A one-pager giv­ing top pri­or­i­ties in 18 cat­e­gories for your path to Excellence.

The nub of lead­er­ship is “helping/inviting oth­ers to ‘Dis­cov­er Their Greatness.’ ”

A quick self-assess­ment test to rate your own lead­er­ship skills.

What makes Pro­fes­sion­al Ser­vice Firms great: integri­ty, lis­ten­ing, and more.

Tom’s Top 41 Quotes address atti­tude above all else as a key to Excellence.

The sec­ond half of the 100 Suc­cess Tips. Also at ChangeTh­is.

The One Thing You Need to Know: The good man­ag­er uses what’s unique about each employee.

Two slides. Open the file to dis­cov­er what PXX means!

Inspired by The Black Swan, Tom describes why you should hire resilient people.

Tom repeats him­self on the sub­ject of say­ing “thanks.”

Tom says you’ll be amazed by what you learn if you’re will­ing to do one very sim­ple thing: Shut up.

When you inter­act with any­one out­side your orga­ni­za­tion, you are in sales.

Tom expounds on one of his favorite basics from In Search of Excel­lence.

In this video, Tom sim­pli­fies the Man­ag­ing By Wan­der­ing Around strategy.

Since only your lega­cy lives on, you must con­scious­ly build it from day one.

A bare-bones out­line of busi­ness wisdom.

A lead­er’s prin­ci­pal oblig­a­tion = Devel­op the skillset of every­one in the organization.

42 points of ref­er­ence for mea­sur­ing your project lead­er­ship skills.

What mes­sage would you put on the side of a cof­fee cup?

Respect, auton­o­my, and sky-high aspi­ra­tions are the attrib­ut­es that will bring you to success.

What Tom gleaned from the clas­sic How to Win Friends and Influ­ence Peo­ple.

Tom speaks on cre­ativ­i­ty. Quot­ing Richard Flori­da, he calls it “the ulti­mate eco­nom­ic resource.”

Twen­ty hard truths about pit­falls and oppor­tu­ni­ties. Also at ChangeTh­is.

Tom says, “Recog­ni­tion, appre­ci­a­tion, noth­ing gets you further.”

Tom explains why who sits next to whom in your office can make a huge difference.

In this video, long­time fan Dave Wheel­er asks how Tom came to focus on front­line managers.

Tom’s answer to: “How do you tai­lor your speech to a dif­fer­ent audi­ence every time?”

Tom replies to a ques­tion sub­mit­ted by web­site vis­i­tor Kei­th Clark about find­ing inspi­ra­tion on dif­fi­cult days.

Tom revis­its the first of the basics from In Search of Excel­lence.

Tom says you’ll be amazed at the pay­off when you con­cen­trate on the customer.

From Coyle’s The Tal­ent Code: You’re more effec­tive when engaged in your work.

An exam­ple of what might hap­pen if you treat your employ­ees like customers.

Improv­ing the appear­ance of a biz is wast­ed if work­er atti­tude isn’t upgrad­ed too.

Howard Schultz, Herb Kelle­her, Con­rad Hilton: Lessons for busi­ness suc­cess.Pow­er­Point, also.

Tom explores the mes­sage from Cool Friend Matthew Kel­ly’s book, The Dream Man­ag­er.

Tom says that if you want to get any­thing done—then you are in sales.

Tom’s col­lec­tion of wis­dom from H‑named sources now totals 11.

Hap­py employ­ees mean hap­py cus­tomers. Video, also.

In this PDF, Tom fore­sees (TOTAL) Vic­to­ry of the Pro­fes­sion­al Ser­vice Firm.

Get­ting WEIRD and stay­ing WEIRD: Cre­at­ing & Main­tain­ing an HSDE.

Tom says, “PAY Incred­i­bly Well. Pur­sue DIVERSITY. Seek out THE STRANGE ONES.”

Sub­ti­tle: “The New Econ­o­my’s Hid­den Imper­a­tive.” Writ­ten 15 years ago, still relevant.

Prove your the­o­ry far from the top brass before you pro­pose it to them.

Per Tom, one of the most impor­tant prac­tices you can adopt is the apology.

Tom’s les­son from Con­rad Hilton is to be sure the lit­tle things get done.

Tom’s opin­ion of big com­pa­nies’ mergers.

You must hang out with inter­est­ing peo­ple who pull you into the future.

Tom intro­duces his list of mis­judg­ments made by CEOs.

An out­line for dif­fer­en­ti­at­ing your business.

Tom puts some new empha­sis on his bias for action.

Includes: Imple­men­ta­tion, Cor­po­rate Cul­ture, Man­ag­ing By Wan­der­ing Around, Design.

Agili­ty is the key.

Sev­en essen­tial pre­sen­ta­tions, stitched together.

Chap­ter 4, The Works. Increase your ROI- in relationships.

Appen­dix 3, Excel­lence. NO EXCUSES! Tom’s fore­word to Rich Karl­gaard’s book.

Chap­ter 14, The Works. You MUST take charge of your own career.

Chap­ter 8, The Works. Peo­ple devel­op­ment is HYPER-IMPORTANT.

There is no Excel­lence with­out cross-func­tion­al Excellence.

Chap­ter 16, The Works. Improve lead­er­ship effectiveness.

Use your time at work to “max­i­mize human free­dom to cre­ate and serve.”

Lis­ten, solic­it work­ers’ opin­ions, and make respect your default attitude.

Tom says: love the mess, work in Tech­ni­col­or, embrace deviance, etc.

Orga­ni­za­tions exist to serve. Peri­od. Lead­ers live to serve. Period.

DID WE MAKE A DRAMATIC, LASTING, GAME-CHANGING DIFFERENCE?

Thoughts on great sales­peo­ple. Longer: “Excel­lence Always, Stitched.” Also at ChangeTh­is.

Every­thing Tom learned about small busi­ness in the 25 years from 1981 to 2006.

Appen­dix, The Works. Tom’s selec­tion of wis­dom from others.

Qual­i­ty is the answer to “What’s the Point?”

Includes the themes of decen­cy; curios­i­ty; action; and try, fail, try again.

The art of lis­ten­ing is fea­tured, with cour­tesy and appre­ci­a­tion as corol­lary behaviors.

Lessons from wise lead­ers with H in their names.

How to con­duct an inter­view to get the best peo­ple into your organization.

Serv­ing cus­tomers comes from serv­ing those who serve the customer.

What’s essen­tial? Show­ing up!

Tom’s thoughts on how you’ll look back on your legacy.

A baker’s dozen eter­nal ver­i­ties, such as: hire the best talent.

An ear­ly list of inno­va­tion tac­tics. There are now 121.

Tom says that cross-func­tion­al min­gling is essen­tial to success!

Most work­ers have jobs and boss­es, and their days are not all about creativity.

Tom envi­sions lead­ers in ser­vice to employ­ees … in pur­suit of profit.

Chap­ter 6, The Works. An essen­tial focus in an ever-chang­ing world of work.

Man­age­ment as alge­bra­ic func­tions, e.g., S = ƒ(…); “Suc­cess is a func­tion of …”

Focus on: cross-func­tion­al excel­lence and first-line management.

Every­one is in sales. Also at Change This.

Vis­it­ing Novosi­birsk, Siberia, in 2006 refreshed Tom’s pas­sion for Excellence.

“Tomato TomA[h]to!” A list of “They say… I say” con­trasts. Also at ChangeTh­is.

To engage your work­force, lis­ten and use four sim­ple words.

To lead is to be respon­si­ble for the growth of your fel­low humans.

Does your project team resemble—even slightly—the mar­ket it serves?

Lessons Tom gleaned from read­ing Grant by Jean Edward Smith.

Love office pol­i­tics, but don’t lose sight of the big ques­tions, like “Why am I here?”

Tom sug­gests adding how to apol­o­gize effec­tive­ly to your strate­gic strengths.

Tom avers that tak­ing con­trol of your own career is not an option.

A senior leader need not be the #1 strate­gist; he hires the #1 strategist.

Pay atten­tion to words. “If you want an ener­getic place, use ener­getic language.”

Tom declares that your lega­cy is deter­mined by the peo­ple you leave behind.

In a blog com­ment, Tom dis­cov­ered four words to use to empow­er your people.

David D’A­lessan­dro says “It’s always show time.” I.e., you lead by example.

Orga­ni­za­tions exist to serve. Also at Change This.

“The Change Tsuna­mi”: jobs; tech­nol­o­gy; glob­al­iza­tion; and war, warfight­ing & security.

Tom tells us that the sin­gle source of inno­va­tion is angry people.

Phi­los­o­phy of Dave Lin­iger (RE/MAX): Ensure the suc­cess of those who work for you.

Have you called a cus­tomer? Thanked an employ­ee? Etc.

An updat­ed “Lead­er­ship 50: All Bases,” these slides out­line lead­er­ship best practices.

Strate­gic strength comes from main­tain­ing supe­ri­or­i­ty in tal­ent and execution.

Tom’s def­i­n­i­tions of excel­lence in 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1 words.

From the book Auto­mate This: How Algo­rithms Came to Rule Our World, by Chris Steiner.

Hire for atti­tude, char­ac­ter, and proven team­work more than for skill.

Six superbly researched books attack six management/performance Foun­da­tion Myths.

Tom gives us the list of 25 truths he’s arrived at through­out his career.

If your cal­en­dar does­n’t reflect your stat­ed pri­or­i­ties, you’re lying to yourself.

Tom advis­es you to take a tem­po­rary duty assign­ment (TDY) in the finance department.

Tom pro­vides a must-read book list to help you with rela­tion­ships in business.

A slides file of excerpts from Clive Thomp­son, in the Atlantic, Oct ’13.

Sev­en slides on three essen­tial priorities.

Tom says treat inter­nal cus­tomers (work­force) bet­ter than exter­nal customers.

Tom presents an alter­na­tive to min­i­miz­ing Things Gone Wrong.

Tom presents his case for includ­ing thought­ful­ness in your vision statement.

Tom runs the num­bers on oppor­tu­ni­ties to build your net­work and solve problems.

In this video, Tom reminds us that brand­ing efforts depend on an empha­sis on the talent.

The Dif­fer­ence, a book by Scott Page, avers that diverse groups often beat experts.

Tom sug­gests you imple­ment an Inno­va­tion Equal­i­ty Day, when all depart­ments do R&D.

In this video, find an easy-to-imple­ment method to ensure inno­va­tion in your work.

Tom notes that in health­care a very lit­tle thing makes a BIG dif­fer­ence to patients.

In this video, Tom dis­cuss­es writ­ing influ­ences and pub­lic speaking.

A ques­tion from web­site vis­i­tor Jack Webb, “Why don’t big com­pa­nies innovate?”

Tom asserts that, in busi­ness, you must under­stand wom­en’s approach to relationships.

Tom’s 27 man­dates for thriv­ing in unsta­ble times. 

Don’t fear fail­ure. Do demos. Tell a sto­ry. Tom says: “Try It.”

In this 40-slide set from 2004 known as X04, Tom gives 10 points of Excellence.

Tom gives his view of the way the world of busi­ness works cir­ca 2005 and beyond.

Get lots of info in this three-in-one PowerPoint. 

A mixed bag of sub­jects & quotes from Jack Welch, Nel­son Man­dela, and Moth­er Teresa.

Tom gives his favorite lines from Steve Job­s’s 2005 Stan­ford com­mence­ment address.

“Who are we?” “What’s our sto­ry?” Every employ­ee should know the answers.

Strive for no less in your busi­ness life.

The main ideas of Tom’s book Re-imag­ine!

First there were 25 tips; then 89; then 122. Try one pre­sen­ta­tion or all three.

A list of what Tom feels should be your first priorities.

Three peo­ple whose wis­dom Tom loves! Video, also.

Find 73 of Tom’s fave tips in this Pow­er­Point, e.g., social media, pow­er of algorithms.

From Nicholas Tale­b’s The Black Swan, Tom culled 44 lessons for thriving.

Tom says that meet­ings are what boss­es do.

The first half of the Suc­cess Tips. Also at ChangeTh­is.

Tom’s 8 uni­ver­sal truths of excel­lence in orga­ni­za­tions, e.g., appre­ci­at­ing your people.

Includ­ing chap­ters such as “And They Call It Sci­ence” and “Over-treat­ment.”

A look at qual­i­ty of care, tech­nol­o­gy, and the impor­tance of kindness.

Think­ing may be the most use­ful skill in years to come.

Though Tom wrote this PPT in 2006, it applies now and always.

Cross-func­tion­al com­mu­ni­ca­tion boils down to one extra­or­di­nar­i­ly sim­ple variable.

Tom tells why a man who’s unafraid to fail is an Excel­lent role model.

Tom tells us grand ges­tures aren’t always nec­es­sary, but the lit­tle things that matter.

Tom defines the aspi­ra­tion of orga­ni­za­tions: To be of service.

Tom claims that excel­lent orgs are “no less than cathedrals.”

An NFL team would­n’t use a stan­dard HR assess­ment on their tal­ent. And you?

Look for a spe­cial class of peo­ple who can’t rest until the job’s done.

TP: “What’ve you done in the past 24 hours to be of ser­vice to your organization?”

A slides pre­sen­ta­tion about how you can become a change agent by man­ag­ing spaces.

10 ideas for pump­ing up inno­va­tion in your organization.

The Arrange­ment of Human Affairs in Pur­suit of Desired Outcomes.

A two-page chal­lenge from Tom: How do women fare in your organization?

A 3‑Generation Report Card: 20 years from pub­li­ca­tion, Tom looks back.

This PDF gives Tom’s pre­scrip­tion for edu­ca­tion to pre­pare for work life today.

Tom tells why choos­ing first-line super­vi­sors is one of your most impor­tant decisions.

Tom has a one-sided dis­cus­sion with Jack Welch.

Brand Out­side = Vision, plan, mar­ket­ing. Brand Inside = Peo­ple, cul­ture, char­ac­ter.

Tom’s 60th birth­day inspired this list of beliefs.

Three trea­tis­es on lead­er­ship: The Leadership50, The Leadership25, and LeadershipSHORT.

Tom’s paragons of the action bias are pre­sent­ed here.

Tom out­lines a few dif­fer­ences between his think­ing and Jim Collins’s Good To Great.

“Acknowl­edge­ment” may be the most impor­tant word in the Eng­lish lan­guage, per Tom.

Do peo­ple come first in your orga­ni­za­tion? Mea­sure your­self by Tom’s criteria.

Tom says peo­ple are an asset, part of your path to success.

Cain’s book inspired Tom to re-eval­u­ate how we all see the non-talk­ers among us.

Tom gives “all you need to know” in six (total!) steps.

Tom high­lights “the sin­gle most sig­nif­i­cant strate­gic strength” an orga­ni­za­tion can have.

Tom’s 50 stan­dards for lead­ers, with more expo­si­tion than “Lead­er­ship 50”.

Tom’s time­ly topics—from the year 2000! Some great insights for today.

In this video Tom answers a ques­tion he hears frequently.