Comments

Tom

Keep the humour coming and the pictures and the irreverance.... I understand why you would be "sorely tempted"... However, you do not (yet?) need that type of picture to show you are still relevant, vibrant, and interesting... The serious stuff and the lighthearted stuff all has its place in our wonderful new world of work!

Richard Lipscombe

Posted by Richard Lipscombe at September 12, 2006 3:54 PM

Keep up the road rants and observations. Work is life and the other way around. My big business ideas come from the ballpark, school parking lot or the grocery store- not while sitting in pathetic mind-numbing meetings!

Posted by scott swift at September 12, 2006 4:50 PM

Ah, for Lord's sake. My daily work life resembles the Dilbert comic strip. You wish it were a cynical representation for others to laugh at, but it is reality to me. Lyin' John, Asok, I know them all.

I start my day taking in the TP site to get a grip and have some rare mental clarity. I especially appreciate the rants from the road. That is my work life as well, and Tom is my role model in this regard. He's got 10 years on me and seems to pull it off far better than I.

I suppose that all of this is a matter of perspective.

Posted by Kate at September 12, 2006 5:02 PM

Tom,

Over the past months I have bemoaned how boring my job is (I'm an auditor). Then last night I was watching a chick flick "In Her Shoes", and I started getting weepy by the end. Why? Because I realized that life, including business, is about relationships. Not that I haven't heard this or realized it before, but what makes business exciting is getting to work with cool people delivering cool products/services to cool customers. And the personal stuff makes these relationships even that much cooler.

As I see it, that is all you have been doing. In the midst of brilliant observations (either totally wrong or totally right, but never in the middle) you provide some personal detail. It makes me feel like I know Tom a little bit better, a little bit more personally. It builds a relationship that is as much about business as it is about the human drama that surrounds it.

Thank you for your passion, energy, brilliance, and personality. Keep up the good work.

Posted by Darin Woolwine at September 12, 2006 5:50 PM

Tom -

Part of the blog is building a relationship.

We can't get to know you if we know nothing of what you do, what it means to you, and how it impacts your frame of reference.

That said, thanks for the restraint on the aforementioned picture taking - there is such a thing as knowing too much :-)

Posted by ann michael at September 12, 2006 5:51 PM

Tom - Keep making virtually everybody happy and don't try to please the nay-sayers. You've never been one to water things down for the lowest common denominator!

Posted by Steve Yastrow at September 12, 2006 6:04 PM

Yeah...probably not the right subject for a podcast, either.

That former reader just doesn't get the vibe of the blogosphere. Let him stick with books, mags, etc. And I'm sure it won't sway your approach to this (immensely popular) blog. Will it, Tom?

Posted by Steve Farber at September 12, 2006 7:04 PM

Tom, please ignore your critic and listen to the supporters in this comment thread. I used to maintain separate blogs, one for work and one for "personal" posts, but at the beginning of 2006 I decided to merge them. Did I lose readers who didn't share all of my interests and preferred a narrower focus? Perhaps. But that loss has been more than offset by the rich connections I've made with the people who do share my interests, or who are simply curious about them.

I once wrote that "it's essential to let people know who you are as an individual and to speak in your own voice when you're working online. That means exposing yourself, speaking authentically, and being unafraid to share your silly passions," and I still believe it firmly.

Keep the personal stuff coming, Tom--it's unique, authentic, and interesting.

Ed

Posted by Ed Batista at September 12, 2006 7:15 PM

I travel a fair bit - 150K, 4-5 intl trips a year. I suspect many of your readers travel less. And I find your travel pace, the variety of your destinations and the photos amazing. And even little tales like the security guards who had to erase all your photos

Pls don't let one reader turn you off. I have similar bullies on my blog who will periodically threaten to "cut me off". Your core readership appreciates them from the comments above...keep on clicking...

Posted by vinnie mirchandani at September 12, 2006 10:27 PM

as our mutual friend Boyd Clarke said, we communicate factually, emotionally, and symbolically....keep the photos coming Tom...don't see you often enough and the photos help the symbolic channel...be well....mike

Posted by Mike Neiss at September 12, 2006 11:15 PM

Keep the mixture rich Tom - It proves even a Management Guru's life is made up of a mixture of 'real' stuff as well as the 'glamourous bits.'

Although I am disconnected from TP Blog for a while I 'watch' the TP Blog every day and want to make it absolutely clear the absentee who said those dreadful things is NOT me ..... Just in case regular readers were wondering. :-)

Yours in paranoia and greetings to all TP regulars from England

Trevor

Posted by Trevor Gay at September 13, 2006 1:46 AM

What was it Col. John Boyd (OODA loops) said? Something about, "You're not killing enough pilots...."

Posted by MarkJF at September 13, 2006 1:49 AM

As that 'heathen among the believers' who dared critique god 'for being dull' I'll clarify my point - which is not, as incorrectly stated, 'pictures and reports from the road'... it is instead a charge of 'dumbing down and playing to the gallery' - of which the reportage (and also the slap-down manner in which you choose to raise the issue) is merely a symptom.

At risk of hogging space (sorry, can't edit the truth for pixel-economy), I'll do so by including my original note to you and my follow-on to your response.

--------------

Unhappily, I today removed the site from my bookmarks... again - having re-added it after previous removals, it no longer has a place in my life.

Having been keen on TP for years, I'm dismayed by the continuing lack of impact the site has upon me. Far from being the most relevant and exciting voice in business with genuinely fresh perspective, there's an increasing air of merely leading the choir.

Too many almost pointless posts on the minutiae of life may be fine for others but not me. I'm just not into 'today I had a crap and here's a pic'-type nonsense... which generate a stream of often genuflectingly-witless comments of a 'great - way to go! attaboy Tom! we l-u-r-v-e what you're doing' nature from below-par respondents.

Sure, I could just ignore them but that'd miss the real point - there's clearly an element of playing to the gallery. Add to this a blogroll of largely b- and c-list quality, an increasingly 'Hey we're the Tom Peters Company - we're cool and we know it' tone and... the fun's gone and the wisdom lessened - replaced by vapid chit-chat.

Sure, I recognize the importance of interactivity - but I feel there's an imbalance... a dumbing-down in which quality has surrendered to popularity. For much of this I blame the current 'boy king' Godin... suckering us into an increasing 'Seth Says' game in which sensible commercial practice is replaced by oft-(commercially)dangerous nonsense. Even Kawasaki is playing the same games - and that can't be good.

All things considered, I preferred TP when he had the elegant and reserved quality of NPR rather than this latest 'I'm! a! celebrity!' Fox!-type! sensation!!!!

'When the kids had killed the man I had to break up the band...' with the Hunter S-caliber passion absent I hope to hell he'll quit and soon - rather than, like Ali, shuffle-on long after the butterfly/bee float/sting thing had been reversed.

Currently, there's an increasing ego-appeasing air of 'Sinatra plays Vegas' - just running through the numbers. Same thing with pensioner Stones/Who/Dylan etc - maybe fine for the youngsters who never saw them in their prime, but way below the standard for which I respected them.

'...did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?' Sure seems that way to this viewer.

So, a hat-tip to TP for the lessons you've helped me learn and the cool stuff onto which you've helped turn me. I'll continue to buy the books - if and when another eventually sees daylight - but the site is off my radar.

;-)

--------------

In reply to your response (which in respecting your confidentiality I'll not include), I wrote:
--------------

Your remark of:
-----
I'm too "academic" in my not infrequent long (for the Web) essays, citing obscure texts and running on for 1,500 words...
-----

says much. I suggest 'for the Web' is an example of 'petard, own, hoisted by'... you've shifted your output to suit the web - and in so doing reached a new breed of nano-seconder who 'know lots but understand little' (they've a million rss-feeds eagerly browsed - grabbing snippets of each to slap together in a mutated hybrid)... by comparison with which Dolittle's push-me-pull-you seems a masterful piece of evolution.

Objectively... in Reichheld terms of 'How likely am I to recommend TomPeters.com to a friend or colleague?' my position has shifted hugely.

Whereas previously having for years given away copies of the Tom Peters Seminar and the 'How to Make Things Happen' tapeset to prospective clients/colleagues/employees - and told them to go check out the more recent stuff, now I rarely even mention the site.

'Design' essentials sits on my desk, others from 'Search' onwards not far away - all heavily bookmarked - great inspirational and reference stuff. Often, your on-site work has similar quality - but too often it genuinely (and that's not merely my personal opinion - I get queries and feedback from others who 'used to, but not recently') falls short of the standard for which you've become known.

I'll still refer to the books and genuinely await something fresh - but the site as-is I'll pass by - the quality just isn't there. Sure, you post some good stuff - but the chitchat entries dilute it and the choir-fest comments detract heavily - in the pre-blog days, the web crossing forums triggered more intelligent debate.

Whereas (damn, used that word twice in one mail) you used to 'breed' leaders - based on that 3-part message of 'challenge+change, dull will not do, assume you have absolute authority', dollars-to-donuts that position has shifted and you're now encouraging legions of clones... a fan base of followers who thrive on a diet of trivia - and for many of whom 'Tom - you da man' (often expressed almost that literally) seems to be their idea of worthwhile expression. They are perhaps what HST termed 'whimpering slaves'.

And sure, of course such stuff is 'human' - the dumbed-down self-indulgent part of which I'll happily miss 99+% (and have no qualms if that marker reaches 100%).

Happy to be tagged an out-of-date old fart I still read and enjoy 'Lib Man' (although with advancing age it's getting harder to physically lift the bloody thing)... I'm pissed off at you for suckering(?) yourself into the dumbed-down webcreed of 'everything, now, free'.

Whilst 'he that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master'... he who listens too attentively to the crowd wanders and becomes lost. The comments to your recent 'Susan suggested... ethics' entry represent to me an all-time nadir... god help us all if that's the best we can do.

;-)

--------------

But, as Steinbeck noted, 'No one wants advice, only corroboration'.

Having re-read this before sending, assuming it doesn't get pulled I expect no little '!%£$*&@!' outrage from those to whom I refer as 'below-par respondents'. Such is Life... as once was said 'If no one is pissed-off with you then you are dead but just haven't figured it out yet'.
Those looking for the smart-ass one-liner put-down, might consider TP's own 'don't waste your time on jerks, it'll rarely work out in the mid- to long-term' to be an apt choice.

Whatever. In closing, my original reason for posting was simple:
Perhaps I took that 'celebrate what you want to see more of' advice too literally and upped-the-ante by also 'tell the unvarnished truth all the time' speaking out against that of which I want less. Mea Culpa... my fault for reading too much stuff like... we need more 'freaks' who routinely tell those in charge to take a flying leap - before its too late... creative tension... a raucous brawl... give me pushy, nasty provocative customers... bruise my feelings, flatten my ego... love the person who irritates you - tap the energy of the anarchist... destroy and reimagine... whatever you’ve built, the best thing you can do is burn it down every few years.

Do I demand too much or are others merely more accepting of (and contributing to) mediocrity?

Posted by gulliver at September 13, 2006 2:17 AM

Who can disagree with anyone who quotes Ziggy Stardust.....'When the kids had killed the man I had to break up the band...'

Like so many others, I start my day here. A quick look at my mailbox but then right over here to see if there's a new post. I value the academic and I value the "hey, here's my real life too" posts. Nonetheless, there've been many, many times when I've thought that w-a-y too many people feel the need to chime in daily with "yeah--I agree with what Tom said." Maybe I've been guilty of it myself. In looking at the original posts though, I'm thinking it's unfair to accuse Tom of pandering to his masses. Rather, we're to blame for not offering enough thoughtful, contrary, discordant viewpoints.

Posted by Ed Di Gangi at September 13, 2006 6:33 AM

GULLIVER - au contraire - time to embrace the "new" TP and evolution of TP - especially celebrating tp.com FREE ENTERPRISE success & families' support.

That seems to be the GULLIVER HANGUP - success breeds envy - whereas in reality the more affluent we become - the better to deal with world terror [for example]. Whereas your rant above is hilarious especially the NPR quote & non recognition of your own boring giant ego - thanks and goodbye for now!

Posted by sean at September 13, 2006 8:29 AM

Tom, not sure the message within. Just be yourself and do what you like ...after all bloggin is a personal thing and one does it for themselves.. !!

Posted by /pd at September 13, 2006 8:40 AM

Two quick things from Seoul. First it's hardly surprising that there's a lean toward agreeing with this Blog. It's called "selection bias." Most of us gravitate to stuff we agree with, and away from that that we don't. (Even though you could argue cogently that it ought to be the other way around.) Second look below at "My Watch, My Responsibility." There is vigorous, intelligent debate (the "yeahs" and "nays" are neck & neck)--which makes it all worthwile.

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(Third, the reason I write stuff like this is that I worry constantly about the Blog--even though the underlying idea is very "bloggish"--namely stream of consciousness, chattin' about the personal that of course is the main influence on the professional. I was THE "King of Customer Service" for about 5 years in the Eighties. Truth be told, it was one big, thoughtless, personal vent driven by a self-imposed nutty schedule. But "it" "worked"--and the personal passion, and the wee stories took it over the top--and maybe did a little bit of good.)

Posted by tom peters at September 13, 2006 10:36 AM

I, too, enjoy the variety of posts and believe blogs are better for that diversity of thought, ideas, life, work and spiritualism (emotional, motivational, and inspirational). And if we can find it all in one place, wonderful.

However, using the comments section as my only research, your audience does seem seated in the choir. The bloated admiration is a bit tiring, and doesn't add a great deal to the conversation.

I think we would gain more if there were additional give and take. Surely I and a handful of others aren't the only ones to sometimes disagree with your take on things.

Furthermore, good comments don't have to be of the opposing point of view. They can be supportive without gushing and contain original thinking and points of view.

I remain a faithful reader but encourage less "suck up" and more originality from those of us participating in the comments. I think it makes for better conversation and increased learning and enjoyment for all of us.

Posted by Lewis Green at September 13, 2006 12:56 PM

I love the pictures and reports from the road!

Posted by Marianne Powers at September 13, 2006 6:33 PM

After a brief private email exchange, perspective has been re-established... so to close the loop here's my 'I too can do praise' entirely self-indulgent balancer which may clarify my 'protest'...

I know it's too long - but to not post this publicly would be a dis-service.

For the thick end of 20 years Peters has been a major - HUGE - influence in my life. Lennon,
Roddick, Steinbeck, RFK, Hank Miller - there's only ever been a few to whom I'd willingly turn-on and tune-in. I sucked-up his stuff with the relish of an 8-yr old kid under the covers late at night clutching a torch-lit superhero comic book. 'Glee' is not an exaggeration.

A needs-driven decision, I'd come relatively late (88?) and reluctantly to the world of commerce. Poring over thick tomes in an effort to learn the craft confirmed my view of it being largely a spirit-draining beast vacuuming the life out of folk in a sick trade-off for cash.

Then, something changed... relaxing in front of the tv I caught a BBC documentary of some shirt-sleeved lunatic prowling and scowling a room of clearly-unsettled and very uncomfortable buttoned-down execs. Urging 'CHANGE!' and almost literally spitting venom of 'for chrissakes wake-up!' contempt for the fat-ass status quo... I'd never seen anything like it - and years later still haven't. I noted the name - Tom Peters - then went to the library to check out the guy's stuff.

Whilst I didn't understand much of the business-thing background, I was enthused by the freshness of style, that 'let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late' Dylan/Watchtower fervency of delivery. Consummate... this guy had a fluency on par with Clapton and his Fender guitar.

'A revolution is on...', I progressed through 'Search', then 'Passion' and 'Chaos'. (At the time I never had spare cash and hence hung onto library copies for maybe six months - during which time the size would double with all the used envelopes I'd stuff between the pages as 'remember this' markers.) A birthday gift to myself, years later I ponied-up a tenner into my own copy of 'Seminar' - then a few quid more into 'Lib Man' and the 'Shake Things Up' audiobox.

Damn fine stuff, it literally changed my life - delivering fellow-outcast vindication for that which I'd felt and done whilst simultaneously offering up a whole new bunch of recipes... 'do something great', 'use your own best judgment', 'powerlessness is a state of mind' assume you have absolute authority', 'dull will not do', 'ready, fire, aim', 'collaboration is like romance', 'raging inexorable thunder lizard evangelists'. Cool. Can you dig it?

Barnevik, Bennis, Hoffer, Quadraci, Peterman (and many others I can't immediately recall)... a progression of great inspirational characters from whom to learn really good sh*t for daily integration into that Great Blight of Dullness I considered commerce to be.

Did I take it all too seriously? Of course. Would I do so again? Probably.
Genuinely perhaps the nearest this too-often oh-so dull world of commerce gets to an all-action hero, I didn't so much enjoy and respect Peters' stuff as revere it.

Rather than the usual theory-spouting head, TP was the guy wandering around and reporting back on the treasures (and horrors) he'd found. Tales like the McKean prison thing brought hope that 'things really didn't have to be as they said they have to'. (From the first time I used the phrase 'neatstuff' in my work I'd been largely marginalized among the company I kept - doubtless reinforced by my 'read this!' pushing copies of 'Seminar' into the hands of many I met.)

'A hemi-powered stomper among a line-up of stuttering Edsels', here was someone who could grab my attention with tales of furniture delivery and railroad unions! A metaphorical Thor among a generation of corrupt priests and weak-willed vicars... like Coke cleaning a stained toilet bowl he was my Shiva - the Destroyer with a strong message of regeneration.

Whatever. Years later and here we are. The web's changed our lives - perhaps irrevocably and maybe not all for the better. Maybe I believe Kawasaki when he says 'Blogger. n. Someone with nothing to say writing for someone with nothing to do'... his banter masks a serious message - an increase in quantity carries a lessening of quality and many who belong in the audience now stand on stage. We've seen a huge rise in talentless trivia, a dumbing-down in which we latch onto the latest merchandized craze.

The root of my gripe is simple... 'with power comes responsibility' - we have a duty to act wisely and a right to expect others to do their best. Arrogant? Sure. Utopian? Probably.

I've read this thing from the get-go - almost daily. I don't think it offers the quality or flexibility of the original ReImagine discussion forum. And I do think 'blog format' encourages a relatively tame response which sells us all short.

Disenchanted, I spoke out - in what I considered to be a constructive 'not praise, but criticism' 'Arden-ism' act which brought me dis-ease and no pleasure.

Does any of this matter? Yes. No. Who cares? It's another day so let's all move on.

;-)

Posted by gulliver at September 14, 2006 2:35 AM

Thanks for the update Gulliver. I see TP Inc via an MBA 1990 [computer science emphasis] 1st in class - maybe I was paying attention to business metrics.

Anyway TP Inc to me is a perfect FREE Enterprise example of how to do IT & reinvent IT & maintain IT & have fun with it - TP Inc has ALWAYS been about Entertainment & Change 1st and foremost. Accelerate the Change?

Posted by sean at September 14, 2006 8:48 AM

I enjoy living your life through flickr. Of your posts that I can recall off the top of my head, one of my favorites was your trip to Dubai. It got me interested in the area and I've started developing business there.

Posted by Chris Houchens at September 15, 2006 9:30 AM

I see two excellent points in all these comments: 1) A blog (almost) has to be personal to be good. I find that even in my "housekeeping" posts (as I call the "here are the slides" entries) that I become known to the community here. And you all know I like Tom's work. But I try to keep the sucking up to a minimum on the page/screen. (I always think I should have a lollipop icon for "suck-up alert," when things are getting a bit sticky.) But that's just my posts.

And 2) Tom's right that we read what we agree with. Every reader here begins with "I like Tom Peters, I wonder what he has to say these days?" Not "I hate that guy, what's he up to?" Given that, I think you'd agree that we get a fair amount of opposing views, without which these comments would be surpassingly boring. So, please keep the arguments coming.

Posted by cathy mosca at September 15, 2006 5:18 PM

A small-but-big point on Cathy's 'Tom's right that we read what we agree with'...

True. And that's not why I originally got into TP. For years the appeal has been the continuing introductions to 'here's this guy or this company and here's what they're doing in a cool and innovative manner'... new stuff or things with which I'm not very familiar... I come to 'be turned onto something'.

Posted by gulliver at September 15, 2006 11:42 PM

Dear Mr. Peters, I loved the pictures of your home office, with the caption,"I have a messy office,what of it".Your office looks some what like mine;it is good to know I'm in such esteemed company,as well many of the books in various places of my office are written by you. Your the best, keep it up.

Posted by Stephen Thomas at September 16, 2006 6:01 AM

Gulliver - I always enjoy your posts - the length at times gets boring to me - but that is just me - I crave the snappy 1-liner :>]

Posted by sean at September 16, 2006 6:52 PM

Sean... (as I think I mentioned above) the length of my stuff in this thread has been of concern to me too. That said, sometimes perspective requires those 'extra pixels' or else things can become misrepresented.

As a sidenote... whilst I recognise the expectation that 'weblog comments' should be short and directly address the original entry, in so doing we often prematurely curtail and exclude productive tangents... hence my continued 'lobbying' for the experimental reintroduction of the prior 'forum-type' facility whereby those so-minded can explore and debate further- but that's a whole other issue beyond this.

Posted by gulliver at September 17, 2006 12:12 AM

You can't please everybody. Anyone who is not enjoying what you have to give is cheating themselves. Thanks for being who you are.

Posted by Cathy Thorsen at September 18, 2006 9:45 PM