Tom Peters Manifesto - Excellence 2020 - THE 27 “NUMBER ONES”
READ: 15 minutes
AUTHOR: Tom Peters
It has been 38 years since the publication of In Search of Excellence, which was followed by 17 more books, 2,500-plus speeches, 60-plus countries, and the opportunity to meet thousands upon thousands of people. Some were in big firms, many were in exciting small firms. They were students and octogenarians, CEOs and school principals and fire chiefs and preachers and electricians and housekeepers. You name it. In this brief paper, I want to extract the essence of that work and those meetings—and those people. To distill, well, the most important—and durable—things I have learned and, I hope, ingested. I have connected with an extraordinary set of human beings including Southwest Airlines’ Herb Kelleher, the inimitable Richard Branson, and the peerless Anita Roddick. I’ve spent time with, yes, Steve Jobs and Bob Noyce and Bill Hewlett and virtually all the Silicon Valley stars during my 20-plus years with the Tom Peters Company at 555 Hamilton Avenue in Palo Alto.
I’d suggest that, as presented here, these ideas are not only more timely than ever (success drivers in the Age of AI, “disruption,” etc.), but also more or less requisite actions that leaders—and that’s all of us (leadership is, in the end, a mindset, not a “slot” on an organization chart, which I learned from former White House staffer Betsy Myers)—must take now if we want something that resembles a sustainable and humane workplace. Perhaps this is a barebones “Excellence Coda 2020.” That certainly is my hope, challenge, and fondest wish for everyone.
Thanks for your attention,
Tom
(As I complete this paper, we are in the grasp of COVID-19. Some of the ideas here will be put on hold. However, several are more important, far more important, than before. In particular, the notion of a humane and compassionate and community-centric work environment—real and/or virtual—tops the lists of “musts.” How leaders behave—right now!—will be their/your principal life-legacy.)
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