September 16, 2004
tom peter’s rant
A wonderful rant from Tom Peters, courtesy of the ever life-affirming Halley Suitt.
Tom’s latest book, “Re-imagine!” is wonderful. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Same goes for Halley’s website.
tomAto, TOMaTO by Tom Peters
New Delhi. Thirteen September 2004. I awoke, jetlagged and sweaty, at 3A.M. I
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9 Responses to “tom peter’s rant”
dude, you can’t spell. it’s _halley_, not _hailley_. there is no hail in halley
Heh. Thanks for spotting it. I’m useless at spelling
Fixed now.
My 2 cents’ worth:
I think good business is like good health. The better ways of doing things, in business or in life, is “always obvious”. The problem is in the uptake.
In life, we all know that smoking is bad for us and that if we consistently exercise or do aerobic activities we will be in good health. But knowing is not the same as doing. People still smoke cigarettes and choose not to walk or run to stay fit.
In business, we (and especially the mid-level jackoffs) have always known that there are far better ways of doing things. And even if we didn’t, we know pretty darn well where we can get clues or answers e.g. by asking people at the grassroots level of the organization.
The better alternatives are so obvious and are always there. But they are mysteriously ignored or dismissed.
Perhaps we need to realize that logic is not enough, as Seth Godin once said. Leaders need to communicate the ‘whys of things’ to get people to embrace a healthy lifestyle. Perhaps we need the same in business. We need more than logic. We need to understand how to deal with human emotions AND deal with it.
Tom’s Re-imagine manifesto is sooooo cool, but won’t (by itself) cut it. The cluetrain manifesto didn’t.
If you’re a mid-level jackoff who doesn’t agree, don’t just say it. Prove me wrong. Talk is overrated for you.
Sounds like Tom to me. But I doubt the folks who head up corporate America will pay him much heed. Why? Well, for one thing, they’re notoriously short-sighted, the product of pandering to the Wall Street crowd. For another, they’re notoriously self-centered and, if the corporate hi-jinks of the past few years are any indicator, they’re also quite greedy. Short-sighted, greedy people do not lead revolutions; indeed, they’re opposed to them. So they’ll laugh and nod and invite Tom in to harangue them and then go off and do what they’re doing now: milking the store.
No, the issue is not whether where you work will let you. Tom isn’t about people letting you do stuff — he’s about finding or making a place that will. Those who won’t do this are dinosaurs in his world, and won’t survive much longer.
I tend to think Tom’s a bit out there with that (he’s overstated the rate of change pretty substantially — remember the “By the year 2000 there will only be two banks”?), but I definitely believe that he needs to be to break the rust and barnacles off of the entrenched stupidity of the corporate structures and their addiction to “safe” slow change in their directions at their speeds rathre than facing the reality that the world doesn’t dance to their tune anymore, except when the world wants to. The corporate system throws out the innovators and boat-rockers and advances the save and tamed and compliant who have some modicum of competence in spite of that.
Tom would say that any corporation I just described will be eaten by the hungry and innovative and creative and bold in the next decade. I would only disagree with his time-table.
Yeah, most corporations are busy rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. And it’s not about finding a company that will “let” you; gain enough trust over time and they don’t even notice you’re just doing it. (Think subversive. Learn the game so you know how to break the rules.)
Where they’ll find these women Tom wants these corps to hire is beyond me — you couldn’t pay me *any* amount of money to be an employee of a public company (maybe Google is an exception.)
I just wrote this in my blog: “While Tom says tomAto, and they say TOMaTO — frankly, it all really looks more like Tom says YANG! and they say (yawn)yang to me.” The they/me dialogue just seems to be two styles of masculine energy to me. And I think Asia may be a powerhouse for some of the cited reasons and then some. OK, enough of a teaser for my post today…
I feel the words in the above diatribe– and believe in their absolute truth. I also am one in a corporate collective of 230,000– one who pushes the limits, questions the truths, and challenges the complacent directors around us all to take action– to not wantonly cover up facts and figures they know will ultimately hurt the corporation. I work daily amongst a sea of men and women who toil only to secure their retirement benefits; and in so doing, perpetuate an ineffective, broken system.
I also see a new competitive landscape– far out on the horizon, that is slowly re-shaping the world in which we live– this Brave New World of which the author speaks.
For my part– in my heart– I wish to take up arms and bring the old order to its knees. I know better. I know the vast wad of humanity will drag me down with their millions of tentacles; pulling inexorably at all who oppose the system.
Perhaps it takes a moment of clarity– a “Matrix” revelation to begin this new world order.
For my part, I’ll continue to fight the good fight, while still making sure I can provide for my family in the meanwhile.
They say
How wonderfully refreshing Tom is .…
Tomorrow I leave a 35 year career in UK National Health Service management to become freelance self employed as a “baby boomer” 52 year old.…
Sometimes I’m scared as hell that things may go wrong … most of the time I see opportunity and freedom — liberation.
Since I have been working my notice I look more closely at the faces of people I work with –I see the stress, I see the pain, and I see the frustration of “tick box” mentality.
I see obsession with process and no real passion about whether process is adding any value to the experience of the patient in healthcare.
Everyone seems to be chasing paper …GOD WAS THAT REALLY ME TWO OR THREE WEEKS BACK???!!!..
Tom is spot on with his cage rattling — “brand you” is what it is all about.
Be proud of what you do then sell it to your boss — if she or he doesn