Bests

A few "bests" picks for 2010.

Books of the Year

Griftopia, Matt Taibbi
All the Devils Are Here, Bethany McLean & Joe Nocera
Monsoon, Robert Kaplan
Enough, Jack Bogle
Helping, Ed Schein
The Power of Co-Creation, Venkat Ramaswamy & Francis Gouillart
Empowered, Josh Bernoff & Ted Schadler
Safe Patients, Smart Hospitals, Peter Pronovost & Eric Vohr
Delivering Happiness, Tony Hsieh
Serve to Lead, Jim Strock
The Economics of Integrity, Anna Bernasek
Employees First, Customers Second, Vineet Nayar
Shock of Gray, Ted Fishman

(A couple of these are 2009 books. What the hell ...)

CEO/s of the Year

Pat Charmel, CEO, Griffin Hospital
Glenn Steele, CEO, Geisinger Health System

Guru of the Year

Peter Pronovost, Johns Hopkins University (patient safety)

Company of the Year

Buc-ee's

Happy 2011!

The Little BIG Things
Synopsis Series
#28 Talent
#29 People

It's time for two new sections in The Little BIG Things Synopsis Series. The next two sections in The Little BIG Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence are titled "Talent" and "People." Both sections cover the insanely important subject of the people on your team. Tom challenges us to focus on them by reminding us that "only Excited People can excite customers over the long haul" and bluntly asking, "Whose development you have contributed to—Directly & Profoundly—in the last 24 months?" Take some time to think about your people as the new year approaches.

You can download free pdfs of those sections from The Little BIG Things Synopsis Series* by clicking below:

#28 Talent
#29 People

*The Synopsis Series is an adaptation that gives you a taste of the BIG idea in each of the 163 Little BIG Things. More information on the book can be found on this page. The Synopsis Series as released thus far can be found here.

Merry Christmas

From all of us at tompeters.com, may you have a day filled with peace and joy. No matter your observance this season, we hope you experience delight. Our thoughts, as always, are with our troops abroad and hope their homecoming happens soon. Happy Holidays.

Little BIG Video #50
Strategy:
Kindness is Free

Happy Holidays!

Here's a video with a message for this season. It's video number 50 from The Little BIG Things Video Series. Kindness is free. Tom uses a surprising example from the healthcare industry to highlight the kind of impact kindness can have, without any financial investment.

You can find the video in the right column of the front page of tompeters.com or you can watch the video on YouTube. [Time: 3 minutes, 24 seconds] You can also download a PDF transcript of the video's content: Strategy: Kindness is Free.

'Tis the Season

Forbes recently picked up on Tom's message of linking business success to kindness in the article "The Physics of Kindness and Lessons for Business." Regardless of the holiday you choose to celebrate, as the year comes to a close, it's the perfect time to take a moment and reflect not only on the typical resolutions, but how you'd like to behave toward your fellow humans in the new year.

The Little BIG Things
Synopsis Series
#26 Passion
#27 Presence

It's time for two new sections in The Little BIG Things Synopsis Series. The next two sections in The Little BIG Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence are titled "Passion" and "Presence." In "Passion" Tom points out the power of emotion and its role in success. "Presence" serves as a reminder of the importance of the classic Managing By Wandering Around.

You can download free pdfs of those sections from The Little BIG Things Synopsis Series* by clicking below:

#26 Passion
#27 Presence

*The Synopsis Series is an adaptation that gives you a taste of the BIG idea in each of the 163 Little BIG Things. More information on the book can be found on this page. The Synopsis Series as released thus far can be found here.

New Audio: Tom Reads The Little BIG Things

This week's additions to the audio files on the book page are in the section titled "GENDER":

#100. Pronoun Power!—Or: The Customer Is "She".

#101. Women Lead! (Can Men Learn to Be Good Sports About It?)

#102. Men, "Get the Facts": Women Are Different.

#103. Dressed for Success? Or: What the History of the Women's Suffrage Movement Taught Me About Hanging In and Hanging In.

Collect them all, and when we're finished, you'll have an audio version of the entire book.

The Little BIG Things
Synopsis Series
#24 Change
#25 Charlie Wilson's War

It's time for two new sections in The Little BIG Things Synopsis Series. The next two sections in The Little BIG Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence are titled "Change" and "Special Section: Charlie Wilson's War." In Change, Tom proposes a few perhaps unexpected ways of thinking about how to make change. The Special Section presents lessons in getting things done learned from Charlie Wilson's War.

You can download free pdfs of those sections from The Little BIG Things Synopsis Series* by clicking below:

#24 Change
#25 Special Section: Charlie Wilson's War

*The Synopsis Series is an adaptation that gives you a taste of the BIG idea in each of the 163 Little BIG Things. More information on the book can be found on this page. The Synopsis Series as released thus far can be found here.

New Audio: Tom Reads The Little BIG Things

This week's additions to the audio files on the book page are in the section titled "PEOPLE":

#96. It's All (ALL!) About...the Quality of the Workforce.

#97. Up with People! Up Your People Budget!

#98. Cherish the Last Two-Percenters.

#99. The Excitement Axiom—and the People Corollary.

Collect them all, and when we're finished, you'll have an audio version of the entire book.

Little BIG Video #49
Excellence:
Courtesy Matters

Here's video number 49 from The Little BIG Things Video Series. Tom reminds us that grand gestures aren't always necessary, it's the little things that matter.

You can find the video in the right column of the front page of tompeters.com or you can watch the video on YouTube. [Time: 1 minute, 16 seconds] You can also download a PDF transcript of the video's content: Excellence: Courtesy Matters.

Drucker Centennial Day Speech

Back in November, Tom spoke at the Drucker Centennial Day. They live-streamed the event, and we linked to that. That link no longer works, but they were kind enough to post the speech (1 hour, 15 minutes) on YouTube. Here's the link. It's quite good; we think you'll enjoy it.

The Red Bull of Management Thinkers

Tom's made it onto another list. This morning, Inc. announced its Year's Best Books for Business Owners. The Little BIG Things has been included and Tom was called "the Red Bull of management thinkers." We thought that moniker was particularly apt, and Tom was quite honored to have made it onto the list.

Tom's in the Top 5

Tom's tweets were recommended by OpenForum as one of the Top 5 Twitter feeds on Entrepreneurship. He joined Chris Brogan, Pam Slim, Becky McRay's SB Survival, and Anita Campbell's Small Biz Trends. We all know that using social media can be a powerful tool, no matter your industry, yet it's challenging to do it well on a consistent basis. Tom's been working hard to not only find the right balance of conversation and offering bits of wisdom at Twitter, but also tweet on a daily basis, so this was welcome praise.

MSNBC Quotes Tom

Last week, Tom was quoted by Tony Schwartz on MSNBC [forward the video to approximately 3:10]. While discussing leadership qualities, Schwartz quoted one of Tom's tweets. For more on Tom's leadership thoughts, or to have a conversation with him personally, you can follow Tom's tweets here: @tom_peters.

Cool Friend #154
Richard Pascale

Richard Pascale is the coauthor, with Jerry and Monique Sternin, of The Power of Positive Deviance: How Unlikely Innovators Solve the World's Toughest Problems. Tom was fascinated by this book and highly recommends it. In the new Cool Friend interview, Richard explains to interviewer Erik Hansen that in seemingly impossible situations, there are a few people succeeding with the same set of resources that seem to be failing others. The key to major positive change is finding these positive deviants and showing the community their success in order to get it to spread.

Richard provides examples from reducing neo-natal mortality rates in Pakistan to helping hungry children in Vietnam to reducing deaths in hospitals caused by an antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection. We're hoping you'll find this method very useful in making positive change where you are. Read the interview and visit Richard's site for more information.

Order Should Not Be Taken For Granted ...

This, from David Brooks in yesterday's New York Times, is, to my mind, brilliant beyond measure—especially the 1st of the two paragraphs I reproduce here:

"Yet it might be useful to consider one more filter. Consider it the World Order filter. The fact that we live our lives among order and not chaos is the great achievement of civilization. This order should not be taken for granted.

"This order is tenuously maintained by brave soldiers but also by talkative leaders and diplomats. Every second of every day, leaders and diplomats are engaged in a never-ending conversation. ... The quality of the conversation is damaged by exposure, just as our relationships with our neighbors would be damaged if every private assessment were brought to the light of day. We've seen what happens when such conversations deteriorate (look at the U.S. Congress), and it's ugly. The Wikileaks dump will probably damage the global conversation . ..."