black
grey
blue
red
brown
white

You can’t think your way out of a box; you’ve got to act.

Tom Peters

Community. A friend started a real estate brokerage a few years ago. By the time she’d added her second employee, she was a pillar of her 35,000-person community.
TOM PETERS

Business Person Real School Second
If no one is pissed-off with you then you are dead but just haven’t figured it out yet.
TOM PETERS

Knowledge Learning Off Pissed
You can only improve what you measure.
TOM PETERS

Improve Measure Only People Possible
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

Leader Peter Principles
Vision is dandy, but sustainable company excellence comes from a huge stable of able managers.
TOM PETERS

Able Excellence Vision
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

Concept Exhilarating Mistake Occasionally Passion Peace
Almost all quality improvement comes via simplification of design, manufacturing… layout, processes, and procedures.
TOM PETERS

Business Design Poor Process Quality
It doesn’t matter what product or service you’re offering; there is unlimited ability to improve the quality of anything.
TOM PETERS

Anything Matter Offering Quality
Today brands are everything, and all kinds of products and services – from accounting firms to sneaker makers to restaurants – are figuring out how to transcend the narrow boundaries of their categories and become a brand surrounded by a Tommy Hilfiger-like buzz.
TOM PETERS

Buzz Figure Sneakers Today Transcend
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?”
TOM PETERS

Business Incidentally Sorry Specialization Years
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

Believe Secret Statistically World
Those who succeed always reach far beyond formal deputation, take initiatives, and take the heat when things go awry. That’s true in the military in times of war, true for 200 person manufacturing firms, and true at giant automakers or software companies.
TOM PETERS

Initiatives Manufacturing Reach Reputation
Even a poor, out-of-datecollection reflects in its own way the values of the people who created it and the community it serves.
TOM PETERS

Community People Way
Dot the i’s, cross the t’s, answer the phones promptly, send out errorless invoices, and in general never forget that the devil is in the details.
TOM PETERS

Devil Entrepreneur Phones
If your company has a clean-desk policy, the company is nuts and you’re nuts to stay there.
TOM PETERS

Clean Desk Company Nuts Office Policy
The number one premise of business is that it need not be boring or dull. It ought to be fun. If it’s not fun, you’re wasting your life.
TOM PETERS

Business Creativity Fun

You can’t think your way out of a box; you’ve got to act.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

You can’t think your way out of a box; you’ve got to act.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Tom Peters Quotes