What Matters Most...

Wisdom from the Source: Why It’s Still All About People (and How to Get There)

In my decades walking the rows of organizational life—observing what grows, what withers, and what truly thrives—I have come back to one immutable truth. It is a truth that seems painfully obvious yet is routinely ignored in boardrooms obsessed with quarterly earnings and efficiency algorithms.

The truth is this: Business is a human endeavor. It always has been. It is all about attracting, retaining, and unleashing the best talent.

Today at Wisdom Orchards, I want to take a step back and look at the roots of this philosophy. I want to honor the gurus who first shouted this from the rooftops and share my own journey in realizing that the "soft stuff" is actually the hardest—and most important—stuff of all.

The Rant That Started It All: Remembering Tom Peters

If you were in business in the 80s and 90s, you couldn’t ignore Tom Peters. He was an electrical storm in a world of gray flannel suits.

While the business schools were teaching rigid strategic planning and financial engineering, Tom was practically sweating on stage, screaming that the emperor had no clothes. He didn’t just suggest; he ranted. He argued with a fierce passion that the only sustainable competitive advantage was... people.

I leaned heavily on Tom’s writings early in my career. He was an evangelist for the idea that the person on the loading dock or the front-desk receptionist knew more about improving the business than the CEO in the corner office. He famously coined phrases like "The soft stuff is the hard stuff." He demanded that leaders get out of their offices (MBWA - Management By Wandering Around) and actually listen to the human beings doing the work.

Tom Peters didn't just want better management; he wanted a revolution in how we valued human contribution. He saw talent not as a cost on a spreadsheet, but as the only engine of innovation and excellence.

Connecting the Dots: From Passion to a Roadmap

Tom Peters provided the necessary heat and the "why." But leaders needed a "how."

It is no coincidence that the greatest roadmap for people-centric leadership emerged directly from Tom Peters' orbit.

Before he wrote the definitive book on leadership, Jim Kouzes was the Chairman of the Tom Peters Group (TPG). Jim, alongside his research partner Barry Posner, understood Tom’s fiery message implicitly. They knew that if it really was "all about the people," leaders needed a behavioral framework to make that happen. You couldn't just tell managers to "care more"; you had to show them what caring looked like in practice.

In those early days, Jim and Barry piloted what would become The Leadership Challenge (TLC) at Santa Clara University, often with Tom right there in the mix. They took the raw energy of the human-centric revolution and distilled it into empirical research. They asked thousands of people: "What do leaders do when they are at their personal best?"

The result—The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership®—became the operational manual for the philosophy Tom Peters was shouting about.

My Journey Through the Orchard

My own career has mirrored this historical progression. Early on, as a young consultant, I was searching. I saw models based on compliance and command-and-control failing miserably. I knew there had to be a better way to build organizations.

That search led me, inevitably, to the source.

I immersed myself in this philosophy. I became a Certified Master for The Leadership Challenge, diving deep into the mechanics of how leaders Model the Way and Inspire a Shared Vision. Later, I had the privilege of serving as a Senior Consultant for the Tom Peters Company, carrying that original torch of passionate advocacy for talent.

I didn't just teach this theory; I watched it work in the real world.

My years consulting with Herman Miller stand as a towering testament to this approach. Herman Miller didn't become a design icon just because they made great chairs. They became an icon because they built a culture that understood human dynamics. They embraced the principles of TLC. They understood, as Tom argued, that if you treat people with dignity and give them a voice, they will give you their best work.

At Herman Miller, leadership wasn't a title; it was a set of behaviors aimed at liberating human potential. The culture was the strategy.

Harvesting the Wisdom: Two Takeaways for Today

Looking back on this history—from Tom Peters’ early rants to the rigorous research of Kouzes and Posner, through my own decades in the field—the lessons for today's leaders are crystal clear.

Takeaway 1: It is still all about the people. Technology changes. AI arrives. Markets shift globally. But the fundamental unit of value creation remains the human being. If you are not obsessively focused on attracting, developing, and retaining great people, you are building on sand. The "soft stuff" is still the hardest stuff, and it’s the only stuff that matters long-term.

Takeaway 2: The Leadership Challenge is the vehicle. You don't need to reinvent the wheel to build a people-centric culture. You need a common language and a proven map. TLC provides the behavioral framework—the actual observable actions—that turn good intentions into culture change. It moves "valuing people" from a poster on the wall to daily practice.

The wisdom is there for the taking. It’s time to get back to the orchard and tend to the roots.