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Quotes from Tom Peters

WORK ON YOUR STORY! He/she who has the best story wins! In life! In business! The White House!
~ Tom Peters
Hire disrespectful people.
~ Tom Peters
Momentum is a fragile force. Its worst enemy: procrastination. Its best friend: a deadline (think Election Day). Implication no. 1 (and there is no no. 2): Get to work! NOW!
~ Tom Peters
He who makes the quickest, coolest prototypes reigns!
~ Tom Peters
Effective listening is a professional achievement-achieved only through hard work.
~ Tom Peters
Almost all quality improvement comes via simplification of design, manufacturing... layout, processes, and procedures.
~ Tom Peters
Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders.
~ Tom Peters
Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing.
~ 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
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
For the blue-collar worker, the driving force behind change was factory automation using programmable machine tools. For the office worker, it's office automation using computer technology: enterprise-resource-planning systems, groupware, intranets, extranets, expert systems, the Web, and e-commerce.
~ Tom Peters
If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade.
~ Tom Peters
Design is so critical it should be on the agenda of every meeting in every single department.
~ Tom Peters
The whole secret to our success is being able to con ourselves into believing that we're going to change the world because statistically we are unlikely to do it.
~ Tom Peters
All business success rests on something labeled a sale, which at least momentarily weds company and customer.
~ Tom Peters
The simple act of paying positive attention to people has a great deal to do with productivity.
~ Tom Peters
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
Statistically and emotionally, I believe that the way I can be of help to society is by doing what I know and what I've been good at.
~ Tom Peters
Communication is everyone's panacea for everything.
~ Tom Peters
Excellent firms don't believe in excellence -- only in constant improvement and constant change.
~ Tom Peters
Good managers have a bias for action.
~ Tom Peters
The magic formula that successful businesses have discovered is to treat customers like guests and employees like people.
~ Tom Peters
The simple act of playing positive attention to people has a great deal to do with productivity.
~ Tom Peters
We found that the most exciting environments, that treated people very well, are also tough as nails. There is no bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo... excellent companies provide two things simultaneously: tough environments and very supportive environments.
~ Tom Peters