Tom Peters Quotes

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

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 greatest difficulty in the world is not for people to accept new ideas, but to make them forget old ideas.

The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say 'I'. They don't think 'I'. They think 'we'; they think 'team'.

Celebrate what you want to see more of.

Excellence is not an aspiration. Excellence is what you do in the next five minutes.

Divas do it, golfers do it, pilots do it, violists do it, sprinters do it, soldiers do it, surgeons do it, astronauts do it...only business people think it isn't necessary to train.

The thing that keeps a business ahead of the competition is excellence in execution.

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!

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

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.

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

Hire for attitude. Train for skill... More

You will be remembered, in the long haul, for the quality of your work, not the quantity of your work. No one evaluates Picasso based on the number of paintings he churned out.

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

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

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

Unless you walk out into the unknown, the odds of making a profound difference in your life are pretty low.

There are few things that will take you further in life, than your ability to make a good presentation.

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

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

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

There is no such thing as an insignificant improvement.

Remember my mantra: distinct... or extinct.

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

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

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

In today's economy there are no experts, no 'best and brightest' with all the answers. It's up to each one of us. The only way to screw up is to not try anything.

Only those who constantly retool themselves stand a chance of staying employed in the years ahead.

The difference between great and average is, mostly, having the imagination and zeal to re-create yourself daily.

Customers perceive service in their own unique, idiosyncratic, emotional, irrational, end-of-the-day, and totally human terms. Perception is all there is!

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!

Excellence comes from human beings doing things of value that customers find memorable.

If I read a book that cost me $20 and I get one good idea, I've gotten one of the greatest bargains of all time.

With most competitors moving ever faster, the race will go to those who listen (and respond) most intently.

Have you set high standards in the past that make it clear what level of performance you demand?

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

One percent improvement in 1,000 things is better than 1,000% improvement in one thing.

Don't 'tolerate' mistakes. Embrace them!

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

OPPORTUNITY is not "knocking." It is pounding on your door.

I urge you to set a tough, quantitative target for adding "differentiators" as I call them, to every service you provide.

We're going to see leadership emerge as the most important element of business - the attribute that is highest in demand and shortest in supply.

The day firing becomes easy is the day to fire yourself.

The winners stun us not by their cleverness, but by the fact that every tiny aspect of the business is just a touch better than the norm.

TRUST, not technology, is the issue of the decade.

Creating in all employees the awareness that their best efforts are essential and that they will share in the rewards of the company's success.

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.

To meet the demands of the fast-changing competitive scene, we must simply learn to love change as much as we have hated it in the past.