Excellence. Always. If not Excellence, what? If not Excellence now, when?

1. Excellence.Always. If notExcellence,what?If notExcellencenow, when?

2. Conrad Hilton …

3. Re-Imagine: Excellence NOW Tom Peters/8 November 2011 [Revised 10 November 2011] Business Results Group/Johannesburg (slides @ tompeters.com)

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. You get ‘em in the door with “location, location, location”—and a terrific architect. You keep ‘em coming back with the tucked in shower curtain!**Profit rarely comes from transaction #1; it is a byproduct of transaction #2, #3, #4 …

7. “Execution isstrategy.”—Fred Malek

8. Sports:You beat yourself!

9. “Execution is thejobof the businessleader.”—Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/ Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

10. “When assessing candidates, the first thing I looked for was energy and enthusiasm for execution: Does she talk about the thrill of getting things done, the obstacles overcome, the role her people played—or does she keep wandering back to strategy or philosophy?”—Larry Bossidy, Execution

11. WOW!!Observed closely: The use of“I”or“we”during a job interview. Source: Leonard Berry & Kent Seltman, chapter 6, “Hiring for Values,” Management Lessons From Mayo Clinic

12. “The head of one of the large management consulting firms asks [members of a client organization, ‘And what do you do that justifies your being on the payroll?’ The great majority answer, ‘I run the accounting department,’ or ‘I am in charge of the sales force’ … Only a few say, ‘It’s my job to give our managers the information they need to make the right decisions,’ or ‘I am responsible for finding out what products the customer will want tomorrow.’ The man who focuses on efforts and stresses his downward authority is a subordinate no matter how exalted his rank or title.But the man who focuses on contributions and who takes responsibility for results, no matter how junior, is in the most literal sense of the phrase, ‘top management.’ He holds himself responsible for the performance of the whole.”—Peter Drucker

13. “Execution isasystematic processof rigorously discussing hows and whats, tenaciously following through, and ensuring accountability.”—Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/ Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

14. Operationalizing: It’s Gotta Add up!(1) sum of Projects = Goal (“Vision”)(2) sum of Milestones = On-time project(3) rapid Review + Truth-telling = accountability

15. “Realism is the heart of execution.”—Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

16. Does/will the next presentation you give/ review allot moretime to the process/ details/politics of “implementing” than to the “analysis of the problem/opportunity”?

17. When The “Enemy” Really Wins “Lose Your Nemesis”: “Obsessing about your competitors, trying to match or best their offerings, spending time each day wanting to know what they are doing, and/or measuring your company against them—these activities have no great or winning outcome. Instead you are simply prohibiting your company from finding its own way to be truly meaningful to its clients, staff and prospects. You block your company from finding its own identity and engaging with the people who pay the bills. … Your competitors have never paid your bills and they never will.”—Howard Mann, Your Business Brickyard: Getting Back to the Basics to Make Your Business More Fun to Run*

18. “Costco figured out the big,simple things and executedwith total fanaticism.”—Charles Munger, Berkshire Hathaway

19. Excellence in Execution = Deepest “Blue Ocean”

20. “The score takes care of itself.”—Bill Walsh

21. People First! People Second ! People Third! People Fourth! People Fifth! People Sixth!

22. “Business has to give people enriching, rewarding lives … or it's simply not worth doing.” —Richard Branson

23. Please re-read and think long and hard on this one! (Please.)

24. “Business has to give people enriching, rewarding lives … or it's simply not worth doing.” —Richard Branson

25. People First! People Second ! People Third! People Fourth! People Fifth! People Sixth!

26. “You have to treat your employees like customers.”—Herb Kelleher, upon being asked his “secret to success”Source: Joe Nocera, NYT, “Parting Words of an Airline Pioneer,” on the occasion of Herb Kelleher’s retirement after 37 years at Southwest Airlines (SWA’s pilots union took out a full-page ad in USA Today thanking HK for all he had done) ; across the way in Dallas, American Airlines’ pilots were picketingAA’s Annual Meeting)

27. "When I hire someone, that's when I go to work for them.”—John DiJulius, "What's the Secret to Providing a World-class Customer Experience"

28. “Employees who don't feel significant rarely make significant contributions.”—Mark Sanborn

29. “Leadership is about how you make people feel—about you, about the project or work you’re doing together, and especially about themselves.” —Betsy Myers, Take the Lead: Motivate, Inspire, and Bring Out the Best in Yourself and Everyone Around You

30. “I didn’t have a ‘mission statement’ at Burger King. I had a dream. Very simple. It was something like, ‘Burger King is 250,000 people, every one of whom gives a shit.’ Every one. Accounting. Systems. Not just the drive through. Everyone is ‘in the brand.’ That’s what we’re talking about, nothing less.” — Barry Gibbons

31. Amen!“What creates trust, in the end, is the leader’s manifestrespect for the followers.”— Jim O’Toole, Leading Change

32. “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.” —Horst Schulze (Ritz Carlton Credo)

33. "If you want staff to give great service, give great service to staff."—Ari Weinzweig, Zingerman's

34. If you want to WOW your customers then must firstWOW those who WOW the customers!

35. Carry it around on a card: “My employees are my #1 Customer.”

36. EMPLOYEES FIRST, CUSTOMERS SECOND: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down Vineet Nayar/CEO/HCL Technologies

37. “hostmanship”/ “consideration renovation”

38. “The path to a hostmanshipculture paradoxically does not go through the guest. In fact it wouldn’t be totally wrong to say that the guest has nothing to do with it. True hostmanship leaders focus on their employees. What drives exceptionalism is finding the right people and getting them to love their work and see it as a passion. ... The guest comes into the picture only when you are ready to ask, ‘Would you prefer to stay at a hotel where the staff love their work or where management has made customers its highest priority?’”“We went through the hotel and made a ... ‘consideration renovation.’Instead of redoing bathrooms, dining rooms, and guest rooms, we gave employees new uniforms, bought flowers and fruit, and changed colors.Our focus was totally on the staff.They were the ones we wanted to make happy.We wanted them to wake up every morning excited about a new day at work.” —Jan Gunnarsson and Olle Blohm, Hostmanship: The Art of Making People Feel Welcome.

39. “ … The guest comes into the picture only when you are ready to ask, ‘Would you prefer to stay at a hotel where the staff love their work or where management has made customers its highest priority?’”

40. Zabar’s Parking Garage**Retail Superstars: Inside the 25 Best Independent Stores in America, by George Whalin

41. List 5 (10?) (2?) “Zabar’s garage” equivalents in your organization. …

42. Have you added a “Zabar’sgarage”-equivalent in the last 90days???

43. “We are a ‘LifeSuccess’ Company.”Dave Liniger, founder, RE/MAX

44. “The organization would ultimately win not because it gave agents more money,but because it gave them a chance for better lives.”—Phil Harkins & Keith Hollihan, Everybody Wins, onRE/MAX

45. By definition, the manager cannot do all the work herself. Hence, effectively, the manager's sole task is to make others—one at a time—successful.

46. If the manager’s sole task is to make team members successful— then what is your[manager] plan to make each individual more successful within the coming week?

47. “No matter what the situation, [the great manager’s] first response is always to think about the individual concerned and how things can be arranged to help that individual experience success.”—Marcus Buckingham, The One Thing You Need to Know

48. “I believe that you can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”—Zig Ziglar

49. Brand = Talent.

50. Our MissionTo develop and manage talent;to apply that talent,throughout the world, for the benefit of clients;to do so in partnership; to do so with profit.WPP