All you need to know...[about business]

The energetic 60-plus leader (sporting a pacemaker these days) was the only speaker to climb down off the stage and mingle with the audience, whom he kept riveted for two hours plus at each of his presentations.

Peters started off life as an engineer and after overcoming that, said he just wanted to talk about some stuff... but of course in his own indominitable manner, with electrifying delivery of nuggets of wisdom, and quotes and homilies from leaders he admires. Peters, who uses colour carefully in his slides, pink for passion, black and white for, well exactly that, abhors graphs, MBAs, marketers and the word motivation.

...Regarding MBAs: "Why would anyone want to be an administrator? We Americans have worked so hard to make business complicated. 98% of what you need to know about business is this: Howard Schultz, who heads up Starbucks, visits 25 stores (out of 11 000 globally) a week, religiously. Fundamentally: you make your money one cup of coffee at a time sold by one individual to a single customer."

In fact, Peters prefers his version of the MBA - the MBWA (Management By Wandering Around), ensuring that managers and leaders stay in touch with their teams.

...Regarding graphs: "You won't see a single graph in my presentation - people who use graphs suffer from a lack of imagination. If you can't describe it in plain language, you've got a problem."

There were nervous titters from the audience which was no doubt littered with a few dozen MBA graduates who use graphs a lot.

...Regarding marketers: "I have a problem with the word 'Marketer' - it distances you from the marketplace. There are no more business school courses any longer on SALES! Whatever you are peddling, you are a salesman and a huckster."

...And on motivation:"Never ever ever ever ever utter the world MOTIVATION again. People come motivated, you try not to demotivate them! Motivate says 'I'm going to fix you!' That's what is implied and it's crap!"

Astounding tales

But he loves stories.

"Man doth not reason in charts and graphs," quoteth the ebullient Peters, "the best story wins."

"Create a cause, not a business." - Gary Hamel

"People get up in the morning because they think they are doing something cool. You don't get up in the morning to do 'continuous improvement'. When you look at the Nike's, Apples and Starbucks of this world... being part of the consumer revolution, is what got people out of bed."

"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 (2005).

"Management has a lot to do with answers. Leadership is a function of questions. And the first question for a leader always is: 'Who do we intend to be?' Not 'What are we going to do?' but 'Who do we intend to be?'" - Max De Pree, Herman Miller

"Karl Weick said: 'The three most important words in a leader's language is, I don't know'," quotes Peters. His take on this is:

1. We're all charlatans - none of us know what is coming up. The challenge to all of us is to make it up as you go along!
2. Second reason is 'I don't know', is because that's why I hired you! The coach and the truly fabulous player invent spaces they've never been before.

"Leaders need to allow groups to discover their own greatness. That is the leader's Mount Everest: allow your employees to do their absolute best... discover their greatness...

"The reason I start a project is to change the world in my context, right?" asks Peters.

"I do not understand the human being that gets up in the morning without the aspiration to change the world... achieve greatness. You spend more time at work than at home, so if you don't, then you're throwing your life away.

"To change minds effectively, leaders make particular use of two tools: the stories that they tell and the lives that they lead." - Howard Gardner, Changing Minds

"Anyone who thinks this is silly language is a very silly human being," Peters says firmly.

His favourite quote, among the hundreds he shares in his presentations, is: "It's always showtime".

"The big brands of the world are putting on a show. They are trying to change things for their clients in a way that is positive."

At the end of the day, the brand is the talent and you've got to exploit it any which way you want, says Peters.

People I

"The leader is not supposed to be the best strategist, the leader is supposed to hire the best strategist. When you get into the business of management, it's one of the three most fundamental transformations of your life - the other two being marriage and parenthood."

"Are there enough weird people in the lab these days?" - pharmaceutical house to a lab director recently

Peters says if these are strange times, you need strange people! "Smart people are not terribly interesting; they spend their time being smart."

In his opinion, HR should be on par with finance and marketing in corporates. "This is the obvious, but we forget," he says.

Decency

"Business schools don't teach leadership. They can teach you how to cook the books..." says Peters with a dig at Enron. "Anyone with an MBA degree can mix the numbers. The so-called 'soft' stuff is what is hard to do."

The "soft stuff" Peters is referring to is people, grace, benevolence. He believes in putting employees first, acting with respect and grace in the workplace, staying true to values of integrity and decency.

Commonplace good values - but mostly left out in business.

"Grace = elegance, charm, loveliness, poetry in motion, benevolence, benefaction, compassion, kindliness... HERE IS MY POINT! WHY AREN'T WORDS LIKE THIS USED IN SHAREHOLDERS REPORTS?!" he exclaims.

Saying 'thank you' is another skill he says should be taught in MBA programmes. Recognition and thanks are basic human needs, and the needs that go most unfulfilled, says Peters.

Peters explains at some point in his lengthy presentations that he is still doing this because he can make a difference, because he can drive change. He wants business to take on a more humane face, to be kind.

And that kindness starts at home - he didn't let delegates go until he had driven home all his points.

"If your kid had 11 football games this year and you missed nine of them, you are a jerk! Kids want quantity - quality is a misnomer!"

He ended with one of my favourite quotes by Gandhi: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

Peters also invites anyone to steal his slides at www.tompeters.com. "Use them, steal from me, I'm in the business of selling ideas, so rip me off!"