Teri Shusterman and I went to the closing keynote presented by Tom Peters.  Tom was energetic, animated and articulate. Tom opened with “Just another day in the building industry; oil over $134 /barrel, stock market down 200 and fires in the hills.”

Peters spoke about by putting the passion back into the workplace, by replacing apathy and whining with enthusiasm and commitment, and most importantly, by reinvigorating employees. Innovation is key in uncertain times.  Now is the time to create a "culture of innovation," and becoming a leader of change, not a follower of the same old, tired traditions.

Here are a few of his memorable (for me) statements:

Big mergers are stupid. Big mergers spring naturally from big egos.

Attitude – (his) best 2 years were in Viet Nam; with Navy Seabees; it was a phenomenal environment to be tested.

It doesn’t get any better than this US Grant, Abraham Lincoln and John C Fremont were born for moments like this.  There is no such thing as good-great leader who has not confronted, battered and stumbled through to overcome a catastrophe.

Decency must not be sacrificed in tough time.  Don’t be brutal.  Decency is more important than ever in tough times.

Put the customer second.  Put the person taking care of the customer first.

Painful decisions must be made –make them as gracefully as possible; doing so is the best investment in long term possible.  Your reputation will be shaped by the long memory of how behaved when the fan was covered with yogurt.

Tough decisions mostly affect other people’s families.  You must still make the tough decisions, but the minute they cease to be agonizing resign, you’re not worth saving, you’ve become a mini-Mozilla
Grace.

Character rules in adverse times.

Now is when investment in relationships pays off –and now is when you pay the full price of not having invested in relationships when  times were good and you didn’t “need to be nice” to others.

Keep good people – if it kills you.

Smaller but really good is a better place to be. (So you’ll be ready to fully participate in the next round of folly when the next Moment of Madness arrives.)

You will be remembered in the long haul for the quality of your work, not the quantity of your work – the quantity part is just your defective ego talking.

Take advantage of tough time to realize that in the long you will be remembered for your humanity and not your net worth – think Tim Russert.  Beloved by the left and the right by his integrity. Every year you should go to one funeral of someone you don’t know.  Bias about us professionally, blend be a decent human being.

If no Excellence, what?  What’s the frigging point, Blind luck? 

The key to a join a command is to make friends.

“Allied commands depend on mutual confidence and this confidence is gained, above all through the development of friendships.” Gen D.D. Eisenhower.

Perhaps his most outstanding ability (at West Point) was the ease with which he made friends and earned the trust of fellow cadets who came from widely varied backgrounds; it was a  quality that would pay great dividends during his future coalition command.

This year’s PCBC was by far one of the most worthwhile, fun, inspiring and educational, one I will long remember.

Barbara Rossoll
V.P. Sales and Marketing
New Homes Directory.com