Mind of Jacka: On These Shoulders, We Stand

Last month, Tom Peters announced his retirement.

If you know who that is, then you know it is the end of a career that has impacted the way we all do business.

If you don’t know who that is, then it’s time to do some catching up. You need to do more reading. You need to go exploring. You need to pick up a Tom Peters book and look at the way things have changed and are changing.

 “If you know where you’re heading, you’re not innovating. If things work out as planned, you weren’t chasing anything interesting.”

I was first introduced to Tom Peters by a friend and co-worker, Jeff Hadley. It was Jeff who set me off on the path of recognizing that business, in general, and internal audit, specifically, had a lot more to offer than most of us were allowing. The book was Liberation Management and I still have a raggedly reread and dog-eared copy within easy reach. (It is right…over…here.) Reading Tom Peters led me to discover Peter Drucker (who I should have known from my management classes, but…), Abraham Maslow (the book Maslow on Management containing more dog-eared pages than not), W. Edward Deming, and Dale Carnegie (yes, that Carnegie). And then I discovered John Kotter, Anthony Ulwick, Craig Hickman, Clay Carr, Michael Hammer, Karl Albrecht, and Robert Kaplan (of balanced scorecard fame). And then I learned about (and learned from) Daniel Goleman, and Daniel Kahneman, and Seth Godin, and Austin Kleon, and Hugh MacCleod, and Michael Lewis and…

“We are shaped by the people we cavort with and the situations we are immersed in — and if those situations do not constantly challenge what we think we know, we haven’t a snowball’s chance in hell of regularly innovating.”

This list is not comprehensive — it includes just the names who come easily to mind as having an influence on whatever it is I’ve become. And you would not go wrong reading and learning from any of the above. These are the people who have formed the way businesses run, the way we think about business, and how we think. And most of them are still out there changing our worlds.

But here’s the rub. Yes, some of the ones I’ve listed may not be as well-known as others. But names like Drucker, Deming, and Peters are ones that anyone who ever attended business school, let alone been involved in business, should know. And they are names every internal auditor — no matter their age — should recognize.

However, it happened again. I was doing a presentation and, as is often my wont, I quoted Tom Peters. I then did something I don’t often do, probably because I don’t like the results. I asked how many people knew who Tom Peters was. I may as well have asked who won the Battle of Hastings. (I think it was Stanford — and they beat the 5-point spread.)

 “All motivation is self-motivation. The best way to induce that is to make people feel good about themselves. Appreciation power trumps all.”

I never chastise in these situations. Just as I am not going to chastise any of you here who do not know of whom I speak. Rather, I like to think that internal auditors are a curious lot who, when confronted with something interesting or different, start trying to learn. And so, I said to them (as I say to you) “Go find him, read his books, and become enlightened.”

Sometimes it seems such admonitions are akin to shouting in the wind. But I put the challenge out there because we cannot understand where we are without understanding how we have arrived here. And we cannot understand how we arrived unless we know those who have come before, those who have ushered in innovation, those who are the giants upon whose shoulders we stand. (Quick question: Do you know who Larry Sawyer is? I’ll leave that one for your personal contemplation.)

“The next thing you do today will be the most important thing on your agenda, because, after all, you’re doing it next. Well, perhaps it will be the most urgent thing. Or the easiest. In fact, the most important thing probably isn’t on your agenda.”

So, let’s say I’ve piqued your curiosity. Where, then, should you take your first dip into the Tom Peters oeuvre? I suggest his second-to-last book, “The Excellence Dividend.” (And, you guessed it, my copy is thoroughly dog-eared.) I could wax eloquent about it, but I’ll simply say, whether you know Tom Peters or not, read this book. It will change the way you look at work, your job, and leadership.

“At some point today (today!), despite ‘overload’…just say, ‘what the hell’ and go for it in some way or other. (Likewise, worry if it’s been more than a week or so since you said to yourself, ‘what the hell.’)”

And what about these quotes you’ve seen scattered throughout this post? Well, you guessed it, they are all from Tom Peters. And, I hope, they show the breadth and depth of the knowledge he imparts.

With that, one last quote.

“Excellence is not an option. Excellence is the next five minutes.”

What are you doing with your next five minutes (besides reading a Tom Peters book)?