Tag: Tom peters

Did executives “do the right thing”?

As the economy improves, they may need to prove themselves.

Mike Neiss of TomPeters.com has observed that he’s hearing “a much more positive message” from client companies, in that “we’ve turned the corner” or “the worst is behind us.” That’s the good news.

But then he asks, “did the strategies put in place to deal with the economic downturn make [your company] more capable of producing excellence in the future?

That’s probably not such good news for companies that have let go a tremendous amount of talent.

One result that he foresees:

[E]xecutives may have to prove their competence to the workforce—who paid some prices in the downturn. Many executives have been using the “economy” as the reason for poor performance, but my coffee chats with their employees lead me to believe that the rank and file aren’t totally buying that. It is important that the road forward is seen as doable by the employees in an organization, and that these workers believe that the current executive team can lead them to success.

On the other hand, it creates new opportunities for some of us who are now “out there.”

Nourish your inner gyroscope

maintaining balance
maintaining balance in turbulent times

The Tom Peters Company is using this gyroscope graphic on its website, under the header, “future shape of the winner.” Of this gyroscope, he (or someone in his organization) says, it is “a navigation system that finds dynamic balance and sets direction in a constantly changing operating context.”

Of course, their hope is that the Tom Peters Company will provide you with a consulting service that will enable you to balance seven different elements, as follows: … Ambition … Architecture … Brand … Execution … Experience … Performance … Talent ….

That’s all well and good; a company needs to be able to respond like a gyroscope to changes in the market. In fact, that’s quite an intricate balancing act. (And I have a story to tell about HyperActive in that respect). But the individuals in question will also have inner gyroscopes (or not), and that’s the key to the whole process, I think.