Champions are pioneers, and pioneers get shot at. The companies that get the most from champions, therefore, are those that have rich support network so their pioneers will flourish. This point is so important it's hard to overstress. No support systems, no champions. No champions, no innovations.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of support systems for innovators and pioneers in achieving success.
Tom Peters highlights that champions, or innovators, often face challenges and resistance as they pursue new ideas. To ensure that these pioneers succeed and contribute to innovation, it is crucial for them to have strong support networks. Without such support, champions may struggle or fail, leading to a lack of innovation. The quote underscores that for organizations to thrive, they must foster an environment that nurtures and protects their champions.
In practice
In a motivational speech about leadership and innovation.
My half-baked reading of history is that we continue to go through these waves of entrepreneurial explosion followed by merger mania and consolidation. Out of that come big sluggish companies that eventually collapse under the weight of what they've created, and are killed off by the next wave of entrepreneurs.
The simple act of paying positive attention to people has a great deal to do with productivity.
Nearly 100% of innovation-from business to politics-is inspired not by "market analysis" but by people who are supremely pissed off by the way things are.
Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders.
The little people will get even, which is one of a thousand reasons why they are not little people at all. If you're a jerk as a leader, you will be torpedoed. And usually it won't be by your vice presidents; it will be on the loading dock at 3am when no supervisors are around.
If you're not confused, you're not paying attention.
How many a man has thrown up his hands at a time when a little more effort, a little more patience would have achieved success.
I couldn't beat people with my strength; I don't have a hard shot; I'm not the quickest skater in the league. My eyes and my mind have to do most of the work.
Opportunities, many times, are so small that we glimpse them not and yet they are often the seeds of great enterprises. Opportunities are also everywhere and so you must always let your hook be hanging. When you least expect it, a great fish will swim by.
A great restaurant doesn't distinguish itself by how few mistakes it makes but by how well they handle those mistakes.
If you wish to succeed, you must brave the risk of failure.
Only he who attempts the absurd is capable of achieving the impossible.
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