1.
Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders.
Tom Peters
'Pacesetters do not generate subordinates, they cultivate more pacesetters.'
2.
The magic formula that successful businesses have discovered is to treat customers like guests and employees like people.
Tom Peters
3.
If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade.
Tom Peters
4.
The greatest difficulty in the world is not for people to accept new ideas, but to make them forget old ideas.
Tom Peters
5.
The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say 'I'. They don't think 'I'. They think 'we'; they think 'team'.
Tom Peters
6.
Excellence is not an aspiration. Excellence is what you do in the next five minutes.
Tom Peters
7.
Celebrate what you want to see more of.
Tom Peters
8.
Divas do it, golfers do it, pilots do it, violists do it, sprinters do it, soldiers do it, surgeons do it, astronauts do it...only business people think it isn't necessary to train.
Tom Peters
9.
The thing that keeps a business ahead of the competition is excellence in execution.
Tom Peters
10.
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
11.
Stop being conned by the old mantra that says, 'Leaders are cool, managers are dweebs.' Instead, follow the Peters Principle: Leaders are cool. Managers are cool too!
Tom Peters
12.
Change is not so much about being the first one to embrace a new idea, but being the first to forget an old one
Tom Peters
13.
Leaders win through logistics. Vision, sure. Strategy, yes. But when you go to war, you need to have both toilet paper and bullets at the right place at the right time. In other words, you must win through superior logistics.
Tom Peters
14.
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.
Tom Peters
15.
Excellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change.
Tom Peters
16.
Hire for attitude. Train for skill... More
Tom Peters
17.
Passion. The life of an entrepreneur is occasionally exhilarating, and almost always exhausting. Only unbridled passion for the concept is likely to see you through the 17-hour days (month after month) and the painful mistakes that are part and parcel of the start-up process.
Tom Peters
18.
You will be remembered, in the long haul, for the quality of your work, not the quantity of your work. No one evaluates Picasso based on the number of paintings he churned out.
Tom Peters
19.
The simple act of paying positive attention to people has a great deal to do with productivity.
Tom Peters
20.
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
21.
If you're not confused, you're not paying attention.
Tom Peters
22.
It's this simple: You are a brand. You are in charge of your brand. There is no single path to success. And there is no one right way to create the brand called You. Except this: Start today. Or else.
Tom Peters
23.
Smile if it kills you. The physiology of smiling diffuses a lot of anger and angst. It makes your body and soul feel better.
Tom Peters
24.
Unless you walk out into the unknown, the odds of making a profound difference in your life are pretty low.
Tom Peters
25.
I imagine a school system that recognizes learning is natural, that a love of learning is normal, and that real learning is passionate learning. A school curriculum that values questions above answers...creativity above fact regurgitation...individuality above conformity.. and excellence above standardized performance..... And we must reject all notions of 'reform' that serve up more of the same: more testing, more 'standards', more uniformity, more conformity, more bureaucracy.
Tom Peters
26.
There are few things that will take you further in life, than your ability to make a good presentation.
Tom Peters
27.
Never, ever rest on your laurels. Today's laurels are tomorrow's compost.
Tom Peters
28.
The best leaders... almost without exception and at every level, are master users of stories and symbols.
Tom Peters
29.
Almost all quality improvement comes via simplification of design, manufacturing... layout, processes, and procedures.
Tom Peters
30.
There is no such thing as an insignificant improvement.
Tom Peters
31.
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
32.
Remember my mantra: distinct... or extinct.
Tom Peters
33.
Oh Lord, there it is again. The question;" What kind of business should I start?" Incidentially, it has a twin that also sets me off: "What should I specialize in during the second year of my MBA studies?" Sorry, but those are two of the most profoundly upsetting questions anyone can ask - upsetting because the answer should be obvious: Do what turns you on, not what the statistics say is best.
Tom Peters
34.
The best leaders are the best notetakers, best askers, and best learners.
Tom Peters
35.
Winners must learn to relish change with the same enthusiasm and energy that we have resisted it in the past.
Tom Peters
36.
In today's economy there are no experts, no 'best and brightest' with all the answers. It's up to each one of us. The only way to screw up is to not try anything.
Tom Peters
37.
Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing.
Tom Peters
38.
The difference between great and average is, mostly, having the imagination and zeal to re-create yourself daily.
Tom Peters
39.
Only those who constantly retool themselves stand a chance of staying employed in the years ahead.
Tom Peters
40.
Customers perceive service in their own unique, idiosyncratic, emotional, irrational, end-of-the-day, and totally human terms. Perception is all there is!
Tom Peters
41.
And remember: Everything in business is a paradox. To be excellent, you have to be consistent. When you're consistent, you're vulnerable to attack. Yes, it's a paradox. Now deal with it!
Tom Peters
42.
If I read a book that cost me $20 and I get one good idea, I've gotten one of the greatest bargains of all time.
Tom Peters
43.
To grasp organizational life as it is, read novels (!) .... It is my fervent belief that we will never design rational processes that "overcome" such irregularities-don't bother telling that to a consultant. Hence, we should embrace the real, nonrational, nonlinear world with vigor and glee-and develop enterprise and career strategies accordingly.
Tom Peters
44.
Excellence comes from human beings doing things of value that customers find memorable.
Tom Peters
45.
Have you set high standards in the past that make it clear what level of performance you demand?
Tom Peters
46.
With most competitors moving ever faster, the race will go to those who listen (and respond) most intently.
Tom Peters
47.
One percent improvement in 1,000 things is better than 1,000% improvement in one thing.
Tom Peters
48.
The top athletes are consummate pros who work obsessively at their craft. Approach yours the same way.
Tom Peters
49.
Don't 'tolerate' mistakes. Embrace them!
Tom Peters
50.
OPPORTUNITY is not "knocking." It is pounding on your door.
Tom Peters