First Things First Presentation - PowerPoint

							First Things
    First
   Tom Peters/0913.10
   NOTE:      To appreciate
this presentation [and ensure
 that it is not a mess], you need
       Microsoft fonts:
 “Showcard Gothic,”
   “Ravie,” “Chiller”
   and “Verdana”
  I have discovered that sometimes the most
  important points I want to make are buried
somewhere in my presentation. Hence, of late I
   start presentations with “two things I am
   determined to leave behind—which, if you
attend obsessively, will cover my fees X1000.”
xfx
X =XFX*
*eXcellence = Cross-functional eXcellence
       The Strategic Importance of XFX
        (Cross-functional eXcellence)

I believe that in most any organization of, say,
   more than a dozen people, the #1 issue is
“cross-functional communication-integration.”
 It is both “Problem #1” and “Opportunity #1.”
 From intelligent pattern recognition to order
     execution to innovation, our INTERNAL
 barriers, not our competitors’ cleverness, are
  the principal impediment to effectiveness. I
suspect we all agree with that. But is it—AND

IT RARELY IS—literally seen as   “SO1” —
 Strategic Opportunity #1? (Please do me the
        honor of thinking about this.)
 Never
waste a
lunch!
Much more needs to be said, but the assumption that
 XFX depends on great systems is fallacious. Great
             systems are important.

                        But …

          the #1 issue in achieving XFX is …

                     SOCIAL!

That is, XFX is dependent on the breadth and depth of
   social relationships among members of various
 functions. And such relationships in turn are 1 st and
            foremost the provenance of …

                DOING LUNCH!
                 (I’m not kidding.)
  % XF
lunches*
*Measure! Monthly! Part of everyone’s
            evaluation!
  220
ABs/year
The working year amounts to about 240 days.


    240 days = 240 lunch opportunities.


              Or, in my lingo:



            240 At Bats.

                   So …
Lunch
 > SAP/
Oracle
  1 st-line

management
 #1   cause of
    employee
Dis-satisfaction?
  Employee Retention & Satisfaction:

Overwhelmingly …
based on the first-
  line manager!
 Source: Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman, First, Break All
the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
    If “people are everything”—                       AND THEY
SURELY ARE —then their effectiveness “is
  everything.” And without a shadow of doubt
   the #1 determinant of their effectiveness—
  productivity, engagement, teamwork—is the
        quality of the 1st-line manager.*


*I cite Marcus Buckingham’s excellent research in the prior slide. While his work
  is indeed seminal, there is in fact a ton of evidence that supports this point.
         Capital Asset!
**Selecting and training and
  mentoring one’s pool of front-
  line managers can be a “Core
  Competence” of surpassing
  strategic importance.
**Put under a microscope every
  attribute of the cradle-to-
  grave process of building the
  capability of our cadre of
  front-line managers.
  I do not suggest for a second that organizations don’t
take the 1st-line manager’s job “seriously.” I do suggest
            that 9.7 out of 10 are less than …


             OBSESSED
… with the selection and training and mentoring of these
               organizational lynchpins.

 And fail to see the “portfolio of 1st-line managers” as a
                        premier …


 STRATEGIC ASSET.