THIS IS NOT YOUR AVERAGE BUSINESS BOOK: Unlike so many dry, boring books on business, Tom Peters has a compelling, in-your-face style that makes this book as fun to read as it is insightful. An enemy of conformist “suits,” mindless mega-mergers, and the status quo, Peters urges readers to embrace diversity, cherish weirdness, and manage by turning off the computer and hitting the streets.
WISDOM FOR US ALL: This is one of those rare business books that is as essential for the small business owner or freelancer as it is for the head of a major corporation. Beginning with a fiery call-to-arms to companies and businesspeople to get “back to basics,” this book is the guidebook on how to excel at the people side of business and a reminder to “never forget why you’re here.”
Some examples of Tom’s timeless wisdom:
LOVE YOUR COMPETITORS: “At the top of my business priority list is a desire for my overall market to grow by leaps and bounds. Sure… my market share will go down…But my revenue will also soar.”
LEAVE YOUR WALLET AT HOME: “Pay for your groceries with cash next time. Your car repair, too. The office supply bill? Ditto. By hook or by crook, bring Realism in the office door.”
APPOINT AN OMBUDSMAN FOR COMMON SENSE: “A lot of the giant financial-economic mess we’re in can be chalked up to a failure of common sense-sometimes, often actually, by the so-called bestest of the best and brightest… I suggest routinely running proposals or budgets, or whatever, minor as well as major, by a “common sense ombudsman.”
CUT RED TAPE: When a project is unusual-risky, never, ever waste time or capital going “up the chain of command.”… Be polite to your boss, but do not waste time on him!
Now more than ever, businesspeople need a voice of experience and wisdom to guide us through this time of financial uncertainty. Tom Peters is – as he always has been – just that voice.
“Tom Peters has probably done more than anyone else to shift the debate on management from the confines of boardrooms, academia, and consultancies to a broader, worldwide audience, where it has become the staple diet of the media and managers alike. Peter Drucker has written more and his ideas have withstood a longer test of time, but it is Peters—as consultant, writer, columnist, seminar lecturer, and stage performer—whose energy, style, influence, and ideas have shaped new management thinking.” —Movers and Shakers: The 100 Most Influential Figures in Modern Business