Dispatches from the New World of Work

Comments on TP.com

We haven't said anything about comment protocol in a while, and we thought it was a good idea to mention our "discussion area" again. Most important: Tom reads all the comments. He often calls Erik or me to talk about the tenor of the responses his blog posts are getting. Keep that in mind when posting in our comments. We appreciate your participation, and we invite those who haven't yet added to the discussion to please join in!

Some of you send emails to Tom, using tom (at) tompeters.com or info (at) tompeters.com in an attempt to get a response directly from him. Tom sees the emails, but I answer them, so that we can be sure that every message gets a reply. Though Tom occasionally answers the email, if you'd like a direct response from him, you are much more likely to get his input by commenting on a blog post (brilliantly!). And, as we've said before, please try to keep your exposition in our comments section short and to the point, remembering that we follow the "living room" rule—don't behave in any way you would not behave towards guests in your home.

Re-imagine! China

What are they reading in China? According to Joe Nocera in the New York Times this past Saturday, everything to do with business management, and their Tom Peters book of choice is Re-imagine! See what Nocera has to say at NYTimes online.

Web Seminar Thursday

Last chance to sign up! If you'd like to participate—or just listen in—while the UK team explain their Future Shape of the Winner model and how it can help you to deal with dilemmas you are facing in business today, you still have time to enroll. This free webinar will be run twice on Thursday, 6 March; 12.00 midday GMT and 12 midday EST. Please contact team@tompeters.co.uk, and let them know which session you'd like to join.

[Note: Tom himself will not be speaking on this webinar.]

Happy Valentine's Day!

Not from Vermont!
From New Zealand!

Back on 20 February.

[VT pic above, NZ below]

Tom's Away

And ... some of you have noticed that our other authors have populated the front page. We here at tompeters.com are glad to have them fill in during Tom's absence, which will last until later this month. We apologize for not making this announcement before Tom left. Please see this as a chance for you to learn what people like you are doing with Tom's tenets in their day-to-day consulting practices.

For Steve Fans

A lot of you comment when he blogs, so you might want to see Steve Yastrow live on the Fox Business Network.

Steve will be speaking to Neil Cavuto on the show named Cavuto, Thursday, 31 January 2008, 6:00 p.m. Eastern (U.S.) time.

Fox Business Network is a new cable TV network in addition to Fox News Network. Search your cable stations.

Up Close And Personal

While I delightedly and humbly celebrate July 4th and other similar holidays, there is really only one that directly relates to events that occurred in my adult lifetime. Martin Luther King Jr's birthday. The Civil Rights Movement was part and parcel of my lifetime—a lifetime marked, in my youth, with the likes of "Colored" and "White" public toilets at the main dock in Annapolis, Maryland. Regardless of your views of Barack Obama as a presidential candidate, the seriousness of his candidacy is a measure of how far we have come in the last half century.

One of my favorite quotes, though "favorite" is hardly the right word given the circumstances, concerning the fleeting nature of our lives on earth, is this one, from Dr King's speech the night before he was assassinated:

And I got into Memphis, and some say the threats were all around. Well, I don't know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me, because I've been to the mountain top. Longevity has its place, but I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will, and He’s allowed me to go up the mountain. And I've looked over. And I have seen the Promised Land. And I don't mind. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. I am not worried. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Media Honors

It's that time of the year when people are looking back at 2007 and compiling their "Best Of" lists. So far Tom has made two of these lists that we know of, and we'd like to give a nod to the websites that included him. First is EEP.com, where Tom's No.5 among leadership experts. Thanks, Ken. And the second is HRWorld.com, where Tom's No.4 among "HR influencers" of 2007. HRWorld is a brand new web presence, and we just want to say thanks and wish them good luck.

No Business at This Blog

I am not a movie reviewer. Movie discussions, save the likes of Charlie Wilson's War, which is directly related to the business of this Blog, have no place here. But there is something I must get off my chest.

I got, at birth, for better or worse, a full dose of the male gene set. I am not very squeamish, and I must reluctantly admit a predilection for rather nasty movies and TV shows—from Platoon to Syriana, to my favorite movie of all time, Apocalypse Now, to 24. (I even own an old video called, I think, The NFL's Hardest Hits.)

I suppose I've been a solo moviegoer for 50 years. And I've never walked out of a movie, no matter how many bombs were exploding or how much blood was flowing.

Until this Sunday.

At the 15 minute mark I left the Rutland VT Movieplex 9, where I was watching No Country for Old Men. It has won a bucketful of awards, and reviews have indeed remarked that it is pretty violent.

I can state without (personal) doubt that I have never seen such continuous, gratuitous, barf-inducing, disgusting violence in my life, including dog shootings, which I abhor.

If the movie wins the Academy Award for Best Picture, I will probably throw a rock through my TV screen.

Your call.

Whatever

The stuff that comes in the mail! Two days ago I received, unsolicited, out of the blue, news to me, Narrating The Management Guru: In Search of Tom Peters. By David Collins (publisher: Routledge Advances in Management and Business Studies—UK), the book performs a convoluted "de-constructionist" analysis of every word I've written or spoken since the age of three.

(Some of it is complimentary, some isn't, some I didn't understand—I assure you I only skimmed it.)

God knows, I'm not recommending it.

As I said, whatever.

FLASH!
FLASH!
FLASH!

FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION!
FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION!
FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION!
OLD YEAR’S RESOLUTION!

Call (C-A-L-L!) (NOT E-MAIL!) 25-50 (NO LESS THAN 25) people ... TODAY* ... to thank them for their support this year (2007) ... and wish them and their families and colleagues a Happy 2008!** *** **** ***** ******

*Today = TODAY = N-O-W (not "within the hour")
**Remember: ROIR > ROI. ROIR = Return On Investment in Relationships. Success = ƒ(Relationships).
***This is the most important piece of advice I have provided this year.
****This is ... Not Optional.
*****Trust me: This is fun!!!!
******Trust me: This "works."

Happy 2008!!!

Christmas (Cookie) Greetings

From 1984 to 1994 Tom had a weekly column, syndicated by the Chicago Tribune, which ran in about 100 papers. This Christmas column appeared, we think, in about 1988. Thanks to a blog reader named Dorothy Lyskowski, who sent us a scanned copy of the one she had saved all these years! So, our Christmas offering to all our readers:

Lessons About Life, Enterprise, from Baking Christmas Cookies

A couple of hours in a hot kitchen can teach you as much about business and management as the latest books on re-engineering or total quality management. That's my take, anyway, after a bout of Christmas-cookie baking. Here are 11 lessons for life (and enterprise), fresh from the oven:

1. Engagement. Watching others helps, but you've gotta get your hands dirty. I hadn't made cookies for years, so I observed a friend do a few batches. I thought I was learning something, and I suppose I was—but nothing really clicked until my hands were covered with flour.

Lesson (for trainers especially): Cut the lectures. Get folks involved in "real stuff" very quickly!

2. A plan. I'm not keen on planning in general, but a time-tested recipe is a godsend. First, it's roughly "right." More important, it gives you the confidence to get started.

Lesson: Any plan is a help; it gives folks the sense they aren't aimlessly flailing.

3. Art. The plan is an outline—not Holy Writ. Plans, including recipes, are made to be tinkered with—and eventually torn up. Cookie making, software design, and real-estate lending are art. And it's the artists, not the slavish followers of others' recipes, who land in the world's halls of fame.

Lesson: Blind devotion to any plan is downright dumb!

4. Trial and errors. Yes, I'd watched a master at work (or at least a pretty good cook), but in my first hour of hands-on work, with instructions close at hand, I made dozens of mistakes, large and small. And in business life, real life, and cookie-making life, error is the fuel that drives you.

Lesson: Don't "tolerate" mistakes. Embrace them!

5. The same mistakes. "Mistakes are OK," some concede, "but don't make the same mistake twice."

Rubbish! I made virtually the same errors, in something as relatively simple as cookie making, over and over ... and over.

Lesson: Nobody ever did anything (interesting) right the first, or 51st, time.

6. A sense of humor. I was awkward at the start. (And at the finish.) I turned the kitchen into a disaster area. Kids and adults made their day laughing at me (or so it seemed). Experimentation—the nub of life and business—depends on learning to laugh at yourself.

Lesson: Learning is precisely about making a fool of yourself—often in public.

7. Perseverance. An ability to laugh at yourself and suppress your ego is key—but so is steely-eyed determination. Sure it was "just" cookie making. But I did want to do it right.

Lesson: Winners want to do everything well, no matter how trivial; and that takes focus and unrelenting drive.

8. Perfectionism. Certainly, the kitchen was a mess. Yes, I was the object of ridicule. But to master one's craft requires nothing less than pain-in-the-butt perfectionism. Most see artists, and creative types in general, as scatterbrained. I'm sure there are scatterbrained artists (and bakers), but their work doesn't end up in museums (or cookbooks).

Lesson: Creativity and perfectionism are essential handmaidens.

9. Ownership. It was made clear to me: I was responsible for the Christmas Eve dinner cookies. There were no backups available—and a long ginger-cookie tradition hung on my frail (i.e., incompetent) shoulders. The monkey was ensconced squarely on my back. So I did the job.

Lesson A: No ownership, no passion.
Lesson B: No passion, no perseverance.
Lesson C: There is no half ownership.

10. Accountability. When I'd helped with some previous cookie making (the day before), I'd screwed up the baking time twice. Now I was on my own. That should have made things more difficult. But, to the contrary, I was so attuned to the task that I didn't come close to blowing it.

Lesson: Until you're engaged in all aspects of a job, you don't fully engage.

11. Taste. OK, I'll brag: I made good cookies. Greatness takes practice—and exquisite taste. I may or may not practice more, but I doubt I'll ever become to baking what Tom Clancy is to techno-thrillers.

Lesson: If we want great products, we need to find, attract, and retain great creators. Period.

If you'd like to get a copy to spread around, you can download one here as an MSWord file or in a PDF version.

Below ... a different kind of holiday photo. Tom sent it with this caption: "Nothing to do with the post, and I do not confuse myself with the King of the Beasts. But this is how I plan to spend my holidays." Source: His July trip to Botswana.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Tom Peters Company and tompeters.com. For any of you who are new to the tradition, we'd like to point out a helpful video on NYTimes.com showing how to carve a turkey. We hope you all have a wonderful holiday. Or, if it's not a holiday in your part of the world, then we hope you'll give thanks along with us.

Packing Will Be So Much Easier*

Tom has just reported to me that, immediately upon returning home, he ordered his Kindle from Amazon.com. A "book" review will be forthcoming.

*If books he hasn't read yet are on offer.

Thanks!

Speaking of WWI memorials, happy Veterans Day to our military folks—old and young, active and retired, Korea or Iraq; a special salute to those debilitated by their service. To my fellow Viet Vets, "Welcome home!"

Systems Thinking: Mea Culpa!

Not enough sleep? A brutally painful (beyond OD-ing on Advil) back? Reading too much about maniacally action-oriented U.S. Grant ("almost inhuman disinterestedness in ... strategy"—Josiah Bunting, from Ulysses S. Grant). For whatever reason, in a Comment on a Comment re systems thinking, I called it "gentrified bullshitting."

My apology.

I more or less believe it—but I surely shouldn't have said it so crudely, and it surely wasn't personal.

"My Summer Vacation"

As you know, I haven't been Posting a lot in the last few weeks. True, I've had seminars in Kenya and Brazil, but my calendar is mainly filled with blanks.

My craft this summer has been brush-cutting and landscaping. I've been putting in about 6 hours a day at it—each session ends when exhaustion makes it end. Typically, I do one in the morning around 7:30 a.m., and one in late afternoon, around 4 p.m. I religiously avoid the midday sun.

Yes, I love Posting and love seminar-ing. But I can honestly say that this has given me more pleasure than anything in recent, or not so recent, memory.

First, there is one helluva lot to say for doing outdoor work in the sun, hour after hour, to that point of exhaustion. This may be particularly true for those of us who spend most of our lives parked at a keyboard or parked in a conference chair or parked on a tarmac. Our primal bodies need this sort of thing! And while regular exercise is great, this is of a whole different character—this is really participating in the outdoor world, not just using it to tone heart muscles, important as that is. Second, this is a seriously cool project of my own design; doing heavy-duty yard (farm) work is one thing, and rewarding—but creating something that you dreamed up is a whole different deal. Third, every day brings surprises. Nothing beats surprises! (E.g., I didn't even know that wonderful boulder was there, as it was covered with brush! What a beauty!) This project started out as a simple effort to clean out a stream filled with debris from the forest in which it started—perhaps 20 years of debris. But the "work" meandered and grew day by day into this opportunity to create a fascinating, enchanting zen-like space that reveals a smidgen of the magnificence of this little piece of Southern Vermont heaven. I never know how the day is going to proceed—how sweet that is. Fourth, this project doesn't aim to impress a soul. At 64, I still have hundreds of stomach-knotting "final exams" every year—my 65 or so speeches where expectations are invariably ridiculously high and a "bad day at the office" is not an option, and the likes of the numerous Posts at this Blog (not every Post is a home run, or even a single, but every one is the creation and exposure of something that will be measured by an incredibly diverse crowd. I am "my own man," and somewhat known for my independence of thought—but there are always those external customers, up to 3 or 4 thousand at a speech, tens of thousands here at tompeters.com. Each one is an examining magistrate. Well, there is one customer for this project—me. To be sure, Susan, the artist in the family and a first-rate gardener, offers suggestions, and we and various visitors will use, and perhaps appreciate, the space. But I firmly feel that I am doing this for the sheer joy of doing it, unbidden. Hall of Fame basketball player Larry Bird was once asked what he wanted his epitaph to be; surprisingly, he said that he wanted to have played as hard at practices where not a soul was in attendance as in Game 7 of a World Championship series. Nice.

So that's the deal. Why am I posting less? Because I'm out in the yard (on the farm) doin' my thing, and when I'm not in the yard I'm recovering from that work, and bandaging a thousand cuts from brambles (it looks like I stepped on a mine and barely survived, a friend said—no photos attached) and putting ice on twisted ankles and the like.

No Thanks

My discomfort rose as I wrote the above Posts. Hence I choose—for whatever reason—to unbind my emotion and end this July 4th Post on a perhaps off key, clearly downbeat note. Irreducible fact: I admittedly carry a grudge 40 years on—bile rises when I think of those who labored, and labored mightily, to avoid service in Vietnam. I am no hero, but that is not the point—I did serve and wear jungle fatigues. Willingly. And despite that white hot back pain described above, I'd do it again if asked. My pen begs me to ...

(Sorry, I am unable not to conclude this way—I can only imagine the Comments. Where would I most like to be on the 4th? As I've been only once on this date, at the wall with 58,000 names, chatting up a few of my missing pals.)

Solstice

If you happen to reside in the northern hemisphere, we hope that you're celebrating the longest day of the year. Tom is enjoying the solstice on his farm in Vermont. He's probably battling brambles, boating, or basking in the sun. I've been stealing away from the computer to admire the new peony blooms. Erik has most likely been out on his bike. Cathy, as I mentioned earlier, is soaking up baby love. Feel free to let us know what you do to enjoy the solstice. After all, this is what technology is for: freeing us up to savor life.

Thoughts: Sad!

A couple of weeks ago Fortune had a little article called something like "where are they now." A lot of the vignettes were interesting, but one almost made me weep. A former bigtime CEO sitting in what I'd guess was his library surrounded by pictures of himself, including a lifesize cutout.

Happy Saint Patty's Day from Boston!

Better late then never. In Boston this Day of the Irish paralleled a dig out from our latest storm of note. Above, you'll see a bench on the Commonwealth Avenue promenade—not quite ready for Spring. Below, St Patty's traditional Boston Public Garden attire for either Jack or Kack or Lack or Mack or Nack or Quack or Pack. (Based on the children's classic Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey. Some commentator will, I trust, fill you in on the details.)

Pre-stalgia

Powered by Audioblog.com

Time: 2 minutes, 23 seconds

MP3 File

Town Meeting: Tinmouth, Vermont, 3 March 2007

Voter turnout, in the snow (see below), was over 50%. The decision between public voting at Town Meeting (a 222-year tradition) and secret Australian ballot was on the table. Feelings ran hot, but the meeting was orderly and respectful—and the arguments pro and con so compelling that they changed my mind. It was a wonderful display of Cap-D Democracy. Our issues may not have been directly about war and peace—but they were heartwarming, dramatic even, confirmation of what Mssrs Washington, Adams, et al. were about two-and-a-quarter centuries ago.

In the end, the Australian ballot won by 8 votes. Thus ends a 222-year streak. (I almost wept.)

Last Call for Manchester

There is still time to join the 370 people who have already booked for Tom's next UK public conference at the Hilton Deansgate Hotel in Manchester on 7th March.

Tom is sharing the platform with his long-term friend, Charles Handy, who is widely recognised as Europe's best known and most influential management thinker. Although their work has been constantly cross referenced since their Skunk Camp and Age of Unreason days, they have never before shared a conference platform. It will be a very special day.

Full conference details are at www.benchmarkforbusiness.com. We hope to see you there.

TP Wire Service

We're sorry to report that we're having technical difficulties at TP Wire Service today. As soon as we sort things out, we'll resume our regular postings. Thanks for your patience.

Home for the Holidays: The Sweetest Two Words

Laundry owner: "When do you need this?"

Tom: "No rush."

Less S.A.D.

"It" is happening! Again! For us Northern Hemisphere denizens coiled in our various corners ... the Sun fell to its knees, gasped, twitched, and began to Arise at 0022AM GMT 22 December (Universal Time), 722PM EST 21 December, 422PM PST 21 December. One micrometer at a burst ... Darkness is being Vanquished. Congratulations S.A.D.ies for having survived another one! Susan and I tipped a glass and listened to the Beatles melodiously declare that "here comes the sun" and "things are getting better all the time"!

Photo above: Sunrise in Vermont, as the days grow longer.

Tom, Dalai Lama

Soulmates! Tom and the Dalai Lama. It never would have occurred to me, but Omar Khan says exactly that in this article in Conference Board Review, where he describes the pair as "examples of people who travel all over the world being triumphantly themselves." Triumphantly themselves. Who could want to be anything more?

Only in L.A.

First page, first item in the L.A. Times "Homes" section yesterday-Sunday:

"MAJOR PRICE REDUCTION! EXCEPTIONAL VALUE $43,000,000"

In the immortal words of Dave Barry, "I'm not making this up."

(The photo above is "Christmas on Rodeo Drive.")

Only in L.A.

And Johannesburg and São Paulo.

Five Years with Tom, Updated

Two weeks ago we posted a list of Tom's (extensive) speaking engagements for the past five years. He had a chance to revisit it and tweak it a bit, so we offer it again, updated. You can download the PDF here:
Tom's Events 2002–2006

Winter-on-the-Farm

Thanksgiving Day ... first ice—emerging from a downspout.

Congratulations, Tom!

I just organized sending flowers for Thanksgiving to about 20 people. And you?

(It's better than Christmas in a way, because it's more or less expected then. Oh, and the "other part": It was great fun to concoct the list—it kept me awake for a couple of hours last night. Giving and saying "thanks" does, indeed, beat the hell out of receiving.)

Tom Brings Capitalism to Havana?

Headline on a page 1 article titled "Guns and Butter," by José De Córdoba in today's Wall Street Journal:

Under Castro's Brother, Army
Built Joint-Venture Empire;
From Hotels to Dolphins
Required Reading: Tom Peters

When asked about the article, Tom [tersely] replied, "Did we get royalties?"
(I don't think you can get to the whole text without a subscription. Sorry.)

The 11th of November

I've been recovering from the flu. (Missed only my third speech in 28 years last week.) Hence posting has lagged—other than the "SF flap." So I missed my traditional Veterans Day message. Simply put, "Thanks!"

Incredible sacrifices in Iraq notwithstanding, I dedicate this Post to the often-forgotten Korean War veterans and Viet vets. To the latter I offer the soldier-to-soldier salutation: "Welcome home!"

(San Francisco has veterans, which I know will surprise some. One such SF Vietnam vet is pictured above on Veterans Day 2006.)

[Photo credit goes to Susan Sargent. Thank you, Susan!—CM]

Speaking of Dates

A certain "friend of the family" has a birthday tomorrow. I will say no more except for this quasi-public "Happy __th Birthday! We love you!"

Mindless Business

Recently, Tom told us about an upcoming book, Mindless Eating, by Brian Wansink. The book is now out, and it's very interesting. Key themes—The amount we eat is usually not determined by how full we are, but by how much food is put in front of us. And, we usually underestimate how much we've eaten. (I highly recommend the book. The stale popcorn story at the beginning is worth the price of admission.)

Can't help but relate this to business—How often do people, out of inertia, keep working on the thing that's in front of them, without questioning whether it's worth continuing? And, would they then underestimate the amount of time that's been sucked up by a stale project?

Site News II

Our upgrade has been completed successfully. We did experience a brief period of time during which the comment feature was disabled, but it's back in action now. Thanks again for your patience.

Site News

We're upgrading the software for our site today. Hopefully we won't experience any hiccups. We have been warned that the comments feature may become troublesome (please try again later if you have a problem—we love hearing from you!). We apologize in advance if you experience any issues, but rest assured that we're trying our best to make this upgrade happen swiftly and smoothly. Thanks for your patience!

Photo from Another Quarter

Mike Neiss sent us this photo just to show us that winter is coming fast to his part of the world. We love it, so we're posting it here. Taken in South Haven, Michigan, on the Lake Michigan shore. Lighthouse 862. And, yes, there's snow. In October.

Microsoft Turns Landmines into Flowers

Looks like the landmine movement will soon reach the desktop. Microsoft is changing the game MINESWEEPER to placate those who thought the game was insensitive to landmine-plagued communities worldwide. With the Vista release you will be able to, at least virtually, turn landmines into flowers ...

from shellrevealed.com:

There have always been a small but persistent group of users who disliked minesweeper as a concept because they felt it trivialized the problem of land mines. For those of us living in North America, land mines are an abstract entity that you really only see in a movie, but in many parts of the world people are killed or maimed by mines on a daily basis ...

One of the realities of making something with the reach of Windows is that it is almost impossible not to offend someone somewhere with anything you do ...

In the minesweeper case, since we were doing a re-write anyway, we thought it would a good time to address these concerns. We added a preference that allows users to change it from looking for mines in a minefield to looking for flowers in a flower field. Now, personally I am not a fan of using flowers here—I mean, you WANT to find flowers, right?—but this was an established alternative in the market and none of the other ideas we had (dog poo? penguins?) could pass the legal/geopolitics/trademark/etc. hurdles

Even I think this is kind of silly, but since they started ... why stop there? Why not put an option into the game to turn a real minefield into flowers with a link (for those users who find the thought of virtual mines on their computers repugnant) to donate to relief groups that remove REAL mines? Groups like Mines Advisory Group, HALO Trust and Adopt-a-Minefield can always use the money. Now THAT would make a difference.

More Falling Leaves

The leaves are not just falling at the top of our home page. They're also falling at Grey Meadow Farm ... as you can see above.

[More pics at flickr.]

No Worries

I love many things about Australia. For instance, Australians. And I love their routine "No worries." For them, it is of course mere ritual. But it's fresh to me—and a wonderful sentiment. I've adopted it in everyday speech—and hope it's awhile before it becomes mere ritual.

Tom on the Web

Tom spoke to InformationWeek on Monday, and they've posted their take on Tom here, in an article subtitled "Experiment Fearlessly."

AdAge.com also recently put up a post that features Tom's Essential Series: Talent. They did a snapshot of Amazon.com's Top 10 Books on Recruiting and Managing Business Talent as of August 29th, and Tom's book is listed as #4. See the other titles that made the grade in this article on AdAge.com, 4 Sept 2006.

Sorely Tempted

I got an email from a member of our Web family a couple of days ago, reporting that he had disconnected tp.com. Naturally, I am aggrieved by such happenings. In this case his principal complaint was my pictures and "reports from the road." He called it, as I recall (I deleted the email), "take a crap and take a picture of it." Ah, well. I will continue to mix the deadly serious stuff (hospital CIOs as "mass murderers") with road-show reports. You'll see no picture above this Post—but I was sorely tempted to capture in megapixels you-know-what ...

So, I'm Messy. What of it ...

Over the course of time, several site visitors have asked for a peek at my office. While idling away my time yesterday afternoon I picked up my camera. Above and below you'll see the result; a few more are up at flickr.

So, I'm messy. What of it?

Pursuit of Luck

Tom's 1994 book was called Pursuit of WOW!, but before that he had a small piece in Liberation Management called "Pursuit of Luck." It came to our attention as the result of an email from one of our readers (thank you!), and it's now posted here as a PDF. In the end, Tom invites you to write down your own list of opposites to his ideas. Try it.

Smile

Is there anything more powerful than a genuine smile? (Help me here—there are better words than "genuine.") In any setting? Is there any gift more appreciated than a smile?

Sorry!

Manuscripts pour into my studio like a little Niagara. I probably endorse less than 5% of what descends. I recently got two books I pretty much thought I'd green light. Neither editor's cover letter had a direct email.

I passed.

Whoops!

I scared him away.