Go to Bob Waterman's Cool Friends interview

If you're a fan of Tom's first book, In Search of Excellence, don't miss reading this interview with his coauthor, Bob Waterman. He and Erik discuss the events leading up to the publication of that book, and what he's been up to since then. We're thrilled to have Bob Waterman as one of our Cool Friends.

View our Archives for past interviews.

Blog Roll

The 26th Story
800-CEO-Read
Ageless Marketing
andHow To Reach Women
Katya Andresen
Tom Asacker
Asiabizblog
Jordan Ayan
Martha Barletta
Dave Barry
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blueprint 4 resumes
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Brand Autopsy
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Cali and Jody
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Change This
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Mark Cuban
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design*sponge
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IDEO Eyes Open
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In Pursuit of Elegance
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Learned on Women
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dispatches from the new world of work

Leadership as a Sacred Trust

In the latest installment of The Little BIG Things video series, Tom describes leadership as a sacred trust. He says that the decision to lead is the decision to be responsible for the growth and development of your fellow human beings. You can find the video on the top of the right column here on the front page of tompeters.com, or by clicking here. If you'd like to see previously posted videos in the series, be sure to visit our Video page (direct link to TLBT video series).

Shelley Dolley posted this yesterday.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Leadership

My Heart (and Body) Are in San Francisco, God's Gift to City-hood!

I spoke at an Inc. magazine event last night in San Francisco, commemorating the winner of an entrepreneur-to-be contest with a hearty financial prize. Incidentally, in the name of Chinese ubiquity, much on our minds these days, the event is sponsored by the powerhouse Chinese B2B outfit—Alibaba.

In preparing, I put together a list of ten key factors that I believe characterize entrepreneurial excellence ...

Entrepreneurial Excellence TEN

"Insane" Passion for and commitment to the idea.
Can explain the idea in Simple English and Excite others about its Uniqueness in ONE MINUTE (or less).
Good Accountant/"Wise-man (-woman)"/50-50 Partner.
Devotee of the Experimental Method ("Try it. Now.")/Master of "Plan B"/Relentless/Resilient.
Patience in Hiring/"Great Place to Work" from the get-go.
"d"iversity/M-F balance.
Exude Decency-Character-Integrity.
Playfulness/Fun.
Sweat the details (Execution = Strategy).
EXCELLENCE. Period.

[For the PPT slides, you can use this link.]

Tom Peters posted this on 11/19.
Permalink | Comments (10) | Entrepreneurs

Cool Friend #144:
Bob Waterman

If you're a fan of Tom's first book, In Search of Excellence, don't miss reading this interview with his coauthor, Bob Waterman. We're glad to add Bob as a Cool Friend, and we all enjoyed working on this interview. (Yes, he does share a few secrets about what went on during the writing of the book.) I think the most fascinating aspect is examining another path taken from the same jumping-off point. Bob was no less successful than Tom, just not as publicly. He describes to Erik how ISOE/In Search came to be and what he's been up to since then. Bob also talks about his involvement with the Restless Leg Syndrome Foundation. Funny, both Tom and Bob ended up vacationing in New Zealand, as you can see in the picture above. Divergent paths veered close again after more than 25 years. Welcome to the Cool Friends, Bob!

Cathy Mosca posted this on 11/17.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Cool Friends

Excellence Slides: Press Ganey

Today, Tom met with about 2,000 health care senior execs, mostly from hospitals and hospital systems in National Harbor MD, right outside of Washington D.C., hosted by Press Ganey, researchers and consultants who provide solutions and resources to their clients to help them provide high quality health care. Press Ganey is significant because of their focus on this one industry. As their website states: "Health care is a unique industry in which success is not measured simply by financial returns. The most successful health care organizations act upon the needs of all customers [doctors, nurses, patients, administrators] to improve the delivery of care and achieve organizational results."

Slides are here: Excellence Always: The Art of the Possible, Press Ganey, Baltimore

Cathy Mosca posted this on 11/17.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Tom's Slides

Excellence Slides: Seminarium Ecuador

The slides I'm posting are for an event that took place last Wednesday. Tom's been all over the world and had Internet access, but the mountains of Ecuador proved too big an obstacle. We hope he enjoyed several days of being out of touch. In a scenic location. Sounds good to me.

The event was the Seminarium Ecuador in Quito, short for San Francisco de Quito, the capital city. Be sure to look at google maps, wikipedia, and other websites to learn more about this fascinating place. It's in the same time zone as Boston, but worlds away.

If you attended the Seminarium, please give us your comments, and if you'd like the slides they are here.

Cathy Mosca posted this on 11/16.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Tom's Slides, Tom's Travels

Link Roundup #9

Cool Friend Dan Coyle has a terrific post on failure.

On a recent Marketplace, Charles Handy advocated for becoming a Free Agent.

BusinessWeek's feature of ski company K2's design and innovation process teaches an important lesson on focusing on the user of your product. Hat tip to Cool Friend Matthew May.

The latest manifestos have been posted at ChangeThis. Our suggestion is to check out "The Upstarts Are Here!: What Can You Possibly Learn from Entrepreneurs in Their Twenties? Plenty" by Donna Fenn.

Cool Friend Andrea Learned predicts how current trends will change how we do business in "Bridging Gender, Consumer Behavior & Social Responsibility."

We enjoyed Ian Sanders' post "Five Big Lessons from Small Shop Keepers," not because he mentioned Tom, but because the five lessons are right on the money.

Tom spoke in Angola last month. Since we don't hear much from an African perspective on this blog, we thought you'd enjoy this blog post from someone who heard Tom speak at that event.

Shelley Dolley posted this on 11/13.
Permalink | Comments (6) | General

Out-Read the Other Guy

We continue our The Little BIG Things video series with "Out-Read the Other Guy." Tom reminds us that a key to success is reading. Staying informed and developing your analytical skills is essential. You can find the video on the top of the right column here on the front page. Let us know in the comments section what you're reading. And if you'd like to see previously posted videos in the series, be sure to visit our Video page (direct link to TLBT video series).

Shelley Dolley posted this on 11/12.
Permalink | Comments (12) | Brand You

Veterans Day

[Our guest blogger is Abbey Bishop. Abbey is the Executive Director of Events for Tom but more importantly today, she is the wife of a soldier. Her husband, Keith, is currently deployed in Afghanistan and all of us at tompeters.com deeply appreciate the choice he has made to serve our country and anxiously await his safe return. We invited Abbey to share her thoughts on Veteran's Day and she graciously agreed. Thank you Abbey!]

Through the generations, how war is fought has changed so drastically. One thing that remains the same is what defines a Veteran. Courage, selflessness, and loyalty are a few very small words that barely begin to describe the incredible individual that offers so much to so many, expecting nothing in return. They believe in the ideal that the United States of America is greater than the individual and they are willing to—ultimately—give everything to uphold that ideal. Separation from family and friends, and to live inside a war zone are commitments they have made and stand by.

Ask yourself before just appreciating yet another federal holiday, would you be willing to do what they have done? Willing to miss the birth of your child, miss the burial of a family member, experience intermittent sleep for days on end, hope for at least one meal today, see a friend die with the fear that it could happen again tomorrow and the possibility of the sacrifice of your own life?

Saying thank you hardly seems good enough, but THANK YOU. Thank you to all the Veterans, past and present, who have protected my rights, my freedoms, those that I love and allow me to live the life of a free man. Never forget that the courage of those brave soldiers that have served in our armed forces allows life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Without our armed forces, these would not be certainties of our everyday life.

Today is a day of gratitude, but it is also a day of mourning. It is the very least we can offer to our countrymen who, without knowing us, stood up to protect us. Remember those that came home and those that couldn't. Veterans, my sincerest and most humble appreciation is yours. Thank you.

Abbey Bishop posted this on 11/11.
Permalink | Comments (8) | General

9 Questions To See If You Are Caring ENOUGH

[Our guestblogger is Cool Friend Rajesh Setty. Learn more about him at his site, his blog, or follow him on Twitter.]

Teddy Roosevelt said, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

So, how do you know you are caring enough?

Do a self-assessment on your level of caring by thinking through these nine questions:

Are you REALLY listening when they are talking OR are you thinking about what you will say next?

Do you care for them OR do you care about their opinion of you? (Inspiration from the book Leadership and Self Deception by The Arbinger Institute]

Do you usually call them when you want something from them or when you think you can offer something of value to them?

Are they in your "network" or are you both in each other's "networks?"

Do you leave them impressed with you OR do you make them feel good about themselves?

What do you see when you see people? (From a quote submitted by Mike Wagner of White Rabbit Group)

If time is money, they are making an investment by spending their time (money) with you. How are you ensuring that they are getting the right return-on-investment for this interaction (ROII)?

Are you treating them the way you want them to treat you?

Are they REALLY better off because you are in their life?

Your turn now. What question should you ask yourself to see whether you are caring enough?

Raj Setty posted this on 11/10.
Permalink | Comments (36) | Brand You

Excellence Always: San Francisco

On Friday, Tom was the closing speaker at the 2009 Urban Land Institute Fall Meeting and Urban Land Expo at Moscone Center in [glorious, matchless, delightful—TP] San Francisco. We'd love to hear from you if you happened to attend the event, and the PPT file is here.

Cathy Mosca posted this on 11/09.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Tom's Slides

More Dispatches...

Master

Excellence, Version 2008

Now in TEN parts:

Part 1—General: Part 1.1, Part 1.2, Part 1.3, Part 1.4
Part 2—Leadership
Part 3—Talent
Part 4—Value Ladder
Part 5—"New" Markets
Part 6—The Equations
Part 7.1—Implementation
Part 7.2—Action
Part 8—13 Guru Gaffes
Part 9—Health"care"
Part 10—The Lists

New! Get the Mini-master, a 525-slide version of the
10-part Big Master:
Mini-Master | updated 4 Nov 2009

And, Ten Years in the Making:
The Healthcare Master—completely annotated | 9 Apr

Special

Specialized slides sets for Tom's hot topics. There are over 100 of these thought-provoking slide decks for you to explore. We encourage you to do so. Take your pick, spread them around! Sample subjects include:

Event Slides

Recent events:

10-Year Archive

Introducing Project05, FREE 240-page PDF. Tom's back with a new volume of rants—if you liked Project04, you'll love this!

Find more FREE downloadable files on our Free Stuff page.

Free Stuff RSS feed

Re-imagine! has been re-packaged into four small-format plane-friendly books: Leadership, Talent, Design, and Trends. The big difference: Marti Barletta, author of Marketing to Women, coauthored Trends, and she added new content on Prime Time Women.

View a photo gallery of Tom's typical day.

As seen on public television, Tom takes his book on the road to profile how the following businesses, along with Deloitte & Touche, are excelling in a disruptive age:

TNT
Memorial Hospital
OXO
Ellie Mae
The Container Store
Jordan's Furniture

Produced for corporate trainers, the video is available through Enterprise Media, and individual case studies of the above listed companies are also available.

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