Comments

Leading an orchestra vs. playing in the band.

Posted by John at February 28, 2005 5:09 PM

A wise man once commented on the Airline industry and quality. If the tray table is broken what must the engine look like? To combine that with the Cirque du Soleil standard, we must ensure that everything reflects the standard not just a single project or speech. Many of us (you), that spend time on Tom’s site, have our own web presence or site. Does your site that represents you to 20,000 people a month (or more), reflect the Cirque du Soleil standard and perhaps more importantly reflect the quality of you. Personally, I keep a favorites list which is limited to ten sites that reflect the Cirque du Soleil standard. Each month I review these sites to remind myself what perfection looks like and how to bring that to my site.

Posted by RTodd at March 1, 2005 7:50 AM

I wish I knew what those ten sites were. I think everyone can use a daily reminder to be great. To be the best.

Posted by Rhona at March 1, 2005 5:48 PM

I added them on my blog site since I wasn't sure Tom would want that type of information posted here.

http://www.rtodd.com/blog/

Posted by RTodd at March 1, 2005 6:43 PM

RTodd, cross-blogging Rules! Thanks for the link, but give us a longer post with your sites enumerated here! This is precisely the sort of information we'd love posted here!

Posted by tom peters at March 2, 2005 7:54 AM

Design Matters, Passion Rules, and everything revolve around your story. The web represents not only your opportunity to be heard but to control the conversation. The following sites define what it means to excel in the message. I’ll pick out a couple of sites in the list and discuss.

http://www.graphicwise.com/
Wow, this may be my favorite sites for design. Notice the content of the sites can’t be much more than 10 pages. The site draws you in with the small hint of Flash technology and excellent navigation system. What emotions do you walk away with? (Professional, Detail Oriented, Design Excellence, and Simple) Your home page is like an elevator conversation, you got 30 seconds to get your message across and you better not screw it up or they won’t come back. I marvel at this site with its ability to deliver complexity and simplicity in a single framework.

http://www.mobilem.de/
This site has been on my list for the longest and I don’t speak or understand a word of Swedish. (Assuming that from the .de extension for Denmark). While some of the sites are top tens because of their content, you can’t say that about this one and that’s what makes it so special. The structure, navigation, images, and use of white space is perfect. What’s does it say about a site where you can’t read the text but you understand the message from the site structure. Could someone from Russia, who doesn’t know English, understand what you are about, your story, and your message.

While there are plenty of excuses for not being online, we must understand that if Nicholas Carr, Daniel Pink, Tom Peters, and others are even half right you had better get over those excuses and begin to define who you are and be able to communicate that on the web.

Posted by RTodd at March 2, 2005 9:33 AM

RTodd, thanks & on my way!

Posted by tom peters at March 3, 2005 2:45 AM