The dominant culture in most big companies demands punishment for a mistake, no matter how useful, small, invisible.
TOM PETERSThe dominant culture in most big companies demands punishment for a mistake, no matter how useful, small, invisible.
TOM PETERSI think economics is about passion. Economic progress, whether it is a two-person coffee shop or whether it is Netscape, is about people with brave ideas. Because it is brave to mortgage the house, when you’ve got two kids, to start a coffee shop.
TOM PETERSAs a consumer, you want to associate with brands whose powerful presence creates a halo effect that rubs off on you.
TOM PETERSListen to Everyone. Ideas come from everywhere
TOM PETERSThose 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 PETERSCommunity. 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 PETERSThe magic formula that successful businesses have discovered is to treat customers like guests and employees like people.
TOM PETERSOrganizations exist to serve. Period. Leaders live to serve. Period.
TOM PETERSAccept change as a friend. And don’t take yourself too seriously.
TOM PETERSHe who makes the quickest, coolest prototypes reigns!
TOM PETERSI still read quite a few printed books, but if something is available in digital format I do not print it before I read it.
TOM PETERSWho comes first? Don’t be silly, says King Hal; it’s employees. That is – and this dear Watson, is elementary – if you genuinely want to put customers first, you must put employees more first.
TOM PETERSYou are who you go to lunch with! Break bread with cool and you will become more cool. Conversely: break bread with dull and well, you can figure it out.
TOM PETERSWinners must learn to relish change with the same enthusiasm and energy that we have resisted it in the past.
TOM PETERSYou can’t live life without an eraser.
TOM PETERSExcellence is not an aspiration. Excellence is what you do in the next five minutes.
TOM PETERS