One of the biggest problems of 'In Search of Excellence' is that it focused on giant, publicly-traded companies. There are thousands upon thousands of excellent companies. Some of them are two-person accountancies in a community of three thousand people.

Tom Peters

Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders.

Tom Peters

If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade.

Tom Peters

Almost all quality improvement comes via simplification of design, manufacturing... layout, processes, and procedures.

Tom Peters

Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing.

Tom Peters

Celebrate what you want to see more of.

Tom Peters

Everyone has a chance to learn, improve, and build up their skills.

Tom Peters

Test fast, fail fast, adjust fast.

Tom Peters

Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else.

Tom Peters

Excellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change.

Tom Peters

The magic formula that successful businesses have discovered is to treat customers like guests and employees like people.

Tom Peters

If you're not confused, you're not paying attention.

Tom Peters

Community organizing is all about building grassroots support. It's about identifying the people around you with whom you can create a common, passionate cause. And it's about ignoring the conventional wisdom of company politics and instead playing the game by very different rules.

Tom Peters

Communication is everyone's panacea for everything.

Tom Peters

Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me, Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.

Tom Peters

The simple act of paying positive attention to people has a great deal to do with productivity.

Tom Peters

'In Search of Excellence' - even the title - is a reminder that business isn't dry, dreary, boring, or by the numbers. Life at work can be cool - and work that's cool isn't confined to Tiger Woods, Yo-Yo Ma, or Tom Hanks. It's available to all of us and any of us.

Tom Peters

Good managers have a bias for action.

Tom Peters

I had no idea what I was doing when I wrote 'Search.' There was no carefully designed work plan. There was no theory that I was out to prove.

Tom Peters

A passive approach to professional growth will leave you by the wayside.

Tom Peters

Remember my mantra: distinct... or extinct.

Tom Peters