Tom's in Johannesburg, South Africa, doing a seminar for Global Leaders. If you attended the event, please leave us a comment to let everyone know how it went. If you would like to get the slides, you can download the PPT file with this link.
The deal is, we've been told, that CEO pay is so high because demand for the 9-sigma talent of these Water Walking Wonders, so very beyond your and my shriveled imaginations, wildly exceeds supply when it comes to the 500 jobs as Fortune 500 CEOs. I contend that there are exactly 500 Guys (almost all guys, hence I can safely use the term) who believe that line of reasoning—namely the 500 CEOs of the F500 companies.
Got an email through the website pointing me to this blog at ideasonideas.com that attacked an ad agency exec for being clueless about banner ads. I had to admit that if not clicking on banner ads makes one clueless, then I must be counted among the clueless as well.
But, before my sentencing ...
We have news to share about what our esteemed colleagues at 800-CEO-READ have been up to lately. We mention 8CR now and then as they're a little known, but phenomenal, resource for business authors and the people who love them. One of the areas where they excel is keeping us informed about what thought leaders are saying.
When Michael Hiam was growing up, he had a family friend named Sam Adams, who had a fascinating story to tell. Sam never got the story told, but Michael did it for him in his first book, Who the Hell Are We Fighting?
An article in the February 18th AdAge.com newsletter, titled "Snide Advertising is Bad for Business and Society," decries the trend toward "sarcastic" and "malicious" advertising.
Tom Peters believes that the term "excellence" requires wholesale redefinition, if the word is to be applicable to businesses in the future. "Perhaps, excellent firms don't believe in excellence—only in constant improvement and constant change," says Tom. "That is, excellent firms of tomorrow will cherish impermanence—and thrive on chaos." This is a long way from the "7S" model set out in Tom's seminal book, In Search of Excellence.
Remember that television commercial that asked "Where's the Beef?" Last week, I read a great article from the Gallup Management Journal about Toyota Financial Services and their transformation. One question that came to me was "Where's the WOW?"