Leading in Totally Screwed Up Times Tom Peters/Fast Company 20 May 2001/Philadelphia

1. Leading in Totally Screwed Up TimesTom Peters/Fast Company20 May 2001/Philadelphia

2. “There will be more confusion in the business world in the next decadethan in any decade in history. And the current pace of change will only accelerate.”Steve Case

3. “In 25 years, you’ll probably be able to get the sum total of all human knowledge on a personal device.”Greg Blonder, VC [was Chief Technical Adviser for Corporate Strategy @ AT&T] [Barron’s 11.13.2000]

4. “We are entering an era of no limits, with nothing to brake the cascade of human intelligence unleashed by the Information Age. The Web essentially allows all the brains on earth to communicate and share insights in real time, around the globe, all the time.”Jeffrey Young, Cisco Unauthorized

5. <1000A.D.: paradigm shift: 1000s of years1000: 100 years for paradigm shift1800s: > prior 900 years1900s: 1st 20 years > 1800s2000: 10 years for paradigm shift21st century: 1000X tech change than 20th century (“the ‘Singularity,’ a merger between humans and computers that is so rapid and profound it represents a rupture in the fabric of human history”)Ray Kurzweil, talk april2001

6. CEOs appointed after 1985 are 3X more likely to be fired than CEOs appointed before 1985Warren Bennis, MIT Sloan Management Review

7. “The Internet is not going away – but flawed business models are.”fool.com

8. “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)

9. “Most of our predictions are based on very linear thinking. That’s why they will most likely be wrong.”Vinod Khosla, in “GIGATRENDS,” Wired 04.01

10. =Nuts!

11. The Fantastic Fifty

12. 1. Great Leaders on Snorting Steeds Are Important – but Great Managers(Type I) are the Bedrock of Organizations that Perform Over the Long Haul.

13. 2. But Then Again, There Are Times When This “Cult of Personality” (Type II) Stuff Actually Works!

14. 3. Find the “Businesspeople”! (Type III)

15. The Golden Triangle: (1) Creator-Inventor-Visionary … (2) Talent Fanatic … (3) Inspired Profit Mechanic.

16. Project Team Golden Triangle(1) Champion-Maniac. (2) Implementer-Pol. (3) Schedule & Budgets Fanatic.

17. 4. Leadership Mantra #1: IT ALL DEPENDS!

18. 5. The Leader Is Rarely/Never the Best Performer.

19. 6. Leaders LOVE the MESS!

20. 7. Leaders Groove on AMBIGUITY!

21. 8. LEADERSDO!

22. “We are in abrawl with no rules.”Paul Allaire

23. S.A.V.

24. 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!)

25. [ISOE #1: A Bias for Action]

26. “Idon’tknow.”Karl Weick

27. “The leader who says ‘I don’t know’ essentially says that the group is facing a new ballgame where the old tools of logic may be its undoing rather than its salvation. To drop these tools is not to give up on finding a workable answer. It is only to give up on one means of answering that is ill-suited to the unstable, the unknowable, the unpredictable. To drop the heavy tools of rationality is to gain access to lightness in the form of intuitions, feelings, stories, experience, active listening, shared humanity, awareness in the moment, capability for fascination, awe, novel words and empathy.” - Karl Weick

28. Weick IUncertainty will be based less on insufficient facts and more on insufficient questions.There will be fewer experts and more novices.There will be more of a premium on stating in motion than on detaching and reflecting.There will be more migration of decisions to those with the expertise to handle them, and less convergence of decisions on people entitled by rank to make them.

29. Weick IIThere will be fewer attempts to capture the big picture and more attempts to capture the big story, with its ongoing, dynamic plot.There will be more focus on updating and plausibility and less on forecasting and accuracy.There will be more improvisation and fewer routines.There will be more humility and less hubris.Source: The Future of Leadership, Warren Bennis et al.

30. 9. Leaders DELIVER!

31. 10. LEADERSFOCUS!

32. Priority #1

33. “ToDon’t”List

34. 11. Leaders Win Through LOGISTICS!

35. 12. “Leaders” Know:POWERLESSISCOOL!

36. THE IDEA“4Fs”: Find a FellowFreak Faraway

37. World’s Biggest Waste …Selling “Up”

38. Heart of the MatterF2F!/K2K!/1@T/R.F.A.**Freak to Freak/Kook to Kook/One at a Time/ Ready.Fire!Aim.

39. Opportunity ALWAYS Knocks VFCJ*“Strategy”*Volunteer For Crappy Jobs

40. Is It …“The Oh-Hell-I-Wish-It-Were-Over Memorial Day picnic”or “The First Annual Seriously Kewl Celebration of Our Incredible Staff”

41. Is It …Wrestle the damn Safety Manual into line with the ridiculous new OSHA Regs?Or …A stealth opportunity to address the War for Talent via … a thoroughgoing review of how safety and environmental issues contribute to making this a Great Place to Work?

42. Reframers’ Rules:Rule 1:Never accept an assignment as given! (Please.)Rule 2:You’re never so powerful as when you are “powerless”!Rule 3:Every “small” project contains the entire enterprise DNA!

43. BOTTOM LINEThe Enemy!

44. Joe J. Jones 1942 – 2001 HE WOULDA DONE SOME REALLY COOL STUFF BUT … HIS BOSS WOULDN’T LET HIM!

45. Characteristics of the “Also rans”*“Minimize risk”“Respect the chain of command”“Support the boss”“Make budget”*Fortune, article on “Most Admired Global Corporations”

46. The greatest dangerfor most of usis not that our aim istoo highand we miss it,but that it istoo lowand we reach it.Michelangelo

47. 13. Leaders Understand theUltimatePower of RELATIONSHIPS.

48. 14. Leaders WiretheJoint!

49. 15. Leadership Is Improv!

50. 16. Leaders Trust in TRUST!