Tom Peters and Excellence

Recently I was reading The Firm: The Story of McKinsey and Its Secret Influence on American Business by Duff McDonald. If you are not familiar with McKinsey, it is the leading consulting firm in America, attracting Harvard MBAs and other would-be masters of the universe. McKinsey is to consulting what Google is to Tech or Goldman Sachs is to finance.

 The Firm

I was particularly struck by a passage about Peters and Waterman’s classic, In Search of Excellence. The book began as a McKinsey consulting project originally entitled Secrets of Excellence. Apparently it was not viewed internally as viable or valuable, but despite all of the smart people in the room (and McKinsey has a lot of smart people), Peters and Waterman keep pursuing it. It ultimately launched his career—not his first successful career as a brilliant consultant—but his second career as a wildly successful speaker and author.

In Search

In another interesting passage, an internal McKinsey profile of Peters described him as “undisciplined, but brilliant.”  Peters response was classic: “I have no problem with ‘brilliant,’ but ‘undisciplined’ made me turn purple in the face. You don’t write sixteen books, give three thousand speeches, and work eighteen hours a day for thirty years, and be undisciplined.” (p. 154). In characteristic style, he began his next sentence with a four-letter word that was not printed here because this is a family-friendly blog.

What Tom Peters did was invent new categories. Though Peter Drucker had been publishing for decades, Peters and Waterman invented the blockbuster business book. The book sold millions of copies and  In Search of Excellence defined business thinking for a decade. Peters was labeled a “business guru,” a term that would later describe only the premier business authors such as Blanchard, Collins, Covey, Drucker, and Maxwell.  More importantly, he continued his success with a series of additional books that continue to add value (I use some of them in my MBA classes at Charleston Southern University).

I have listed his books below because I believe they are valuable resources. Peters just thinks differently. It is almost as if there is something wrong with him that causes him to see things that the rest of us just miss—like a rebellious autistic savant. I mean that in the most complimentary way (and I think Peters would take that as a compliment). He just sees things that the rest of us miss. Every Peters book that I have read has been worth far more than the full retail price and you can purchase many on Amazon for a penny plus shipping. I have also listed a dozen free eBooks from www.tompeters.com Happy Reading!

-Darin Gerdes

 

Books by Tom Peters:

1982 – In Search of Excellence (with Robert H. Waterman, Jr.)

1984 – A Passion for Excellence (with Nancy Austin)

1987 – Thriving on Chaos

1992 – Liberation Management

1994 – The Tom Peters Seminar: Crazy Times Call for Crazy Organizations

1994 – The Pursuit of WOW!: Every Person’s Guide to Topsy-Turvey Times

1997 – The Circle of Innovation: You Can’t Shrink Your Way to Greatness

Reinventing Work Series 50List Books

1999 – The Brand of You50: Fifty Ways to Transform Yourself from an Employee into a Brand that Shouts Distinction, Commitment, and Passion!

1999 – The Project50: Fifty Ways to Transform Every “Task” into a Project That Matters!

1999 – The Professional Service Firm50: 50 Ways to Transform Your “Department” into a Professional Service Firm Whose Trademarks are Passion and Innovation!

2003 – Re-imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age

2005 – Sixty

The Essentials Series

2005 – Essentials: Leadership

2005 – Essentials: Talent

2005 – Essentials: Design

2005 – Essentials: Trends (with Marth Barlettta)

2010 – The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence

 

eBooks:

Excellence Now Series (inexpensive – .99-$9.99)

2012 – Excellence Now

2012 – Excellence Now: Innovation

2012 – Excellence Now: Action

2012 – Excellent Now: Purpose

2012 – How To Be a Great Professional Services Firm

2013 – Surviving the (Never-Ending) Downturn

2013 – Getting Stuff (That Matters) Done

2012 – Really First Things First

2012 – You Matter to Me

2013 – People First!

The Little The BIG Things Enhanced eBook Series

2010 – The Little Big Things: Excellence

2010 – The Little Big Things: Strategy

2010 – The Little Big Things: Enterprise

2010 – The Little Big Things: Leadership

2010 – The Little Big Things: You

The BRAWL WITH NO RULES series

2002 – We Are in a Brawl with No Rules (Free .pdf)

2002 – The Work Matters! (Free .pdf)

2002 – Women Roar (Free .pdf)

2002 – The Case for Brand Inside (Free .pdf)

2002 – The Heart of Branding (Free .pdf)

2002 – Design Mindfulness (Free .pdf)

2002 – Education and Third Millennium Work (Free .pdf)

2002 – The Death Knell for “Ordinary”: Pursuing Difference (Free .pdf)

2002 – The High Standard Deviation Enterprise (Free .pdf)

2002 – In Search of Excellence: A Three-Generation Report Card (Free .pdf)

2002 – The Professional Service Firm (Free .pdf)

2002 – Boss – Free Implementation of Stuff Matters (Free .pdf)

2002 – Talent (Free .pdf)

2002 – Webworld (Free .pdf)
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Dr. Darin Gerdes is an associate professor and director of graduate programs in the School of Business at Charleston Southern University. His interdisciplinary background includes undergraduate degrees in government and psychology from Liberty University, a master of business administration, a master of arts in public policy and a PhD in organizational leadership from Regent University. He designed the master of arts in organizational leadership program at Charleston Southern University.