EXECUTION * (*The all important “last 95%.”)

1. EXECUTION* (*The all important “last 95%.”)

2. This is the “before I begin” section—it is the subject of Chapter #1 in The Excellence Dividend. And a topic that I insist not be taken for granted and treated as a “given.”

3. CONRADHILTON, at a gala celebrating his extraordinary career, was called to the podium and asked,“What were the most important lessons you learned in your long and distinguished career?”His answer …

4. “Remember to tuck the shower curtain inside the bathtub.”

5. In the hotel business, “location locationlocation” (and a great architect and a glitz marketing campaign) matter, they entice me through the door— but it’s the tucked-in shower curtain that brings me back and induces me to recommend your home-away-from-home to my “live” and social media friends.And as businesspeople know so well, you lose money on the 1st transaction and roll in the $$$ on #18, #19, #20 … and via that vital word of mouth/mouse. (And what holds for hotels holds, well, universally.)(And of course, anticipating my coming, intense riff on people [REALLY] first, this elevates enormously the attention, love, and care we should shower upon our cadre of shower-curtain-tuckers!)(NOTE: I thrive on tailoring my presentations. With one exception. The tucked-in shower curtain has come 1st in every presentation I’ve given in the last half dozen years!)

6. “COSTCO FIGURED OUT THE BIG,SIMPLE THINGS AND EXECUTEDWITH TOTAL FANATICISM.”—Charles Munger, Berkshire Hathaway

7. As so many have said before … there’s nothing more difficult than keeping it simple, especially when a company reaches critial (bureaucratic) mass. It requires constant, proactive vigilance to keep the fangs of complexification from sinking into the veins of the organization.(Costco has in the main pulled off growth without loss of focus. BRAVO.)

8. “EXECUTIONIS THEJOBOF THE BUSINESS LEADER.” —Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan/Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done

9. Larry Bossidy, former GE vice-chairman and then CEO of Allied, may have written the 1st book with the simple title … EXECUTION.Why 10,000 books on accounting or marketing … and ONE on EXECUTION?God alone knows.I surely don’t.The point of the previous slide, from Execution: “Execution” isn’t “the grunt work” to be overseen by others—a “culture of execution-accountability” starts at the tippy top, and must be the relentless, visible concern of the CEO and her/his top lieutenants.(FYI: Bossidy’s book is superb! )

10. “EXECUTION ISSTRATEGY.”—Fred Malek

11. Fred, a very successful entrepreneur also committed to public service, was my boss at the White House/OMB in 1973-74. He was an execution “nut”—and passed his fiery passion along to me and many others.

12. “Amateurs talk about strategy. Professionals talk about logistics.” —General Omar Bradley, commander of American troops/D-Day

13. Amen!

14. THE IRON LAW OF EXECUTION When you talk all the time about execution, it’s likely to happen. When you don’t, it doesn’t. Q: “Could it be this simple?” A: “To a significant degree, yes.”

15. Q: “Could it be this simple?” A: “To a significant degree, yes.” This in fact translates into a practical action item; and starts … today. Monitor and assess your conversations and meetings: Is the execution/implementation/who-what-when- next milestones discussion front and center and dominant and committed to paper and re-iterated more or less immediately in followup written communications?

16. Tom Peters’ The Excellence Dividend: Meeting the Tech Tide With Work That Wows and Jobs That Last Derived from: Columbus 2020/12 April 2018 (ANNOTATED)

18. Given/Axiomatic …THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR NOT MAKING ANY ORGANIZATION OF ANY SIZE IN ANY BUSINESS A GREATPLACETOWORKEVERY LEADER HAS A MORAL OBLIGATION CIRCA 2018 TO DEVELOP PEOPLE SO THAT WHEN THEY LEAVE THEY ARE BETTER PREPARED FOR TOMORROW THAN THEY WERE WHEN THEY ARRIVED.

19. Note: WHILE I'VE BEEN ON BOOK TOUR--MOSTLY PODCASTS--I'VE BEEN ASKED OVER AND OVER TO EXPLAIN MY “OBSESSION” WITH THE "PEOPLE STUFF." I USUALLY ANSWER, SNIPPILY, "WELL WHAT THE HELL ELSE IS THERE? ORGANIZATIONS, NO MATTER HOW MUCH TECHNOLOGY THEY USE, ARE NO MORE AND NO LESS THAN 'PEOPLE SERVING PEOPLE.’ AND AS A LEADER, YOUR JOB IS: SERVE THE PEOPLE WHO SERVE THE PEOPLE. (ONE LAST THING: THE PEOPLE WE SERVE ARE OUR CUSTOMERS AND OUR COMMUNITIES.)

20. Sir Duffield Upends the Establishment* (*May the Costslashingaddicts Roast in Hell!)

21. Commerce Bank/Metro Bank:“We want them in our stores.”7X. 7:30A-8:00P. Fri/12A.7:30AM = 7:15AM.8:00PM = 8:15PM.Source: Vernon Hill, Fans! Not Customers: How to Create Growth Companies in a No Growth World

22. Most banks are closing retail branches and dumping thousands on the street in an effort to pursue efficiencies to the last penny. But Commerce Bank/Metro Bank wants customers IN the “stores,” as they call branches, where founder Vernon Hill and his peppy crew can “Wow” them and turn them into “Fans.”One helpful device: Long/longer/longest hours!

23. “YESBANK”:“When we had a processing problem with MasterCard, it came to our attention that a customer couldn’t pay for their airline flights. A Metro Bank team member stepped in.SHE PUT THE CUSTOMER’S FLIGHTS ON HER PERSONAL CREDIT CARD SO THAT THE CUSTOMER COULD STILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF A [time-sensitive]GOOD DEAL, and later—with their permission, of course— transferred the money from their account.” Source: Fans! Not Customers. How to Create Growth Companies in a No Growth World, Vernon Hill

24. “Yesbank” defined!

25. 2,0000,000 (+17,000!)

26. Commerce/Metro is dog friendly to the hilt. Here I am with founder Vernon Hill and the bank’s mascot—“Sir Duffield.” (He was “Duffy” in the USA.) The annual report sometime back offered up the 2,000,000 statistic—the dog biscuit giveaway count that year.As to the 17,000 … well that’s the number of jobs Commerce/Metro has created!(FYI: Commerce was the U.S. incarnation of the bank. Hill sold the customer-friendly outfit to TD Bank for $8.6 billion. He subsequently opened Metro in the UK and is repeating his U.S. success.)

27. The Commerce Bank/Metro Bank Model“COST CUTTING IS A DEATH SPIRAL.OUR WHOLE STORY IS GROWING REVENUE.”“ARE YOU GOING TO COSTCUT YOUR WAY TO PROSPERITY?or …ARE YOU GOING TO SPEND YOUR WAY TO PROSPERITY?” “OVER-INVEST IN OUR PEOPLE, OVER-INVEST IN OUR FACILITIES.” Source: Source: Source: Vernon Hill, Fans! Not customers. How to Create Growth companies in a No Growth World

28. This slide captures the contrarian Commerce Bank/Metro Bank philosophy—I make this philosophy/credo/strategy a centerpiece of The Excellence Dividend, introducing it in the Preface.Standing out via turned on people in colorful, welcoming facilities who convert customers into “Fans” with the “YESBANK” approach at Commerce/Metro tops the breathless pursuit of the last ounce of efficiency—it is indeed a contrarian message circa 2018. (And a message I’m pushing with every ounce of energy I possess! And relevant to every nook and every cranny of the economy.)

29. The Excellence Dividend Commerce-Metro Bank:The human touch can prevail circa 2018

30. Commerce Bank/Metro Bank have flown in the face of conventional wisdom—and pulled off an incredible victory over establishment thinking.Commerce/Metro have availed themselves of the best technology—but have used it to enhance a personalized/humanized customer experience rather than reduce such an experience to a mechanical act. (Recall, for example, the YESBANK! Credit card experience.)I have chosen Commerce/Metro as “lead story” in The Excellence Dividend because it illustrates what is possible—in a way that increases employment in a high-tech industry and creates lasting “fans” in an arena (retail small-business banking) where such an act would be considered by many/most to be nigh on impossible.(I firmly believe that the Commerce/Metro approach is widely applicably—very widely!)

31. Michael Raynor and Mumtaz Ahmed: THE THREE RULES: How Exceptional Companies Think* … 1. Better before cheaper. 2. Revenue before cost. 3. There are no other rules. (*5-year study/Deloitte: From a database of over 25,000 companies from hundreds of industries covering 45 years, the authors uncovered 344 companies that qualified as statistically “exceptional,” and finally winnowed the list to 27 firms, including Thomas & Betts, Weis Markets, Hartland Express.) Jeff Colvin, Fortune: “The Economy Is Scary … But Smart Companies Can Dominate” … They manage for value—not for EPS. They get radically customer-centric. They keep developing humancapital. (Colvin covers management for Fortune.)

32. Powerful confirmation of Mr. Hill’s Commerce/ Metro mantra— the 5-year Deloitte study is remarkable for its thoroughness.

33. “Mr. Foster and his McKinsey colleagues collected detailed performance data stretching back 40 years for1,000U.S. companies.They found thatNONEofthe long-term survivors managed to outperform the market. Worse, the longer companies had been in the database, the worse they did.” —Financial Times

34. The Giants underperform.The Giants treat efficiency as Holy Writ. The Giants cut jobs. (There is a ton of evidence to support this hypothesis in the book.)

35. Vernon HillCommerce Bank/Metro BankLarry JaneskyBasement Systems Inc.Jim PenmanJim’s GroupJungle Jim BoniminioJungle Jim’s International Market

36. I … L-O-V-E SMEs. They create the jobs and are responsible for most innovation. My book’s dedication includes four of my favorite SME chiefs, starting with Vernon Hill.Next up …

37. *Basement Systems Inc. (Larry Janesky/Seymour CT)*Dry Basement Science (100,000++ copies!)*1990: $0; 2003: $13M; 2017:$120,000,000

38. I especially love SMEs in industries others most likely would call boring. Drying out basements? Well, that gives you a great storage space or extra bedroom or family room. (Which is a pretty big deal.) And it’s given Larry Janesky a $120 million business. “All things basementy” he calls it.

39. Jim’s Mowing Canada Jim’s Mowing UK Jim’s Antennas Jim’s Bookkeeping Jim’s Building Maintenance Jim’s Carpet Cleaning Jim’s Car Cleaning Jim’s Computer Services Jim’s Dog Wash Jim’s Driving School Jim’s Fencing Jim’s Floors Jim’s Painting Jim’s Paving Jim’s Pergolas [gazebos] Jim’s Pool Care Jim’s Pressure Cleaning Jim’s Roofing Jim’s Security Doors Jim’s Trees Jim’s Window Cleaning Jim’s Windscreens Source: Jim Penman, What Will They Franchise Next? The Story of Jim’s Group

40. Jim Penman thrives on routine-ish tasks that others don’t like to do. He started by mowing lawns as a grad student—and subsequently has birthed about 3,000 franchises along the way doing any damn thing you can imagine and then some.Maybe boring to you—but Jim’s Group is as good (and exciting) as it gets for me!

41. Retail Superstars: Inside the 25 Best Independent Stores in America—by George Whalin

42. The title speaks for itself. Folks who’ve stayed independent, taken on the “big box” crowd—and succeeded almost beyond measure.(God alone knows how many copies of this book I’ve given away. 50? 100? More?? It consists of 25 case studies of imagination on steroids—I give it to accountants and HR folks as much as to SME owners.)

43. JUNGLE JIM’S INTERNATIONAL MARKET, FAIRFIELD, OH “An adventure in ‘shoppertainment,’ begins in the parking lot and goes on to 1,600 cheeses and 1,400 varieties of hot sauce—not to mention 12,000 wines priced from $8-$8,000 a bottle; all this is brought to you by 4,000 vendors. Customers from every corner of the globe.”

44. “Jungle Jim” Boniminio.

45. BETTTER THAN A BALDRIGE! JUNGLE JIM’S/“Shoppertainment”: “The props can also be a bit bizarre. Two men’s and women’s Porta Potties situated in the front area of the store look as though they belong on a construction site rather than in a food store. But they are false fronts, and once through the doors, customers find themselves in beautifully appointed restrooms. These creative facilities were recognized as … ‘AMERICA’S BEST RESTROOM’ … in the Sixth Annual competition sponsored by Cintas Corporation, a supplier of restroom cleaning and hygiene products. …” From: George Whalin, Retail Superstars: Inside the 25 Best Independent Stores in America

46. I am NOT kidding. There is no award I’d rather win than “America’s Best Restroom.” It amounts to a gigantic billboard that shouts:WE CARE!

47. “BE THE BEST. IT’S THE ONLY MARKET THAT’S NOT CROWDED.” From: Retail Superstars: Inside the 25 Best Independent Stores in America, George Whalin

48. SME territory, businesses from 4 people to 444 people or more. Anywhere.Any business.(Per me: the more boring the better. [More or less.])

49. Small Giants: Companies that Chose to Be Great Instead of Big (Bo Burlingham) “THEY CULTIVATED EXCEPTIONALLY INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS WITH CUSTOMERS AND SUPPLIERS, based on personal contact, one-on-one interaction, and mutual commitment to delivering on promises. “EACH COMPANY HAD AN EXTRAORDINARILY INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LOCAL CITY, TOWN, OR COUNTYin which it did business —a relationship that went well beyond the usual concept of `giving back.’ “The companies had what struck me as UNUSUALLY INTIMATE WORKPLACES. “I noticed thePASSIONthat the leaders brought to what the company did.THEY LOVED THE SUBJECT MATTER, whether it be music, safety lighting, food, special effects, constant torque hinges, beer, records storage, construction, dining, or fashion.”

50. More confirmation of SME magic in Bo Burlingham’s peerless book. Note the powerful subtitle: Companies That Chose to Be Great Instead of Big