THE TOM PETERS SEMINAR

Crazy Times, Crazy Organizations

TOM PETERS
MAIN IDEA
A rational model of the effective business organization of tomorrow is based on the idea that most, if not all, of the value in every business,
regardless of size or industry, is generated by the energy from the intellect and the imagination.
The cost of any good sold or service provided can be broken down into two components - the cost of materials and the charge for intangibles.
In the future, the cost of materials for all products will be dwarfed by the intangible component as products are endowed with more intelligence.
In this type of environment, conventional business rules (including economies of scale) will no longer hold true. It will become increasingly
important to manage the human imagination. This will require the construction of new business models which will be radically different from
those used in the past.
In a business world gone crazy, only a completely flexible ever-changing and adapting organization can hope to survive.

1. TOWARD THE ABANDONMENT OF EVERYTHING 6. CREATING A CORPORATE TALK SHOW

The successful organization of the future will have the ability to An economy based on information rather than materials is hard to
manage the human imagination, because it is the imagination of describe, and even harder to visualize. The key to creating value
the workers that will create the market value of the corporation of becomes capturing and applying knowledge and experience. The
the future. ongoing goal becomes to continuously develop, utilize and
leverage knowledge within the company.
2. DISORGANIZING TO UNLEASH IMAGINATION Computers and telecommunication advances have, for the first
time in history, made it possible for a company to be organized like
The new engine of progress is to split huge corporations up into
a continual television chat show. Employees in one part of the
independent units which function as fully blown business
world can have a direct input into projects on the other side of the
operations in their own right.
world, and so on.
These newly independent units allow the company to structure
In effect, the headquarters of the past business models becomes
itself to bring intellect and imagination to bear whenever an replaced by an information network running throughout the entire
unexpected business opportunity arises. The structure also allows
company.
each unit to stand on it’s own two feet by reporting directly on its
own operations rather than as part of a huge conglomerate.
7. CREATING THE CURIOUS CORPORATION
3. TURNING EVERY JOB INTO A BUSINESS In the modern business environment, the only companies which
will flourish are crazy, zany, effervescent and fun places to operate.
The most effective and most valuable employees in any company
Only in this type of corporate setting can the key creative talents
are the ones who act as if they owned the company themselves.
and imaginations flourish.
In other words, the best employees are entrepreneurs and
Not only must the modern organization be flexible, it must be
independent contractors in their own right. They just happen to
curious enough to meet the customers needs in ways that will stand
work within the company because that is where they are most
out in the crowded marketplace.
effective.

4. THINKING LIKE AN INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR 8. TOWARD WOW!

The playing field is now level in terms of product quality. The real
Achieving the mind-set of an independent contractor is the key to
success stories of the future will not only have high quality - they
job security. Contractors aren’t concerned with how long their
will also have an undefineable razzle-dazzle that will be the key to
lunch hours are, or where their car park is. They focus solely on
their market success.
adding value through the delivery of professional services.
The key issue is not how long have you worked at that company
but which projects have you successfully completed and which 9. TOWARD PERPETUAL REVOLUTION
projects will you tackle in the future?
The only way to keep your organization up to date with the
changing requirements of the market is to be in a state of perpetual
5. THE CORPORATION AS A ROLODEX revolution. Tear down the existing structure again and again, and
The most effective (and profitable) structure for the corporation of continue doing so, is the only possible way to keep moving ahead.
the future is a small core of permanent staffers who protect the
company’s central competitive advantage, and a vast network of
specialists (represented by names in a rolodex) who can be
utilized as the need arises. Corporations can then focus solely on
the key things they do well and gather together other individuals
on an as-needed basis.
This model of the organization allows the company to take
advantage of today’s opening in the marketplace that will no longer
exist tomorrow - and so on.
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1. TOWARD THE ABANDONMENT OF EVERYTHING ‘‘ New developments in telecommunications come about twice a
day.’’
Main Idea -- Dick Liebhaber, Head of Strategy and Technology, MCI
In today’s economy, traditional business theories no longer hold
sway. To cope with the changing business conditions, a ‘‘Microsoft’s only factory asset is the human imagination.’’
completely new yet rational model is required for effective and -- Fred Moody, The New York Times Magazine
profitable business organizations.
‘‘Every organization has to prepare for the abandonment of
The successful organization of the future will have the ability to everything it does.’’
manage the human imagination, because it is the imagination of -- Peter Drucker
the workers that will create the market value of the corporation
of the future. ‘‘The National Technological University is an electronic graduate
Supporting Ideas engineering school with no campus and no full time faculty,
which beams its 1,200 hours of courses by satellite from its Fort
The world is currently in the middle of a once every two centuries
Collins, Colorado headquarters to over 5,000 engineers in video
force upheaval. The technology revolution is combining with the
classrooms at work sites at scores of subscribing organizations
results of the global village concept to touch every business on
scattered all over the United States. Leading faculty at over forty
earth. This is more than just the introduction of the information
participating universities nationwide provide NTU’s telecourses.
economy - it is the "Age of the Imagination."
Students - generally, engineers with jobs pursuing continuing
To survive, everyone and every company must be willing to education and professional development - can attend courses
change. Only those with a passion for learning and adapting can either in real time at the work place or by taped delay. They
possibly prosper. communicate with professors by telephone or electronic mail.
Most organizations are stale, dull and boring because they lack With new digital signal compression technology, NTU can now
the ability to adapt to suit the changing requirements of the world deliver courses anywhere a satellite dish can be put up at
in which they operate. In fact, commerce is operating at a rapidly one-quarter the cost of a typical college class, according to
accelerating pace. If an enterprise isn’t prepared to change, it NTU’s president Lionel Baldwin.’’
must be prepared to be left behind. -- Lewis Perelman, Author
The intellect content and value of almost every product is ‘‘Create a value-driven, knowledge-based, export-led economy.’’
growing continuously. For example, a new $700 camera might -- Strategy of every nation on earth
have only $60 worth of parts - the rest of the value is generated
by its intellectual value. ‘‘There are an absolute dearth of new and exciting
The market value of many companies used to be based on the fashion-forward products. Among the 16,143 new products that
value of its hard assets. Today, the vast bulk of the market value hit the shelves of Wal-Mart in 1991, where is the equivalent of
of any business is derived from intangibles such as goodwill, the early microwave oven, the video recorder or the Walkman?’’
brand names or the ideas in the heads of the company -- David Glass, CEO, Wal-Mart
employees. Most people spend the bulk of their time trying to
manage the hard assets and ignore managing the intangibles
where the bulk of their market value actually lies. This is a serious
mistake, and a distortion of reality.
The imagination is the main source of value in the new economy.
Wealth is no longer created by the traditional concentration of
materials and capital, amplified by economies of scale. Instead,
the wealth of the future will be generated within those
organizations that can best bring to the market creative and
revolutionary new products of the human imagination. This
requires a very special kind of new organizational model to
succeed.
Key Thoughts
‘‘Only the paranoid survive.’’
-- Andrew Grove, CEO, Intel

‘‘We are trying to sell more and more intellect and less and less
materials.’’
-- George Hegg, Strategic Planner, 3M

‘‘Most records no longer are mere transcriptions of a group of

people in a room playing together. Now recordings are
assembled from component parts created all over the world:
Tracks are laid down by a lead guitarist in London, a drummer
in New Orleans, a keyboard player in Tokyo, a singer in Toronto
and maybe even some riffs by a South African jive chorus and
a Czech chamber orchestra. The pieces might be put together
anywhere from a Hollywood studio to a barn in the Berkshires.’’
-- Lewis Perelman, Author
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2. DISORGANIZING TO UNLEASH IMAGINATION opportunities to thousands of small- and medium-sized

companies.’’
Main Idea -- The Economist
The new engine of progress is to split huge corporations up into
independent units which function as fully blown business ‘‘The rise of the knowledge economy means a change, in less
operations in their own right. than 20 years, from an over built system of large, slow-moving
economic units to an array of small, widely dispersed economic
These newly independent units allow the company to structure
centers, some as small as the individual boss.’’
itself to bring intellect and imagination to bear whenever an
-- Lance Morrow, Time Magazine, March 1993
unexpected business opportunity arises. The structure also
allows each unit to stand on it’s own two feet by reporting directly ‘‘What we are trying relentlessly to do is get that small-company
on its own operations rather than as part of a huge conglomerate. soul - and small company speed - inside our big-company body.’’
Supporting Ideas -- Jack Welch, General Electric
Many successful companies are now disbanding corporate
‘‘You don’t do brainwork in groups of a thousand, or probably
offices and forming the company into a vast array of small,
even hundreds. You do it in quartets, octets, groups of ten,
stand-alone business operations which are completely
fifteen, twenty-five.’’
autonomous. In fact, these small units are run as stand-alone
-- Anonymous Executive
organizations which assume responsibility for their own futures.
The small self-contained company units are organizing around ‘‘I think I figured out why all these little businesses work. They’ve
core competencies and delivering exceptional service add-ons. got to.’’
That means concentrating on business strengths, taking away -- Andrea Meyer, Researcher
all non-essential elements and leveraging key skills to the
maximum. Small units have a sharp focus on their core All good work is done in defiance of management.’’
competences that is impossible to recreate in a large -- Bob Woodward
organization.
‘‘For most companies today, the only sustainable competitive
Competition in a market economy produces some waste - for advantage comes from out-innovating the competition.’’
example, products or services that fail to make the grade. If it -- James Morse, Management Consultant
was known which products or services were going to be
successful,there would be no need for competition - and no ‘‘In an era of accelerating transition, the rule of success will be
potential to discover entirely new breakthroughs. self-cannibalization.’’
Management layers have a way of not only failing to add value -- George Gilder, Author
to any large company - they actually have a negative value most
‘‘The target now is to invent a new game.’’
of the time by making it all but impossible for the company’s
-- Phil Knight, CEO, Nike
business to get done effectively.
While it’s true we are currently in an era of sophisticated tastes, ‘‘The creation of a market economy is a spontaneous and
it now costs less than at any other time in history to start and evolving process that can only emerge from freedom. Freedom
grow a new business. The old competitive advantage of ‘‘seed is always disruptive. The case for a market economy has to not
capital’’ is diminishing, and will eventually disappear. only accept but also embrace the failures that are the result of
By removing all the organizational layers between the market competition. The lack of understanding of the essential
company’s management and the front liners who are in contact role of economic failure stands as the biggest political obstacle
with the customers, the new small unit can get alongside to achieving free-market prosperity in formerly socialist
customers and custom fit services and products to their countries.’’
requirements. -- Dwight Lee and Richard McKenzie, Authors
The genuine independence of the small units allows the large ‘‘The world of technology is complex, fast-changing and
organization to deal with the unknown. In effect, it buffers the unstructured, and it thrives best when individuals are left alone
corporation from the major changes in business conditions. It to be different, creative and disobedient.’’
also unleashes tremendous creative energy as the small units -- Don Valentine, Venture Capitalist
attack the market from a variety of specific angles.
‘‘Go ahead and fail, but fail with wit, fail with grace, fail with style.
A mediocre failure is as insufferable as a mediocre success.
Key Thoughts
Embrace failure. Seek it out. Learn to love it.’’
‘‘We decided to get rid of the former structure. We took away all -- Tom Robbins, Author
departments. We took away all manager’s titles. And with them
went the red tape. We removed the entire formal organization. ‘‘If people have total control over their business, they will have
We have a tremendous competitive advantage, because we the best possible emotional involvement.’’
don’t care about formalities.’’ -- Pat McGovern, International Data Group
-- Lars Kolind, President, Oticon
‘‘Outsiders think of Silicon Valley as a success story, but in truth
‘‘New technology has spread around the world, trade barriers it is a graveyard. Failure is Silicon Valley’s greatest strength.
have come down, financial markets have been deregulated and Every failed product or enterprise is a lesson stored in the
consumer tastes have converged across borders. All these collective memory of the country. We not only don’t stigmatize
changes were once expected to give big firms even more scope failure, sometimes we even admire it. Venture capitalists actually
to flex their muscles. Instead they have granted business like to see a little failure in the resumes of entrepreneurs.’’
-- Mike Malone, Author
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3. TURNING EVERY JOB INTO A BUSINESS 4. THINKING LIKE AN INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR

Main Idea Main Idea

The most effective and most valuable employees in any Achieving the mind-set of an independent contractor is the key
company are the ones who act as if they owned the company to job security. Contractors aren’t concerned with how long their
themselves. lunch hours are, or where their car park is. They focus solely on
In other words, the best employees are entrepreneurs and adding value through the delivery of professional services.
independent contractors in their own right. They just happen to The key issue is not how long have you worked at that company
work within the company because that is where they are most but which projects have you successfully completed and which
effective. projects will you tackle in the future?
Supporting Ideas Supporting Ideas
Creating zest and enthusiasm in any job is of vital importance. The key questions any middle manager must answer are:
In fact, any job can and should be carried out thoroughly and 1. What do I do?
professionally. 2. What have I actually done?
The trick is to change the employees perception of his role in the 3. Who among my customers will testify to it?
company. If you can change their way of thinking from being a 4. What evidence is there that my skills are state of the art?
"slot-filler" on an organizational chart to an indispensable 5. Who will help me deal with an ever chillier world?
element in the customer service chain, you’ll be well on your way. 6. Will my year-end resume look different from last year’s?
Business people have two key elements - flair and commitment As a boss, have all your staff update their resumes every quarter.
to the job. These are the very qualities that make many small Compare this quarter’s resume with last - are they getting
mom-and-pop operations successful. noticeably better? If not, you’ve got a real problem. Rather than
The average employee can actually deliver far better qualities of detracting from job security, this idea actually increases the
service than their job demands. But most employees only deliver security of the workers - and ensures the company is getting full
what is expected of them by their bosses. If their motivation value from that particular employee.
changes from working to please their boss to working to meet a Key Thoughts
customer’s requirements, there is an incredible leap in ‘‘People do realize that job security is gone, but many don’t
productivity and effectiveness. realize what it’s been replaced by. The driving force of a career
the key is to imbue each employee with a sense of trust, a sense must come from the individual, not the organization.’’
that they are the key element - and then get out of their way and -- Homa Bahrami, Professor
let them deliver.
‘‘If you can’t say why you made your company a better place,
you’re out.’’
Key Thoughts -- Cynthia Kellams, Towers Perrin Consultant
‘‘Never use the excuse of following orders as the rationale for
following a poor course of action.’’ ‘‘Your job security lies in your employability.’’
-- Roger Meade -- Saying at Apple Computer

‘‘We want every employee to be a businessperson.’’ ‘‘Pretend you are leaving the company in six months with no
-- Ralph Stayer, CEO, Johnsonville Foods replacement, overhaul your organization and train your people
to take over your job, and then find a new way to add value. And
‘‘The design limit for tomorrow’s organization is that each be prepared to repeat the cycle, over and over again (maybe
employee becomes a business. The conversion of organization with different employees) until you retire.’’
into businesses always strengthens corporate performance.’’ -- Oren Harai, Management Professor
-- Stan Davis and Bill Davidson
‘‘In the new economy, learning to make a job is probably going
‘‘The only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him.’’ to be more important than learning how to take a job.’’
-- Henry Stimson, US Secretary of War -- Joline Godfrey, Author

‘‘I’ve made my living with my imagination all my adult life. I hope ‘‘There’s no longer any assurance of a clear, steady career path,
to continue to grow every day.’’ no rules you can use to get your meal ticket punched. The key
-- Tommy Lee Jones, Actor is doing interesting, challenging things professionally,
developing a uniqueness and expanding your skills as opposed
to fitting yourself into opportunities that present themselves.’’
-- Sheryl Spanier

‘‘Always operate on the theory that it is within your authority to

make decisions and do things and carry them out, right up until
the moment that somebody is able to prove otherwise. It’s
amazing how much you can get away with, how many people
will acquiesce in that, if you seem determined and you seem to
know what you are doing.’’
-- Richard Perle
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5. THE CORPORATION AS A ROLODEX In this sort of environment, the most profitable companies will be
those who can break free from the traditional concept of what an
Main Idea organization has to be.
The most effective (and profitable) structure for the corporation Key Thoughts
of the future is a small core of permanent staffers who protect
the company’s central competitive advantage, and a vast ‘‘The lumbering bureaucracies of this century will be replaced by
network of specialists (represented by names in a rolodex) who fluid, independent groups of problem solvers.’’
can be utilized as the need arises. Corporations can then focus -- Steve Truett and Tom Barrett
solely on the key things they do well and gather together other ‘‘What will a virtual corporation look like? To the outside
individuals on an as-needed basis. observer, it will appear almost edgeless, with permeable and
This model of the organization allows the company to take continuously changing interfaces among company, supplier and
advantage of today’s opening in the marketplace that will no customers. From inside the firm the view will be no less
longer exist tomorrow - and so on. amorphous with traditional offices, departments and operating
Supporting Ideas divisions constantly reforming according to need.’’
-- Bill Davidow and Mike Malone
Today’s work is unpredictable. Therefore, the company’s
organizational structure should reflect that fact. ‘‘Services form an envelope around the product. Companies
Most of the work in advanced economies will be carried out by make markets by pushing the envelope.’’
a network of specialists who can gather from anywhere in the -- Harvard Business Review
world, perform a specific role and then disband or move onto the
next project. ‘‘The more information intensive your service becomes, the more
valuable it is to customers.’’
There are two models that can serve as a mental image of the
-- UPS staffer to the Wall Street Journal
corporation of the future:
1. The Shamrock Organization. ‘‘The thing that nobody talks about is the profound role of trust.
Picture the company as the three leaves of a cloverleaf. One One of the problems with these virtual corporations is that people
leaf is a small core of permanent, professional staff who forget the fact that an alliance lasts for a year or so before it ends.
guard the company’s central core competence - it’s single What is left behind is a set of experiences. If those experiences
key competitive advantage. The vast bulk of the work is done led to a shared understanding and trust between the group that
by specialists or contractors who are hired on an "as-needed" you were just working with and yourself, then you have the basis
basis and these staff make up the second leaf. And the third for future work with them. But the virtual corporation ain’t gonna
leaf are the part-timers or temps who do the rest of the work work unless you have a growing web of trust.’’
in the trenches as required. -- John S. Brown, Xerox Corp.
2. Hollywood Film Companies ‘‘The traditional equation of "labour + raw materials = economic
In a number of ways, the large Hollywood studios have success" is rapidly changing as American businesses approach
always acted in the way that more and more companies will the global, highly competitive markets of the twenty-first century.
be structured in the future. For example, most studios consist Strategic advantage now lies in the acquisition and control of
of a small core of permanent staff who have a vast network information. The ability to bring dispersed assets effectively to
of contractors at their beck and call. When a particular project bear on a single project or opportunity is becoming increasingly
is under way, this small central staff can leverage their difficult. The lumbering bureaucracies of this century will be
effectiveness by bringing to bear the very best talent that replaced by fluid, independent groups of problem solvers.
money can buy. At the completion of the project, the entire With little need for startup capital, cyberspace corporations will
organization can be disbanded without any further cost. The form quickly around an individual or group of individuals who
studio is then free to move onto the next project, for which have identified an opportunity and formulated a market plan.
an entirely different team may be required. Additional cyberspace workers will quickly be gathered from
Corporations don’t need to be huge to make money. For previous endeavours or new talent will be recruited. Profits
example, a company called Nintendo generated $5.5 billion in shares will be apportioned across participating members.
sales and $1.3 billion of profit in 1992 with only 892 employees. The cyberspace corporation may provide a single product or
That is more than $6.0 million in sales or $1.5 million in profit per service and then disband, or it may be formed with a longer-term
employee! Nintendo keeps control over game design and vision and remain to serve the product’s market. Cyberspace
marketing, and lets partners or licensees do almost everything corporations will be very fast-acting and transient. They will be
else. (By comparison, Apple Computer has sales per employee composed of bright, creative, high-tech nomads who will
of $506,000 per year, IBM has $218,000 and Digital Equipment coalesce into work units for dynamic market opportunities.
has $128,000). Personnel turnover will be high as tasks are completed and
The new emphasis is on applying the best possible resources to cyberspace workers decide to migrate to other opportunities. As
any job, and then starting over again from scratch on the next new corporations form, cyberspace workers may find
project, whenever a new opportunity arises. themselves working periodically with the same people. A very
The flexible company organization addresses the key issue of productive informal network will form as cyberspace workers
business today - today’s work is totally unpredictable. Think of it leverage their rich set of experiences and contacts.’’
as "just-in-time talent" - the equivalent of "just-in-time -- Steve Truett (Texas Instruments) and Tom Barrett (EDS)
manufacturing" which has revolutionized the efficiency of
modern manufacturing companies.
 The Tom Peters Seminar - Page 6 -

6. CREATING A CORPORATE TALK SHOW ‘‘As we move towards the chaos of the future, the progress of
Buckman Labs relative to other companies will be determined
Main Idea by the growth in the value of knowledge that exists within the
An economy based on information rather than materials is hard company. The acceleration of knowledge transfer is how we will
to describe, and even harder to visualize. The key to creating grow the collection of individuals we call Buckman Labs into what
value becomes capturing and applying knowledge and it can be. Our strategic advantage lies in the leverage of
experience. The ongoing goal becomes to continuously develop, knowledge. The most powerful individuals in the anti
utilize and leverage knowledge within the company. bureaucratic future of Buckman Labs will be those who do the
Computers and telecommunication advances have, for the first best job of transferring knowledge to others.
time in history, made it possible for a company to be organized The network is the whole thing. It should connect everybody in
like a continual television chat show. Employees in one part of the organization to everybody outside the organization, and to
the world can have a direct input into projects on the other side each other. If you don’t let the person on the front line, who is
of the world, and so on. generating the cash flow for the company, have the same
In effect, the headquarters of the past business models becomes connectivity as the CEO, you don’t have the connectivity
replaced by an information network running throughout the entire necessary to strategically leverage knowledge.’’
company. -- Bob Buckman
Supporting Ideas ‘‘The potential of new technology is to empower individuals and
The key challenge of the efficient big business of the 90s is to flatten the hierarchy. We have senior managers having
create an environment in which a German engineer is willing to conversations with people around the world who, in a classic
drop everything and jump on a plane to Australia to help the local organization, would probably not get their phone calls returned.
branch of the company win an important contract. When you We see people creating new roles for themselves as knowledge
have this sort of leverage of experience and information, you can workers.’’
create a tremendous competitive advantage. -- Andy Zimmerman, Coopers & Lybrand
The key is to develop central core competencies and then get ‘‘Real value in the sciences, the arts and commerce comes
those people as close to the action as possible - in the field close largely from the process of collaboration. Collaboration is like
to their customers rather than playing politics at some corporate romance - it can’t be routine and predictable. The issue isn’t
headquarters. However, while these key people are close to the communication or teamwork - it’s the creation of value.’’
action, they still remain accessible to the rest of the company - -- Michael Schrage
through an information network.
Knowledge is the all-important asset, and the management and ‘‘The most exciting developments will be when human brains
transfer of knowledge is a key corporate role in the 1990s. work out radically new ways of understanding situations and
Electronic networks become a tool to support the company’s events, solving problems, running organizations and
practice and culture. transmitting knowledge. The best organizations of the 21st
A consulting company, McKinsey & Co, usually operates by century will bring together brain power where it is, not where it
throwing a team of very creative and smart people at a project. can be institutionalized.’’
It has been called the "we’re-smarter-than-everyone-else-and -- Douglas Hague, Author, Beyond Universities
that’s-enough-to-maintain-our-advantage" strategy. Now that a ‘‘The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two
number of clients and competitors are catching up, however, opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability
McKinsey is moving towards leveraging their huge base of to function.’’
accumulated experience and knowledge. They are doing this by -- F. Scott Fitzgerald
generating a dynamic marketplace of readily available ideas that
can be applied across a broad spectrum of business situations. ‘‘Time was, if the boss caught you talking on the phone or
Key Thoughts hanging around the water cooler, he would have said, "Stop
‘‘We can no longer compete on the cost of labour with countries talking and get to work!" Today, if you’re not on the phone or
like China. What we have to leverage is our know-how.’’ talking with colleagues and customers, chances are you’ll hear,
-- Carlo de Benedetti, CEO, Olivetti "Start talking and get to work!" In the new economy,
conversations are the most important form of work.
‘‘The modern knowledge economy turns on the better use of Conversations are the way knowledge workers discover what
knowledge. The key is the ability to learn. The more people you they know, share it with their colleagues, and in the process
have and the faster you can learn, the more you can capitalize create new knowledge for the organization. The panolpy of
on this.’’ modern information and communications technology - for
-- John Seely Brown, Xerox Corp. example, computers, faxes, e-mail - can help knowledge
workers in the process. But all depends on the quality of the
‘‘We aren’t a global business. We are a collection of local conversations that such technologies support.’’
businesses with intense global coordination. Our most important -- Alan Webber, Harvard Business Review
strength is that we have 25 factories around the world, each with
its own President, design manager, marketing manager and
production manager. These people are working on the same
problems and opportunities day after day, year after year, and
learning a tremendous amount. We want to create a process of
continuous expertise transfer. If we do, that’s a source of
advantage none of our rivals can match.’’
-- Sune Karlsson, Power Transformers
 The Tom Peters Seminar - Page 7 -

7. CREATING THE CURIOUS CORPORATION 13. Make work fun.

Do things that are enjoyable and refreshing, and allow the
Main Idea staff to smile while they are hard at work.
In the modern business environment, the only companies which 14. Have a regular change of pace.
will flourish are crazy, zany, effervescent and fun places to When the pressure has been on, declare a half day holiday
operate. Only in this type of corporate setting can the key and take the whole company to a fun park. Or start a water
creative talents and imaginations flourish. pistol fight.
Not only must the modern organization be flexible, it must be 15. Add staff who are in charge of fun.
curious enough to meet the customers needs in ways that will Create s staff position for someone whose sole corporate
stand out in the crowded marketplace. role is to lighten up the work place and add creativity.
Supporting Ideas Key Thoughts
Most companies and most organizations are quite simply boring ‘‘What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant
- santraps of sobriety in a world that demands and rewards intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average
creativity. You can’t generate genuine breakthroughs by doing adult.’’
things the same way everyone else does. -- Sigmund Freud
To create a truly curious corporation:
‘‘Strategies are okayed in board rooms that even a child would
1. Hire unusual staff.
say are bound to fail. The problem is, there’s never a child in the
Look for people with self motivation and imagination to go
board room.’’
outside the envelope. Invariably these people have large
-- Victor Palmieri
gaps in their resumes where they just took time out to look
around or something similar. these are the sorts who will ‘‘We look for passion, flexibility and excitement.’’
develop new and unique products and services. -- Cheryl Womack, VCW Inc.
2. Hire a few off-the-wall sorts.
The most successful people in history have invariable had ‘‘We need to change underlying beliefs about how we view and
personalities that everyone else considered to be bizarre. perform white-collar jobs. It’s still typical to view offices as
Only these types of people can make the real breakthroughs. information factories or places that produce data. So our
traditional response has been to see how much we can produce
3. Weed out the dull types, nurture the oddballs.
- how many key strokes we can coax out of workers, or how many
Most of the corporate misfits, who have a hard time
memos. But the purpose of an office is to create knowledge.
developing any sort of career path, will turn out to be the most
That’s an intellectual process, not a production process.’’
valuable if handled correctly.
-- Duncan Sutherland, Designer
4. Go for youth.
Many successful companies appoint 28- or 29-year olds to ‘‘We’ve always said that Silicon Graphics is all about making
run multi-million dollar units. These young leaders invariably technology fun and usable and that means that working here
bring about huge changes older leaders wouldn’t attempt. should be fun. Too many corporations in the United States and
5. Insist everyone takes vacations. Japan have cut the fun out of their businesses. Fun and
The people in key positions tend to work hard and get burned irreverence also make change less scary.’’
out even without realizing it’s happening. A vacation freshens -- Ed McCracken, CEO
their outlook and rebuilds their energy levels.
‘‘One of the lessons you learn in becoming an adult is that it
6. Encourage sabbaticals. doesn’t always pay to be curious. Some people learn to avoid
These breaks of several months or more allow people to curiosity all together. Microsoft’s Bill Gates appears to have
develop and cultivate their new ideas. completely failed to absorb this lesson.’’
7. Create new patterns. -- John Seabrook, New Yorker Magazine
Create a physical environment with flexibility in terms of
office space. Allow teams to form and disband as required. ‘‘Competition is now a "war of movement" in which success
depends on anticipation of market trends and quick response to
8. Initiate unusual educational programs.
changing customer needs.’’
Have interesting people come and address your staff rather -- Harvard Business Review
than the traditional corporate consultants who preach more
of the same. ‘‘Mr Andy Grove, chairman of Intel compares Silicon Valley to
9. Introduce a way to measure curiosity. the theatre business in New York, which has an itenerant
Maybe have the staff submit reports on the oddest thing they workforce of actors, directors, writers and technicians, as well
did the past year, the worst mistake they made and so on. as experienced financial backers. By tapping into this network
Think creatively. you can quickly put a production together. It might be a smash
10. Seek out unusual jobs. hit or it might be panned by the critics. Inevitably, the number of
Work only on those projects that you consider to be long-running plays is small, but new creative ideas keep bubbling
interesting or exciting. Avoid the drab like the plague. up.’’
-- Financial Times
11. Set the example.
If the company head isn’t doing something unusual, the rest ‘‘The spirit of Nintendo is best captured by a simple exchange.
will follow suit. A leader needs to be zany and fun. A game designer, Gunpei Yokoi, asked his boss, "What should
12. Be curious about everything. I make?" Nintendo chief executive Hiroshi Yamauchi replied,
Apply curiosity to not just marketing or research and "Something great."’’
development but also accounting, purchasing and logistics. -- David Sheff, Author
 The Tom Peters Seminar - Page 8 -

8. TOWARD WOW! 9. TOWARD PERPETUAL REVOLUTION

Main Idea Main Idea

The playing field is now level in terms of product quality. The real The only way to keep your organization up to date with the
success stories of the future will not only have high quality - they changing requirements of the market is to be in a state of
will also have an undefineable razzle-dazzle that will be the key perpetual revolution. Tear down the existing structure again and
to their market success. again, and continue doing so, is the only possible way to keep
Supporting Ideas moving ahead.
The key link between customer experience and repeat business Supporting Ideas
is an emotional one. The distinguishing feature of the successes An obsession for action over everything else is essential. If your
of the future will be qualities such as glow, tingle or wow - that company isn’t making mistakes from time to time, you’re not at
is, emotional reactions that are caused by new creative product the leading edge of anything.
features that bewitch, dazzle and intrigue new customers. Key Thoughts
This type of product can only be created by curious corporations ‘‘Companies must burn themselves down and rebuild every few
applying their imaginations to dazzling new products never years.’’
before conceived of. -- Roger Martin, Business Consultant
In the past, companies tried to improve their products by cutting
down on the number of "things gone wrong". In the future, ‘‘When we finish one product development program, we raise
success will be directly proportional to the number of "things our heads and look around to see what to invent next. We try to
gone right." get a sense of what customers might want and what is happening
with changing technologies. Then we put our heads down,
Key Thoughts
engineer like mad and get the product into the marketplace.
‘‘We don’t think we’re in the record business. We know we’re in Once we’ve done that, we do it all over again. That’s our planning
the lifestyle business.’’ cycle. If we can do that in nine months or a year rather than three
-- Tom Silverman, Founder, Tommy Boy Records years, we have a tremendous advantage.’’
-- Ed McCracken, CEO, Silicon Graphics
‘‘Until now, Japan has relied on its technological advances and
high quality to sell products. But in the next era, that alone will ‘‘First, you have to have fun. Second, you have to put love where
not be enough. We must begin to make products that also have your labour is. Third, you have to go in the opposite direction to
spirit.’’ everyone else.’’
-- Y. Fukuhara, CEO, Shiseido -- Anita Roddick, Founder, Body Shop
‘‘Quality doesn’t have to be defined. You understand it without ‘‘The key to success for Sony, and to everything in business,
definition. Quality is a direct experience independent of and prior science and technology, is never to follow the others.’’
to intellectual abstractions.’’ -- Masaru Ibuka, Cofounder, Sony
-- Robert Pirsig, Author
‘‘There’s no way to be careful in this business. All you can do is
‘‘We were convinced that if each of us could add our fantasy and be aggressive, strong and give the customer choices.’’
culture to an emotional product, we could beat anybody. -- Ray Noorda, Founder, Novell
Emotions are something that nobody can copy.’’
-- Nicholas Hayeck, Swatch Chairman ‘‘The most probable assumption is that no currently working
"business theory" will be valid 10 years hence.’’
‘‘An ordinary man cannot develop good games no matter how -- Peter Drucker
hard he tries. A handful of people in the world can develop games
that everybody wants. These are the people we want at ‘‘The way customers judge a service may depend as much or
Nintendo.’’ even more on the service process than on the service outcome.’’
-- Hiroshi Yamauchi, Founder, Nintendo -- Len Berry, Professor, Texas A&M

‘‘Private-label brands thrive on the status quo. They love to ‘‘New technologies make it possible for even the mass marketer
march down the experience curve and exploit economies of to assume the role of small proprietor, doing business again with
scale. They hate innovation...They hate anything that tends to individuals, one at a time.’’
focus competition anywhere but price...A dynamic, innovative -- Don Peppers and Martha Rogers
environment is not hospitable to store brands.’’
-- David Aaker, Marketing Professor, University of California

‘‘The danger is that an obsession with process will create a

myopia that discourages people from testing assumptions and
engaging in breakthrough thinking.’’
-- Patricia McLagan, Quality Researcher

‘‘You never assume you can’t do something. Just because no

one’s doing it doesn’t mean it can’t be done.’’
-- Bill McGowan, MCI