Tom Peters quotes:

Almost all quality improvement comes via simplification of design, manufacturing... layout, processes, and procedures.

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.

In Search of Excellence' - even the title - is a reminder that business isn't dry, dreary, boring, or by the numbers. Life at work can be cool - and work that's cool isn't confined to Tiger Woods, Yo-Yo Ma, or Tom Hanks. It's available to all of us and any of us.

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.

Excellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change.

Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing.

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!

The magic formula that successful businesses have discovered is to treat customers like guests and employees like people.

If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade.

The workplace revolution that transformed the lives of blue-collar workers in the 1970s and 1980s is finally reaching the offices and cubicles of the white-collar workers.

If your company has a clean-desk policy, the company is nuts and you're nuts to stay there.

The best leaders... almost without exception and at every level, are master users of stories and symbols.

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

All business success rests on something labeled a sale, which at least momentarily weds company and customer.

Business book writing for me is when some set of ideas gets stuck in my mind, I write a book about it. I haven't got a theory and I haven't got a framework.

I don't read many business books. I read good fiction. Business is about people, so my favorite business books are anything by Dickens.

Good managers have a bias for action.

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.

The simple act of paying positive attention to people has a great deal to do with productivity.

I 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.

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.

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.

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

Everyone has a chance to learn, improve, and build up their skills.

Leaders understand the ultimate power of relationships.

Winners must learn to relish change with the same enthusiasm and energy that we have resisted it in the past.

One simply cannot pay tribute to Stephen Covey without saying at the outset that he was a lovely human being.

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.

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

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.

Vision is dandy, but sustainable company excellence comes from a huge stable of able managers.

Design is so critical it should be on the agenda of every meeting in every single department.

If you're not confused, you're not paying attention.

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

Test fast, fail fast, adjust fast.

Celebrate what you want to see more of.

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.

The widespread availability of information is the only basis for effective day-to-day problem solving, which abets continuous improvement programs.

Accept change as a friend. And don't take yourself too seriously.

Don't let the vision be shot through with holes, but be damn sure some of your best and brightest are shooting at it -- with bazookas as well as sniper's rifles.

Business, life itself, is damned hard work if you wanna be good at it. Actually, that's precisely wrong. Business ceases to be work when you're chasing a dream that has engorged you. ("Work should be more fun than fun" - Noel Coward.) And if the passion isn't there. then biotech and plumbing will be equal drags.

Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders.

I endorse a lot of people - sometimes people say I endorse too many books. And my response has always been the same: If I can get one case study that can give me one good idea that I can implement for $25, or for these days one-third of that on Kindle, I've gotten a very good deal.

Never, ever rest on your laurels. Today's laurels are tomorrow's compost.

Become a "learning organization". Shuck your arrogance - "if it isn't our idea, it can't be that good" - and become a determined copycat/ adapter/ enhancer.

The trouble with much of the advice business gets today about the need to be more vigorously creative is that its advocates often fail to distinguish between creativity and innovation. Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things... The shortage is of innovators...

Public Speaking is a skill that can be studied, polished, perfected. Not only can you get good at it, you can get damn good at it and it makes a heck of a difference.

Obviously, despite hard work and heroic efforts, many dreams don't come true. But if we don't dare to dream and then throw muscle, heart, and soul into making the dream come true, then WoW Projects-and all of the emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and financial riches that they bring will surely NOT be our lot in life!

Formula for success: under promise and over deliver.

Formula for success: Underpromise and overachieve.

To grasp organizational life as it is, read novels (!) .... It is my fervent belief that we will never design rational processes that "overcome" such irregularities-don't bother telling that to a consultant. Hence, we should embrace the real, nonrational, nonlinear world with vigor and glee-and develop enterprise and career strategies accordingly.

Communication is everyone's panacea for everything.

I don't want an epitaph on my gravestone that says, 'He would have pursued some big dreams in his life, but other people wouldn't let him.

Have you thanked a front-line employee for carrying around a great attitude ... today?

A while back, I came across a line attributed to IBM founder Thomas Watson. If you want to achieve excellence, he said, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work.

There is no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity

Mistakes are life. Mistakes are not to be tolerated...they are to be encouraged. The bigger the better.

Leaders win through logistics. Vision, sure. Strategy, yes. But when you go to war, you need to have both toilet paper and bullets at the right place at the right time. In other words, you must win through superior logistics.

Success requires a persistent misreading of the odds.

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.

It's this simple: You are a brand. You are in charge of your brand. There is no single path to success. And there is no one right way to create the brand called You. Except this: Start today. Or else.

Nearly 100% of innovation-from business to politics-is inspired not by "market analysis" but by people who are supremely pissed off by the way things are.

If no one is pissed-off with you then you are dead but just haven't figured it out yet.

A career is a portfolio of projects that teach you new skills, gain you new expertise, develop new capabilities, grow your colleague set, and constantly reinvent you as a brand.

If you're a leader, your whole reason for living is to help human beings develop - to really develop people and make work a place that's energetic and exciting and a growth opportunity, whether you're running a Housekeeping Department or Google. I mean, this is not rocket science.

As far as I'm concerned, the first business leader who was able to establish a cult of personality around his tenure was Lee Iacocca.

Innovation comes only from readily and seamlessly sharing information rather than hoarding it.

Musing on the phrase 'waste of time.' So much more complex than it appears. Many 'wastes of time' small talk, daydreaming are imperatives.

Power lies in the details, and the tenacious pursuit of such hidden levers can pay off enormously. While you don't want to get a reputation as a prissy worrywart, worrying about the details in private is important. You may think you are the world's greatest speaker, but if the auditorium's sound system is singing static - well, forget it.

All white-collar work is project work. The single salient fact that touches all of our lives is that work is being reinvented.

In McKinsey's world, all of life is one of two things: strategy or organization.

The little people will get even, which is one of a thousand reasons why they are not little people at all. If you're a jerk as a leader, you will be torpedoed. And usually it won't be by your vice presidents; it will be on the loading dock at 3am when no supervisors are around.

Learning is a matter of intensity not elapsed time.

Give a lot, expect a lot, and if you don't get it, prune.

The unthinkable is thinkable. No: likely.

If there is a single tragic flaw that mars our biggest enterprises, it is conservatism - the failure to fail, and fail big, in an era of unprecedented volatility and ambiguity.

Train everyone lavishly. You can't overspend on training.

I don't want the 35-year-olds in my audience to think of me as as 'pops' giving the kind of advice that only 65-year-olds can understand.

It boils down to studenthood-in-perpetuity / curiosity-in-perpetuity / applied fanatic restlessness. That is, a belief that life is ONE BIG LEARNING EXPERIENCE. Something mysterious happens to a curious, fully engaged mind - and it happens as often as not, subconsciously. Strange little sparks are set off, connections made, insights triggered. The results: an exponentially increased ability to tune up / reinvent / WOW-ize today's project at work.

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.

Ready, fire, aim. Do it! Make it happen! Action counts. No one ever sat their way to success.

Are you placing enough interesting, freakish, long shot, weirdo bets?

Leadership is about tapping the wellsprings of human motivation - and about fundamental relations with one's fellows.

Knowing when to take your losses is an essential part of eventual success.

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.

As a consumer, you want to associate with brands whose powerful presence creates a halo effect that rubs off on you.

Remember my mantra: distinct... or extinct.

Mastery is great, but even that is not enough. You have to be able to change course without a bead of sweat, or remorse.

The top athletes are consummate pros who work obsessively at their craft. Approach yours the same way.

South Africa has all the tools to compete in the new global village - an eager workforce, ready to take on any challenge.

I think it's wonderful to save the world, but you need to be part of the world, too.

"Old" is definitely not cool in America. Never has been.

...high end does not necessarily equal high price. It's a matter of attitude.

A completely free library is as rare as a truly free lunch.

A good collection is more than just the sum of its parts.

A little (or more) boat burning would do many enterprises a world of good.

A vibrant, rich, growing corpus of public-domain books is a vital public good - similar to parks, the infrastructure of basic services, and other hallmarks of any advanced society.

Advantage comes not from the spectacular or the technical. Advantage comes from a persistent seeking of the mundane edge.

An ability to embrace new ideas, routinely challenge old ones, and live with paradox will be the effective leader's premier trait.

An era similar to the one in which the black rotary phone dominated its product category may not recur anytime soon.

And remember: Everything in business is a paradox. To be excellent, you have to be consistent. When you're consistent, you're vulnerable to attack. Yes, it's a paradox. Now deal with it!

Anybody who is an entrepreneur is a person who essentially has impaired judgment. The odds of success are zilch. This valley is loaded to the gills with a whole lot of totally insane people who honest to God believe that they can be the next Bill Gates or the next Scott McNealy. And that is genuinely stupid.

Appreciation, applause, approval, respect - we all love it!

Are Your Customers saying WOW?

As project chief you are creating a narrative, a story, a good yarn. If you look at the process-journey that way, you and your gang will ... dramatically up the odds of a WOW outcome!

Authority never matches responsibility. That's one of the great myths and delusions of all times. Winning managers and individual performers at all levels know that effectiveness means building your own network and creating your own authority. 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.

Authors and publishers want fair compensation and a means of protecting content through digital rights management. Vendors and technology companies want new markets for e-book reading devices and other hardware. End-users most of all want a wide range and generous amount of high-quality content for free or at reasonable costs. Like end-users, libraries want quality, quantity, economy, and variety as well as flexible business models.

Be guided by the axiom: There are no limits to the ability to contribute on the part of a properly selected, well-trained, appropriately supported, and, above all, committed person.

Because nearly all digital libraries are tied to bricks-and-mortar institutions, the funding base tends to be quite localized.

Bold botches are to be cherished.

Books were rare,expensive, time-consuming to create and copy, and difficult to transport. That is why collections ofprint-based books developed around centers of religious belief, learning, and wealth. It was cheaper andeasier for people to come to the collection than for the collection, or parts of the collection, to go to thepeople.

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

Business isn't some disembodied bloodless enterprise. Profit is fine - a sign that the customer honors the value of what we do. But "enterprise" ( a lovely word ) is about heart. About beauty. It's about art. About people throwing themselves on the line. It's about passion and the selfless pursuit of an ideal.

But there's no substitute for getting smarter faster. And the way you get smarter is to screw around vigorously. Try stuff. See what works. See what fails miserably. Learn. Rinse. Repeat.

Champions are pioneers, and pioneers get shot at. The companies that get the most from champions, therefore, are those that have rich support network so their pioneers will flourish. This point is so important it's hard to overstress. No support systems, no champions. No champions, no innovations.

Change is not so much about being the first one to embrace a new idea, but being the first to forget an old one

Collections of books and other documents, either printed or electronic, are a form of congregation.

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. No rule says that only the local banker or car dealer can organize the program to raise supplemental funds for the public library or send the high school band on a well-earned special trip. Participating in community affairs, with time more than dollars, is good business from day one. It gets your name around, adds to your distinctiveness, and, best of all, makes you an attractive employer (which is the key to sustained success).

Companies have got to learn to eat change for breakfast.

Confidence means non-paralysis, a willingness to act, and act decisively, to start new things and cut failing ventures off.