Tom Peters Quotes

“A passive approach to professional growth will leave you by the wayside.”

“Anybody who is an entrepreneur is a person who essentially has impaired judgment. The odds of success are zilch.”

“As a consumer, you want to associate with brands whose powerful presence creates a halo effect that rubs off on you.”

“As far as I'm concerned, the first business leader who was able to establish a cult of personality around his tenure was Lee Iacocca.”

“Celebrate what you want to see more of.”

“Everyone has a chance to learn, improve, and build up their skills.”

“Excellent firms don't believe in excellence – only in constant improvement and constant change.”

“Give a lot, expect a lot, and if you don't get it, prune.”

“Good managers have a bias for action.”

“I don't read many business books. I read good fiction. Business is about people, so my favorite business books are anything by Dickens.”

“I don't want the 35-year-olds in my audience to think of me as as 'pops' giving the kind of advice that only 65-year-olds can understand.”

“I know it sounds crazy, but you've got to let what you're going to do find you, rather than you pursuing it.”

“I think it's wonderful to save the world, but you need to be part of the world, too.”

“If a window of opportunity appears, don't pull down the shade.”

“If I read a book that cost me $20 and I get one good idea, I've gotten one of the greatest bargains of all time.”

“If you really want to kill morale, have layoffs every two months for the next two years.”

“If you're not confused, you're not paying attention.”

“If your company has a clean-desk policy, the company is nuts and you're nuts to stay there.”

“Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders.”

“Leaders trust their guts. Intuition is one of those good words that has gotten a bad rep. The crazier the times are, the more important it is for leaders to develop and to trust their intuition.”

“Leaders understand the ultimate power of relationships.”

“Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else.”

“My problem is not that I see all 17 sides of any issue, but I'm equally passionate about all 17 sides simultaneously.”

“One simply cannot pay tribute to Stephen Covey without saying at the outset that he was a lovely human being.”

“Only those who constantly retool themselves stand a chance of staying employed in the years ahead.”

“Remember my mantra: distinct... or extinct.”

“Test fast, fail fast, adjust fast.”

“The best leaders... almost without exception and at every level, are master users of stories and symbols.”

“The magic formula that successful businesses have discovered is to treat customers like guests and employees like people.”

“The simple act of paying positive attention to people has a great deal to do with productivity.”