I had the pleasure of listening to Tom Peters - management guru on organisational excellence. He had some great stories and quotations and the most wonderful sense of humor.
He said so much that was music to my ears -All hail the training department!! No company ever expended too much money or effort on training! In sport we continuously train so why consider training to be an annoyance in business?? Peters says up 25 percent on the people expenditure and cut elsewhere.
Here are some more sound bites from the session:
Never think to be arrogant. Most of us reach high places due to sheer luck or good genes and not through superior intelligence or hard work.
If there are great people like Gandhi and Mandela who saved the world, then by implementing some simple principles you can save your company.
Every single communication you make is an opportunity to be thoughtful - particularly when it comes to email.
Listening is the ultimate mark of respect. Effective listening is the best weapon we have. Listening is a discipline and is trainable. An effective listener can read between the lines.
Women have huge negotiating strengths that they need to make the most of - they can collaborate effectively and have a strong sense of fairness. They have the ability to have empathy and to put themselves in other peoples shoes.
R.O.I.R is a return on investment in relationships and is far more valuable than any ROI you will find.
A leaders is an actor and is on show all the time. It is always showtime.
The people who really run the show in an organization are the frontline managers and supervisors. Select them carefully and train them and mentor them. Don't reserve executive coaching for the senior team. Make training of the supervisors an obsession. They are the multipliers. If you want to treat your customers right, get your supervisory training right.
You are your worst enemy. Don't let the internal turf wars be the focus when you should be out there focusing on the marketplace, your customers and your competitors.
When you are old, you will need to think back on the memories that matter. How many tombstones do you know that talk about the amount of money you made in your lifetime?
If communication is garbled it is your fault. It is up to you to make the meaning the clear.
Be kind to everyone. Everyone is fighting a great battle. Remember that you never see more than 2 percent of the person sitting across from you. The iceberg model really reflects the 98 percent that is unseen.
Planning is over rated. There is much joy in never having a plan. Whoever tries the most stuff is the most likely to succeed. Have the ability to be fickle and respond to the way in which the wind is blowing.
Don't over analyze - try things out.
It is not your credentials that count but your accomplishments.
Remember that the score takes care of itself. Do the right things, get the right talent and your bottom line will take care of itself.
You need 3 different types of leaders. The visionary. The people and politics guy. The inspired profit mechanic. All are equally important. They don't come in the same body.
You don't only need a to do list. Create a 'to don't' list. Have one main thing of key significance.
The only thing that does not lie is your calendar. If you say you are going to prioritize something then your calendar will reflect this.
The principle of management by walking around still applies.
You should script the first ten plays of Monday. Launch the week in a purposeful way. This sends signals to everyone else. January is when the story starts and is the launch time.
Treat your employees like customers - Herb Kelleher from Southwest Airlines. And this is in an industry which is highly unionized.
The employee entrance should be better than the guest entrance.
All leaders are in the human development business. The 'Putting people first' message is vital but not listened to. Leadership is a sacred trust. You should have an oath of office to go with this. You don't make widgets. You develop people who make widgets. Everyone who works for you has a dream and aspires to do something.
There are 7 steps to sustaining success.
You take care of the people.
The people take care if the service.
The service takes care of the customer.
The customer takes care of the profit.
The profit takes care of the reinvestment.
The reinvestment takes care of the reinvention.
The reinvention takes care of the future.
And at every step the only measure is excellence.
New performance management - name the 3 people whose growth you have contributed to most over the past year. Please explain in great detail what your growth strategy was.
Apple's Steve Jobs is unethical in not reporting on his exact health status when billions of dollars are riding on this company.
Don't let the important stuff be absent. Read books on the important stuff. What will you do in the next ninety days to become an all-star hirer...
Always ask people - what do you think? And then listen to the response.
Edgar Schein - wrote a book on help. How to offer, give and receive help. Helping is what leaders do for a living.
K = R = P. Kindness equals repeat business equals profit.
The key importance of expressing appreciation for everyone's contribution. Apologizing is a key to moving forward in leadership. This is a discipline that can be learned.
Acknowledge that people have a problem when they complain. That is great customer service. Is there a course in your company on how to apologize? What is in fact on your course schedule?
The key thing to do is to try the most stuff and in that way you will be successful. Act from day one and not just plan how to plan. It is relentless trial and error. Fail. Fail again. Fail better - Samuel Beckett.
You miss 100 percent of the shots that you never take. Wayne Gretzky
We are what we eat and we are the company we keep. These are strategic innovation decisions.
The bottleneck is at the top of the bottle. Gary Hamel.
Small things make big differences. Walmart increased the size of the carts and encouraged people to keep shopping. Profits went up 1.5 times.
Forget china, India and the Internet. Economic growth is driven by women - headline from the Economist. Women drive the global economy and will be worth 28 trillion in the next five years. Is promoting women your strategic objective?? Women are the majority consumers. Macdonalds shifted their strategy to seeing women as main consumers. Average female client recommends to 26 other people vs men who recommend to 2.6 people. Girls are the new boys. Men had a good 50 000 year run....
Thanks Tom. Now we need to take action...
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