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The Circle of Innovation: You Can't Shrink Your Way to Greatness [Hardcover]

Tom Peters (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)


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Book Description

November 4, 1997
Tom Peters--brilliant, original, and perhaps the most inspiring and listened-to business thinker of our time--has a lot on his mind these days. And he wants to share it in The Circle of Innovation.

The world of business is in a permanent state of flux, he argues, a state of chaos in which constant innovation is the only survival strategy--for the individual and for the organization. And he presents here a lifesaving handbook--both provocative and practical--designed to turn any organization into a perpetual innovation machine.

In 400 seminars in 47 states and 22 countries in the last five years, Peters has reexamined, refined, and reinvented his views on innovation. Now he brings those seminars--and his passion--to the reader in a landmark book. It is meant, he writes, to both "terrify" and "enlighten." These are "times of matchless peril for those who fail to grasp the nettle...and times of matchless opportunity for those who do."

To keep us alert, limber, and ready for action, he provokes and cajoles in chapter after chapter. Among his institutions and revelations:

We Are All Michelangelos. He shows how to transform every "jobholder" into a full-fledged businessperson.
All Value Comes from the Professional Services. How to convert sluggish staff units into Vital Centers of Intellectual Capital Accumulation.
The System is the Solution. How to build great systems--which go far beyond nuts and bolts.
Create Waves of Lust. Quality is not the automatic advantage it recently was. There is a pressing need to reverse the rising tide of product and service "commoditization."
Tommy Hilfiger Knows. In a crowded marketplace, branding is far more important than ever before.
It's a Woman's World. How to capitalize on the fact that women purchase/are purchasing agents for well over half of U.S. commercial and consumer goods.
Little Things Are the Only Things. As the Blight of Sameness encroaches on market after market, design is often the best tool in services or manufacturing for sustainable differentiation.
We're Here to Live Life Out Loud. Why transformational leaders of the future must have laser-like focus, tell the truth, and live on the lunatic fringe.


The hallmarks of Tom Peters legend are an insatiable curiosity, an agile intellect, a pragmatic perspective, and an uncanny ability to gauge the global zeitgeist. These qualities are all brought to bear as Peters sets out to engage, enrage, and ultimately empower his readers, amid forces that are reshaping not only business but every aspect of human experience.


Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Business guru Tom Peters has been recognized for his originality and perception since coauthoring one of the most influential management books of all time: 1982's In Search of Excellence. Now, in his seventh work, The Circle of Innovation: You Can't Shrink Your Way to Greatness, he presents a provocative new vision for prospering in the "permanent state of flux" ruling today's business world. By juxtaposing short text passages and bold graphic images, Peters simply but passionately offers his prescription--perpetual innovation--in a nontraditional manner intended to foster individual interpretation. --Howard Rothman

From Library Journal

Peters (The Pursuit of Wow! LJ 2/15/95) advances here a barrage of ideas on what it takes to succeed in an ever-changing marketplace. His book, derived from 60 or so iterations of his seminars, has a frenetic, almost attention-deficit quality, taking a decidedly McLuhan-like approach and, like McLuhan, proving prophetic and poignant even if, in the final analysis, it is wrong. A shrewd observer, Peters offers trenchant observations. For example, he gloms onto the interesting idea of great design as the corporate advantage over quality and price. This book will have wide appeal, and more than one organization will attempt to experiment with some of the author's theses. Recommended for all libraries.?Steven Silkunas, SEPTA/FRONTIER, Lansdale, Pa.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 544 pages
  • Publisher: Knopf; 1 edition (November 4, 1997)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0375401571
  • ISBN-13: 978-0375401572
  • Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.2 x 1.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,500,109 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

58 Reviews
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 (33)
4 star:
 (13)
3 star:
 (4)
2 star:
 (4)
1 star:
 (4)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (58 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! Innovate the Tom Peters Way, April 19, 2000
By 
Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
Be warned that if you like unusual formats, you'll find this book refreshing. If you hate anything unusual, you may not like this book.

The Circle of Innovation is written in slide book form. This is the form that consultants use for seminars. Each exhibit that the seminar attendees will see is included, along with a page of script that covers the content of the exhibit. The result is highly enjoyable, as you vicariously imagine being in the room with Tom Peters, the world's most sought-after business speaker.

The exhibits are wonderfully funny and evocative, and use all kinds of visual tricks to get and keep your attention. I had people all over the plane looking over my shoulder to see them, as I read the book on a recent flight.

Tom Peters also walks his talk, and really lives with passion -- which strongly comes through in this book. His interpretations of the world are almost always tied to quotes from important thinkers and business leaders, which gives the book a relevance and immediacy that a more intellectual book would have lacked.

I found this book to be very satisfying to read. It affected me at a very fundamental level, so I could tell that I was "getting" the message. The result is a most impressive example of a way to communicate through books. The principles seem to be sound in most cases (although not all markets are dominated by women purchasers -- such as boxing gloves, football tickets, Viagra, etc. -- but many are, such as cars), and they should stimulate your thinking to expand the scope of the innovations you think about.

The book could have been improved with a consideration of processes that work better than others for getting the innovation work done. For that assistance, you will have to look elsewhere. In the meantime, do read, think about, enjoy, and apply the lessons of The Circle of Innovation.

Another good book on innovation is Peter Drucker's Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars READ THE HOTTEST SEMINAR IN THE WORLD TO INNOVATE, April 19, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: The Circle of Innovation: You Can't Shrink Your Way to Greatness (Hardcover)
THE CIRCLE OF INNOVATION is written in slide book form. This is the form that consultants use for seminars. Each exhibit that the seminar attendees will see is included, along with a page of script that covers the content of the exhibit. The result is highly enjoyable, as you vicariously imagine being in the room with Tom Peters, the world's most sought-after business speaker. The exhibits are wonderfully funny and evocative, and use all kinds of visual tricks to get and keep your attention. I had people all over the plane looking over my shoulder to see them, as I read the book on a recent flight. Tom Peters also walks his talk, and really lives with passion -- which strongly comes through in this book. His interpretations of the world are almost always tied to quotes from important thinkers and business leaders, which gives the book a relevance and immediacy that a more cerebral book would have lacked. I found this book to be very satisfying to read. It affected me at a very fundamental level, so I could tell that I was "getting" the message. The result is a most impressive example of a way to communicate through books. The principles seem to be sound in most cases (although not all markets are dominated by women purchasers -- such as boxing gloves -- but many are such as cars), and they should stimulate your thinking to expand the scope of the innovations you think about. The book could have been improved with a consideration of processes that work better than others for getting the innovation work done. For that assistance, you will have to look elsewhere. In the meantime, do read, think about, enjoy, and apply the lessons of THE CIRCLE OF INNOVATION.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Plenty of P. T. Barum pizazz, breaking all book 'rules'., August 7, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: The Circle of Innovation: You Can't Shrink Your Way to Greatness (Hardcover)
Peters zeros in on innovation as the touchstone for success, along with a passionate presentation of fifteen other related ideas such as: distance is dead; destruction is cool; we are all Michelangelos; welcome to the white - collar revolution; the intermediary is doomed; and the system is the solution. The book's visual layout model's its theme which is - It is the end of the world as we know it, so whatever made you successful in the past won't in the future. What, then, can you do? The answer is...innovation! This is another WOW book, exuding the excitement and novelty that makes Tom Peters, himself, a living example of what he passionately and entertainingly writes about. Peters delivers content in a form that breaks all book 'rules,' using a plethora of P. T. Barnum pizazz. Among business books, that's innovative! I don't think Peters expects or wants you to read this book, but to experience it. It is a bit more like a roller-coaster than a book, with zigs and zag! s and lots of zip. Still, for all its flare, this is not a ground-breaking work, falling short of Peters' Liberation Management.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
You've heard of the "global village." Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
design mindfulness, life out loud, enlivens the senses, demands passion, available diversity, big idea, professional service firm
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Talent-Based Enterprise, Magical Moments, United States, Silicon Valley, The Valley, Great Service Is The Greatest Innovation, Burger King, New American Professional, Southwest Airlines, Branding Mania, Chicago Bulls, Dennis Rodman, Fast Company, General Motors, Renewal Investment Plans, Bob Waterman, Dee Hock, John Deere, Richard Branson, Banana Republic, Brian Quinn, Charles Schwab, Current Projects List, Herb Kelleher, Interaction Revolution
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