dispatches from the new world of work

Thriving on Chaos

In 1987, I wrote a book titled Thriving on Chaos. Miraculously (for sales, at any rate), it was officially published on the day of the stock market crash of '87, at the time the most severe in decades.

Once again, we are apparently confronted with a hefty dose of "chaos"—or, at least, the prospect of a substantial period of sub-standard growth. (NB: Managers under the ripe old age of 50, more or less, have never experienced, in the role of managers, significant and sustained economic disarray; the brutal recession of the early '80s—marked by unemployment in excess of 10 percent, interest rates in excess of 20 percent, and inflation stuck in the mid-teens—was the last of this sort.)

My speakers bureau sent me an urgent request for a description of remarks I might make on the issue of thriving on, or at least surviving amidst, the current chaos—seems as though that's what their clients are suddenly, and understandably, asking prospective speakers to tackle.

I was limited to a couple of hundred words, which I enjoyed writing (in the best sense of the word "enjoy") and thought I'd share them with you. There is hardly profundity here, but I'll pass it on anyway. In fact, there are two short pieces, as follows:

[The next two blog posts are the 'two short pieces' Tom is referring to. -Ed.]

Tom Peters posted this on 09/27/08.

Comments

It looks like you hit the "publish" button too soon, Tom. The pieces do not appear in your post. Unless you were planning to write a follow up post.

Posted by Valeria Maltoni at September 27, 2008 8:14 PM

Looking forward to reading the rest of this article. Timely as all of your posts usually are.

Posted by Heidi Reimer-Epp [Botanical PaperWorks] at September 27, 2008 8:43 PM

Please hurry. I can't hold my breath much longer!

Posted by Peter Mansfield at September 28, 2008 5:04 AM

Well all, I thought Tom was referring to the two following posts "Perfect Storm" and "Basics". Worth a look anyway.

Posted by Rob at September 28, 2008 8:22 AM

rob, yes that is in fact the case. the next two blog posts are the two short pieces tom is referring to. i'll try to make that more evident. thank you.

Posted by erik hansen at September 28, 2008 8:51 AM

Erik, maybe it's Google Homepage only. The other two posts come up before this one, so at a glance it was not clear to me that they followed it. Keep up the good work!

Posted by Valeria Maltoni at September 28, 2008 11:04 AM

Tom:

I started re-reading the book last night. The similarities are apparent. Thanks for the reminders!

Rob Hann

Posted by Rob Hann at September 30, 2008 8:04 AM

Dude! That was a GREAT book!

Thanks for bring it back up! I just made it through some "chaos" within the organization that I work for, but it certainly seems that there will be more madness to come as a result of the recent changes. Just remembering some of the concepts from this book inspires me to acheive greatness during these turbulent times!

Your work seems to be timeless Tom!

Posted by Dan King at September 30, 2008 3:59 PM

Tom,

Thriving on Chaos was an early inspiration in my career and now this article has had a similar effect. I was cursing my luck that my new book is about to launch when all everyone can talk about is the credit crunch and the 'R' word but knowing that I am in good company helps a lot.

As for surviving in tough times I would say, keep your cool and keep doing the right things. Form is temporary but class is permanent.

Posted by Simon Cooper at October 5, 2008 11:46 PM