Tom is on a tear, more determined than ever that CEOs (and other bosses at all levels) finally "Put People First"—as their mission statements say, but which is contradicted by their actions. As tech change accelerates, this becomes more important with each passing day.
In his Milan event, Tom passed out one item to the several thousand attendees. Something that he called his "#1 Belief." To wit:
Your principal moral obligation as a leader is to develop the skillset, "soft" and "hard," of every one of the people in your charge (temporary as well as semi-permanent) to the maximum extent of your abilities. The good news: This is also the #1 mid- to long-term ... profit maximization strategy!
Related to the statement-of-principle above, on Sunday he fired off a series of tweets on training. Herewith:
Is your CTO/Chief Training Officer your top paid "C-level" job (other than CEO/COO)? If not, why not?
Are your top trainers paid as much as your top marketers? If not, why not?
Are your training courses all so good they make you giggle? If not, why not?
Randomly stop an employee in the hall: Can she/he describe their development plan for the next 12 months? If not, why not?
Sunday/NFL game day: "Players are our most important asset." "No shit, Sherlock." Football is a competitive BUSINESS. (If them, why not you?)
Study/inhale Matthew Kelly's book The Dream Manager. It's fictional. But it's not. Down to the penny about a real company—I met the CEO.
Check out a Marine E-6 (senior sergeant): Ask him/her about training and development objectives, and intensity of approach thereto ...
You want to understand training in a super high-tech business? Talk to the commanding officer (effectively CTO) of a "boomer"/U.S. Navy nuclear submarine patrolling the sea with nuclear-armed missiles on board.
"People-are-our-most-important-asset"-except-we-know-that's-utter-bullshit.