What makes a good business great? Tom Peters tells us
the dozen truths that make for successful enterprise…
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|
 It's
25 years since the research for In Search of Excellence
began. What have I learned? Not sure. But I had to say
something when I was recently asked, "What
makes for a successful enterprise?" The questioner
gave me literally two minutes to reflect, and insisted
that I reel off a dozen points. Herewith the dozen,
with minor elaboration:
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1. Insanely great and quirky talent |
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 Football
squad. Theater company. Finance department. No difference.
It starts-and ends-with a great roster. With talent.
Yes, talent ... not "human resources," not
"personnel," not "associates." (Can
you imagine calling members of the Yankees' roster "our
25 'associates'"?)
 The
implications are profound: Boss Job One is ... Talent
Acquisition & Development ... creating, as Apple's
Steve Jobs and publisher-editor Tina Brown routinely
do, a "magnet" where the Very Coolest of the
Cool want to hang out.
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| 2.
Disrespect for tradition |
Nos.
1 and 2 fit hand and glove. Those Coolest of the Cool
are the Coolest of the Cool precisely because they want
to fight the tide and be trendsetters. They want to make
waves. Tsunamis. I.e., they want to Embark on Quests to
Create the Next Big Thing. In software, music … sure;
but also ... in HR or purchasing. Right? (Or: Why not?)
In short, our "portfolio" (great word!) of talent,
and our "roster" (great word!) aims to push
its way onto page one of Variety or Advertising
Age ... or The Journal of Accountancy ... via
Cool Deeds. Wow Projects. |
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| 3.
Totally passionate (to the point of irrationality) belief
in "What we are here to do." |
 I
just read Evan Thomas' marvelous biography of the Father
of the American Navy ... John Paul Jones. Outmanned and
outgunned, Jones effectively took on the truly awesome
British Navy ... and gave them, and the British citizenry,
fits. Funny thing, it never occurred to this master seaman
and tactician that it couldn't be done. Well, I think
that (insane ... technically) attitude is the engine of
all great adventures, from Jones to Roger Bannister's
original four-minute-mile to Sir Edmond Hillary's conquest
of Everest ... to a supply chain overhaul that leaves
Dell eating dust. "Sensible" people don't make
the history books in politics ... sports ... or business. |
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| 4.
Utter contempt for the bullshit that marks "normal
industry practices." |
 All
successful change agents are stressed out, not blissed
out. They are pissed off. Royally. They cannot believe
the stupidity that surrounds them. Great ideas are rarely
launched in ivory towers. Great ideas are rarely the product
of dispassionate analysis. They come from ... anger. Disbelief.
"How stupid this is! An idiot could do it better!
Hey ... why not me?" |
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| 5.
A maniacal bias for execution ... and scorn for those
who don't get it or who insist on waiting until "the
time is right." |
| Oddly
enough, the Great Ones are seldom "thoughtful."
They are women and men of action. They seem almost to
welcome the inevitable setbacks that mark their journey.
Above all, they are ... Action Addicts. They want to "try
it" ... and "see what happens." Instead
of "Tomorrow will be a better day," their motto
is, "Tomorrow we might all be dead. Do it now." |
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| 6.
Speed demons |
 A
close observer commented that Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld has a distorted sense of time. He thinks he asked
you to do something six months ago; actually, it was yesterday
afternoon. Successful chiefs hear the clock in their inner
ear ticking ... and it's a gong show. Their Sense of Urgency
tends to animate their physical presence and subsequently
the entire enterprise. |
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| 7.
Up or out. Meritocracy is thy name. Sycophancy is thy
scourge. |
 Being
"talent focused" and "people oriented"
are two very different things (by my lights). The latter
suggests "warm and fuzzy." The former ... bringing
to mind New York Yankees' chief George Steinbrenner ...
suggests "I want [need!] another World Series Ring."
Members of Great Teams are usually nasty sorts. They know
they're good, and they cannot tolerate less than an A+
effort from their mates as well as themselves. I recall
a poll of best business professors. Most were famous for
giving "Cs," not "As." That is, they
saw your potential before you did ... and insisted that
you live up to it. I contend that the ultimate in "being
nice" is causing one's fellows to aspire to more
than they imagine they could accomplish. In a Cub Scout
troop. Or in business. |
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| 8.
Abiding contempt for bureaucracy |
| At
$300 billion in revenue, Wal*Mart maintains its youthful
agility. No grass grows between the rocks or toes in Bentonville,
Arkansas. And the weed whackers and nail clippers are
sharpened daily. In (almost all) the best of institutions,
let alone the worst, complexity accretes over time. Good
word ... accrete. No one sets out to muck things up. One
(logical!) "rule" at a time, youthful action
is inhibited and youthful exuberance thwarted. But the
rare few (Wal*Mart, GE, UPS, and Microsoft come to mind)
aggressively maintain ... Eternal Vigilance. Petty Politicians
and Well Intended Complexifiers are mercilessly weeded
out.
Does the above lead to a lack of control? Hardly! In
less opaque institutions, control is easier to maintain,
not harder. Paradoxically, too many "rules"
inhibit rather than abet control. (This is axiomatic.)
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| 9.
Willingness to lead the customer ... and take the heat
associated therewith. (Mantra: Satan invented focus groups
to derail true believers.) |
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Leaders are ... um ... duh ... Leaders. Or: leaders
lead. Or some such. The very word "lead" implies
"edgy," yet the truth about the "leaders"
touted on the covers of most business journals is that
their edginess is but a distant memory.
A few years ago I reached the nutty conclusion that
... Innovation is Easy ... not hard. In short, Hang
Out With Weird (weird employees, weird suppliers, weird
board members, weird customers) ... and Thou Shalt Become
More Weird. And (obvious!?): Hang Out With Dull ...
and Thou Shalt Become More Dull.
Change is excruciatingly difficult to initiate. We
don't change because it's "cool." (It's not.
It's painful.) We change because we put ourself in Harm's
Way ... and then adapt because we must.
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| 10.
"Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes." |
|
 Oh
... THOSE SIX WORDS! They are the profound philosophy
of successful Australian businessman Phil Daniels. And
they resonate ever so much with me. And not just me!
The first time I used Daniels' mantra in a presentation,
the client CEO approached me afterwards. Shaking his
head, he said, "I'm really going to think on that
'mediocre success' thing. Virtually all of our 'big'
projects become politicized, and thus diluted until
our Grand Aims become those inevitable 'mediocre successes.'
Maybe I'll start giving top awards for 'excellent failures.'"
Good idea.)
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| 11.
Courage to stand alone against all the forces of conventional
wisdom |
|
 At
the age of 70, having just saved Western Civilization,
Winston Churchill was unceremoniously tossed out at
the polls by the British public. The Churchills and
de Gaulles and Kings and Gandhis and Lincolns have records
marked by far more failures than successes. Yet they
stood firm in their beliefs. Not all who stand firm
make the history books. Most, in fact, lie in paupers'
graves. Still, my firmest foundation is an immutable
belief that a pauper's grave, attained in pursuit of
a great cause, beats a tombstone that reads: "He
would have achieved a lot, but his bosses wouldn't let
him." In the (true) end, it's my tombstone,
with no corporate logo appended thereto. It is solely
my responsibility to ... try to make a difference. (Or
not.)
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| 12.
A crystal clear understanding of brand power |
|
 What
an odd finale, you might say. I disagree. "Branding"
at its purest is about multiplication. It's about the
power to accomplish things ... because of the big signature
one has and the big aura/shadow one casts. Martin Luther
King, Jr. became the Civil Rights "brand."
His carefully crafted persona (and it was carefully
crafted) was the springboard for a success that changed
the world. I am perhaps too fond of saying, "All
of life is sales." Well, it is! For management
consultants and U.S. presidents. Does that mean there's
no bedrock? Don't be silly. It means that to accomplish
anything one must take one's Sparkling Beliefs
and ... yes ... Package Them ... in a way that attracts
others to one's cause.
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