or outperform the market without
abandoning the assumption of continuity.
… The current apocalypse—the transition from a state
of continuity to state of discontinuity—has the same
suddenness [as the trauma that beset civilization in
1000 A.D.]”
Richard Foster & Sarah Kaplan, “Creative Destruction” (The McKinsey Quarterly)
Rate of Leaving F500
1970-1990:
Source: The Company, John Micklethwait & Adrian

Wooldridge (1974-200: One-half biggest 100 disappear)
“The corporation as we know it,
which is now 120 years old, is
not likely to survive the
next 25 years. Legally and
financially, yes, but not
structurally and economically.”
Peter Drucker, Business 2.0
“But what if [former head of strategic planning
at Royal Dutch Shell] Arie De Geus is wrong in
suggesting, in The Living Company, that firms
should aspire to live forever? Greatness is
fleeting and, for corporations, it will become
ever more fleeting. The ultimate aim of a
business organization, an artist, an athlete or a
stockbroker may be to explode in a dramatic
frenzy of value creation during a short
space of time, rather than to live forever.”
Kjell Nordström and Jonas Ridderstråle,
Funky Business
Jane Jacobs: Exuberant
Variety vs. the Great Blight of Dullness.
F.A. Hayek: Spontaneous
Discovery Process.
Joseph Schumpeter: the Gales of
Creative Destruction.
I. Good to Great
II. Built to Last
Huh?
“Quiet, workmanlike, stoic
leaders bring about the big
transformations.”--JC
Huh?
“Humility: The Surprise Factor in
Leadership … bosses with Gung-
ho Qualities and Charisma May Be
Out of Fashion” —Headline/FT/
re JCollins/10.03 (TP: scribble: “Nelson, Wellington,
Montgomery, Disraeli, Churchill, Thatcher”)
Wellington
Nelson
Disraeli
Churchill
Montgomery
Thatcher
“Humble” Pastels?
T. Paine/P. Henry/A. Hamilton/T. Jefferson/B. Franklin
A. Lincoln/U.S. Grant/W.T. Sherman
TR/FDR/LBJ/RR/JFK
Patton/Monty/Halsey
M.L. King/C. de Gaulle/M. Gandhi/W. Churchill
Picasso/Mozart/Copernicus/Newton/Einstein/Djarassi/Watson
H. Clinton/G. Steinem/I. Gandhi/G. Mieir/M. Thatcher
E. Shockley/A. Grove/J. Welch/L. Gerstner/L. Ellison/B. Gates/
S. Jobs/S. McNealy/T. Turner/R. Murdoch/W. Wriston
A. Carnegie/J.P. Morgan/H. Ford/S. Honda/J.D. Rockefeller/
T.A. Edison
Rummy/Norm/Henry/Wolfie
Elizabeth Cady Stanton/Susan B. Anthony/Martha Cary
Thomas/Carrie Chapman Catt/Alice Paul/Anna Elizabeth
Dickinson/Arabella Babb Mansfield/Margaret Sanger
“You can’t behave in a calm,
rational manner. You’ve got to
be out there on the lunatic
fringe.” — Jack Welch,
on GE’s quality program
“When it comes to transformative technologies,
overoptimistic investors are actually working for the
common good—even if they don’t know it. We can be
glad that investors financed the construction of
thousands of miles of track in the middle of the
nineteenth century, despite the fact that most of
them dropped a bundle doing it. The same goes for
over-optimistic investors who poured money into
semiconductors thirty years ago, financed undersea
fiber-optic cables in the late nineties, and now
are poised to lose their shirts in the coming
nanobubble. In the dreams of avarice lie the seeds of
progress.” —James Surowiecki/New Yorker/03.2004
“the wildest
chimera of a
moonstruck
mind” —The Federalist on
Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase
“Roosevelt’s duplicity, Churchill’s
self-absorption” … “We are all
worms. But I do believe that I am a
glow-worm.” (WSC) … “Imperial
and bold” [WSC and TR] …
“arrogance and instability” …
“rough, sarcastic, bullying”
Source: Jon Meacham, Franklin and Winston, et al.
“a vainglorious self-
promoter spoiling for
a fight”
—Arthur Koestler on Galileo
“In my experience,
all successful
commanders are
prima donnas,
and must be so
treated.” —George S. Patton
Herman Melville on JPJ:
boundless ambition,
civilized in externals but a
savage at heart.” —from Evan
Thomas, John Paul Jones: Sailor, Hero, Father
of the American Navy
Audie Murphy was the most
decorated soldier in WW2.
He won every medal we had
to offer, plus 5 presented by
Belgium and France. There
was one common medal he
never won …
… the Good
Conduct medal.
“Men with no vices
have very few
virtues.” —A. Lincoln
Jim Collins vs. Michael Maccoby
“quiet, workmanlike, stoic”

vs.
“larger-than-life leaders”/ “egoists,

charmers, risk-takers with big
visions”: Carnegie, Rockefeller,
Edison, Ford, Welch, Jobs, Gates
dive and deliver a
The Re-imagineer’s Credo … or,
Pity the Poor Brown*
Technicolor Times demand …

Technicolor Leaders and Boards who recruit …
Technicolor People who are sent on …
Technicolor Quests to execute …
Technicolor (WOW!) Projects in partnership with …
Technicolor Customers and …
Technicolor Suppliers all of whom are in pursuit of …
Technicolor Goals and Aspirations fit for …
Technicolor Times.
*WSC
“In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias
they had warfare, terror, murder,
bloodshed—and produced
Michelangelo, da Vinci and the
Renaissance. In Switzerland they had
brotherly love, 500 years of democracy
and peace, and what did they
produce—the cuckoo clock.”
Orson Welles, as Harry Lime, in “The Third Man”
The SE17: Origins of
Sustainable
Entrepreneurship
SE17/Origins of Sustainable Entrepreneurship
1. Genetically disposed to Innovations that upset apple carts
(3M, Apple, FedEx, Virgin, BMW, Sony, Nike, Schwab,
Starbucks, Oracle, Sun, Fox, Stanford University, MIT)
2. Perpetually determined to outdo oneself, even to the
detriment of today’s $$$ winners (Apple, Cirque du Soleil,
Microsoft, Nokia, FedEx)
3. Love the Great Leap/Enjoy the Hunt (Apple, Oracle, Intel,
Nokia, Sony)
4. Culture of Outspoken-ness (Intel, Microsoft, FedEx,
CitiGroup, PepsiCo)
5. Encourage Vigorous Dissent/Genetically “Noisy” (Intel,
Apple, Microsoft)
6. “Culturally” as well as organizationally Decentralized (GE,
J & J, Omnicom)
7. Multi-entrepreneurship/Many Independent-minded Stars (GE,
Time Warner)
8. Keep decentralizing—tireless in pursuit of wiping out
Centralizing Tendencies (J & J, Virgin)
9. Scour the world for Ingenious Alliance Partners—especially
exciting startups (Pfizer)
10. Don’t overdo “pursuit of synergy” (GE, J & J, Time Warner)
11. Find and Encourage and Promote Strong-willed/
Independent people (GE, PepsiCo)
12. Ferret out Talent … anywhere and everywhere/ “No limits”
approach to retaining top talent (Nike, Virgin, GE, PepsiCo)
13. Unmistakable Results & Accountability focus from the
get-go to the grave (GE, New York Yankees, PepsiCo)
14. Up or Out (GE, McKinsey, big consultancies and law firms
and ad agencies and movie studios in general)
15. Competitive to a fault! (GE, New York Yankees, News
Corp/Fox, PepsiCo)
16. “Bi-polar” Top Team, with “Unglued” Innovator #1,
powerful Control Freak #2 (Oracle, Virgin, old Raychem)
(God help you when #2 is missing: Enron)
17. Masters of Loose-Tight/Hard-nosed about a very few Core
Values, Open-minded about everything else (Virgin)
Tom Peters’
Re-imagine
Manifesto!
v09.14.2004
Tom Peters’ Re-imagine Manifesto!
New Delhi. Thirteen September 2004. I awoke, jetlagged and

sweaty, at 3A.M. I’d had a nightmare. Stark realism. I was, as
usual, accused of overstatement and a few (or more) too many
exclamation marks (!!!!!). Only this time I’d acceded to “They.”
The “They” who believe in The Plan and Built to Last and
Continuous Improvement and Quiet, Humble Leaders. No! No! I
had failed, in my dream, to live up to my Fervent Beliefs! This
must not pass! In a sweat, fearful that the time would not come
’round again, I turned on the light, picked up a pad of paper,
and began to scribble frantically. Herewith the result.
Tom’s Re-imagine Manifesto!
They say … my (Tom) language is extreme.
I say … the times are extreme.
They say I’m extreme.
I say I’m a realist.
They say I demand too much.
I say they accept mediocrity & continuous improvement too
readily.
They say “We can’t handle this much change.”
I say “Your job and career are in jeopardy; what other options do
you have?”
They say Brand You is not for everyone.
I say the alternative is unemployment.
They say “What’s wrong with a ‘good product’?”
I say Wal*Mart or China or both are about to eat your lunch. Why
can’t you provide instead a Fabulous Experience?
They say “Take a deep breath. Be calm.”
I say “Tell it to Wal*Mart. Tell it to China. Tell it to India. Tell it to
Dell. Tell it to Microsoft.”
They say the Web is a “useful tool.”
I say the Web changes everything. Now.
They say “We need an Initiative.”
I say “We need a Dream. And Dreamers.”
They say Great Design is “nice.”
I say Great Design is “necessary.”
They say I “overplay” the “women’s thing.”
I say the share of Women in Senior Leadership Positions is a
Waste and a Disgrace and a Strategic Marketing Error.
They say the Women’s Market Opportunity I harp on is “doubtless important.”
I say 9 out of 10, make that 99 out of 100, companies aren’t within striking
distance of accurately estimating the potential of the Women’s Market …
let alone exploiting it.
They say the boomer-geezer market is also “doubtless important.”
I say the boomer-geezer market amounts to a Redefining Moment.
They say we need a “project” to exploit the women-boomer-geezer market.
I say we need Total Strategic Realignment to exploit the Women-Boomer-
Geezer Opportunity.
They say “Wow” is “typical Tom.”
I say “WOW” is a Minimum Survival Requirement.
They say “effective governance” is important.
I say bold-brash Boards that are representative of the market served—more
than a token woman or two and an empty seat for the “forthcoming
Hispanic”—are an Imperative. Now.
They say “Plan it.”
I say “DO IT.”
They say “We need more steady, loyal employees.”
I say “WE NEED MORE FREAKS WHO ROUTINELY TELL THOSE ‘IN CHARGE’
TO TAKE A FLYING LEAP … BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.”
They say “We need Good People.”
I say “We need Quirky Talent.”
They say “We like people who, with steely determination, say, “I can make
it better.’”
I say “I love people who, with a certain maniacal gleam in their eye, perhaps
even a giggle, say, ‘I can turn the world upside down. Watch me!’”
They say “We must speed things up.”
I say “We must Radically change the Corporate Metabolism until Insane
Urgency becomes a Sacrament.”
They say “Sure, we need ‘Change.’”
I say we need “REVOLUTION NOW.”
They say (acknowledge), “Okay, we need revolution.”
I say “REVOLUTION.”
They say “fast follower.”
I say “battered and bruised leader.”
They say “Conglomerate & Imitate!”
I say “Create & Innovate!”
They say “Market share.”
I say “Market CREATION.”
They say “Improve & Maintain.”
I say “DESTROY & RE-IMAGINE.”
They say “We like words such as ‘calm’ … ‘certainty’ … ‘is.’”
I say “I like words/phrases such as ‘turbulent’ ‘opportunity’ …
‘might be’.”
They vote for Republicans and Democrats.
I vote for Independents and Libertarians.
They say “Normal.”
I say “Weird.”
They say “Happy balance.”
I say “Creative Tension.”
They say they favor a “team” that works & lives in “harmony.”
I say “give me a raucous brawl among the most creative people
imaginable.”
They say “Peace, brother.”
I say “Bruise my feelings. Flatten my ego. SAVE MY JOB.”
They say “Vanilla.”
I say “Cherry Garcia.”
They say “Basic Black.”
I say “TECHNICOLOR RULES!”
They say “Branding is for the likes of Nike.”
I say “Branding is for Everyone & Anyone with the Passion &
Tenacity to foist their Wonderful & Weird Point of View on the
world … and the New World’s (read: Web’s) power allows-
encourages such “silly” (until recently) visions-of-ubiquity to
become reality, perhaps overnight.”
They say we need “happy customers.”
I say “Give me pushy, needy, nasty, provocative customers
who will drag me down Innovation Boulevard.”
They say they want to partner with “best of breed.”
I say “Give me Coolest of Breed.”
They say we need “supply chain harmony.”
I say we need “supply chain Innovation.”
They say “We seek Harvard MBAs.”
I say I seek Certificate-free “PhDs” from the School of Hard
Knocks.
They say they want recruits with a “spotless records.”
I say “the Spots are what matter most.”
They say “Integrity is important.”
I say “Tell the Unvarnished Truth, All the Time … or take a Long
Hike.”
They read Jim Collins and grok on “quiet, humble leaders.”
I say “Give me the Bold, the Brash, the Brassy, the Egocentric
Dreamers who, like Steve Jobs, ‘Dent the Universe.’”
They say they need a “vision” born of McKinsey.
I say we need a “Grandiose Dream” born of a Passionate &
Intemperate Belief that the world can be a different, better
place.
They say healthcare, our biggest industry, is “a mess.”
I say our hospitals, which kill over 100,000 patients a year, are
part of a system that is “a disgrace.”
They say “obesity is a problem” … “lose some weight.”
I say Re-imagine the entire healthcare system … NOW … to
focus on Prevention & Wellness.
They say “no child left behind.”
I say “education” is leaving ALL our children behind, as it is
totally mis-aligned to deal with tomorrow’s (this afternoon’s)
uncertain, ambiguous, creativity-driven economy.
They say “Of course we believe in marketing.”
I say “Is the CMO [Chief Marketing Officer] on the Board of Directors?”
I say “Has your customer data base won numerous major industry awards?”
I say “Is your Web site Sooooo Cool, Sooooo Fresh, Sooooo Friendly to Use
that it gives you goose pimples just to e-visit, even though you’ve seen it
1000 times?”
I say “How many in-depth customer visits did the CEO make last month?”
They say “Yes, the ‘Women’s thing’ is important.”
I say “Do women hold at least 1/3rd of your Board seats?”
They say “We’re coming around on the design bit.”
I say “Is, as at Braun, your Chief Design Officer on the Board of Directors?”
Tom’ Re-imagine Manifesto!
They say “Of course we think the ‘experiences thing’ is
important.”
I say “Is there an ‘EVP Experiences’?”
They say “Of course innovation is important.”
I say “Is your percentage of revenue devoted to R & D at least
1.5 (2.0? 2.5?) times the industry average?”
They say “Of course we believe in IS/IT.”
I say “Is the CIO on the Board of Directors?” (Only 5% of Fortune500 CIOs
are on the Board. One example: Wal*Mart.)
They say “Of course we believe in IS/IT.”

I say “How many members of your Board are under 35
years old?”
They say “We believe in having a ‘flat organization.’”
I say “Is your headquarters in a Tower?”
They say “Improve.”
I say “Re-imagine!”
They say we need to “bring effectiveness to the supply chain.”
I say we need an IS/IT/Best Sourcing revolution based on
nothing less than an Entirely Original Vision of what
organizations are and how they interact.
They say “Globalization is a bumpy road.”
I say India and China and Asia in general are within two
decades of running the show: Get ready or get trounced.
They say “defense” and “consolidation” are musts for a global
game.
I say encourage Offense, nurture a Generation (or 10) of
Entrepreneurs, cherish Creativity & Risk-taking from primary
school onwards … and don’t expect to be saved by a bunch
of bulky, retro behemoths commanded by a phalanx of Old
White Guys who think 30 minutes a day on the corporate
treadmill and 27 holes on the links are a fit defense against
Revolution.
They say “Get an MBA.”
I say “Get an MFA.”
They say “If it can’t be precisely measured then it isn’t real.” (And I
suppose if it can be measured it is real? Think Enron? Adelphia? WorldCom?)
I say “If it can be precisely measured it isn’t real.” (Think Age of Intangibles
& Relationships.) (Think: “He knew the price of everything and the value of nothing.”)
They say “Rationality is the Bedrock of Modern Society.”

I say “Irrationality [irrational exuberance?] is the Mother of all True
Entrepreneurial Pilgrimages.”
They say “Order is the necessary precursor to measured,
sustainable success.”
I say “Dis-order is the precursor to Opportunistic Sorties, Market
Creation, Quantum Leaps, and Entrepreneurial Adventure.
They say “To get anywhere, you have to know exactly where the
hell you’re headed.”
I say “If you know precisely where you’re headed and exactly how
you’re gonna get there, then you clearly suffer from Advanced
Shrivelus Imaginationus.” (This disease is fatal.)
They say “Employees need Well-defined Structure.”
I say “Talent should be encouraged to embark on Quests to the
Unknown.”
They say “I’m here to maximize shareholder value.”
I say “I’m here to inflame each & every member of my Awesome
Staff to embark with Vigor & Determination & Passion &
Enthusiasm on a Quest of Monumental Consequence.” (And if I come
even close to succeeding, it will, in fact, dramatically up the odds of Thriving Amidst Today’s Chaos—and
creating untold shareholder value in the process.)
They say “men.”
I say “WOMEN.”
They say Diversity is a “good thing.”
I say Diversity is a Fresh Breath of Creative Air … Absolutely Necessary
for Economic Salvation in perilous times.
They say “Wait your turn, honor those who have marched these corridors
before you.”
I say Get Off Your Butt & Go for the Gold … TODAY … or sign the transfer
papers willing your job in perpetuity to a Chinese or Indian who Gives a
Shit and Gets Up (VERY) Early and works Saturdays & Sundays.
They say “offshoring” is a “blight.”
I say the Earth proved not to be the center of the Solar System … and the
USA is not the epicenter-in-perpetuity of the Earth … and that we had
best learn … NOW … to prosper and take pleasure in a dynamic,
exciting, creative, multi-polar economic environment. (Damn it.)
They say “It’s a fright.”
I say “It’s a Helluva Ride.”
They say it’s “daunting.”
I say it’s “a bronco-bustin’ day at the rodeo.”
They say “Life is a marathon; husband your strength.”
I say “Life is a sprint. Begin planning your World-beating Me Inc.
start-up … TODAY.”
They say lifetime employment was a boon.
I say lifetime employment was Indentured Servitude, modern-
day Slavery.
They say “safety net.”
I say “I am my safety net; give me the ‘Ownership Society.’” (And
I’m a lifelong Democrat.)
They say “zero defects.”

I say “A day without a screw-up or two is a day pissed away.”
They say “Think about it.”
I say “Try it.”
They say “Plan it.”
I say “Test it.”
They say “continuous improvement.”
I say “Bold Leaps.”
They say “Keep on Improvin’.”
I say “Keep on Leapin’.”
They say “Built to last.”
I say “Built to Soar. We’re all dead in the long run … live your
Insane Fantasy. Devil take the hindmost.”
They (Jim Collins) say “Walgreens is Cool.”
I say “I love Larry Ellison.” (Oracle rules … at least for the next ten minutes.)
They say “Play the odds.”
I say “Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.”
(Thanks, Phil Daniels.)
They say “Eighty-hour weeks will kill you.”

I say “Work 35-hour weeks, and the Chinese will kill you.”
They say “Install cost controls with teeth.”
I say “Ha. Ha. Ha. Blow Up the existing enterprise and start with
a Clean Sheet of Paper.”
They say “Install cost controls with teeth.”
I say “Grow the Top Line.”
They say “Radical change takes a decade.”
I say “Radical change takes a Minute.” (See AA.)
They say “Times are changing.”
I say “Everything has already changed. Tomorrow is the First
Day of Your Revolution … or you’re Toast.”
They say “We can’t all be Anita Roddick or Maxine Clark or
Stan Shih or Les Wexner or Jerry Yang.”
I say “Why not?”
They say “We can’t all be Revolutionaries.”
They say “We can’t all be a Brand.”
They say “Beware the Hype.”
I say “Been to China lately? Visited Infosys in Bangalore
lately?”
They say this is just a Rant.
I say this is just Reality.
They say “The man is not nice.”
I say “The times are not forgiving.”
The
Brand Talent+:
Education
Fiasco
FES/NOV2001: New
Work. New Education.
The Twain Must
Meet.
TP Mood
Anger.
Despair.
Hopelessness.
Losing the War
to Bismarck
(and Rockefeller)
J. D. Rockefeller’s General Education Board
(1906): “In our dreams people
yield themselves with
perfect docility to our
molding hands. … The task is
simple. We will organize children and teach
them in a perfect way the things their fathers
and mothers are doing in an imperfect way.”
John Taylor Gatto, A Different Kind of Teacher
“My wife and I went to a [kindergarten] parent-teacher
conference and were informed that our budding
refrigerator artist, Christopher, would be receiving a
grade of Unsatisfactory in art. We were shocked. How
could any child—let alone our child—receive a poor
His teacher
grade in art at such a young age?
informed us that he had refused to
color within the lines, which was a
state requirement for
demonstrating ‘grade-level motor
skills.’ ”
Jordan Ayan, AHA!
“How many artists are there in the room? Would you please raise
your hands. FIRST GRADE: En masse the children leapt from
their seats, arms waving. Every child was an artist. SECOND
GRADE: About half the kids raised their hands, shoulder high, no
higher. The hands were still. THIRD GRADE: At best, 10 kids out
of 30 would raise a hand, tentatively, self-consciously. By the
time I reached SIXTH GRADE, no more than one or two kids
raised their hands, and then ever so slightly, betraying a fear of
being identified by the group as a ‘closet artist.’ The point is:
Every school I visited was participating
in the suppression of creative genius.”
Gordon MacKenzie, Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace
An Unnatural
Way to
“Learn”
Schools’ “Kafka-like rituals”: “enforce sensory
deprivation on classes of children held in
featureless rooms … sort children into rigid
categories by the use of fantastic measures such as
age-grading, or standardized test scores … train
children to drop whatever they are occupied with
and to move as a body from room to room at the
sound of a bell, buzzer, horn, or klaxon … keep
children under constant surveillance, depriving
them of private time and space …
Kafka-like rituals (cont.): “assign children
numbers constantly, feigning the ability to
discriminate qualities quantitatively … insist
that every moment of time be filled with low-
level abstractions … forbid children their own
discoveries, pretending to possess some vital
secret to which children must surrender their
active learning time to acquire.”

Doing Stuff
that Matters!
“During the first years of
life, youngsters all over
the world master a
breathtaking array of
competences with little
formal tutelage.”
Howard Gardner, The Unschooled Mind
The Learner’s Manifesto
The brain is always learning.
Learning does not require coercion.
Learning must be meaningful.
Learning is incidental.
Learning is collaborative.
The consequences of worthwhile learning
are obvious.
Learning always involves feelings.
Learning must be free of risk.
Frank Smith, Insult to Intelligence

“Really bright
kids who just
needed to get
excited” —teacher, Oakley
School
Tom’s Edu3M
Manifesto*
*Manifesto for Education in the 3rd Millennium
Education3M
Learning is a normal state.
Children are learnavores.
Prodigious feats of learning are common as dirt.
[Watch an H.S. QB studying game film.]
We learn at different rates.
We learn in different ways.
Boys and girls learn [very] differently.
In a class of 25, there are 25 different trajectories.
Learning in 40-minutes blocks is bullshit.
Learning for tests is utterly insane.
There are numerous rigorous evaluation schemes,
of which testing is but one—and abnormal, by “real
world” standards.
Education3M
We learn most/fastest/most completely when we
are passionate about what we are learning and it
matters to us. [Salience rules!]
Think EBI/LBI: Education by Interest/
Learning by Internship.
Classrooms are abnormal places.
We need changes of pace. [Japanese recesses after each
class.]
International test scores are not correlated with
hours-per-year in class.
Big classes are slightly problematic. Big schools
suck. Period.
Education3M
“All this”—the right stuff—fits the NWW/New World
of Work hand-in-glove. [NWW = Age of Creativity.]
U.S. schools circa 2001 are a vestige of the
Prussian-Fordist model, more interested in shaping
behavior than stoking the fires of lifelong learning.
Cutting art-music budgets is truly dumb.
Learning is a matter of Intensity of Engagement, not
elapsed time. [Aargh: 11 minutes on the Battle of Gettysburg.]
Teachers need enough space-time-flexibility to get
to know kids as individuals.
Scientific discovery processes and the teaching of
science are utterly at odds. [Exploration vs. spoon-feeding.]
Education3M
Our toughest “learning achievement”—
mastering our native language—does not
require schools, or even competent parents. [It
does require a desperate need-to-know.]
Great teachers are great learners, not imparters-
of-knowledge.
Great teachers ask great questions—that launch
kids on lifelong quests.
The world is not about “right” & “wrong”
answers; it is about the pursuit of increasingly
sophisticated questions—just ask a ski
instructor or neurosurgeon.
Education3M
Most schools spend most of their time setting
up contexts in which kids learn not to like
particular subjects. [Evidence shows that such anti-
learning sticks!]
Vigorous exploration is normal … until you are
incarcerated in a school.
“Bite size” education-learning is neither
education nor learning.
Learning takes place rapidly on the cheerleading
squad, the football team, the school newspaper,
the drama club, at the after-class job--just not in
the hyper-structured classroom.
Education3M
The “school reform” “movement” is a giant step …
backwards … embracing the Prussian-Fordist
paradigm with renewed vigor—at exactly the
wrong time.
There are large numbers of superb schools, superb
principals, superb teachers; sadly, they not only fail
to infect the [largely timid] rest, but are ordinarily
supplanted by wusses & wimps.
Alas, the teaching profession does not ordinarily
attract “cool dudes & dudettes.”
Schools of “education” should by and large have
their charters revoked.
Education3M
Stability is dead; “education” must
therefore “educate” for an unknowable,
ambiguous, changing future; thence,
learning to learn & change is far more
important than mastery of a static
body of “facts.”
“Education” must “develop in youth the
capabilities for engaging in intense concentrated
involvement in an activity.” [James Coleman, 1974.]
[Hint: It doesn’t.] [Hint: Understatement.]
“The boys who made the
best ‘Grotties’ usually
turned out to be nonentities
later; boys who hated
Groton did much better.”
FDR biographer John Gunther (quoted in Whoever Makes the
Most Mistakes Wins, Richard Farson & Ralph Keyes)
“Fail .
Forward.
Fast.”
High Tech CEO, Pennsylvania
Read This!
Whoever
Richard Farson & Ralph Keyes:
Makes the Most

Mistakes Wins: The
Paradox of Innovation

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foreign R&D labs

Edward Gresser, Progressive Policy Institute/Wall Street Journal 09.27.04

“InterContinental will now have far more to

Source: The Straits Times/08.18.03

Source: The Straits Times/03.04.2004

Jeff Immelt: 75% of “admin, back

“We may not be

Source: USA Today/06.14.04

Source: The Company, John Micklethwait & Adrian Wooldridge

Mantra: “Eichorn it!”

IBM Global Services: $35B

“What we sell is the ability for

facing the fifth kind of

1. Adventures for Sale

Rolf Jensen/The Dream Society: How the Coming Shift from

1. Adventures for Sale/IBM

Rolf Jensen/The Dream Society: How the Coming Shift from

Wayne Burkan, Wide Angle Vision: Beat the Competition by Focusing on

“Where are you likely to find people with the

Men …………………………….……………….... Women

Source: Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind

“Best Talent in each

“Groups become great only when

“The winners in business have always played hardball.”

Approximately 640 Index entries: Customer/s (service,

Strategy Systems Passion Execution

“Groups become great only when

“The winners in business have always played hardball.”

Approximately 640 Index entries: Customer/s (service,

Strategy Systems Passion Execution

Manual dexterity (sewing machine ops, 50%/347K;

Muscle power (timber cutters, 32%/25K; farm workers,

Source: “Where the Jobs Are”/NYT/05.13.2004/data 1994-2004

Imagination & creativity (architects, 44%/60K;

Analytic reasoning (legal assts, 66%/159K; electronic

Source: “Where the Jobs Are”/NYT/05.13.2004/data 1994-2004

Source: Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind

Context: White-collar Bloodbath

Tina Brown: “The first thing

school I visited was was participating

Source: Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind

Source: Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind

Source: Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind

“The winners in business have always played hardball.”

Approximately 640 Index entries: Customer/s (service,

Source: Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind

the fundamental soul

“InterContinental will now have far more to

Source: The Company, John Micklethwait & Adrian Wooldridge

“What we sell is the ability for

1. Adventures for Sale

Rolf Jensen/The Dream Society: How the Coming Shift from

facing the fifth kind of society: the

“We may not be

Source: Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind

“Best Talent in each

“Groups become great only when

And paid him the agreed-upon $25,000.

Source: Hugh MacLeod/tompeters.com/NPR

“Build something great!” /

Strategy Systems Passion Execution

Technicolor Times demand …