Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #328034 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Synopsis
Fear is OK, risk-taking is good and "extraordinary" in business is the future. So says Tom Peters in this title, exploring radical ways of turning accepted business organization and wisdom on its head. It seeks to destroy the tyranny of feudal-style businesses in favour of the approach of enterprising, ideas-driven organizations that encourage talent and creativity and in which everyone has a vision and a voice.

Customer Reviews

This is too much like hard work
Tom Peters comes with an impressive pedigree - but this attempt is flawed. The book deliberately sets out to be provocative by using frequent, radical changes in font, text size and colour.

And this is key to Peter's point - we have to radically change our thinking to re-invent our businesses. There is some good content here - but unfortunately nothing really new. Peters (and others) have been here before.

However, I found it far too much like hard work. Unusually for me I gave up about 75% of the way through - I could not get through the glaring presentation to take in the message.

Sometimes Dazzling But Seldom Substantial
In recent years, Peters has become a passionate provocateur among business writers, heavily relying on flamboyant punctuation to EXPRESS HIS IDEAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sometimes his confrontational approach is effective, sometimes not. As an admirer of the writing styles of Thoreau, Emerson, Orwell, and E.B. White, I am uncomfortable with Peters' writing style but perhaps that's his intent: to stimulate his reader to challenge what Jim O'Toole calls "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." In this volume, Peters explores a wide range of subjects and addresses a number of issues which are certainly worthy of careful consideration. For example, the ever-increasing purchasing power of women, the deficiencies of public school education, the as-yet unfulfilled potentialities of e-business, the often decisive impact of effective branding, and the ever-increasing importance of innovative thinking throughout all levels of any organization. He organizes his material within a volume which is visually unorthodox. Some may be turned off by that. I am not. The page layouts and graphics seem compatible with Peters' apparent objective to challenge, stimulate, etc. My distaste for Peters's writing style aside, I found this volume often lacking in terms of cohesion and transition of key concepts. There is no shortage of ideas but many (too many) are underdeveloped. Some of his opinions about the significance of 9/11 seem insensitive to the human tragedies caused by the events on that day. Two final points: If a book provides at least a few insights which are valuable to my own labors in the vineyards of free enterprise, it is (for me) worth reading. Peters's most recent book does. However, I would have preferred more substance and less style. One man's opinion.

High impact - low insight
Tom Peter's latest book aims to not only redefine how we think about business but also to redefine our view of the business book. He succeeds more in the second area than the first. Underneath all the large font quotes, was / is contrast lists and multiple exclamation marks there is regrettably little here that is not already recycled and hence cannot already be found elsewhere.