Liberation Management [Paperback]

Tom Peters (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 18, 1994

In the new economy, hierarchical business structures are being consigned to the shredder and replaced with flexible, fast-responding, ad hoc groups of brainworkers. Tom Peters, author of the bestselling IN SEARCH OF EXCELLENCE is once again ahead of the curve, and now demonstrates that the key to success in business future is total engagement, dynamism, speed, and independence.
"Rewarding. Provides a wealth of thought-provoking information and incisive insights."
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
"A gold mine of information."
USA TODAY

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At a large Florida medical center, a cross-trained duo--a nurse and a lab technician--can perform for a patient 80% of all necessary services. At Cable News Network, a 30-minute, nine-bureau online meeting determines each coming day's program. These and 50 other flexible, innovative companies--Ingersoll-Rand, Electronic Data Systems, Chiat/Day/Mojo, Random House--provide the case studies for Peters's ( In Search of Excellence ) punchy, freewheeling primer. "Fashionable" products tailored to customers' ever narrower-gauge needs will define the marketplace of the 1990s, asserts Peters. Companies that respond to this environment, he predicts, may fissure into small, autonomous units; such "brain-based" firms will recognize the value of letting project teams and empowered employees have access to all of the firm's information. Part pep talk, part grab-bag of business strategies, this energizing, idea-rich handbook will shake up traditional managers and rank-and-file workers alike. 250,000 first printing; BOMC main selection.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Unlike his best sellers In Search of Excellence (with Robert Waterman , LJ 2/15/83) and A Passion for Excellence (with Nancy Austin , LJ 6/15/85), this latest book by management guru Peters doesn't have the benefit of an official coauthor, and it shows. While chock-full of important case studies (from Ingersoll Rand, CNN, the Body Shop, and others), the book is so dense, with Peters equivocating a bit too much on word choice, that few will read it cover to cover. Still, Peters's main argument--that companies have to be flexible enough to readjust to the quick changes of a "fashion"-driven marketplace--seems on the mark and should bring him a large readership. For all management/business collections. BOMC main selection; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/92.
- Judy Quinn, formerly with "Library Journal"
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 880 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (January 18, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449908887
• ISBN-13: 978-0449908884
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #591,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ahead of it's time, March 30, 2002

By 

therosen "therosen" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Liberation Management (Paperback)

I liked "In Search of Excellence" but thought the concepts (& certainly companies) didn't stand the test of time. I read "Liberation Management" with some trepidation.

My initial reaction on this book was, "Tom's gone off the deep end, he's doing this just to be provocative" - that's a good enough reason to read this book, but I wouldn't have rated it well just based on that.

If you look at today's business environment, he really wasn't a radical. Ideas that he plugged (Turn all work into a project, outsource, turn everything into a profit center) don't really seem so crazy. His mantra of speed certainly fit the period we just went through. His companies (example: EDS) even did better than prior books.

I've read all of Tom's books - if you want one to guide how you manage and lead, this one is it...

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well before its time., April 16, 2000

By 

Matthew De George (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Liberation Management (Paperback)

A fantastic book with mind-blowing detail and scope. Introduces (and complements with research!) many of the important 'management' topics that have gained popularity in the last few years. Which is impressive considering the book was written 8 years ago!

Topics include: Network Organisations and other non-hierarchy-based organizational models, Networked Markets, Knowledge Management, reduced 'mass'-marketing, etc, etc, etc...

It's impressive that he has been able to capture many of these trends BEFORE the proliferation of the World Wide Web.

Also preempts some of his own more recent movements, like the plain-English movement and the Wow! Project movement that advocate categorization in terms of 'wow!' and 'yuck' projects.

His latest '50List' books are much more digestible and prescriptive - if that is what you prefer.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In search of curious behavior, February 6, 2000

By 

Grady Mcallister (HOUSTON, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Liberation Management: Necessary Disorganization for the Nanosecond Nineties (Audio Cassette)

Tom Peters tells us that he can boil his entire management philosophy down to one sentence: "Crazy times call for crazy organizations."

The new marketplace in one word is "fashion." Every market is becoming a fashion market. "That means: fickle, fleeting, ephemeral, faddish, and unfair." Peters says you can thrive in the marketplace if you'll:

"Free the human imagination . . . Get close to and serve the customer. . . Customize products and services . . . Abandon everything; continuously reinvent yourself.. .Access the brainware around you. . . Know the front line . . . Demolish the monolith. . . Create teams that allow people to express their personalities."

Peters says a corporation today must be "curious." Don't expect the personnel in the personnel department to hire curious people. Peters says HR people operate by this unwritten rule:

"Thou shalt not hire a person who has an unexplained nanosecond in their life past the age of three."

They want the person who maintained a 4.0 grade average through graduate school and "has not had an interesting thought in their entire life."

They don't want any people who drop out of college, spend a year and a half in Europe, and offer no explanation. That, says Peters, is just the kind of behavior to look for when you're ready to hire curious people. He adds: "Hire a few genuine off-the-wall types. Collect weirdoes."

Peters says he is totally serious about this: "This is coldly logical stuff." Nobody disagrees that markets are weird, "but how are you going to conquer weird markets with stuffed shirts?"