Tom Peters

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

Winners must learn to relish change with the same enthusiasm and energy that we have resisted it in the past.

Excellent firms don't believe in excellence - only in constant improvement and constant change.

For the blue-collar worker, the driving force behind change was factory automation using programmable machine tools. For the office worker, it's office automation using computer technology: enterprise-resource-planning systems, groupware, intranets, extranets, expert systems, the Web, and e-commerce.

Community organizing is all about building grassroots support. It's about identifying the people around you with whom you can create a common, passionate cause. And it's about ignoring the conventional wisdom of company politics and instead playing the game by very different rules.

Design is so critical it should be on the agenda of every meeting in every single department.

Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing.

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

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

Celebrate what you want to see more of.

Communication is everyone's panacea for everything.

Stop being conned by the old mantra that says, 'Leaders are cool, managers are dweebs.' Instead, follow the Peters Principle: Leaders are cool. Managers are cool too!

Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me, Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.

Test fast, fail fast, adjust fast.

Almost all quality improvement comes via simplification of design, manufacturing... layout, processes, and procedures.

Branding is about everything.

A while back, I came across a line attributed to IBM founder Thomas Watson. If you want to achieve excellence, he said, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work.

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