August 18, 2019

Tom Peters on Excellence, Soft Skills, and Leadership – DisrupTV

The definition of excellence – someone who continues to educate themselves and prepares for a changing future
Project Oxygen was a study that looked at years of data to conclude what makes a manager great at Google
- Having STEM expertise ranked as the 8th most important thing
- The top 6 skills were all soft skills: Being a good coach, communicating well, listening well, possessing insight into other points of view, having empathy, and being supporting towards others
There are 220 workdays a year – that means there are 220 lunch opportunities to network or build relationships with other employees
“Don’t hire the jerks”
- One rotten apple can destroy the whole culture of a team or even a company
“When you’re 68, the only thing you will remember is the people that you helped grow”
- “There’s never been a tombstone with net worth on it”

Tom Peters (@Tom_Peters) is an American writer who’s written 18 books on business and management practices, and is best known for In Search of Excellence

“Excellence is always a good starting point”
- If a 7-person team can be excellent, why can’t a 2,000 person finance department also be excellent?
Big corporations do two things: Maximize efficiency and destroy jobs
- Tom loves entrepreneurs because they actually create jobs and hire people
Tom recalls meeting a refrigerator maintenance man who ran a 6-person team who spent his own money to go to a workshop about the internet of things and connected devices
- This is excellence – someone who continues to educate themselves and prepares for a changing future

Project Oxygen was a study that looked at years of data to conclude what makes a manager great at Google
- Having STEM expertise ranked as the 8th most important thing
- The top 6 skills were all soft skills
  - Being a good coach, communicating well, listening well, possessing insight into other points of view, having empathy, and being supporting towards others
  - Tom adds – Hard skills are soft, and soft skills are hard
Another Google study showed that B-player teams significantly outperform A-player teams when it comes to the creativity of products
- One contributing factor to this is that B-players spend more time talking and listening to one another

“Women buy 80% of consumer goods”
- Women also make 50% of all professional purchases
  - A woman can be putting together a $10 million RFP (request for purchase) one minute and making vacation plans for her family the next
Women often make better managers because they are better listeners
The world needs more female coders to counteract the bro-culture in Silicon Valley

There are 220 workdays a year – that means there are 220 lunch opportunities to network or build relationships with other employees
- By building a personal relationship with someone, your professional relationship will also strengthen and both bonds will grow
“Don’t hire the jerks”
- One rotten apple can destroy the whole culture of a team or even a company
If you give a talk with 2,000 people, don’t expect everyone to be wowed. If even a handful of people come up to you after the talk to thank you for your insights, that’s a win.
- Even after hundreds of talks, Tom still gets nervous before each one
One study found that a teacher’s teaching style wasn’t as important as their passion for the subject
- Lesson: You have to be deeply passionate about your message if you want others to absorb it
One of the most important things you can do as a leader is to have your employees give a shit about your company
“When you’re 68, the only thing you will remember is the people that you helped grow”
- There’s never been a tombstone with net worth on it”
  - Things that matter: Who you helped and who you supported
Management gurus need to help more SMEs (small-medium enterprises) because these are the companies that create jobs, not Fortune 500 companies