The Tom Peters Weblog: Blogging http://www.tompeters.com/blogging Dispatches from the New World of Work tompeters!company http://www.tompeters.com/images/tplogo.jpg http://www.tompeters.com/ en-us slides@tompeters.com Copyright 2010 Tom Peters Company. 2009-12-08T10:58:31-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Lazy?About Time?Learning Curve! Liberation Management ran 834 pages. It more or less includes "everything" as I saw it in 1992. I'd not change... 11348@http://www.tompeters.com/ Liberation Management ran 834 pages. It more or less includes "everything" as I saw it in 1992. I'd not change a word. I was trying to figure out what was up in a brave new world, and needed to wander around a large set of ideas and examples, from IDEO to Germany's Mittelstand marvels.

On the other hand, and at the other end of the spectrum, there's the 140-character world of Twitter. And I am enjoying the hell out of it. Most days I do 4 or 5 Tweets—except when I don't.

It makes me feel lazy—I should be posting here more.
On the other hand, at age 67 I am learning how to write. Finally. It's absolutely amazing how much you can say in 140 characters.

834 pages?
140 characters?
Whatever.

[Ed. You can follow Tom on Twitter here.]

Posted by Tom Peters |

]]> 2009-12-08T10:58:31-05:00 Inc 500/Inc 5000 Conference Debbie Weil, a social media consultant and author of The Corporate Blogging Book, catches up with Tom at the Inc... 10614@http://www.tompeters.com/ Debbie Weil, a social media consultant and author of The Corporate Blogging Book, catches up with Tom at the Inc 500/Inc 5000 Conference this past Friday, and asks him why blogging has changed his life. See her blog post and video.

Posted by Cathy Mosca |

]]> 2008-09-22T09:08:22-05:00 Summer with the Red Sox and at tompeters.com 10516@http://www.tompeters.com/ I am a special fan of pitchers' duels. Zero-zero with 2 down in the ninth—then Boog Powell (old Baltimore Oriole) hits a walkoff home run and Dave McNally racks up a one hitter. That'd have been my idea of heaven. On the other hand, I enjoyed the heck out of the Red Sox game I attended last Wednesday. Sox won. Fine. (I'm an A's fan—still. Mostly.) Sox won big. 18-5. But what was a kick, to this fan of pitchers' duels, was a game with 37 hits! Twenty-three for the Sox, 14 for the Twins!

But neither the Red Sox nor the Twins nor Boog Powell is the topic of this Post.

Susan and I and my stepson Ben were in the sun behind home plate on Wednesday in Fenway for the Hit Parade. The temperature in the shade was well over ninety—edging toward triple digits. And the humidity was as you'd expect from a waterfront city in July. That is, it was hotter 'n stickier than hell—with room to spare.

I have decided that such hot weather—and accompanying high humidity—must be the norm this summer. How did I reach this conclusion? Simple. By reading recent sets of Comments. I love them one and all, and that's the truth—but I must say that there must be a lot of folks, certainly not all, or even most, suffering from the blistering summer heat and accompanying Houstonian humidity. That is, there are those who are cross. And those who are angry. Those who are sarcastic. And those who favor ad hominem attacks. Those who border on (border on?) rude—woulda merited a face slap from my Mom. And those who can't resist another gotcha, call it a "gotcha gotcha," added to their string of prior gotchas.

That's all.
Whatever.

Damn heat.
Damn humidity.

(Our rules of open discourse will not be suspended by invoking any special Heat Index Clause in the Patriot Act—hey, fall is coming, the temperatures will fall, and doubtless civility will rear its ever so dull head once again.)

Posted by Tom Peters |

]]> 2008-07-12T13:01:40-05:00 Sorry! Last week included a round tripper to Korea. Tomorrow at 4 a.m. I'm off for a month. The weekend in... 10026@http://www.tompeters.com/ Last week included a round tripper to Korea. Tomorrow at 4 a.m. I'm off for a month. The weekend in Vermont was perfect—such will not be the case when I return. So, I recovered from jet lag by hitting the fields—and continuing my landscaping from dawn to dusk. (More or less.) In any event, that dented the Blogging time. Sorry.

Posted by Tom Peters |

]]> 2007-10-24T08:22:05-05:00 Steve! You Da Man! 9784@http://www.tompeters.com/ I love STEVE FARBER's Blog, on our Blogroll. It's called Extreme Leadership—and nobody does this better. "GTY" is a terrific—no, wonderful—idea. (No translation from me, you'll have to go there.)

FYI1: Steve is a terrific writer, an original thinker-writer, a masterful trainer—and a boffo public speechifier for groups of 6 or 6,000.

FYI2: Steve is a longtime colleague—but sometimes I forget how much I think of him and his work.

Posted by Tom Peters |

]]> 2007-06-04T13:30:41-05:00 Links! Check out the comments to "Packing Light(?)." There are superb links, worth a chunk of time, far better than I'd... 9765@http://www.tompeters.com/ Check out the comments to "Packing Light(?)." There are superb links, worth a chunk of time, far better than I'd have offered ... I guess that's the whole point of Blogging, eh?

Posted by Tom Peters |

]]> 2007-05-23T15:30:08-05:00 Thanks! "Mr Thank You Note" (me) is indeed remiss in thanking all of my colleagues who Posted while I was away.... 9561@http://www.tompeters.com/ "Mr Thank You Note" (me) is indeed remiss in thanking all of my colleagues who Posted while I was away. From the number of comments and quality of comments, let alone the content, it seems to have been a smashing success!

Hooray!
Thank you!

(Rick Semler, management guru and Semco [Brazil] founder, once offered a revision of MBWA/Managing By Walking Around. His MBWA was Managing By Walking Away. He almost religiously took a 6-week vacation in a place where he couldn't be reached (ever more difficult). His logic: Only by being truly out of touch could he truly delegate. I like that. And that's what seems to have occurred here. My colleagues, in the absence of Old Motormouth, outdid themselves!!! Well, New Zealand is on the planning boards already for January 2008.)

(A little more New Zealand below.)

New Zealand sky


Posted by Tom Peters |

]]> 2007-02-20T09:32:49-05:00 A Need to Be Heard 9526@http://www.tompeters.com/ There seem to be two blogging camps—bloggers who allow comments at their sites and bloggers who don't. Tom has always welcomed the opportunity to participate in conversation with his readers. For some bloggers, the drawbacks to maintaining the conversation outweigh the benefits, and they decide against using that feature. Jason Kottke is one of them. His audience, however, decided that what they had to say was too important to keep to themselves. Biz Stone, author of Who Let the Blogs Out (a great beginner's guide to blogging), pointed out the Kottke readers' site: Kottke Komments. They republish Kottke's posts and enable comments. This is a fascinating development in that we've been hearing so much about people creating websites to discuss their favorite products or brands, and now it seems a bit like the camera is being aimed at the photographer. How will this affect Kottke's blog? Will readership decline? What if a decline in readership of the original blog impacts ad revenue? If this new site is successful, would it inspire Kottke to try to take control of the situation by opening comments at his blog? Here at tompeters.com, we're familiar with the challenges of maintaining a comment feature, and so respect a blogger's choice on the matter. That said, what do you think?

Posted by Shelley Dolley |

]]> 2007-01-23T11:44:19-05:00 Countdown ... I can already feel the withdrawal symptoms making their way toward my consciousness. In two hours I pack off... 9524@http://www.tompeters.com/ Foot of Market Street, San Francisco

I can already feel the withdrawal symptoms making their way toward my consciousness. In two hours I pack off my computers ... speak to the Inc. 500 25th anniversary gathering here in San Francisco at the Fairmont ... and then head to New Zealand. And 3 weeks later (12 February) I surface again.

No computer.
No computer.
No %^&#$)@ computer!

Hooray!
Ye gads!

I've been wondering when I was last computer-free for this long. Surely in an earlier millennium. As I mentioned before, Susan will conduct an inspection that will put the TSA to shame. Only my camera—and her iPod—is/are allowed under the category labeled "electronics." Even the ratio of non-fiction to fiction books will be assessed. No sport coat. No ties. ("But what if we go to dinner in a nice place?" "Tough.") I am considering an audio Blogpost or two—assuming I don't get caught—maybe while Sergeant Sargent (as in Susan Sargent, spouse) is in the shower.

Well, I will truly miss our communal gathering—hold the fort until I return. And a heartfelt thanks for making this a useful and exciting community!

(I had planned some pithy observation about business & management & life as we know it as sendoff Post. In the end ... I had too damn much packing to do.)

Cheers ...

(The photo is of the fabled San Francisco Ferry Building, once home base for the Port of San Francisco—it's at the foot of Market Street.)

Posted by Tom Peters |

]]> 2007-01-22T11:27:07-05:00 Comments Housekeeping To cut down on spam attacks we have a limit on the number of links you can include in a... 9353@http://www.tompeters.com/ To cut down on spam attacks we have a limit on the number of links you can include in a comment. And that limit is one. So if you've tried to include more than one link in a comment it goes into comment purgatory. From which we can save it if we find it. But the better alternative is to just limit your links to one and then your comments won't get held up. Thanks for your understanding.

Posted by Erik Hansen |

]]> 2006-10-29T19:04:09-05:00 NB As I wrote all this, I realized how much I live for this Blog! (NB: Today's Posts required well over... 9156@http://www.tompeters.com/ As I wrote all this, I realized how much I live for this Blog! (NB: Today's Posts required well over 10 drafts. You know, the Tiger Woods thing.)

Posted by Tom Peters |

]]> 2006-08-28T09:00:32-05:00 Blogroll Additions We've had a flurry of additions to our blogroll, and I thought I'd take a moment to announce them: *... 9083@http://www.tompeters.com/ We've had a flurry of additions to our blogroll, and I thought I'd take a moment to announce them:

* MarketingProfs:DailyFix takes blog entries from around the Web, mixes them with original content, and puts everything people are saying about marketing in one place. The result is an excellent resource. They've re-blogged a few of Tom's posts.
* Trump University is also re-publishing Tom's stuff. What better avenue could there be for us to get a wide audience for his writing. We'd recommend you take a look. Donald Trump's blog.
* Rethink Pink. The website promoting this annual Marketing-to-Women symposium has a blog. The subject is so important to Tom, how could we not?
* Strategic Name Development is the website of a naming consultancy. The factors that go into choosing a name for a business are complex, worthy of a blog, and a cool addition to the topics on our blogroll.
* Expreference. An American business owner in China blogs about his work, the culture, and his day-to-day life experience. Fascinating. Lots of photos and videos. A valuable, intimate look at China.
* Steve Farber, Cool Friend, speaker, writer, inspirationalist. His latest book is The Radical Edge.
* Bob Sutton, Cool Friend, author of Weird Ideas That Work.
* Richard Cauley is a contributor to our comments. He's inspired a PowerPoint slide by Tom, and he has a blog called patent warrior. Take a look.

I'm sorry if I missed anybody. As I said, there've been quite a few additions recently. With RSS, the blogroll becomes less important than it was, even in the short (tho' not short in Internet time) two years since we started this blog. But our blogroll represents our recommendations for you to sample, and if you see anything you like you can subscribe to their RSS feeds. It's long and messy. We like it like that! Maybe one day it will extend all the way down the front page.

Posted by Cathy Mosca |

]]> 2006-08-09T02:00:28-05:00 A Small Point? (1) Above, I used the word "Blog." (2) I regularly and automatically receive, as all of us PC users presumably... 9120@http://www.tompeters.com/ (1) Above, I used the word "Blog."
(2) I regularly and automatically receive, as all of us PC users presumably do, my Microsoft updates.
(3) When I wrote "Blog" I got the Red Line. ("Bog" and "Blob" were among suggested alternatives.)
(4) Does the continued failure to recognize "Blog" have anything to do with MS's continuing problems becoming "Web-centric," something the ancient Ray Ozzie once again says is a priority?

(Yes, I can imagine a hundred reasons why updates might not include my Word dictionary—but, still ...)

Posted by Tom Peters |

]]> 2006-08-08T13:06:50-05:00 Happy Birthday Us! Today completes our second full year of Blogging. What a ride!... 9071@http://www.tompeters.com/ Today completes our second full year of Blogging. What a ride!

Posted by Tom Peters |

]]> 2006-07-26T08:20:50-05:00 Essays I am well aware at the two-year mark that short, open-ended Posts often draw the most comments. And that looooong... 9070@http://www.tompeters.com/ I am well aware at the two-year mark that short, open-ended Posts often draw the most comments. And that looooong ones don't—e.g. three for yesterday's "Book of the Century." Nonetheless, I'll keep doing occasional long Posts. These mini-essays examine things I care deeply about. (Often they help me clarify my own thinking.) While they are long by Blog standards—say 500 words—they are short by Harvard Business Review standards. Doing a 500-word essay on a complex issue certainly helps me clarify my own thinking! (I appreciate your indulgence.)

Posted by Tom Peters |

]]> 2006-07-26T08:16:00-05:00 The Human Face of Global Conflict A remarkable thing is happening in the blogging community (please don't make me say blogosphere ... yuck) in Beirut and... 9059@http://www.tompeters.com/ A remarkable thing is happening in the blogging community (please don't make me say blogosphere ... yuck) in Beirut and Northern Israel. First-hand accounts of a humanitarian crisis, painfully real, are being posted to the web in real time.

While most blogs are written by "citizen journalists," I have become addicted to the Yahoo News Sponsored blog by Kevin Sites titled "Hot Zone." I have been reading it ever since he posted on a clinic my organization helps fund on the Thai-Myanmar border. Kevin has been on a mission to report from every war zone in the world in one year, and he's currently posting from Lebanon.

His mission is to put a human face on global conflict by telling the personal stories of citizens/families caught in the crossfire ... powerful stuff ... and well written with photographs and video.

He has been posting from Lebanon for two days, and while most of the blog comments (around 600 total so far for his first post from the region) take sides in the conflict and place blame, my thoughts are with the children ...

Posted by James Hathaway |

]]> 2006-07-25T00:04:02-05:00 Blog Prototype Our friend and former colleague, Geoff Thatcher, is looking for some quick feedback on a blog he and a co-worker... 8959@http://www.tompeters.com/ Our friend and former colleague, Geoff Thatcher, is looking for some quick feedback on a blog he and a co-worker have fast prototyped. Geoff works for Carat, which calls itself an independent media communications network. There is one business unit there that specializes in placing executives from Philips, HP, Amdocs, SAP, and other companies as keynote speakers at events around the world. Apparently, folks there have been talking about creating a website to support that unit for the last couple of years.

Tired of waiting, Geoff and his co-conspirator have set up AboveCLevel.net, and he's anxious to get feedback on the site. If people vote thumbs up, he'll take the info to his leadership team. If it's thumbs down, well, hardly any money spent and no one the wiser. Except you folks who visit. Jim Coudal of Coudal Partners (design firm that took tompeters.com from static website to blog-powered site) is responsible for the clever AboveCLevel name.

Posted by Erik Hansen |

]]> 2006-06-08T11:44:37-05:00 Welcome to the Blogroll Tom was trolling the Web recently, followed a link here, a link there, and ended up at Ed Batista's blog.... 8958@http://www.tompeters.com/ Tom was trolling the Web recently, followed a link here, a link there, and ended up at Ed Batista's blog. Loved it. And Ed Batista became the next addition to our blogroll. Here are the entries Tom especially liked: Update on Pfeffer and Sutton's Hard Facts and Jon Stewart's commencement address.

Here's my choice: Barnabe Peak. Great photos, and a very effective use of strike-through, which you can see in his Dead Laptop entry, also.

Welcome to the blogroll, Ed.

Posted by Cathy Mosca |

]]> 2006-06-08T11:00:56-05:00 Tom & Trevor 8897@http://www.tompeters.com/ Tom Peters and Trevor Gay

Trevor came to the London event the week before last—finally, a face to go with the name of one of our most frequent contributors to the Blog. (Other London pics at "Tom's Photos"/Flickr.)

Posted by Tom Peters |

]]> 2006-05-29T11:41:59-05:00 One Dollar Can Save a Life Our friends at www.blogidarity.org think that $1/month can save a life. We agree. Also, you'll recognize most of the names... 8793@http://www.tompeters.com/ Our friends at www.blogidarity.org think that $1/month can save a life. We agree. Also, you'll recognize most of the names of the blogidarity folks from the comments pages here at tompeters.com. Thanks to Felix Gerena, Rosa Say, Trevor Gay, Steve Sherlock, Troy Worman, Rocky Noe, and Phil Gerbyshak for putting together this life-saving and life-affirming site. One of their beneficiaries also happens to be Clear Path International, which our friend and guest blogger, James Hathaway, co-founded. Click on over to www.blogidarity.org and donate some money.

Posted by Erik Hansen |

]]> 2006-04-17T14:26:00-05:00 I Love It One of my pet peeves is the "dumbed down" conversation. I've heard too many of them lately. In contrast, the... 8776@http://www.tompeters.com/ One of my pet peeves is the "dumbed down" conversation. I've heard too many of them lately. In contrast, the comments on my last two posts are rich, interesting and thoughtful. Thank you.

I wrote those posts at O'Hare Airport Friday evening, just before boarding an overnight flight. After a stop in Frankfurt with friends, I arrived in Jerusalem before dawn yesterday (Sunday) and spent the day relaxing away from the online world. I just flipped open my computer at my favorite Jerusalem coffee shop, Tmol Shilshom, which is in an old, funky building in the center of town. Central Jerusalem has free wireless access, so I was able to check in for the first time in a few days.

What a pleasure to come back from a few days of "head clearing" and read those comments. I love it when people think and engage in good debate and conversation. Let's keep doing it!

Posted by Steve Yastrow |

]]> 2006-04-10T11:12:19-05:00 Fara Warner: New Blogger We're quite happy that our Cool Friend Fara Warner has decided to add her voice to the blogosphere. She's the... 8709@http://www.tompeters.com/ We're quite happy that our Cool Friend Fara Warner has decided to add her voice to the blogosphere. She's the author of The Power of the Purse. Check out her blog here and her Cool Friend interview here. Welcome Fara!

Posted by Shelley Dolley |

]]> 2006-03-17T09:11:51-05:00 Another Highlight More SXSW: Jory Des Jardins, one of the organizers of BlogHer, gave a two-minute(+) talk on the theme "What's the... 8703@http://www.tompeters.com/ More SXSW: Jory Des Jardins, one of the organizers of BlogHer, gave a two-minute(+) talk on the theme "What's the Secret?" and Erik Hansen was there to catch her on video. I think you'll enjoy listening to her comments. One caution: It was taken with a video camera by someone in the audience, so it's not the highest quality, but other than a couple of garbled sentences, amazingly good under the circumstances. Here's the link. Or the long route to the video through Jory's blog. (And the transcript is there, if you want to read the parts you miss on the video.)

Posted by Cathy Mosca |

]]> 2006-03-16T16:08:26-05:00 The Blog Establishment "The Blog Establishment" is the title of New York magazine's cover story this week (February 20). Associated articles include: "Ranking... 8603@http://www.tompeters.com/ "The Blog Establishment" is the title of New York magazine's cover story this week (February 20). Associated articles include: "Ranking The Top 50" (BoingBoing is no. 1, Andrew Sullivan no. 50), "The Traffic Racket," "Blogonomics." There's a nice timeline of Blog history, starting with Links.net, the first Blog ever, created in 1994 by Swarthmore student Justin Hall. For me, at least, the article was fun and informative.

Posted by Tom Peters |

]]> 2006-02-15T09:37:19-05:00