Comments

I can't recommend "Sixty" enough. I am enjoying my copy thoroughly ... or, more accurately, I'll be re-enjoying it once I get it back from the client who borrowed it from me!

Posted by Steve Yastrow at September 21, 2005 10:49 PM

Tom,

Regarding your 60 TIB (which are awesome!), I am in love with rules Numbers 4 & 7 (here with my favorite quotations):

Number 4 Question Authority (And Hire Disrespectful People)
“No strange idea should be dismissed or ignored . (And the stranger who presents it should be welcomed rather than scorned). By definition, the history book is a Deviant’s Hall of Fame. A museum of misfits. And gold stars for all who openly challenge the status quo-day after daunting day.”

Number 7 Three Hearty Cheers for Weirdo’s
“I love the heckler at a political event. It’s really quite simple. Hecklers alone change the dimensions of the playing field.”

I don’t want to be like all of the other kids who color between the lines. Yet, I find very few “deviants” or “misfits” at your site, and, with your new policies, I wonder if we will even be welcome here anymore. The majority of individual comments to the site only acquiesce to your (or your other blog leaders) topical thoughts of the day. “Tom, you are so right, or “Tom, I couldn’t agree with you more.” Can we possibly create new, competitive business models or ideas this way? Yes-people everywhere! I find this to be the stereotypical BS that forced me to leave the corporate world behind. And I credit you, Tom Peters, for giving me the backbone to do it! Your new rules (if we don’t like it, we’ll delete it) just feel so anti-Tom Peters.

I know this your site. Am out of line here?

All fun debating aside, I live on the Texas coast. Thanks to Rita, it looks like I may be in for a fun ride. I may not be able to check back for some time. But I’ll be back!! Your thoughts and prayers are appreciated! God Bless!

Posted by DonHz at September 22, 2005 12:53 AM

Good luck DonHz - rest assured we in Britain will be praying for you guys as Rita approaches.

On your point about what I call 'welcoming weirdos' I welcome alternative views to my own - that is how I learn best. I don't feel TP site is at all 'big brotherish.' There are often dissenting views on the site and people disagree with the TP view of things.
I think Tom Peters himself takes a sensible and pragmatic view of this and I am happy to go with his instinct. That may sound a bit like 'brown nosing' but it is not meant to be. I don't always agree with Tom's view of things (although 90% of the time I probably do!!!) I feel able to express my views with good manners, respectfully and constructively without the fear of my comments being edited or censored. I take the view I am fortunate to get ‘free’ consulting time from Tom Peters personally to increase my education and learning. If I was ‘paying’ for his services I certainly could not afford it! - That may sound a bit mercenary - and if so I don’t apologise - I mean it.

I guess my anxiety is that Tom will withdraw personally from this Blog and then we all lose something that we currently enjoy free. Come-on guys the world has enough secrecy and pretentiousness - Tom is like a breath of fresh air with his personal openness. What other world icon in business have you aver seen talking openly about some of the personal stuff Tom has shared with us all? I consider myself fortunate to be able to share the learning with all you folks and Tom himself. I am a pragmatist and proud of it

Posted by Trevor Gay at September 22, 2005 3:17 AM

don,
you write "Your new rules (if we don’t like it, we’ll delete it) just feel so anti-Tom Peters." i'm afraid that you, like many other readers here, have misunderstood our new policy. our policy is to delete whole articles that people cut and paste into our comments. because those articles, which generally can be linked to, clog up our comments. we do not delete legitimate comments and would never ever delete a comment because it was in disagreement with what someone wrote. we want disagreement. we don't want foul language and we don't want people insulting others. those things have happened here and those comments we have deleted, as any editor at any public site would do.

Posted by Erik Hansen at September 22, 2005 9:28 AM

Erik, Cathy, Tom et al. Not to worry. I'm pretty sure everyone "gets it" - especially fellow bloggers. You may want to reference this piece:

Guide to Writing Better Comments on Blogs.

Lifehacker has a guide to writing better comments on blogs:

• Stay on topic
• Contribute new information to the discussion
• Don't comment just for the sake of commenting
• Know when to comment and when to e-mail
• Remember that nobody likes a know-it-all
• Make the tone of your message clear
• Own your comment
• Be succinct
• Cite your sources with links or inline quoting
• Be courteous
• Don’t post when you’re angry, upset, drunk or emotional
• Do not feed or tease the trolls

I'd add:

• Provide your full name and an email address that can be verified
• Follow what is being said about you and your company online and respond quickly
• Don't lie, you'll be found out
• Use clear language, skip the $5 words

via Micropersuasion.

P.S. Awesome book T! Kudos.

Posted by Tom Asacker at September 22, 2005 12:24 PM

tom, thanks for the commenting guide.

Posted by Erik Hansen at September 22, 2005 1:40 PM

Blogging is important to me and my business and it is also great fun.I love the fact that the censorship is totally down to the individual. My view has always been that if people are treated as adults they will always impose testing and high quality standards on themselves. Just trust people for God sake – when will business understand it is as simple as that - Rant over. My Simplicity thought for the day "When it comes to quality standards we are much harder on ourselves than any rules imposed on us" I have just written an article about trusting front line staff - if anyone wants a copy just let me know trevor.simplicity@gmail.com

Posted by Trevor Gay at September 23, 2005 4:10 AM

Tom A: Ditto Erik's remark. pharmacy viagra

Posted by tom peters at September 25, 2005 11:55 AM

I noticed that NPR radio is doing a series entitled "This I Believe" having to do with people submitting essay on core beliefs that guide their daily lives. It is based on a 1950's radio program of the same name.

Is there a connection between the two?

Posted by Rick at September 26, 2005 10:10 AM

No connection, Rick. I came across TIBs at an architects' frim about 15 years ago. I have heard a couple of the NPR pieces. As I recall, they have a 150 word limit. (I plan to try one, just for myself. Tough assignment.)

Posted by tom peters at September 26, 2005 9:52 PM

tom, rick,
regarding NPR, This I Believe, essays to be 350 to 500 words in length. here's link to the site:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4538138

Posted by Erik Hansen at September 29, 2005 9:19 AM

any chance of getting an autographed copy ?? I have anyway, but would like an autographed copy also (if possible)!!

Posted by /pd at September 29, 2005 1:22 PM

Hello Tom

I am quite disappointed that SIXTY is not available elsewhere except WOW!Store, and buyer must use Paypal which 'Malaysia' is not an option under "Country of Citizenship" and therefore I was not able to create the Paypal account. Would appreciate your help. Thanks.

Posted by will at October 6, 2005 3:56 AM

Will, someone from the Wow!Store will be in contact with you soon about a way to work around the system and get you a book.

Posted by cathy at October 7, 2005 3:10 PM