Lists & Lust

My “Story”: Tom’s Ten.Five 1. Ideas Matter! 2. “Change” Not Sufficient!/Destruction Imperative! 3. Disruptive Technology Embraced! 4. Value-added Sprint I: “PSF”-Moment (Beyond the “Cost Center”) !/ “Best” Not Enough/R.POV (Remarkable Point Of View) ! 5. Value-added Sprint II: Branding+/“DreamMerchants” All!/ Age of Aesthetics-Design! 6. Value-added Sprint III: Women-Boomer “Strategic” Market Opps! 7. Bold/Brash/Nervy Innovation! Weird Wins! FreakTime! DramaticDifference! 8. Top/Quirky Talent!/Women Rule!/Re-imagine Ed! 9. “Bedrock”: Brand Inside-Itinerant Potential Organisms! 10. Leading: “Sign Up” for Breathtaking, Game-changing Crusades! (10.5. EXECUTE! BIAS FOR ACTION!)

In conclusion (Tom’s “Baker’s Dozen”) … 1. Welcome to the Asian Century! 2. “Permanence” is a snare and a delusion. 3. Innovation must be a/the … PREOCCUPATION. 4. The “Top Line” differentiates Winners from Losers. 5. Weird rules! 6. See #5 above! 7. “Best Talent” (“Best Roster”) wins! 7A. Leaders “Do” talent. (Period.) 8. Race Up the Value-added “Ladder.” (Or else.) 9. “Dream Merchants” will reign supreme! 10. Out “O.O.D.A.” the bastids! 11. Make it Cool! 12. Appoint an EVP/SOUB. (Now.) 13. Size … KILLS!

TP’s “CEOs Are Idiots19” 1. UNDERestimate the Threat to their Existence; OVERestimate their Resilience. 2. Fail to spend Hyper-aggressively on IS/IT; fail to follow “Gamechanger” IS/IT Strategies; fail to put their CIO on the Board; fail to exploit fully [Revolution Now!] the Web. 3. Believe in [BIG] mergers as The Key to Offense & Defense. 4. Hire MBAs in large #s. 5. Recruit mostly from conventional sources, have a low tolerance for risktakers-freaks. 6. Are less than 24/7 “Talent Fanatics.” 7. Do too much Imitation/Benchmarking/ConstantImprovement, not enough “Breathtaking”/Disruptive Innovation; favor “marketshare” over MarketCreation. 8. Believe that “process” beats “passion,” “analysis” beats “action.” 9. Spend too much time in the Office, not enough time in the Field; fail to ColdCall at least One Customer per Week; are surrounded by sycophants; have low Tolerance for Contention. 10. ARE NOT LOVED BY FRONTLINE STAFF! 11. Do too much MicroSegmentation I: Grotesquely underestimate the Women’s Market—and if they do more or less “get it,” fail to understand the Strategic Transformation required to master it. 12. Do too much MicroSegmentation II: Grotesquely underestimate the Boomer-Geezer Market. 13. Have too few Women on the Executive Team, too few Women on the Board. 14. Board = OWMs. 15. Balk at Technicolor actions and language—e.g., WOW!, Lovemarks, DreamMarketing, InsanelyGreat. 16. Think Design is a frill, nicety—not the Fundamental Basis for Value Added. 17. Tolerate less than Excellence, do not insist upon “Experiences that make me ‘Gasp.’” 18. Deliver more on Short-term Earnings rather than Long-term Yearnings. 19. FAIL TO INSPIRE ME BY THE AUDACITY OF THEIR DREAMS. (Too often: “Dream” = “Buy MarketShare, Get BIGGER, Cut Costs.”)

Everything You Need to Know about “Strategy”: Tom’s Baker’s Dozen Axioms 1. Do you have awesome Talent … everywhere? Do you push that Talent to pursue Audacious Quests? 2. Is your Talent Pool loaded with wonderfully peculiar people who others would call “problems”? And what about your Extended Community of customers, vendors et al? 3. Is your Board of Directors as cool as your product offerings … and does it have 50 percent (or at least one-third) Women Members? 4. Long-term, it’s a “Top-line World”: Is creating a “culture” that cherishes above all things Innovation and Entrepreneurship your primary aim? Remember: Innovation … not Imitation! 5. Are the Ultimate Rewards heaped upon those who exhibit an unswerving “Bias for Action,” to quote the co- authors of In Search of Excellence? 6. Do you routinely use hot, aspirational words-terms like “Excellence” and B.H.A.G. (Big Hairy Audacious Goal, per Jim Collins) and “Let’s make a dent in the Universe” (the Word according to Steve Jobs)? Is “Reward excellent failures, punish mediocre successes” your de facto or de jure motto? 7. Do you subscribe to Jerry Garcia’s dictum: “We do not merely want to be the best of the best, we want to be the only ones who do what we do”? 8. Do you elaborate on and enhance Jerry G’s dictum by adding, “We subscribe to ‘Best Sourcing’—and only want to associate with the ‘best of the best’.” 9. Do you embrace the new technologies with child-like enthusiasm and a revolutionary’s zeal? 10. Do you “serve” and “satisfy” customers … or “go berserk” attempting to provide every customer with an “awesome experience” that does nothing less than transform the way she or he sees the world? 11. Do you understand … to your very marrow … that the two biggest under-served markets are Women and Boomers-Geezers? And that to “take advantage” of these two Monster “Trends” (FACTS OF LIFE) requires fundamental re-alignment of the enterprise? 12. Are your leaders accessible? Do they wear their passion on their sleeves? Does integrity ooze out of every pore of the enterprise? Is “We care” your implicit motto? 13. Do you understand business mantra #1 of the ’00s: DON’T TRY TO COMPETE WITH WAL*MART ON PRICE OR CHINA ON COST? (And if you get this last idea, then see the 12 above!)

Everything You Need to Know about “Strategy” 1. Do you have awesome Talent … everywhere? Do you push that Talent to pursue Audacious Quests? 2. Is your Talent Pool loaded with wonderfully peculiar people who others would call “problems”? And what about your Extended Community of customers, vendors et al? 3. Is your Board of Directors as cool as your product offerings … and does it have 50 percent (or at least one-third) Women Members? 4. Long-term, it’s a “Top-line World”: Is creating a “culture” that cherishes above all things Innovation and Entrepreneurship your primary aim? Remember: Innovation … not Imitation! 5. Are the Ultimate Rewards heaped upon those who exhibit an unswerving “Bias for Action,” to quote the co-authors of In Search of Excellence? 6. Do you routinely use hot, aspirational words-terms like “Excellence” and B.H.A.G. (Big Hairy Audacious Goal, per Jim Collins) and “Let’s make a dent in the Universe” (the Word according to Steve Jobs)? Is “Reward excellent failures, punish mediocre successes” your de facto or de jure motto? 7. Do you subscribe to Jerry Garcia’s dictum: “We do not merely want to be the best of the best, we want to be the only ones who do what we do”? 8. Do you elaborate on and enhance Jerry G’s dictum by adding, “We subscribe to ‘Best Sourcing’—and only want to associate with the ‘best of the best’.” 9. Do you embrace the new technologies with child-like enthusiasm and a revolutionary’s zeal? 10. Do you “serve” and “satisfy” customers … or “go berserk” attempting to provide every customer with an “awesome experience” that does nothing less than transform the way she or he sees the world? 11. Do you understand … to your very marrow … that the two biggest under-served markets are Women and Boomers-Geezers? And that to “take advantage” of these two Monster “Trends” (FACTS OF LIFE) requires fundamental re-alignment of the enterprise? 12. Are your leaders accessible? Do they wear their passion on their sleeves? Does integrity ooze out of every pore of the enterprise? Is “We care” your implicit motto? 13. Do you understand business mantra #1 of the ’00s: DON’T TRY TO COMPETE WITH WAL*MART ON PRICE OR CHINA ON COST?