To quote Tom from an April, 2006 blog post:

I got so damn sick of "excellence," so worn out by "excellence" ... for years after "the book" became a hit. Distanced myself from it. Ran from it.

But no longer. Excellence is back in a big way. If you've looked at any of Tom's slide presentations lately, you'll see that the first slide always includes: "Excellence. Always."

When Joy began to think about Excellence (which hereafter will always be capitalized at this site) and images for a banner, she thought about the wheel, and when she thinks wheels, she thinks bikes. (As a fan of bicycles myself, I’m glad that the banner begins with a bike in motion.) Joy discovered the black and white spiral while exploring the Golden Mean, also known as the Golden Ratio, and she liked the energy of it. (Cathy's concern: "When you scroll down our front page, the black spiral seems to pulse in and out. I hope we don't cause any seizures.") Yes, we all here at tompeters.com hope we don't cause any seizures, either, unless you’re seized by an urge to sit bolt upright and realize that you can begin right now to always be Excellent.

Flowers are Excellent, of course, but especially this flamboyant one. (No meek and mild-mannered flowers here.) (Recall also that Tom suggests not cutting back on your flower budget even during this recession.) And what could be more Excellent than fresh-grown garden tomatoes? From the earth, pictured next. As for the star, isn't Excellent work always rewarded with a star? (Maybe not in real life, but certainly in school. But maybe real-life Excellence should be rewarded with stars, too?)

Joy likes to include a silhouetted character in her banners. You may or may not think it's Tom, flying a kite. (His hair has never been that long in our recollection.) Think Ben Franklin and the discovery of electricity, think wind power. The words in the speech balloon clearly are Tom's, part of his new clarion call, "If not EXCELLENCE, WHAT? If not EXCELLENCE now, WHEN? " After that, we move on to the sunset, our Excellent reward at the end of each day.

That's the lowdown behind the new Summer/Excellence banner.

With that, we here wish all of you a wonderful, warm, relaxing, and Excellent summer. (As always to our friends in the southern hemisphere, best wishes for an Excellent winter.)

[My favorite Kemp memory. I was on the Farm in Vermont—not my primary residence at the time. And the phone rang at dinnertime. This booming voice was on the other end. (Kemp could sound face to face, or on the phone, like the Bills quarterback he once was, barking signals in front of 50,000 people.) "Peters, damn it, you're harder to get hold of than George Bush (JK was Mr Bush I's HUD secretary at the time). I need you to get your butt down to D.C. ..." Needless to say, I scurried to Washington a couple of days later for some meeting or other on the Hill with Pals of Jack.]

Following a rule I generally break, what follows is the first 800 words, with a continuation which you may choose to peruse. We also have a PDF version of the entire 7,000-word piece.

[Please keep in mind that the text is a draft, which Tom urged me to remind you. Changes, as always, are to come.—CM]

Preface to 2009 Edition: Re-imagine

Does any of what follows, in a book published in 2003, make sense if, or as, the world is falling apart? That's the obvious, and only, way to start a foreword in early 2009. The answer, of course, is "Yes"—and "no."

Re-imagine describes a brave new intertwined world of commerce, organizational formats, and career strategies in which many or even most of the old rules have been broken, then shredded. While the economic system is dramatically altered in 2009, and will surely be altered more in 2010 and perhaps beyond, the old rules that were broken that animated Re-imagine in the first place are still broken; much of the work to be done in 2009, beyond dealing with day-to-day survival issues, comes from the worklist we laid out in 2003—there is far more unfinished than finished business when it comes to readiness for unrelenting, global, speed-of-light 21st century marketplace competition.

Boundaries are disappearing—and, altered circumstances or not, neo-protectionism or not, we live in a global village; mindblowing new technologies are announced, it seems, by the day, from Apple's latest to the consequences of fullblown genetic mapping, and new members of the Vital Economy Club only enhance that reality. Most any task can be done anywhere. Alliances of every imaginable flavor are created, do their thing, and evaporate. Radical tools such as "crowdsourcing" change dynamics of work and human communication that are thousands of years old—and such tools continue, regardless of macro-economic circumstances, to arrive on the scene and grow like Topsy with startling regularity. And hence the race to add value to keep one's job, or to keep lots of jobs at home, or to enable a going concern, even a small one, to survive has only intensified.

Hierarchies are dying, at least in larger firms; and the economic situation accelerates that—lard in the superstructure is first on the chopping block, and not just at GM and Citi. We do most of our work via project teams that involve members from hither, thither and yon; and that last a year—or a week. Order shouting is out. These disparate team members from disparate places asked to concoct new stuff based on combining ideas of every description can only be motivated by persuasion and passion and the promise of personal growth, not the rattling of the hierarchical saber. "Who's in charge" varies by the day; Cisco Systems, the communication equipment giant, weathering the current storm by re-inventing itself once again, calls it an organization based on "emergent leadership"—the de facto leader of a critical team can emerge electronically in a literal flash from three levels down in the organization, by dint of her stellar electronic contributions made from a cramped cubicle or her bedroom at home at 3 a.m.

Those of us in the high wage nations, economic uncertainty, even chaos, not withstanding, will only survive by moving up the same "value-added" ladder described in the 2003 edition of this book—and by being prepared, as specified in 2003, for more or less constant re-invention. The rise of the likes of China and India and Brazil proceeds apace—and even with current hiccups, or the flu, the pace of these new major players' growth is nothing short of astounding—and will be more so if your time horizon moves out to, say, 15 years, a fact for readers under 40 or so. Yesterday is over is the ultimate truism, but at the moment more true, if possible, than at any time in the last 100 years.

There is a finance tsunami.
There is a generic economics tsunami.
There is a technology tsunami, just gathering a head of steam.
There is a geo-political tsunami, just gathering a head of steam.
There is a work-structuring tsunami.
There is an organization effectiveness tsunami.
There is a careers tsunami.

And they play out differently and in different combination every day.

So does this brief recitation of forces at work now, most of which were at work then, suggest that "I wouldn't change a word"?

Of course not!
I'd change a lot.
But probably in a direction you'd not expect.

Oddly, I'd look back, not forward, mostly, if I made major modifications. As on Wall Street, I'd pay attention, lots more attention, to the bed rock.
In fact, I beat myself up daily for not having done so before.
(Frankly, I'm irritated with anyone who isn't beating themselves up.)
Oddly on yet another dimension, my re-assessment began a year or so before the fissures in the financial system's understructure began to be visible.
I can even put an exact date on the start of my re-assessment.

April 14, 2006.

There were some very modest signs of Winter reluctantly giving way to Spring at home in Vermont. But my view that April 14th was 100% ice and snow as Air Siberia approached Novosibirsk, Siberia.

Continued reading Forewo/ard, March!...

Posted by Tom Peters | Comments?

Sixty-six years and 74 days, and I have never been so proud to be an American.
Anything is possible.
Still.
Godspeed, Mr. Obama.
Now the work begins.

I am shaken by the three near-misses, as any sane person would be, but will not curtail my International travels in any way. (Give me a couple of weeks re Mumbai, please.) I am a keen believer in the immense benefits of globalization and a charter member of the flat-earth society, circa 2008. It is my pleasure to be of some tiny service to my friends from Kuwait, Saudi, Dubai (week before last), to Kiev, to my beloved South Africa (may Mr Mandela live to 100+), Ukraine, Romania, etc. And India! Re the latter, I am "one of those"—a true blue India lover!

(As a matter of professional interest, I'd suggest Philip Bobbitt's Terror and Consent: The Wars for the Twenty-first Century. I had just started it; it's a tough slog, but truly an original work.)

N.B. Tom's Lunch with the FT is now available. (Thanks, Bruce, for the heads up.)

I think I've had some success in staying apolitical. Nonetheless, the New York Times blew my cover with a lengthy 28 October article in the Technology section that pitted me vs. my great friend Carly Fiorina concerning the election. She is a senior McCain campaign advisor. I was nabbed by YouTube giving the keynote at an Obama rally in Southern Vermont.

I am an Obama supporter, and, having been caught in the act relative to this Blog, I will tell you very succinctly why:

1. I think the time has come to pass the torch to the next generation, and I believe Mr Obama would be an excellent symbol of a new generation of leader. (I think Mr McCain has the haggard look of yesterday, and is, like myself, advertised to be a cranky old man. Age matters—take it from me, and feel free to wish me "happy 66th" on 7 November.)


2. In the spirit of the above, I think Mr Obama would represent a new page overseas for America. Our image is ragged, and I think Mr Obama could and would go a long way toward "bringing America back" to the status of "beacon for the world." (I fear Mr McCain might, on this dimension, project as a continuation of the Bush years.)


3. Concerning foreign affairs, I believe Mr Obama has the disposition and intellect to deal, as best anyone can, with the difficult security challenges we confront; among other things our major problems are likely to be with us for decades—and cannot primarily be dealt with by aircraft carrier superiority, a tough thing for a true blue Navy man to admit. I believe Mr Obama meets the Churchillian standard of "jaw jaw beats war war." I am fearful of Mr McCain's bellicosity and perhaps some volatility. (Unlike the case of Mr Clinton, I also have no doubt that Mr Obama would quickly gain the respect of the U.S. military—as a hot-war veteran, I have no concerns at all on that dimension.)


4. Colin Powell was persuasive.


5. As to experience, I am not troubled by Mr Obama's resume. Surviving Chicago politics, among other things, is no cakewalk—and, also, Mr Obama would be older than either Mr Kennedy or Mr Clinton was upon taking the oath of office. His remarkable cool and measured approach throughout this torrid and lengthy and, at times, bitter campaign suggest to me that he in his own fashion meets the "maturity" test as well or better than any President of any age that I have experienced, with perhaps the exception of Mr Reagan.


6. I sadly believe that Ms Palin is not ready to be Commander-in-Chief on many dimensions. Alas, I have little respect for her, and my McCain diehard friends feel as strongly as I do—almost without fail. I think the selection of Ms Palin does not reflect well on Mr McCain or his "country first" rhetoric. She is a "strong negative" in my assessment of the McCain candidacy. (Understatement.)


7. The economy is as abiding an issue as national security, and I believe Mr Obama would be able to do as well as anyone could in dealing with it. I am very impressed with his principal advisors, including Mssrs Volker, Rubin, Summers, and Buffett—none could be called an ideologue in any way, shape, or form.


8. Though I am an avowed supporter of undiluted capitalism (my faith, like Mr Greenspan's, is being sorely tested), I believe that the growing inequity in America is a clear and present danger of the first order. As Mr Buffett said, and I paraphrase, "There's a problem when my secretary has a higher marginal tax rate than I do." It is time for a focus on the middle class and those not quite there, and I believe Mr Obama has an abiding edge in that regard. (I buy his tax policy, though it will not help my net worth—as stated, and simply put, those with incomes less than $250,000 will see their taxes reduced; this encompasses, also, the vast majority of small business and I am a rabid small business advocate.) As to the "redistributionist" talk, if we wanted to erase re-distribution, we'd have to begin by wiping out Medicaid and Medicare and the progressive income tax of 90 years standing and cut the education budget, among others, to approximately zero. In short, I trust Mr Obama with the economy more than Mr McCain. As to the "threat" of a significant Democratic majority across the board, there may be problems, but I have a hard time imagining Congress pushing Mr Obama around. (NB: Though I probably would have come down on the Obama side in any event, I would have given McCain far more consideration, especially concerning economic affairs, and, of course, succession, if Mr Romney had been his running mate.)


9. I neither want a conservative Supreme Court nor a liberal Court. The swing to the conservative end of the scale would likely exceed my comfort level if Mr McCain had two or three vacancies to fill.

In 1960, I was 18—but the voting age was 21. Mr Eisenhower was an effective President, a great occupant of the office for 1952-1960. But Mr Kennedy represented a sprightly America embracing its next chapter with matchless vigor and optimism. In a way, in 2008 I have the chance to finally cast my "Kennedy vote"—and I have decided to do so by checking the Obama box on my ballot. (Actually, I already have.)

It is not my goal here to convince a single soul concerning next Tuesday's election. It has been my goal here to be "transparent" at tompeters.com concerning a topic that has captivated all of our attention. (This Blog is one of my true loves—and I will go to great lengths to protect what it stands for.)

Thank you for your attention if you have read this far.

(I am prepared for a deluge of huffy Comments, which is fair enough. I would prefer no positive Comments—I am not trying to persuade or seeking mates, as I said; I am simply stating my view to our community.)

Posted by Tom Peters | Comments?
]]> 2008-11-01T05:41:23-05:00 When we posted our new fall banner, Glenn Myers commented that we should create an archive page of our banners.... 10660@http://www.tompeters.com/blogs/main/ When we posted our new fall banner, Glenn Myers commented that we should create an archive page of our banners. We thought it was a marvelous suggestion. You can find the new page by clicking on Banner Archives in the left column under Resources, or by clicking here.
Posted by Shelley Dolley | Comments?
]]> 2008-10-10T15:02:50-05:00 Today is the first day of fall, 2008, though as you all know, the equinox, to quote Wikipedia, "is the... 10615@http://www.tompeters.com/blogs/main/ Today is the first day of fall, 2008, though as you all know, the equinox, to quote Wikipedia, "is the moment in time (not a whole day) when the center of the Sun can be observed to be directly above the Earth's equator, occurring around March 20 and September 22 each year." That moment occurred at 10:44 a.m. Eastern time in the United States today. And we were going to post the new banner at that moment, but somehow technology thwarted us. It's there now.

I even tried the old "balance the egg on end" trick, but that didn't work either. It's been a tough morning here at tp.com. We can only hope that things will improve.

We hope you enjoy the new banner and all of us here at tompeters.com want to take this opportunity to wish all of you a bounteous fall season (at least those of you in the northern hemisphere).

Posted by Erik Hansen | Comments?
]]> 2008-09-22T09:28:55-05:00 There is an opportunity for all of you who would like to view a Tom appearance. This is the last... 10605@http://www.tompeters.com/blogs/main/ There is an opportunity for all of you who would like to view a Tom appearance. This is the last month to register to see him at this year's Global Institute for Leadership Development (GILD) presented by Linkage on October 12-17 in Palm Desert, California. Register now.

If you can't make it there in person, you get another chance! Tom's speech is to be broadcast over the Internet—not for free—but still a great chance to experience a speech by Tom. Sign up to view Tom's presentation virtually, broadcast live on October 16th.

Posted by Cathy Mosca |
]]> 2008-09-15T12:50:00-05:00 As we (sort of) promised back on May 12 of this year when we announced the launch of Tom's Success... 10590@http://www.tompeters.com/blogs/main/ As we (sort of) promised back on May 12 of this year when we announced the launch of Tom's Success Tips at DailyLit.com, The Brand You50, The Professional Service Firm50, The Project50, and The Pursuit of Wow! are now available via the digital publisher. While these are not free, the price of $4.95 for 50+ (Tom always delivers more than he promises) essential tips on how to succeed at work seems quite reasonable. (Especially for our British friends!) And the folks at DailyLit have even managed to preserve some of the design elements from those books. You won't see those graphics on your BlackBerry, but we think you'll be pleasantly surprised by what you see in your email version of each installment. Happy digital reading!
Posted by Erik Hansen | Comments?
]]> 2008-09-06T13:42:36-05:00 We started the blog before Tom joined in, so there are entries prior to four years ago today, but... 10530@http://www.tompeters.com/blogs/main/
We started the blog before Tom joined in, so there are entries prior to four years ago today, but today is the day we consider our birthday. The official start of Tom's blogging is 28 July 2004, and today marks four years of blog posts! We'd like to thank all our readers for staying with us and contributing to the success of this blog.


 




 




Posted by Cathy Mosca | Comments?
]]> 2008-07-28T09:01:50-05:00 Some of our readers are very active in adding comments to our blog posts. For those of you who... 10512@http://www.tompeters.com/blogs/main/


Some of our readers are very active in adding comments to our blog posts. For those of you who use RSS to read this blog, you may enjoy our new feature to keep track of the conversation: an RSS feed for the comments. We've added a new button to the top right of the banner to access the RSS feed. You can see its location above and more detail below.

Thanks to Michael for commenting on this post with the suggestion.



Posted by Shelley Dolley | Comments?
]]> 2008-07-09T15:30:46-05:00 There's a new way to experience Tom's Success Tips. We recently told you about the serialization services of DailyLit and... 10463@http://www.tompeters.com/blogs/main/ There's a new way to experience Tom's Success Tips. We recently told you about the serialization services of DailyLit and that you can have a success tip delivered to your email inbox each day. Now they've expanded the format of their offerings to Twitter, the micro-blogging service. Tom's not planning to jump on the micro-blogging bandwagon anytime soon (limit Tom to 140 characters? I don't think so), so for now, this is the only way to get your Tom fix on Twitter. How does it work? Using your own Twitter account, you "follow" Tom's Success Tips. Each day, everyone in the world following Tom's Success Tips on Twitter will receive a "tweet" with a link to the same tip. Why sign up for this instead of the DailyLit email delivery? The email delivery is a personal subscription and will begin with the first tip the day you sign up. The Twitter offering is more like a global reading group with everyone receiving the same tip on the same day. Since Twitter can be used on a computer or a cell phone, it's fun to imagine the varied locations and circumstances of the folks who will be reading the tips at the same time. Get on board by June 16th to get the first tip along with the rest of the world's Twittering Tom fans.
Posted by Shelley Dolley | Comments?
]]> 2008-06-11T16:03:28-05:00 We consider our readership our community. And we appreciate the participation of a great number of community members in the... 10394@http://www.tompeters.com/blogs/main/ We consider our readership our community. And we appreciate the participation of a great number of community members in the comments area of the blog. There have been some marvelous debates on complex issues. We understand all too clearly how annoying it can be when you try to add your voice by posting a comment and, once you click Post, it seems as though the computer didn't register your action. So you click on it again, and again, and finally you see that your comment has been posted three times. We've been trying to solve this issue for some time now, but with no success. So, apologies for the long wait after you click Post to submit your comment. But please know that even if it takes a long moment, your comment has been submitted. This frustrates no one more than it frustrates Tom. Thank you for your patience!
Posted by Shelley Dolley | Comments?
]]> 2008-05-14T11:52:00-05:00 10336@http://www.tompeters.com/blogs/main/ Today we began a new offering from Tom—a daily email with a bit of his wisdom in your inbox. By opt-in only, of course. Today's first Tom Peters Daily Quote went to 57 recipients, but we invite you all to sign up. In the top right of this page there is an icon, which, when clicked, takes you to a page where you can subscribe to our TP Times newsletter, and now, the Daily Quote as well. Thank you to the 57 who found it and signed up without knowing when the quotes would start! We hope you and all new subscribers enjoy it.
Posted by Cathy Mosca | Comments?
]]> 2008-04-10T09:40:02-05:00 Kate at 800-CEO-READ found some photos of Tom from the Pursuit of Wow book tour in 1994 and posted them... 10335@http://www.tompeters.com/blogs/main/ Kate at 800-CEO-READ found some photos of Tom from the Pursuit of Wow book tour in 1994 and posted them today. If you've been doing some spring cleaning and have found your own collection of Tom photos, feel free to share them with us.
Posted by Shelley Dolley | Comments?
]]> 2008-04-09T10:01:06-05:00