Tom Peters’

Re-Imagine!Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age

The Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica LimitedRitz Carlton Rose Hall/13June2003

Slides at …

tompeters.com

It is the foremost task—and responsibility—of our generation to

re-imagine our enterprises, private

and public —from the Foreword, Re-imagine

1.All Bets Are Off.

“Uncertainty is the only thing

to be sure of.” —

Anthony Muh, head of investment in Asia, Citigroup Asset management (FT/03.27.2003)

“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like

irrelevance even less.” —General Eric Shinseki, Chief

of Staff, U. S. Army

2. The Destruction Imperative.

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

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

No Wiggle Room!

“Incrementalism is innovation’s worst enemy.”

Nicholas Negroponte

Just Say No …

“I don’t intend to be known as the ‘King of

the Tinkerers.’ ”CEO, large financial services company

(New York, 5-99)

“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 (08.00)

3. The White Collar Revolution

& the Death of Bureaucracy.

108 X 5vs.

8 X 1= 540 vs. 8 (-98.5%)

E.g. …

Jeff Immelt: 75% of “admin, back room, finance” “digitalized” in

3 years.

Source: BW (01.28.02)

4. IS/ IT/ Web … “On the Bus” or “Off the

Bus.”

“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.

“Dawn Meyerreicks, CTO of the Defense Information 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

“The mechanical speed of combat vehicles has not

increased since Rommel’s day, so the difference is all in the

operational speed, faster communications and faster

decisions.” —Edward Luttwak, on the unprecedented pace of the move toward

Baghdad

Eric’s Army

Flat.Fast.Agile.Adaptable.Light … But Lethal.“I Am an Army of One.”Info-intense.Network-centric.

“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

“There’s no use trying,” said Alice. “One can’t believe impossible things.”

“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was

your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve

believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

Lewis Carroll

I’net …

… allows you to dream dreams

you could never have dreamed

before!

Read It Closely: “We don’t sell

insurance anymore. We sell speed.”

Peter Lewis, Progressive

Case: CRM

Anne Busquet/ American Express

Not: “Age of the Internet”

Is: “Age of Customer Control”

Amen!

“The Age of the

Never Satisfied Customer”

Regis McKenna

“CRM has, almost universally, failed

to live up to expectations.”

Butler Group (UK)

No! No! No!

FT: “The aim [of CRM] is to make customers feel as they did in the pre-electronic age

when service was more personal.”

CGE&Y (Paul Cole): “Pleasant

Transaction” vs. “Systemic Opportunity.” “Better job

of what we do today” vs. “Re-think overall

enterprise strategy.”

Here We Go Again: Except It’s Real This Time!

Bank online: 24.3M (10.2002); 2X Y2000.

Wells Fargo: 1/3rd; 3.3M; 50% lower

attrition rate; 50% higher growth in balances than off-line; more likely to cross-purchase; “happier and stay

with the bank much longer.”

Source: The Wall Street Journal/10.21.2002

5. The “PSF Solution”:

The Professional Service Firm Model.

Sarah: “ Daddy, what do you do?”

Daddy: “I’m a ‘cost center.’ ”

Every job done in W.C.W. is

also done “outside”

…for profit!

Answer: PSF![Professional Service Firm]

Department Head

to …

Managing Partner, HR [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 than that.

We pay for 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)

6. The Heart of the Value

Added Revolution: PSFs Unbound/ The

“Solutions Imperative.”

Base Case: The Sameness Trap

“While everything may

be better, it is also increasingly the same.”

Paul Goldberger on retail, “The Sameness of Things,” The New York Times

“When McDonald’s first started exporting its formula of quality, cleanliness and service, it was

something of a novelty. … These days, quality, cleanliness and

service are a given—and people are becoming more interested in what they are eating.” —FT/12.21.2002

“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

The Big Day!

09.11.2000: HP bids

$18,000,000,000for

PricewaterhouseCoopersconsulting business!

“These days, building the best server isn’t enough. That’s the

price of entry.”Ann Livermore, Hewlett-Packard

Gerstner’s IBM: Systems Integrator of

choice. Global Services:

$35B. Pledge/’99: Business Partner Charter. 72 strategic partners,

aim for 200. Drop many in-house

programs/products. (BW/12.01).

“No longer are we only an insurance provider. Today, we also offer our customers the products and services that help them achieve their dreams, whether it’s financial

security, buying a car, paying for home repairs, or even taking a dream

vacation.”—Martin Feinstein, CEO, Farmers Group

Keep In Mind: Customer

Satisfaction versus

Customer

Success

7. A World of Scintillating/

Awesome/ WOW “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

“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

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

From “Service’ to “Cause”

7X. 730A-800P. F12A.*

*Plus: WOW Department’” “Kill a Stupid Rule” contests, etc. 2001R: 34%; P: 29%; ’90-’00: 2,048%. Commerce

Bank/NJ ($10B). Source: FC05.02.

The “Experience Ladder”

Experiences Services

Goods Raw Materials

<TGWvs.

>TGR

8. “It” all adds up

to … THE BRAND.

The Heart of Branding …

“WHO ARE WE?”

“WHAT’S OUR

STORY?”

“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

to how we work with others. Companies will 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

“EXACTLY HOW ARE WE

DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENT?”

Brand = You Must Care!

“Success means never letting the competition

define you. Instead you have to define yourself based on a point of view you care deeply

about.” Tom Chappell, Tom’s of Maine

“WHY DOES IT MATTER TO

THE CLIENT?”

“EXACTLY HOW DO I PASSIONATELY CONVEY THAT

DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE TO THE

CLIENT ?”

Message: REAL Branding is personal. REAL Branding is integrity. REAL

Branding is consistency & freshness. REAL Branding is the answer to WHO

ARE WE? WHY ARE WE HERE? REAL Branding is why I/you/we [all] get out of bed in the morning. REAL Branding can’t be faked. REAL Branding is a systemic, 24/7, all departments,

all hands affair.

Branding: Is-Is Not “Table”

TNT is not: TNT is: TNT is not:

Juvenile Contemporary Old-fashioned

Mindless Meaningful Elitist

Predictable Suspenseful Dull

Frivolous Exciting Slow

Superficial Powerful Self-important

9. Toward Work that Matters: The

WOW Project.

“Reward excellent failures. Punish

mediocre successes.”

Phil Daniels, Sydney exec

“Let’s make a dent in the universe.”

Steve Jobs

10. Boss Job One:

The Talent Obsession.

“When land was the scarce resource, nations battled

over it. The same is happening now for talented people.”

Stan Davis & Christopher Meyer, futureWEALTH

Age of AgricultureIndustrial Age

Age of Information IntensificationAge of Creation Intensification

Source: Murikami Teruyasu, Nomura Research Institute

“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

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

“We believe companies can increase their market cap 50 percent in 3 years. Steve

Macadam at Georgia-Pacific changed 20 of 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.

“AS LEADERS, WOMEN RULE: New Studies find that female managers

outshine their male counterparts in almost

every measure”Title, Special Report, Business Week, 11.20.00

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

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

Just Say No … to “HR”

Talent Department

People Department

Center for Talent Excellence

Seriously Cool People Who Recruit & Develop Seriously Cool People

Etc.

MantraM3

Talent = Brand

11. A Trend Worth Trillion$

$$: Women Roar.

Women & the Marketspace.

?????????

Home Furnishings … 94%Vacations … 92% (Adventure Travel … 70%/ $55B travel

equipment)

Houses … 91%D.I.Y. (“home projects”) … 80%

Consumer Electronics … 51% Cars … 60% (90%)

All consumer purchases … 83% Bank Account … 89%

Health Care … 80%

Yeow!

1970 … 1%

2002 … 50%

91% women: ADVERTISERS DON’T

UNDERSTAND US. (58% “ANNOYED.”)

Source: Greenfield Online for Arnold’s Women’s Insight Team (Martha Barletta, Marketing to Women)

Carol Gilligan/ In a Different Voice

Men: Get away from authority, familyWomen: Connect

Men: Self-orientedWomen: Other-oriented

Men: RightsWomen: Responsibilities

FemaleThink/ Popcorn

“Men and women don’t think the same way, don’t communicate the same

way, don’t buy for the same reasons.”

“He simply wants the transaction to take place. She’s interested in

creating a relationship. Every place women go, they make

connections.”

Women's View of Male Salespeople

Technically knowledgeable; assertive; get to the point; pushy;

condescending; insensitive to women’s needs.

Source: Judith Tingley, How to Sell to the Opposite Sex (Martha Barletta, Marketing to Women)

Read This: Barbara & Allan Pease’s

Why Men Don’t Listen & Women Can’t Read Maps

“It is obvious to a woman when another woman is upset, while a man generally has to physically witness

tears or a temper tantrum or be slapped in the face before he even has a clue that anything is going on. Like most female mammals, women are equipped with far more finely tuned

sensory skills than men.” Barbara & Allan Pease, Why Men Don’t Listen & Women Can’t Read Maps

“Resting” State: 30%, 90%: “A woman knows her children’s

friends, hopes, dreams, romances, secret fears, what they are

thinking, how they are feeling. Men are vaguely aware of some short people also living in the house.”

Barbara & Allan Pease, Why Men Don’t Listen & Women Can’t Read Maps

“As a hunter, a man needed vision that would allow him to zero in on targets in the distance … whereas a woman needed eyes

to allow a wide arc of vision so that she could monitor any predators sneaking up on the nest. This is why modern men can find their way effortlessly to a distant pub,

but can never find things in fridges, cupboards or drawers.”

Barbara & Allan Pease, Why Men Don’t Listen & Women Can’t Read Maps

“Female hearing advantage contributes significantly to what is

called ‘women’s intuition’ and is one of the reasons why a woman can read between the lines of what people say. Men, however, shouldn’t despair.

They are excellent at imitating animal sounds.”

Barbara & Allan Pease, Why Men Don’t Listen & Women Can’t Read Maps

Editorial/Men: Tables, rankings.*

Editorial/Women: Narratives that cohere.*

*Redwood (UK)

Read This Book …

EVEolution: The Eight Truths of Marketing to Women

Faith Popcorn & Lys Marigold

EVEolution: Truth No. 1

Connecting Your Female Consumers to Each

Other Connects Them to Your Brand

“The ‘Connection Proclivity’ in women starts early. When asked,

‘How was school today?’ a girl usually tells her mother every

detail of what happened, while a boy might grunt, ‘Fine.’ ”

EVEolution

“Women don’t buy

brands. They join them.”

EVEolution

2.6 vs. 21

Not!“Year of the

Woman”

Enterprise Reinvention!

RecruitingHiring/Rewarding/Promoting

Structure Processes

MeasurementStrategyCulture Vision

Leadership

THE BRAND ITSELF!

F.Y.I.

“Women Beat Men at Art of Investing”

Source: Miami Herald, reporting on a study by Profs. Terrance Odean and Brad Barber, UC Davis (Cause: Guys are “in and out” of

stocks more often; women choose carefully and hold on for the long term)

Investment Club Returns

Women-only clubs 1997 … 17.9%Mixed … 17.3%

Men-only … 15.6%

Source: National Assoc. Investors

Value Line: Top State* Investment Clubs 2000

8 … All male19 … Coed

22 … All FEMALE

* VT & Maine not included; D.C. included

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.

“Customer is King”: 4,440

“Customer is Queen”: 29

Source: Steve Farber/Google search/04.2002

12. The Passion

Imperative: Leading in Totally Screwed-

Up Times

“I don’t know.”

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!

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!)

“To Don’t ” List

“If things seem under control, you’re just not

going fast enough.”

Mario Andretti

“A leader is a dealer in hope.”

Napoleon

(+TP’s writing room pics)

G.H.: “Create a ‘cause,’ not a ‘business.’ ”

Leaders don’t just make products and make decisions.

Leaders make meaning. – John Seely Brown

“I never, ever thought of myself

as a businessman. I was interested in creating

things I would be proud of.” —Richard Branson

BZ: “I am a … Dispenser of Enthusiasm!”

“Soft” Is “Hard”

- ISOE

Message: Leadership is all about love! [Passion, Enthusiasms, Appetite for Life,

Engagement, Commitment, Great Causes & Determination to Make a

Damn Difference, Shared Adventures, Bizarre Failures, Growth, Insatiable

Appetite for Change.] [Otherwise, why bother? Just read Dilbert. TP’s final words: CYNICISM SUCKS.]

Ah, kids: “What is your vision for the future?” “What have you accomplished since your first book?” “Close your eyes and

imagine me immediately doing something about what you’ve just said. What would it be?”

“Do you feel you have an obligation to ‘Make the world a

better place’?”

“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

“The two most powerful things

in existence: a kind word and a thoughtful gesture.”

Ken Langone, CEO, Invemed Associates [from Ronna Lichtenberg, It’s Not Business, It’s Personal]

“LEADERS NEED TO BE THE ROCK OF

GIBRALTAR ON ROLLER BLADES”

The greatest dangerfor most of us

is not that our aim istoo high

and we miss it,but that it is

too lowand we reach it.

Michelangelo