FIRST THINGS BEFORE FIRST THINGS

1. Dr. D.A. Henderson, who led the international effort to eradicate smallpox, was asked what he wanted to eradicate next. His answer …Source: Sabin Vaccine Institute

2. Dr. D.A. Henderson, who led the international effort to eradicate smallpox, was asked what he wanted to eradicate next. His answer:“Bad management.”Source: Sabin Vaccine Institute

3. FIRST THINGS BEFORE FIRST THINGS

4. CONRADHILTON, at a gala celebrating his career, was called to the podium and asked,“What were the most important lessons you learned in your long and distinguished career?”His answer …

5. “Remember to tuck the shower curtain inside the bathtub.”

6. Tom Peters’ The Excellence Dividend: Profits Through [REALLY] Putting People First World Business Forum Mexico City/24 October 2018 (This presentation/10+ years of presentation slides at tompeters.com; also see our annotated 23-part Monster-Master at excellencenow.com)

7. 70%, 85%, 87%*=ShameonUs!!*% of people who dislike their job, are not engaged at work, unhappy, “sleepwalking,” etc. (These numbers are extraordinarily consistent around the world.)Source: Inc., Gallup, Washington Post, etc.

8. Given/Axiomatic …THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR NOT MAKING ANY ORGANIZATION OF ANY SIZE IN ANY BUSINESS A GREATPLACETOWORKEVERY LEADER HAS A MORAL OBLIGATION CIRCA 2018 TO DEVELOP PEOPLE SO THAT WHEN THEY LEAVE THEY ARE BETTER PREPARED FOR TOMORROW THAN THEY WERE WHEN THEY ARRIVED.

9. “BUSINESS HAS TO GIVE PEOPLE ENRICHING, REWARDING LIVES … OR IT’S SIMPLY NOT WORTH DOING.”—Richard Branson (#1/4,096) “[Business has the]responsibility to increase the sum of human well-being.”—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Good Business “Business was originated to produce happiness, not pile up millions.”—B.C. FORBES, 1917/first issue/Forbes

10. “The role of the Director is to create a space where the actors and actresses canbecome more than they’ve ever been before, more than they’ve dreamed of being.” —Robert Altman, Oscar acceptance speech

11. Les Wexner:FROM FASHION TRENDS GURU TO JOY FROM PICKING/ DEVELOPING PEOPLE!* *Limited Brands founder Les Wexner queried on astounding (>>Welch) longterm growth & profitability: It happened, he said, because “I got as excited about developing people”as he had been about predicting fashion trends in his early years.

12. THE LAST WORD: PEOPLE SERVING PEOPLE SERVING PEOPLEPeople are NOT “human resources.”People are NOT “our” “#1 asset.” Business IS people. Business IS people (leaders) serving people (employees) serving people (customers).

13. 36 YEARS 6 WORDS

14. 36 Years/52 Years/18 Books/ 2,500 Speeches = 6 Words “Hard is soft. Soft is hard.” (You can Google it!)

15. Hard [numbers/plans] is Soft. Soft [relationships/culture] is Hard.

16. “Far too many companies invest too little time and money in their soft-edge excellence. … The three main reasons for this mistake are: 1. The hard edge is easier to quantify. … 2. Successful hard-edge investment provides a faster return on investment. … 3. CEOs, CFO, chief operating officers, boards of directors, and shareholders speak the language of finance. …” Source: The Soft Edge, Rich Karlgaard

17. Soft-Edge Advantages 1. Soft-edge strengths lead to greater brand recognition, higher profit margins, … [It] is the ticket out of Commodityville. “2. Companies strong in the soft edge are better prepared to survive a big strategic mistake or cataclysmic disruption … “3. Hard-edge strength is absolutely necessary to compete, but it provides only a fleeting advantage.” Source: The Soft Edge, Rich Karlgaard

18. GOOGLE GETS A SURPRISE I“Project Oxygen [data from founding in 1998 to 2013] shocked everyone by concluding that, among the eight most important qualities of Google’s top employees, STEM[Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics]expertise comes in dead last. The seven top characteristics of success at Google are all SOFT SKILLS: being a good coach; communicating and listening well; possessing insights into others (including others’ different values and points of view); having empathy toward and being supportive of one’s colleagues; being a good critical thinker and problem solver; and being able to make connections across complex ideas. Those traits sound more like what one gets as an English or theater major than as a programmer. …Source: Valerie Strauss, “The surprising thing Google learned about its employees—and what it means for today’s students” (Washington Post, 20 December 2017)

19. GOOGLE GETS A SURPRISE II“Project Aristotle [2017] further supports the importance of soft skills even in high-tech environments. Project Aristotle analyzes data on inventive and productive teams,. Google takes pride in it’s A-teams, assembled with top scientists, each with the most specialized knowledge and able to throw down one cutting-edge idea after another. Its data analysis revealed, however, that the company’s most important and productive ideas come from B-teams comprised of employees that don’t always have to be the smartest people in the room. Project Aristotle shows that that the best teams at Google exhibit a range of soft skills: equality, generosity, curiosity toward the ideas of your teammates, empathy and emotional intelligence. And topping the list: emotional safety. No bullying. …Source: Valerie Strauss, “The surprising thing Google learned about its employees—and what it means for today’s students” (Washington Post, 20 December 2017)

20. CULTURE IS THE GAME

21. CULTURE:IT IS THE GAME

22. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” —Ed Schein/1986

23. “If I could have chosen not to tackle the IBM culture head-on, I probably wouldn’t have. My bias coming in was toward strategy, analysis and measurement. In comparison, changing the attitude and behaviors of hundreds of thousands of people is very, very hard.Yet I came to see in my time at IBM that culture isn’t just one aspect of the game —IT IS THE GAME.” —Lou Gerstner, Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance

24. CULTURE/CEO JOB #1/THE RULES: CULTURE COMES FIRST. CULTURE IS EXCEEDINGLY DIFFICULT TO CHANGE. CULURE CHANGE CANNOT BE/MUST NOT BE EVADED OR AVOIDED. CULTURE MAINTENANCE IS ABOUT AS DIFFICULT AS CULTURE CHANGE. CULTURE MAINTENANCE: ONE DAY/ONE HOUR/ ONE MINUTE AT A TIME. CULTURE CHANGE/MAINTENANCE MUST BECOME A CONSCIOUS/PERMANENT/PERSONAL AGENDA ITEM. CULTURE CHANGE = AN “OUTSIDE-THE OFFICE JOB” = MBWA/MANAGING BY WANDERING AROUND. CULTURE CHANGE/MAINTENANCE IS MANIFEST IN “THE LITTLE THINGS” FAR MORE THAN IN THE BIG THINGS. REPEAT/CULTURE CHANGE/MAINTENANCE: ONE DAY/ONE HOUR/ONE MINUTE AT A TIME. FOREVER. AND EVER. AMEN.

25. PUT PEOPLE [REALLY!!] FIRST

26. Your Customers Will Never Be Any Happier Than Your Employees

27. “YOU HAVE TO TREAT YOUR EMPLOYEES LIKE CUSTOMERS.”—Herb Kelleher “What employees experience, Customers will. The best marketing is happy, engaged employees.YOUR CUSTOMERS WILL NEVER BE ANY HAPPIER THAN YOUR EMPLOYEES.” —John DiJulius, The Customer Service Revolution IF YOU WANT STAFF TO GIVE GREAT SERVICE, GIVE GREAT SERVICE TO STAFF.”—Ari Weinzweig

28. Hiring

29. 1/7,500 “May I help you down the jetway …”

30. “We look for ...listening, caring, smiling, saying ‘Thank you,’ being warm.” — Colleen Barrett, former President, Southwest Airlines

31. “The ultimate filter we use[in the hiring process]is that we only hire NICE people.… When we finish assessing skills, we do something called ‘running the gauntlet.’ We have them interact with 15 or 20 people, and everyone of them have what I call a ‘blackball vote,’ which means they can say if we should not hire that person. I believe in culture so strongly and that one bad apple can spoil the bunch. There are enough really talented people out there who are nice, you don’t really need to put up with people who act like jerks.” —Peter Miller, CEO Optinose (pharmaceuticals) “When we talk about the qualities we want in people, EMPATHY is a big one.… If you can empathize with people, then you can do a good job. If you have no ability to empathize, then it’s difficult to help people improve. Everything becomes harder.—Stewart Butterfield, founder/CEO Slack, Flickr

32. Training = Investment#1!

33. In the Army and Navy, 3-star generals/ admirals obsess on training. In most businesses, it's a “ho-hum” mid-level staff function.

34. If you don't believe that training is “Investment #1,” ask an admiral, general, policechief, firechief, orchestraconductor, footballcoach, archery coach, moviedirector, actor [age 22 or 62], primaballerina, surgeon, ER or ICUchief or nurse,nuclear power plantoperator ... or me.

35. Gamblin’ Man Bet #1: >> 5 of 10 CEOs see training as expense rather than investment. Bet #2: >> 5 of 10 CEOs see training as defense rather than offense. Bet #3: >> 5 of 10 CEOs see training as “necessary evil” rather than “strategic opportunity.”

36. Bet #4:>> 8 of 10 CEOs, in 45-min “tour d’horizon” of their biz, would NOT mention training.

37. Step #1 Is your CTO/Chief Training Officer (Do you even have a CTO?) your top paid “C-level” job (other than CEO/COO)? Are your top trainers paid/cherished as much as your top marketers/ engineers?

38. “Train ’em and they’ll leave.” Or …

39. “TRAIN PEOPLE WELL ENOUGH SO THEY CAN LEAVE, TREAT THEM WELL ENOUGH SO THEY DON’T WANT TO.”—Richard Branson

40. 1st-Line Leaders

41. If the regimental commander lost most of his 2nd lieutenants and 1st lieutenants and captains and majors, it would be a tragedy. IF HE LOST HIS SERGEANTS IT WOULD BE A CATASTROPHE.The Army and the Navy are fully aware that success on the battlefield is dependent to an extraordinary degree on its Sergeants and Chief Petty Officers. Does industry have the same awareness?

42. Front-line Chiefs: Principal determinant of … enterprise productivity. Principal determinants of … employee retention. Principal determinants of … product/ service quality. Principal carriers/embodiments of … corporate culture. Principal visible “spear carriers” for … Excellence. Principal champions/enablers of … sustained employee development.

43. FIVE VALUE-ADDED STRATEGIES

44. The “8/80” Fiasco:TGRs/Things Gone RightLBTs/Little Big Things

45. Customers describing their service experience as “superior”: 8% Companies describing the service experience they provide as “superior”: 80% —Source: Bain & Company survey of 362 companies, reported in John DiJulius, What's the Secret to Providing a World-class Customer Experience?

46. <TGWand …>TGR[Things Gone WRONG-Things Gone RIGHT]

47. “May I clean your glasses, sir?”

48. SMALL>>>>>BIG“Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart.”—Henry Clay"Let's not forget that small emotions are the great captains of our lives."–—van Gogh

49. Big carts = 1.5X Source: Walmart

50. Las Vegas Casino/2X “When Friedmanslightly curvedthe right angle of an entrance corridor to one property, he was ’” amazed at the percentage who entered increased from one-thirdto nearly two-thirds.” —Natasha Dow Schull, Addiction By Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas