Explore Quotes by Tom Peters

A passive approach to professional growth will leave you by the wayside.

Anybody who is an entrepreneur is a person who essentially has impaired judgment. The odds of success are zilch.

Mittelstand companies are incredibly focused and almost always family-run. The young men and women go through the apprenticeship system and learn that the goal is excellence.

I know it sounds crazy, but you've got to let what you're going to do find you, rather than you pursuing it.

One of the biggest problems of 'In Search of Excellence' is that it focused on giant, publicly-traded companies. There are thousands upon thousands of excellent companies. Some of them are two-person accountancies in a community of three thousand people.

If you really want to kill morale, have layoffs every two months for the next two years.

My problem is not that I see all 17 sides of any issue, but I'm equally passionate about all 17 sides simultaneously.

I had no idea what I was doing when I wrote 'Search.' There was no carefully designed work plan. There was no theory that I was out to prove.

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.

Business is about people. It's about passion. It's about bold ideas, bold small ideas or bold large ideas.

'In Search of Excellence' was an afterthought, the runt of the McKinsey consulting litter, a hip-pocket project that was never supposed to amount to much.

Leaders trust their guts. "Intuition" is one of those good words that has gotten a bad rap. For some reason, intuition has become a "soft" notion. Garbage! Intuition is the new physics. It's an Einsteinian, seven-sense, practical way to make tough decisions. Bottom line, circa 2001 to 2010: The crazier the times are, the more important it is for leaders to develop and to trust their intuition.

Smile if it kills you. The physiology of smiling diffuses a lot of anger and angst. It makes your body and soul feel better.

Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.

One size NEVER fits all. One size fits one. Period

The best leaders are the best notetakers, best askers, and best learners.

Send 10-TEN!!-people flowers. Today. As "Thank yous" for good things "small"-or even large-done in the last two weeks.

How do you humiliate and demean someone and then expect him or her to care about product quality.

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.

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

Brand inside is more important than brand outside for sustained success.