Tom Peters Quotes

43 Sourced Quotes

Obviously, despite hard work and heroic efforts, many dreams don't come true. But if we don't dare to dream and then throw muscle, heart, and soul into making the dream come true, then WoW Projects-and all of the emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and financial riches that they bring will surely NOT be our lot in life!

Tom Peters
Without exception, the dominance and coherence of culture proved to be an essential quality of the excellent companies.

Tom Peters
Passion. The life of an entrepreneur is occasionally exhilarating, and almost always exhausting. Only unbridled passion for the concept is likely to see you through the 17-hour days (month after month) and the painful mistakes that are part and parcel of the start-up process.

Tom Peters
Pursue failure. Failure is success's only launching pad.

Tom Peters
Have fun/Make it fun. … All human endeavor is about emotion. Zest, joy, pride—and fun—are near the heart of any successful enterprise.

Tom Peters
Most of their real innovation comes from the market

Tom Peters
The most important personal 'core competence' by far is a rich set of relationships.

Tom Peters
As project chief you are creating a narrative, a story, a good yarn. If you look at the process-journey that way, you and your gang will … dramatically up the odds of a WOW outcome!

Tom Peters
Every excellent company we studied is clear on what it stands for, and takes the process of value shaping seriously. In fact, we wonder whether it is possible to be an excellent company without clarity on values and without having the right sorts of values.

Tom Peters
Lavish credit on anyone and everyone who helped you the least bit.

Tom Peters
If not excellence, what? If not excellence now, when?

Tom Peters
Creating in all employees the awareness that their best efforts are essential and that they will share in the rewards of the company's success.

Tom Peters
Do not even flippantly badmouth anybody this week. Button it up.

Tom Peters
The winners stun us not by their cleverness, but by the fact that every tiny aspect of the business is just a touch better than the norm.

Tom Peters
Mistakes are life. Mistakes are not to be tolerated...they are to be encouraged. The bigger the better.

Tom Peters
Something mysterious happens to a curious, fully engaged mind - and it happens as often as not, subconsciously. Strange little sparks are set off, connections made, insights triggered

Tom Peters
Knowing when to take your losses is an essential part of eventual success.

Tom Peters
Business, life itself, is damned hard work if you wanna be good at it. Actually, that's precisely wrong. Business ceases to be work when you're chasing a dream that has engorged you. ("Work should be more fun than fun" - Noel Coward.) And if the passion isn't there. then biotech and plumbing will be equal drags.

Tom Peters
The race will go to the curious, the slightly mad, and those with an un-satiated passion for learning and dare-deviltry.

Tom Peters
Smile if it kills you. The physiology of smiling diffuses a lot of anger and angst. It makes your body and soul feel better.

Tom Peters
Oh Lord, there it is again. The question;" What kind of business should I start?" Incidentially, it has a twin that also sets me off: "What should I specialize in during the second year of my MBA studies?" Sorry, but those are two of the most profoundly upsetting questions anyone can ask - upsetting because the answer should be obvious: Do what turns you on, not what the statistics say is best.

Tom Peters
The greatest difficulty in the world is not for people to accept new ideas, but to make them forget old ideas.

Tom Peters
Musing on the phrase 'waste of time.' So much more complex than it appears. Many 'wastes of time'—small talk, daydreaming—are imperatives.

Tom Peters
Make the collective, professional pursuit of listening skills per se a keystone of corporate 'culture'.

Tom Peters
The vitality of our network will determine our professional fate.

Tom Peters
I don't know what it means to manage the human imagination, but I do know that imagination is the main source of value in the new economy. And I know we'd better figure out the answer to my question-quick.

Tom Peters
Quality involves living the message of the possibility of perfection and infinite improvement, living it day in and day out, decade by decade.

Tom Peters
The well-served customer... is an appreciating asset. Every small act on her or his behalf ups the odds of repeat business, add-on business, and priceless word-of-mouth referral.

Tom Peters
Make an extensive table of project 'deliverables'. Label one column 'as requested'. Create another column labeled 'could be'. Make each 'could be' wild and woolly!

Tom Peters
A while back, I came across a line attributed to IBM founder Thomas Watson. If you want to achieve excellence, he said, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work.

Tom Peters