The excellence dividend Tom Peters

This is quintessential Tom Peters. Having devoured Re-imagine! many years ago, I recognised and enjoyed his relaxed, conversational style. There are rants, asides and some very direct assertions.

I love these thoughts,
“This book is about hard work and unrelenting development and maintenance of a culture of excellence,”

“Excellence, to repeat, is a human-driven affair, a state of mind, not a computer-generated exercise.”

‘Excellence is profitable. Excellence is security.”

“Excellence is a moment-to-moment way of life, or it is nothing at all.”

Tom Peters speaks powerfully and clearly, indeed, you can’t miss the message.

There are fifteen chapters with fifteen ideas. The examples and stories throughout, illustrate these deep and broad concepts and help the reader better understand just what he means! For example, “…lousy grammar, poor word choice, carelessness of any sort, is a direct reflection of the level of your commitment to excellence.” Wow! No shortcuts in his world. I feel vindicated in taking a little longer on my communications. This may not resonate with you, but it does with me. As leaders of teams, communication is key and I have seen shortcuts in this one area alone, result in wasted time and effort, increase levels of frustration and have teams undertake do-overs because of that vague, casual briefing. The antithesis of excellence!

The content is so broad and could be quite challenging, yet the way the author pulls it all together makes it an entertaining read, one I found hard to rush through, one I found hard to put down. It speaks to the present, of an expert who devours new content, embraces change, experiments and shares what he has learnt. There are many additional resources included in the book should you want to explore any of the ideas in more detail.

I am so grateful that he penned it. Make sure this one is on your reading list for 2018, you won’t be sorry.

With many thanks to the author, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and NetGalley for my free copy to review.