Post on 25-Dec-2015
World Innovation Forum*(*Modesty is everything)
EVERYTHING YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW
ABOUT INNOVATION IS WRONG*
(*Except, of course, what the other presenters have said/will say)
Tom Peters/New York/0524.2006
Case: Perceived
Rommel invents Blitzkrieg.Germans kick the tar out of
the French in two weeks.Q.E.D.
Case: Reality
Germans cross Meuse into France. Whoops: French intelligence completely drops
the ball. (Loses track of the Germans—literally.)
Germans keep advancing; outrun supply lines; no land-air co-ordination.
Hitler orders advance stopped.General never gets the word.
General marches to Paris, virtually unopposed.Germans shocked.
After the fact, Germans label it “Blitzkrieg.”
TP “Lessons Learned”
Innovation = DisDis (Disciplined Disorganization)
Luck is a very good thing.* **
(*More “lessons” later: E.g., If you hire a bunch of disciplined weirdos and try a lot of weird stuff, the odds of getting lucky go up remarkably) (**Career
success depends on convincing others that you knew what the hell you were doing all along. Good news: Say it long enough and loud enough and
you will believe it. Great news: Keep saying it and you, too, can become a “guru.”)
Lessons: Containerization
Need-drivenA thousand “parents”
MessyEvolutionary
“Trivial”Experimentation
Trial & ERRORLoooong time for systemic adaptation/s
(many innovations) (bill of lading, standard time)
Not …
“Plan-driven”The product of “Strategic Thinking/Planning”
The product of “focus groups”
“It is not the strongest of the
species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most
responsive to change.” —Charles Darwin
“The most successful
people are those who
are good at plan B.”
—James Yorke, mathematician, chaos theory specialist, in The New Scientist
What “We” Know “For Sure” About Innovation
Big mergers [by & large] don’t workScale is over-rated
Strategic planning is the last refuge of scoundrelsFocus groups are counter-productive
“Built to last” is a chimera Success kills
“Forgetting” is impossibleRe-imagine is a charming idea
“Orderly innovation process” is an oxymoronic phrase (= Believed only by morons with ox-like brains)
“Tipping points” are easy to identify … long after they will do you any good
“Facts” aren’tAll information making it to the top is filtered
to the point of danger and hilarity“Success stories” are the illusions of egomaniacs (and “gurus”)
If you believe the “cause & effect” memoirs of CEOs you should be institutionalized
“Herd behavior” (XYZ is “hot”) is ubiquitous … and amusing“Top teams” are “Dittoheads”
Statistically, CEOs have little effect on performance“Expert” prediction is rarely better than rolling the dice
“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
“I am often asked by would-be entrepreneurs seeking escape from life within huge corporate structures, ‘How do I build a small firm for myself?’ The
answer seems obvious: Buy a very large one and just wait.”
—Paul Ormerod, Why Most Things Fail: Evolution, Extinction and Economics
“Not a single company that qualified as having made a sustained transformation ignited its leap with a big
acquisition or merger. Moreover, comparison companies—those that failed to
make a leap or, if they did, failed to sustain it—often tried to make themselves great with a
big acquisition or merger. They failed to grasp the simple truth that while you can buy
your way to growth, you cannot buy your way to
greatness.” —Jim Collins/Time/2004
“I don’t believe in
economies of scale. You don’t get better by being bigger. You get worse.” —
Dick Kovacevich/Wells Fargo/Forbes/08.04 (ROA: Wells, 1.7%; Citi, 1.5%; BofA, 1.3%;
J.P. Morgan Chase, 0.9%)
Scale?
“Microsoft’s Struggle With
Scale” —Headline, FT, 09.2005
“Troubling Exits at Microsoft” —Cover Story, BW, 09.2005
“Too Big to Move Fast?” —Headline, BW, 09.2005
“Execution is the job of
the business leader.” —Larry Bossidy & Ram
Charan/ Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
“Execution is a
systematic process of rigorously
discussing hows and whats, tenaciously following through, and
ensuring accountability.” —Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/ Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done
“This is so simple it sounds stupid, but it is amazing how few oil people really
understand that you only find oil if you drill wells. You may
think you’re finding it when you’re drawing maps and
studying logs, but you have to drill.”
Source: The Hunters, by John Masters, Canadian O & G wildcatter
“GE has set a standard of candor.
… There is no puffery. … There isn’t an ounce of
denial in the place.” —
Kevin Sharer, CEO Amgen, on the “GE mystique” (Fortune)
“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
Measure “Strangeness”/Portfolio Quality
StaffConsultants
VendorsOut-sourcing Partners (#, Quality)
Innovation Alliance PartnersCustomers
Competitors (who we “benchmark” against)
Strategic Initiatives Product Portfolio (LineEx v. Leap)
IS/IT ProjectsHQ LocationLunch Mates
LanguageBoard
“The Bottleneck
Is at the Top of the
Bottle”“Where are you likely to find people with the least diversity of
experience, the largest investment in the past, and the greatest reverence for industry dogma:
At the top!”
— Gary Hamel/Harvard Business Review
“Beware of the tyranny of making
Small Changes to Small
Things. Rather,
make Big Changes
to Big Things.”
—Roger Enrico, former Chairman, PepsiCo
Line Extensions:
86 percent of new
products. 62 percent of revenues.
39 percent of profit.
Source: Blue Ocean Strategy, Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
Innovation Index: How many of your Top 5 Strategic
Initiatives/Key Projects score 8 or higher (out of 10) on a
“Weird”/ “Profound”/ “Wow”/“Game- changer”
Scale?
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.
Cases!McDonald’s (“mom-centered” to “majority consumer”;
not via kids)
Home Depot (“Do it [everything!] Herself”)
P&G (more than “house cleaner”)
DeBeers (“right-hand rings”/$4B)
AXA FinancialKodak (women = “emotional centers of the household”)
Nike (> jock endorsements; new def sports; majority consumer)
AvonBratz (young girls want “friends,” not a blond stereotype)
Source: Fara Warner/The Power of the Purse
“Forget China, India and the
Internet: Economic Growth Is Driven
by Women.” —Headline, Economist,
April 15, Leader, page 14
44-65: “New Customer Majority” *
*45% larger than 18-43; 60% larger by 2010Source: Ageless Marketing, David Wolfe & Robert Snyder
“The New Customer Majority is the only adult
market with realistic prospects for significant
sales growth in dozens of product lines for thousands of companies.” —David Wolfe & Robert Snyder,
Ageless Marketing
“The role of the Director is to create a
space where the actor or actress can become more than they’ve ever been before, more than
they’ve dreamed of being.” —Robert Altman, Oscar
acceptance
Our Mission
To 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
The Peters Principles: Enthusiasm.
Emotion. Excellence. Energy. Excitement. Service. Growth.
Creativity. Imagination. Vitality. Joy. Surprise. Independence. Spirit. Community. Limitless human potential. Diversity. Profit. Innovation. Design.
Quality. Entrepreneurialism. Wow.
Business* ** (*at its best): An emotional, vital, innovative, joyful,
creative, entrepreneurial endeavor that elicits
maximum concerted human potential in the
wholehearted service of others.***
**Excellence. Always.***Employees, Customers, Suppliers, Communities, Owners, Temporary partners
Parallel universe/Exec Ed v resident MBAEnd run regnant powers/JKCFind done deals-practicing mavericks/ Stone-ReGoBell curves/2016 in 2006Non-industry benchmarkingEverything = PortfolioV.C.s all!Hot language/Wow-Astonish me-Insanely great-immortal-Make something greatCrazy customers/PW-EmbraerCrazy suppliers /Top decile R&DWeird alliancesMottos/Paul Arden (“Whatever You Think Think the Opposite”)Hire freaks/Enough weird people?Weird Boards!!!
CEO track record of Innovation (nobody starts at 45!)System/GE-Immelt“Strategic thrust overlay”CalendarBig Delta easier than Small DeltaMBWA with freaks-weirdos/JKCMBWA/Boonies’ labsV.C.-formal/IntelAcquire weirdChildren’s crusadeOld farts crusadeWomen’s crusadeGo Global at any sizeStop listening to customers Talent!/Unusual sources-Hire innovators-V.C.sEschew giant mergers
Remember: scale economies max out earlyAssisted suicide! (“Built to last” = Chimera-snare-delusion)Burn your press clippings“Forgetting” “strategy”Fire all strategic plannersTempo!Final product bears little relation to starting notionDesign! Design! Design! (“culture,” not program)All innovation: Pissed-off peopleGut feel rules!Focus groups suckWeird focus groups okayBe-Do philosophy
CelebrationsCulture-little as well as big Inno (“everyone-an-innovator”)Life = Wow ProjectsAcknowledge messiness-pursue serendipity (Blitzkrieg-Containers-Science-Jim Utterback)R.F.A.Culture of execution4/40: decentralization, execution, accountability, 615AMEVP (S.O.U.B.)/Systems-process “un-design”Diversity for diversity’s sakeWomen-Women-Women/customers (they “are the market,” not a “segment”)-leadersBoomers-Geezers (“all the money”)
CRO (Chief Revenue Officer) “culture”/top-line obsessedCIO (Chief INNOVATION Officer)LaughterFacility-space configurationExperiments-prototypes“Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.”Bizarrely high incentives (& penalties)We are what we eat/We are who we hang out with (E.g.: Staff-Consultants-Vendors-Out-sourcing Partners/#, Quality-Innovation Alliance Partners-Customers-Competitors/who we “benchmark” against -Strategic Initiatives -Product Portfolio/LineEx v. Leap-IS/IT Projects-HQ Location-Lunch Mates-Language-Board)