Scaling Up Magazine Scaling Up Magazine April 2018 | Page 17

SPRING 2018
WITH ARTIFICIAL intelligence
(AI) replacing humans in
unprecedented ways, Tom Peters predicts
a coming “employment apocalypse.” As
he notes, an Oxford study shows that 50
percent of American white-collar jobs
could disappear over the next 10 to 15
years. “It may be an extreme prediction,
but if it happens, the effect will be
transformational,” says Peters, co-author,
with Robert H. Waterman, Jr., of the
best-seller In Search of Excellence.
In his upcoming book, The Excellence
Dividend, Peters offers ideas on how
both companies and individuals can stay
relevant. Although the business world
has changed drastically in the 36 years
since In Search of Excellence came out
in 1982, the path to business distinction
in many ways remains the same.
“If you spend the $17 to purchase
The Excellence Dividend, I guarantee
you there will be nothing really
new in it,” he jokes. “The principal
messages of focusing on people,
paying attention to your customers,
and managing by wandering around
[which Peters terms MBWA] is still
not being done by most companies.”
The solution to surviving this fallout
from AI is to focus on unique
human attributes, which are likely to
remain beyond the scope of artificial
intelligence, Peters suggests. “The things
I talked about over the last few decades
were always good things to do in order
to stand out from the competition, but
now they are becoming basic survival
tactics,” he says. “You can’t in any
way, shape or form get away with what
you could 20 or 25 years ago. The heat
has been turned up dramatically.”
In The Excellence Dividend, Peters
examines the success of Vernon Hill,
founder of Commerce Bank in the
United States and Metro Bank in the
United Kingdom. While the recent retail
TOM PETERS
17
"THE CALL FOR CUSTOMIZED TREATMENT OF
EMPLOYEES COMES HAND-IN-HAND WITH THE
RECENT SHIFT IN THINKING THAT FAVORS LIBERAL
ARTS MAJORS—WITH THEIR CREATIVE THINKING,
WRITING AND ANALYTICAL SKILLS—OVER PURE
TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS, PETERS NOTES."
banking model has entailed closing
brick-and-mortar bank branches and
reducing staffing in favor of online
alternatives, Hill has maintained a
contrarian view. Rather than specializing
in “soulless transactions,” according to
Peters’ book, he wanted to transform
“every inhuman account number into a
fully engaged member of our family.”
Hill accomplished this feat by taking
a completely unorthodox approach in
everything he did—from remaining
open seven days a week to instituting
a dog-friendly policy to teaching
employees to never say “no.” His
methods worked, with thousands coming
out for splashy, new branch openings and
the growth of Metro Bank’s customer
base to more than one million accounts.
The bank’s attention to customer
service—delivering banking in fun
and unconventional ways—not only
benefited the bank but also helped create
thousands of well-paying jobs. That
accomplishment is even more impressive
given that the banking industry is in
the top decile of software automation.
Peters refers to this type of outcome as
an “Excellence Dividend,” essentially
saying that businesses that commit
to excellence in both their internal
and external dealings are likely to
be the survivors. “They are better
and more-spirited places to work,”
says Peters. “Their employees are
engaged and growing and preparing
for tomorrow. Their customers are
happier and inclined to spread tales
of their excellence far and wide.”
Even their communities and vendors
are rooting for them. If each of these
small companies is able to add one
or two employees to the payroll due
to their reputation for excellence,
millions of jobs could be added
to the economy, Peters notes.
One of the keys to creating the
type of excellence Hill achieved is
continual training, which can take the
form of online or in-person courses,
professional training classes or even just
relevant business reading, Peters says.
Unfortunately, business owners still
treat training as an expense rather than
an investment in their employees—an
investment that can lead to greater job
satisfaction, enhanced productivity,
better pay and increased loyalty.
“There is a national imperative, whether
you have six employees or 666, to
IT'S ONLY A DRY
ensure that an employee who leaves
your
organization
not only better at
PIECE
OF is BREAD
doing his or her job but also is better
prepared
be a SOME
citizen of this
YET to TO
IT topsy-
turvy world than they were before
MEANS
SO says
MUCH.
walking
in the door,”
Peters. “You
have a moral obligation to help them
become well-equipped for tomorrow.”
Peters describes a recent scenario in
which, in the midst of a “100-year storm”
in his home state of Massachusetts, he
was forced to summon a refrigerator
repairman to fix a broken compressor.
Not only did the repairman come out
during severe weather, but he revealed
that he had just completed a three-week
training course on artificial intelligence