Tom Peters2002 WOMEN RULE! London 02.October.2002.

Tom Peters2002

WOMEN RULE!

London 02.October.2002

I. Born to Lead!

“AS LEADERS, WOMEN RULE: New Studies find that female managers

outshine their male counterparts in almost

every measure”Title, Special Report, Business Week, 11.20.00

The New Economy …

Shout goodbye to “command and control”!

Shout goodbye to hierarchy!

Shout goodbye to “knowing one’s place”!

“Guys want to put everybody in their hierarchical place. Like, should I have more

respect for you, or are you somebody that’s south

of me?”Paul Biondi, Mercer Consultants [from It’s Not Business, It’s Personal, Ronna Lichtenberg]

http://www.tompeters.com/cool_friends/content.asp?id=14

Women’s Strengths Match New Economy Imperatives: Link [rather than rank] workers;

favor interactive-collaborative leadership style [empowerment beats top-down decision making]; sustain fruitful collaborations; comfortable with sharing information; see redistribution of power

as victory, not surrender; favor multi-dimensional feedback; value technical & interpersonal skills, individual & group contributions equally; readily accept ambiguity; honor intuition as well as pure

“rationality”; inherently flexible; appreciate cultural diversity.

Source: Judy B. Rosener, America’s Competitive Secret



“On average, women and men possess a number of different innate skills. And current trends suggest that many sectors of the twenty-

first-century economic community are going to need the natural

talents of women.”Helen Fisher, The First Sex: The Natural Talents of

Women and How They Are Changing the World


“American women possess leadership abilities that are particularly effective in today’s organizations, yet their abilities remain undervalued and underutilized. In the future, what will distinguish one

organization and one country from another will be its use of human

resources. Today human resource utilization is not only a matter of social

justice but a bottom-line issue.”

Judy Rosener, America’s Competitive Secret

“TAKE THIS QUICK QUIZ: Who manages more things at once? Who puts more effort into their appearance? Who usually takes care of the details? Who finds it

easier to meet new people? Who asks more questions in a conversation? Who is a better

listener? Who has more interest in communication skills? Who is more inclined to get involved?

Who encourages harmony and agreement? Who has better intuition? Who works with a longer ‘to do’ list? Who enjoys a recap to the day’s events? Who is

better at keeping in touch with others?”

Source: Selling Is a Woman’s Game: 15 Powerful Reasons Why Women Can Outsell Men, Nicki Joy & Susan Kane-Benson

“Investors are looking more and more for a relationship with their financial

advisers. They want someone they can trust, someone who listens. In my experience, in general,

women may be better at these relationship-building skills than are

men.”

Hardwick Simmons, CEO, Prudential Securities

“Thank you”

17 Men: 84 Women: 19

Ass Of The Year2002 (?): Maurice Greenberg, A.I.G., on the Company’s New (All Male) Leadership Team

“In a lot of countries of the world, it would be very difficult for a woman to

be a good CEO. … I have a responsibility to do the best we can for

shareholders.” * **

*Source: New York Times/05.05.02**Wouldn’t you love to watch him tell that … face-to-face

… to Margaret Thatcher or Carly Fiorina? (I would.)

Okay, you think I’ve gone tooooo far.

How about this: DO ANY OF YOU SUFFER

FROM TOO MUCH TALENT?

63 of 2,500 top earners in F500

8% Big 5 partners

14% partners at top 250 law firms

43% new med students; 26% med

faculty; 7% deans

Source: Susan Estrich, Sex and Power

Opportunity!

U.S. G.B. E.U. Ja.

M.Mgt. 41% 29% 18% 6%

T.Mgt. 4% 3% 2% <1%

Peak Partic. Age 45 22 27 19

% Coll. Stud. 52% 50% 48% 26%

Source: Judy Rosener, America’s Competitive Secret

It’s Girls, Stupid!

1996: 8.4M women, 6.7M men in college (est: 9.2 to 6.9 in 2007); more women than men in

high-level math and science courses

More girls in student govt., honor societies; girls read more books, outperform boys in artistic and musical ability, study abroad in

higher numbers

Boys do rule: crime, alcohol, drugs, failure to do homework (4:1)

Source: The Atlantic Monthly (May2000)

“Boys are trained in a way that will make

them irrelevant.”

Phil Slater

Read This!

“Winning the Talent War for Women: Sometimes It

Takes a Revolution” Douglas McCracken, HBR [11-12/2000]

“Deloitte was doing a great job of hiring high-performing women; in fact, women often earned

higher performance ratings than men in their first years with the firm. Yet the percentage of women

decreased with step up the career ladder. … Most women weren’t leaving to raise families; they had weighed their options in Deloitte’s male-dominated culture and found them wanting.

Many, dissatisfied with a culture they perceived as endemic to professional service firms, switched

professions.”

Douglas McCracken, “Winning the Talent War for Women” [HBR]

“The process of assigning plum accounts was largely unexamined. …

Male partners made assumptions: ‘I wouldn’t put her on that kind of

company because it’s a tough manufacturing environment.’ ‘That

client is difficult to deal with.’ ‘Travel puts too much pressure on women.’ ”

Douglas McCracken, “Winning the Talent War for Women” [HBR]

“Would Congress [the Boardroom] be a

different place if half the members were

women?”From Sex and Power, Susan Estrich

II. Market Opportunity

#1.

?????????

Home Furnishings … 94%Vacations … 92% (Adventure Travel … 70%/ $55B travel

equipment)

Houses … 91%D.I.Y. (“home projects”) … 80%

Consumer Electronics … 51% Cars … 60% (90%)

All consumer purchases … 83% Bank Account … 89%

Health Care … 80%

????

80%

Riding Lawnmowers

2/3rds working women/50+% working wives > 50%

80% checks61% bills

53% stock (mutual fund boom)

43% > $500K95% financial decisions/

29% single handed

1970-1998

Men’s median income: +0.6%Women’s median income: + 63%

Source: Martha Barletta, Marketing to Women

$4.8T > Japan

9M/27.5M/$3.6T > Germany

Business Purchasing Power

Purchasing mgrs. & agents: 51%HR: >>50%

Admin officers: >50%


Women-owned Bus.

U.S. employees > F500 employees worldwide


2000-2010

55-64: 48%; 25-54: 2%65+/2001: M, 14.6M;

F, 20.5M


New golfers … 37%Basketball … 13.5M

1 in 27 (’70) … 1 in 3 (’96)

1874?

1874 … Jock Strap1977 … Jogbra

1977 ... 25K

1996 … 42M

Yeow!

1970 … 1%

2002 … 50%

OPPORTUNITY

NO. 1!*[* No shit!]

91% women: ADVERTISERS DON’T

UNDERSTAND US. (58% “ANNOYED.”)

Source: Greenfield Online for Arnold’s Women’s Insight Team (Martha Barletta, Marketing to Women)

Carol Gilligan/ In a Different Voice

Men: Get away from authority, familyWomen: Connect

Men: Self-orientedWomen: Other-oriented

Men: RightsWomen: Responsibilities

Men: Individual perspective. “Core unit is ‘me.’ ”

Pride in self-reliance.

Women: Group perspective. “Core unit is ‘we.’ ” Pride in team

accomplishment.


FemaleThink/ Popcorn

“Men and women don’t think the same way, don’t communicate the same

way, don’t buy for the same reasons.”

“He simply wants the transaction to take place. She’s interested in

creating a relationship. Every place women go, they make

connections.”

http://www.faithpopcorn.com/

“Men seem like loose cannons. Men always move faster through a store’s

aisles. Men spend less time looking. They usually don’t like asking where things are.

You’ll see a man move impatiently through a store to the section he wants,

pick something up, and then, almost abruptly he’s ready to buy. For a

man, ignoring the price tag is almost a sign of virility.”

Paco Underhill, Why We Buy* (*Buy this book!)



“Shopping: A Guy’s Nightmare or a Girl’s Dream Come True?”

“Buy it and be gone”vs.

“Hang out and enjoy the experience”

Source: The Charleston [WV] Gazette/06.22.2002

Antaun Hughes, Capital High School,

on M-F shopping habits: “Women enjoy going through the

actual process of everything, while guys like to get straight to the point.”

Source: The Charleston [WV] Gazette

How Many Gigs You Got, Man?

“Hard to believe … Different criteria”

“Every research study we’ve done indicates that women really care about the relationship with their

vendor.”

Robin Sternbergh/ IBM

Women's View of Male Salespeople

Technically knowledgeable; assertive; get to the point; pushy;

condescending; insensitive to women’s needs.

Source: Judith Tingley, How to Sell to the Opposite Sex (Martha Barletta, Marketing to Women)

Read This: Barbara & Allan Pease’s

Why Men Don’t Listen & Women Can’t Read Maps

“It is obvious to a woman when another woman is upset, while a man generally has to physically witness

tears or a temper tantrum or be slapped in the face before he even has a clue that anything is going on. Like most female mammals, women are equipped with far more finely tuned

sensory skills than men.” Barbara & Allan Pease, Why Men Don’t Listen & Women Can’t Read Maps

“Resting” State: 30%, 90%: “A woman knows her children’s

friends, hopes, dreams, romances, secret fears, what they are

thinking, how they are feeling. Men are vaguely aware of some short people also living in the house.”

Barbara & Allan Pease, Why Men Don’t Listen & Women Can’t Read Maps

“As a hunter, a man needed vision that would allow him to zero in on targets in the distance … whereas a woman needed eyes

to allow a wide arc of vision so that she could monitor any predators sneaking up on the nest. This is why modern men can find their way effortlessly to a distant pub,

but can never find things in fridges, cupboards or drawers.”


“Female hearing advantage contributes significantly to what is

called ‘women’s intuition’ and is one of the reasons why a woman can read between the lines of what people say. Men, however, shouldn’t despair.

They are excellent at imitating animal sounds.”


Senses

Vision: Men, focused; Women, peripheral.

Hearing: Women’s discomfort level I/2 men’s.

Smell: Women >> Men.Touch: Most sensitive man <

Least sensitive woman.


Sensitivity to differences: Twice as many card stacks.

More “contextual,” “holistic.”

“People powered”: Age 3 days, baby girls 2X eye contact.


Barbara & Allan Pease, Why Men Don’t Listen & Women Can’t Read Maps: Women love to

talk. Men talk silently to themselves. Women think aloud. Women talk, men

feel nagged. Women multitask. Women are indirect. Men are direct. Women talk

emotively, men are literal. Men listen like statues. Boys like things, girls like

people. Boys compete, girls cooperate. Men hate to be wrong. Men hide

their emotions.

“When a woman is upset, she talks emotionally to her friends; but an upset man rebuilds a motor or

fixes a leaking tap.”Barbara & Allan Pease, Why Men Don’t Listen &

Women Can’t Read Maps

We Really … Don’t Get It!

Review of “Unfaithful”: “ … the latest entry in the category of

male directors’ clueless fantasies concerning what

women fantasize about in their nonexistent free time.”

Source: Julie Iovine, NYT (05.19.2002)

Men & Women on Thelma & Louise. MEN: Sundance Kid; women who get angry, swear, go to bars, leave

their mate. WOMEN: women controlled by the men in their lives,

who would rather be dead than oppressed.

Source: Judy Rosener, America’s Competitive Secret

[“The Hollywood scripts that men write tend to be direct and

linear, while women’s compositions have many

conflicts, many climaxes, and many endings.”

Helen Fisher, The First Sex: The Natural Talents of Women and How They Are

Changing the World]

“Women speak and hear a language of connection and intimacy, and men

speak and hear a language of status and independence. Men communicate to obtain information, establish their

status, and show independence. Women communicate to create

relationships, encourage interaction, and exchange feelings.”

Judy Rosener, America’s Competitive Secret

[“I only really understand myself, what I’m really thinking and feeling, when I’ve talked it over with my circle of female

friends. When days go by without that connection, I feel

like a radio playing in an empty room.”

Anna Quindlen]

Editorial/Men: Tables, rankings.*

Editorial/Women: Narratives that cohere.*

TP/Furniture: “Tech Specs” vs. “Soul.” **

*Redwood (UK)**High Point furniture mart (04.2002)

Initiate Purchase

Men: Study “facts & features.”

Women: Ask lots of people for input.


Storytelling: Men start with the headline.

Women start with the context.


Tomboy Tools. E.g.:

smaller, lighter in weight. Tupperware “party” model.

Read This Book …

EVEolution: The Eight Truths of Marketing to Women

Faith Popcorn & Lys Marigold


EVEolution: Truth No. 1

Connecting Your Female Consumers to Each

Other Connects Them to Your Brand

“The ‘Connection Proclivity’ in women starts early. When asked,

‘How was school today?’ a girl usually tells her mother every

detail of what happened, while a boy might grunt, ‘Fine.’ ”

EVEolution

What If …

“What if ExxonMobil or Shell dipped into their credit card database to help commuting women

interview and make a choice of car pool partners?”

“What if American Express made a concerted effort to connect up female empty-nesters

through on-line and off-line programs, geared to help women re-enter the workforce with today’s

skills?”

EVEolution

The New New Jiffy Lube

“In the male mold, Jiffy Lube was going all out to deliver quick, efficient service. But, in the

female mold, women were being turned off by the ‘let’s get it fixed fast, no conversation

required’ experience.”

New JL: “Control over her environment. Comfort in the service setting. Trust that her car

is being serviced properly. Respect for her intelligence and ability.”

EVEolution

Lowe’s …

Gets it. 1989:

13%/“lumber shop” … 2002: >50%

Yes!: “Crest Spinoff Targets Women”—cover story,

Ad Age/06.03.02

Crest Rejuvenating Effects. “Chicks in charge” team. $50M launch. Packaging.

Taste. Features.

“Mattel Sees Untapped Market for Blocks: Little Girls”—Headline,

WSJ/04.06.02

“Last year more than 90% of Lego sets purchased were for boys. Mattel says Ello

—with interconnecting plastic squares, balls, triangles, squiggles,

flowers and sticks, in pastel colors and with rounded corners—will go beyond

Lego’s linear play patterns.”

“Women don’t buy

brands. They join them.”

EVEolution

Not!“Year of the

Woman”

Enterprise Reinvention!

RecruitingHiring/Rewarding/Promoting

Structure Processes

MeasurementStrategyCulture Vision

Leadership

THE BRAND ITSELF!

“Honey, are you sure you have

the kind of money it takes to

be looking at a car like this?”

STATEMENT OF PHILOSOPHY: I am a businessperson. An analyst. A pragmatist. The enormous social good of increased women’s

power is clear to me; but it is not my bailiwick. My “game” is haranguing business leaders

about my fact-based conviction that women’s increasing power – leadership skills

and purchasing power – is the strongest and most dynamic force at work in the American

economy today. Dare I say it as a long-time Palo Alto resident … THIS IS EVEN BIGGER THAN

THE INTERNET!

Tom Peters

“If we are single, they say we couldn’t catch a man. If we are

married, they say we are neglecting him. If we are divorced,

they say we couldn’t keep him. If we are widowed, they say we

killed him.”Kathleen Brown, on the joys of female political candidacy

27 March 2000: email to TP from Shelley Rae Norbeck

“I make 1/3rd more money than my husband does. I have as much financial

‘pull’ in the relationship as he does. I’d say this is also true of most of my women

friends. Someone should wake up, smell the coffee and kiss our asses long enough

to sell us something! We have money to

spend and nobody wants it!”

Psssst! Wanna see my “porn” collection?

Ass Of The Year2002: Maurice Greenberg, A.I.G., on the Company’s New (All Male) Leadership Team

“In a lot of countries of the world, it would be very difficult for a woman to

be a good CEO. … I have a responsibility to do the best we can for

shareholders.” * **

*Source: New York Times/05.05.02**Wouldn’t you love to watch him tell that … face-to-face

… to Margaret Thatcher or Carly Fiorina? (I would.)

Ad from Furniture /Today (04.01):“MEET WITH THE EXPERTS!: How

Retailing’s Most Successful Stay that Way”

Presenting Experts: M = 16;

F = ?? (94% = 272)

0

“Please … just

one couch or

chair where my feet hit the ground!” —Owner,

5 furniture stores, UK

Stupid!

Stupid: “Amazing, now that I think about it. A bunch of

guys --developers, architects, contractors,

engineers, bankers--sitting around designing shopping centers. And the ‘end users’

will be overwhelmingly women!”

Instructions: 1. Purchase ticket to symphony … 7:30 p.m. show. 2. Drink three large bottles of water

between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. 3. X-dress. 4. Wait in queue at

Ladies at Intermission. 5. Realize what total wretches you are. 6. Seize a microphone and

apologize publicly to every woman in the hall.

“Customer is King”: 4,440

“Customer is Queen”: 29

Source: Steve Farber/Google search/04.2002

F.Y.I.

“Women Beat Men at Art of Investing”

Source: Miami Herald, reporting on a study by Profs. Terrance Odean and Brad Barber, UC Davis (Cause: Guys are “in and out” of

stocks more often; women choose carefully and hold on for the long term)

Purchasing Patterns

Women: Harder to convince; more loyal once convinced.

Men: Snap decision; fickle.


Investment Club Returns

Women-only clubs 1997 … 17.9%Mixed … 17.3%

Men-only … 15.6%

Source: National Assoc. Investors

Value Line: Top State* Investment Clubs 2000

8 … All male19 … Coed

22 … All FEMALE

* VT & Maine not included; D.C. included

JBQ: Stop Treating Women Investors Like Idiots!

“Why all this focus on women and our lack of investment guts? A far greater problem, it seems to

me, is trigger-happy speculation, mostly by men. The kind of guys whose family savings went south

with the dot-coms. Imagine a list of their money mistakes: Shoot from the hip. Overtrade their

accounts. Believe they’re smarter than the market. Think with their mouse rather than their brain.

Praise their own genius when stocks go up. Hide their mistakes from their wives.”

Source: Newsweek 01.08.01

Notes to the CEO

--Women are not a “niche”; so get this out of the “Specialty Markets” group.--The competition is starting to catch on. (E.g.: Nike, Nokia, Wachovia, Ford, Harley-Davidson, Jiffy Lube, Charles Schwab, Citigroup, Aetna.)

--If you “dip your toes in the water,” what makes you think you’ll get splashy results?--Bust through the walls of the corporate silos.--Once you get her, don’t let her slip away.--Women ARE the long run!


Tom Peters2002 WOMEN RULE! London 02.October.2002.

Documents

rosener slide

power slide

american women

rights women

family women

women sl

prudential securities

single handed slide