Author: Franz Malten Buemann

Now it’s a business model.

People are regularly fooled by crypto scams, NFT hype, opioid felons, algorithmic spam at scale, health claims, illogical political arguments, fundraising pitches, overnight shortcuts on the road to riches or happiness and MLM hustle. Your account has been locked, click here…

When it becomes the tactic of a scalable business, it’s not surprising that the fooling gets more refined and persistent.

Buyer beware. Of course. Of course we should check our gullibility at the door.

But this overlooks the simple cultural truth: just because it’s a business model doesn’t mean you’re entitled to it. Simply because it might be exploiting a legal loophole doesn’t give someone free reign to spend their days taking advantage of people for their own benefit.

Buyer beware puts the onus on the individual who’s getting fooled. But we also have the ability to separate ourselves from those that would seek to profit by fooling us. You can’t work against us and also earn our respect.

Culture is a horizontal set of principles that we enforce in service of the community. If your job involves ripping people off, walk away. No one wants to live in hustle-world, it’s not even a good place to visit.

Sometimes we get what we hope for. Often, we get what we tolerate.

Tom announced his retirement today, at 80 years old, after 45 years of Excellence and perhaps 10,000,000 miles flown.

I remember a photo of him sleeping on a bench in an airport in Siberia.

I remember him holding my young son just before we went on stage in Florida together twenty-four years ago.

I remember being at a small gathering he had in Vermont, where we argued about how many words go on a slide.

I remember meeting him after he gave a class at Stanford, in 1983, moments after his first book was gaining traction.

And I remember briefly controlling the rights to the computer game version of In Search of Excellence when I was at Spinnaker. Not to mention our delightful but rare duets.

So much of my best stuff is inspired, stolen or both from Tom, from Zig, from Roz, from Ben, from Steve and from Pema. Apparently, it helps to have a short first name.

Tom made it possible to get on stage and do this new thing, which led to TED talks and conferences and so many other forms of informal education by unauthorized teachers.

Even if you were never lucky enough to work with him, or fortunate enough to read his books, without a doubt, Tom Peters has had an impact on your life.

He created significance and opened the doors for others to do so as well. And in his words, okay word…

Excellence. [Period.]

The second edition of the European Customer Experience Awards, organised by Awards International, announced the winners for this year’s programme. This year’s edition of European CXA brought together leading businesses from across Europe to share the most remarkable achievements in customer experience. Top companies and organisations participated in this premium awards programme, showcasing their results and competing for the coveted…
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