It’s Tom Peters’ birthday today.
Tom is my favourite management thinker and author, who through his books, blog and twitter stream, provides daily inspiration, knowledge, reminders, wisdom, insight and WOW. I’d call him a ‘guru’ but I don’t think he likes that too much.
To honour Tom’s birthday – here are 68 favourite quotes. Happy Birthday Tom!
And THANKS!
1. You don’t want to be merely the best of the best. You want to be the only ones who do what you do. (Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead – p 443 Little Big Things)
2. The rarest (and most powerful) of gifts: “Thank You”. (p466 Little Big Things)
4. Hire enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is the ultimate virus. (p 467 Little Big Things)
5. Hire for good manners. (p 468 Little Big Things)
6. Decency pays off. Big time.
Thoughtfulness pays off. Big time
Kindness pays off. Big time.
Integrity pays off. Big time.
Respect pays off. Big time.
Appreciation pays off. Big time.
Courtesy pays off. Big time.
Listening pays off. Big time.
“Decency,” “thoughtfulness” etc. are the true language of Excellent-Sustainable Relationships – and hence the true language of “profit maximisation”. Period. (p471 Little BIG things)
7. Become a student of all with whom you meet. ( p 471 Little BIG Things).
8. Excellence. Our ultimate aim is always … Excellence. Nothing less. (p 492 Little BIG Things)
9. MBWA or “Managing by Wandering Around”. Get the hell out of the cube! …Slow down. Stop. Chat. (pp 256,257 Little BIG Things)
10. “Do one thing every day that scares you.” Eleanor Roosevelt. (p 339 The Little BIG Things)
11. “Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” Helen Keller (p339 The Little BIG Things)
12. “The deepest human need is the need to be appreciated”. William James (p339 The Little BIG Things)
13. “Blame no one. Expect nothing. Do something.” Bill Parcells, football coach.(p 340 The Little BIG Things)
14. “If you don’t listen, you don’t sell anything.” Carolyn Marland, MD, Guardian Group. (p340 The Litle Big Things)
15. “Have you invested as much this year in your career as in your car?” Molly Sargent, OD consultant and trainer. (p341 The Little BIG Things)
16. “If things seem under control, you’re just not going fast enough.” Mario Andretti, race car driver. (p342 The Little BIG Things)
17. “Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm” Samuel Taylor Coleridge (p342 The Little BIG Things)
18. “A year from now you may wish you had started today.” Karen Lamb (p343 The Little BIG Things)
19. “A leader is a dealer in hope.” Napoleon (p342 The Little BIG Things)
20. “A man without a smiling face must not open a shop” Chinese Proverb (p343 The Little BIG Things)
21. “If you can’t describe your position in eight words or less, you don’t have a position” Seth Godin (p75 The Little BIG Things)
22. “Working on your R.POV8 is far more important than any “strategic planning” exercise.” (p75 The Little BIG Things)
23. “Whatever amounts to “sensible communication,” 3X it!” (p205 The Little BIG Things)
24. “She or he who tries the most stuff …wins!” (p216 The Little BIG Things)
25. “Experiment fearlessly” BusinessWeek (p216 The Little BIG Things)
26. “You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.” Wayne Gretzky (p216 The Little BIG Things)
27. “Work your ass off on your writing “ (p 357 The Little BIG Things)
28. “Is it “Lickable”? Lickability and Radically Thrilling are the standards worth shooting for!” (p379, The Little Big Things)
29. “Excellence knows no bounds” (p378 The Little BIG Things)
30. “If no WOW, Then …No Go.” (p441 The Little BIG Things)
31. “Is It “Gaspworthy”?” (p 447 The Little BIG Things)
32. “…how are you going to make … the next 15 minutes matter?” (P464 The Litle BIG Things)
33. “When the going gets tough … get excellent” (p12 The Little BIG Things)
34. “Remember that …Training Trumps Equipment” (p 48 The Little BIG Things)
35. “Reward Excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.” (P 53 The Little BIG Things)
36. “You Are Your Product – Develop It” (p63 The Little BIG Things)
37. “Enthusiasm (the likes of those jumping jacks) begets enthusiasm” (p63 The Little BIG Things)
38. “You Are Your Story! So Work on It!” (p70 The Little BIG Things)
39. “Kindness is Free!” (p77 The Little BIG Things)
40. “Pronoun Power! – Or: The Customer Is “She” p293 (The Little BIG Things)
41. Success at GTD/Getting Things Done Is a Function of …
S=f(#TY, #TNT)
Number of “thank yous’ today, number of thank-you notes sent today
42. Success at GTD/Getting Things Done Is a Function of …
S=f(SU)
Show up!
43. Success at GTD/Getting Things Done Is a Function of …
S=f(#OF)
Number of oddball friends.
44. Success at GTD/Getting Things Done Is a Function of …
S=f(PDL)
Purposeful, deep listening – this is very hard work.
45. “To-Don’ts” Are More Important Than “To-Dos”. (P196 The Little BIG Things)
46. “Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes” Phil Daniels (p 53 The Little BIG things)
47. “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so” Mark Twain (p25 The Little BIG Things)
48. “It’s Showtime. All the Time!” (p114 The Little BIG Things)
49. “Why not just tell the truth?” Raymond Carver (p161 The Little BIG Things)
50. “Everything is design” Richard Farson, The Power of Design: A Force for Transforming Everything (p373 The Little BIG Things)
51. “She or he is always …”over” prepared … has one hell of an advantage” (p139 The Little BIG Things)
52. “Most of us try to use everyday language such as “the way we make a buck” (instead of “business model”), “let’s grow this sucker” (not “Is it scalable?”), “hire good people and treat ‘em well and give ’em a chance to shine and thank ‘em for the stuff they do” (rather than “strategic talent management”), “bust our asses to keep our customers happy and keep ‘em coming back” (instead of “customer retention management”), and “share the stuff you learn with everybody ASAP, don’t hoard it” (rather than executing a knowledge-management paradigm”). (p21 The Little BIG Things)
53. “ ..a few tentative lessons on how to deal with emergencies:
(4) Park egos at the door. (Boot egoists from the inner circle if they don’t shape up very quickly). (p30 The Little BIG Things)
54. Tough times? Matchless Opportunity (p33 The Little BIG Things)
55. “So-called soft factors – which are the true “hard” factors” – rule” (p104 The Little BIG Things)
56. “Put the “Eye-Sparkle Factor” on Your Menu” (p103 The Little BIG Things)
57. “Beginnings are overwhelmingly important – and surely count as “strategic substance” in any interchange” (p118 The Little BIG Things)
58. “Some people look for things that went wrong and try to fix them. I look for things that went right and try to build on them.” Bob Stone, aka Mr ReGo (p220 The Little BIG Things)
59. “Emotion matters.” (P247 The Little BIG Things)
60. “MTMMOT” – “Manage to Memorable Moments of Truth” (p250 The Little BIG Things)
61. “Empowerment! Respect and appreciation rule! Always ask, “what do you think?” Then listen1 Then let go and liberate! Then celebrate” (The Little BIG Things)
62. “Expectations! Michelangelo: “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it”. Amen! (The Little BIG Things)
63. “Enthusiasm! Be an irresistible force of nature!” (The Little BIG Things)
64. “Emotion! The alpha. The omega. The essence of leadership. The essence of sales. The essence of marketing. The essence. Period. Acknowledge it.” (The Little BIG Things)
65. “Ears. Effective listening: Strategic Advantage Number 1” (The Little BIG Things)
66. “Our most beloved products were developed by hunch, guesswork and fanaticism, by creators who were eccentric – or even stark raving mad” Jack Mingo (p359 The Circle of Innovation)
67. “Expose yourself to the best things humans have done and try to bring those things into what you are doing.” Steve Jobs (p354 The Circle of Innovation)
68. “Say yes to WOW!” (P309 The Circle of Innovation)
What is your favourite Tom Peters’ insight?
Related Posts:
Business Communication It’s a Little BIg Thing It’s Everything
The Little BIG Things by Tom Peters is available at our E Store
All Tom Peters’ books available here
