The (necessary) war on linearity: One engineer’s (unusual) life’s work. tom peters/1026.2006

1. The (necessary) war on linearity: One engineer’s (unusual) life’s work.tom peters/1026.2006

2. Think!vs.do!

3. “Apparently our society, not unlike the Greeks with their Delphic oracles, takes great comfort in believing that very talented ‘seers’ removed from the hurly-burly world of reality can foretell coming events.”—Len Sayles/Columbia (from Henry Mintzberg, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning)

4. “Nothing is more dangerous in war than theoreticians.”—Marshall Petain (John Mosier, The Blitzkrieg Myth, “War as Pseudoscience: 1920-1939”)

5. The (Strange) Case of Peter Drucker & Michael Porter vs. The “Non-linearists”HERBERT SIMON. (Administrative Behavior.) JAMES MARCH. KARL WEICK. (The Social Psychology of Organizing.) EUGENE WEBB. Henry MINTZBERG. (The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning.) JAMES UTTERBACK. THOMAS KUHN. (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.)CHARLES LINDBLOM. Daniel goleman. INNOVATION BIOGRAPHERS.*(*Transcontinental Railroad, Electrification, Radio, Television, Containerization, DNA, Computers, Military History, Etc.)MOST POLITICAL SCIENTISTS. SILICON VALLEY. Etc.

6. “This book is about luck disguised and perceived as non-luck (that is, skills) and more generally randomness disguised and perceived as non-randomness. It manifests itself in the shape of the lucky fool, defined as a person who benefited from a disproportionate share of luck but attributed his success to some other, generally precise reason.” —Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and the Markets, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

7. Satisficing. Bounded rationality. Technology of foolishness. Muddling through.

8. The Mess Is the Message! Period!An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States —Charles Beard (1913)The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger—Marc LevinsonTube: The Invention of Television—David & Marshall FisherEmpires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World—Jill JonnesThe Soul of a New Machine—Tracy KidderRosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA—Brenda MaddoxThe Blitzkrieg Myth—John Mosier

9. “Linearist”: Plan it!“Non-linearist”: Try it!

10. “Recently I asked three corporate executives what decisions they had made in the last year that would not have been made were it not for their corporate plans. All had difficulty identifying one such decision. Since all of the plans are marked ‘secret’ or ‘confidential,’I asked them how their competitors might benefit from possession of their plans. Each answered with embarrassment that their competitors would not benefit.”—Russell Ackoff (from Henry Mintzberg, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning)

11. “This is so simple it sounds stupid, but it is amazing how few oil people really understand that you only find oil if you drill wells.You may think you’re finding it when you’re drawing maps and studying logs, but you have to drill.” Source: The Hunters, by John Masters, Canadian O & G wildcatter

12. “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”—Charles Darwin

13. “Linearist”: think!“Non-linearist”: do!

14. “Execution is the jobof the businessleader.”—Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/ Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

15. Excellence1982: The Bedrock “Eight Basics” 1. A Bias for Action 2. Close to the Customer 3. Autonomy and Entrepreneurship 4. Productivity Through People 5. Hands On, Value-Driven 6. Stick to the Knitting 7. Simple Form, Lean Staff 8. Simultaneous Loose-Tight Properties

16. “We have a ‘strategic plan.’ It’s called doing things.”— Herb Kelleher

17. “Linearist”: hypothesize!“Non-linearist”: experiment!

18. “We made mistakes, of course. Most of them were omissions we didn’t think of when we initially wrote the software. We fixed them by doing it over and over, again and again. We do the same today. While our competitors are still sucking their thumbs trying to make the design perfect, we’re already on prototype version#5.By the time our rivals are ready with wires and screws, we are on version #10.It gets back to planning versus acting: We act from day one; others plan how toplan—for months.”—Bloomberg by Bloomberg

19. “Experiment fearlessly”Source: BW0821.06, Type A Organization Strategies/ “How to Hit a Moving Target”—Tactic #1

20. “Linearist”: failure = unnecessary“Non-linearist”: failure = life

21. “Fail . Forward. Fast.”High Tech CEO, Pennsylvania“Fail faster. Succeed Sooner.”David Kelley/IDEO

22. “It is generally much easier tokill an organizationthan change it substantially.”—Kevin Kelly, Out of Control

23. “Rewardexcellent failures. Punishmediocre successes.”Phil Daniels, Sydney exec

24. Message/Implication: go for it!C.E.O.to C.D.O.

25. “Linearist”: a>b*“Non-linearist”: b>a***Attitude shapes behavior**Behavior shapes attitude

26. “Linearist”:deliberate!*“Non-linearist”:relentless!*** “Do it right the first time” (Hero: Phil Crosby) **Never retreat (Hero: U.S. Grant)

27. Relentless: “One of my superstitions had always been when I started to go anywhere or to do anything,notto turnback,or stop, until the thing intended was accomplished.”—Grant

28. “Success seems to be largely a matter of hangingon after others have let go.”—William Feather, author

29. “Linearist”: logical!“Non-linearist”: passionate!

30. “Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.”—Samuel Taylor Coleridge

31. “People want to be part of something larger than themselves. They want to be part of something they’re really proud of, that they’ll fight for, sacrifice for , trust.”—Howard Schultz, Starbucks (IBD/09.05)

32. “Linearist”: give me genius!“Non-linearist”: give me luck!

33. “This book is about luck disguised and perceived as non-luck (that is, skills) and more generally randomness disguised and perceived as non-randomness. It manifests itself in the shape of the lucky fool, defined as a person who benefited from a disproportionate share of luck but attributed his success to some other, generally precise reason.”“We underestimate the share of randomness in just about everything, a point that might not merit a book—except when it is the specialist who is the fool of all fools.”“Mild success can be explainable by skills and labor. Wild success is attributable to variance.”Source:Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and the Markets —Nassim Nicholas Taleb

34. “Linearist”: spotless academic record!“Non-linearist”: a.d.d.

35. “Linearist”: measured pace!“Non-linearist”: Tempo! Tempo! Tempo!

36. “You miss 100percent of the shots you never take.”—Wayne Gretzky

37. “theFedEx Economy”—headline/New York Times/10.08.05

38. “Any3”:Anything/ Anywhere/ Anytime

39. “Linearist”: think! Plan! (r.a.f.*)“Non-linearist”: Try it! Screw it up! Fix it! Try it again! (r.f.a.**) *Ready. Aim. Fire.**ready. Fire. Aim. (Or, circa 2006: fire. Fire. Fire.)

40. READY.FIRE!AIM.Ross Perot (vs “Aim! Aim! Aim!”/EDS vs GM/1985)

41. S.A.V.: screw around vigorously!The “only” possible response to former Xerox chief Paul Allaire’s “We are in a brawl with no rules.”

42. Cheap Shot“Linearist”: minimize cost.“Non-linearist”: maximize revenue.

43. “Linearist”: marketing rules.“Non-linearist”: sales rules.

44. “Everyone lives by selling something.” —Robert Louis Stevenson

45. “Analysts … preferred cost cutting,as long as they could see two or three years of EPS growth. I preached revenue and the analysts’ eyes would glaze over. Now revenue is ‘in’ because so many got caught, and earnings went to hell.They said, ‘Oh my gosh, you need revenues to grow earnings over time.’ Well, Duh!”—Dick Kovacevich, Wells Fargo

46. CRO**Chief Revenue Officer

47. “Linearist” Background: planning, marketing & finance.“Non-linearist”background: sales & operations.

48. “Operations ispolicy.”—Fred Malek (1974)“Execution is strategy.”—TP (1983)

49. “Linearist” likes: ideas.“Non-linearist” likes: people.

50. “Leaders‘do’ people. Period.”—Anon.