- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Dorling Kindersley; illustrated edition edition (6 Nov 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1405300493
- ISBN-13: 978-1405300490
- Product Dimensions: 25.6 x 20.2 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 525,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
Management Today "thought provoking and enjoyable Mind Your Own Business every page has something interesting to say. This book could end up defying the noughties , and not just in a business context. The Economist a book for dipping into for five minutes at a time in search of nuggets of wisdom, a sort of daily reader for followers of Mr Peter's brand of religion.
Product Description
Fear is ok, risk-taking is good and 'the extraordinary' in business is the future. So says Tom Peters in this inspirational book exploring radical ways of turning accepted business organization and wisdom on its head. A wake-up call for managers and executives everywhere who want to stay ahead of the game and get on the route to innovation for business excellence.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
If you have never read any of Tom Peters' books, you can skip the earlier ones and just read this one.
If you have read all of his earlier books, you can skip this one.
If you have read some of the earlier books, you can just read the topics in this one that are skipped in the earlier ones you have read. I suspect that that won't be too many.
Tom Peters is our most passionate management guru. He explodes all over his audience in anger, annoyance, passion and rapture. It's a marvelous show . . . and I highly recommend it.
He's also open to new ideas. This book, for instance, gratefully acknowledges contributions from dozens of other authors, CEOs, business thinkers and members of his own family (especially his wife). If you don't read very many business books, I was impressed to see that he cited a very high percentage of the best management books of the last dozen years or so. So if you have read very little on the subject, this book will serve you well.
As intriguing as the book is, it has important limitations. First, the format can be all but impossible to read (especially where text is printed over grey images) in places.
Second, he has blind spots in several areas that make the advice come out somewhat jaundiced. For instance, he hates anything to do with eliminating errors (such as the quality movement and Six Sigma) as though using those methods destroy any chance for innovation in any other area. In my research, I've seen innovation in every dimension of a company exist just fine side-by-side with efforts to eliminate errors and improve quality, whenever different people worked on different aspects of innovation from those working on quality improvement and error elimination.
He correctly points out that women are underestimated and under-served as customers. But in big companies, men still run the show (except at a few bellwethers like Avon Products) . . . and he just ignores the question of how to market to influential men as though it were irrelevant.
Finally, he's been traveling in the exalted circles of the biggest, most influential people and companies for so long that he doesn't have any new examples from the top up-and-coming performers or any new guidance for start-ups. So he's unfortunately dated in his illustrations. That makes the message one that seems to be tame . . . because it is aimed at those who can feel safe in ignoring it as they sit in their palatial suites in the largest companies.
The story is amazingly redundant in the book. There's a microcosm of virtually the whole message of the book in almost every chapter. The repetition is primarily helpful for persuasiveness. It is annoying though if you already get the message.
You can boil the book down to this message: Innovation rules. You need to get off-beat people to work on innovation to have a chance. Everyone's job is innovation. Passion drives successful innovation by creating beautiful, simple systems and wonderful emotional experiences for customers and employees. The leader's job is to create an environment for such innovation. Be ready to fall down, pick yourself up, and try again. Focus your innovation as much as possible on those areas where few others are looking.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Never arrived
This product never arrived although the delivery status said left in the porch. I don't have a porch. Very unhappy with this service as it was a gift. Avoid buying from.
Published 2 months ago by E May
Re-imagine business life without Re-Imagine!
"Tom Peters continues to challenge the way business is conducted. The definitive business guru and someone who I would like to meet personally, has influenced my life in a variety... Read more
Published 11 months ago by M. Ahmed
Did the CAPITALS make...you take notice?
Tom Peters is an offence to the arts of proof-reading and copy-editing and this book is tangible evidence of the necessity of each. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Jez Davis
A colourful introduction to Peter's Ideas but with little new.
This is not quite a coffee table book, but it is probably more at home there than sandwiched on the shelf between other business titles. Read more
Published on 14 Feb 2009 by Steven Unwin
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. Read more
Published on 19 Mar 2005 by "innovaro"
Interesting but hard on the arm muscles
This is a wild collection of Tom Peters thoughts culled from his portfolio of Powerpoint slides.
I particularly liked the Chapter on Education - both the current workforce & the... Read more
Published on 13 July 2004 by Keith Appleyard
Re-spect
This is the first time of reading a Tom Peters book and although only on chapter 5 its hitting the mark. Read more
Published on 24 Jan 2004 by chris sanger
Listmania!
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