The Pursuit of Wow! Every Person's Guide to Topsy-Turvy Times [Paperback]

Tom Peters (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 22, 1994

Once more the "unconventional" Peters stimulates corporate thought processes. Along with the best of his columns, Peters includes questions and rebuttals that come from readers and listeners, as well as his own candid responses. A "must" read for every business person.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Business visionary Peters wants to give readers the tools to survive in the tumultuous world of the Nineties. His widely read book, In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best Run Companies (1982), changed the way business does business, and this one is aimed to help us win in this brazen new era. More than 200 thought- and action-provoking tactics and strategies will turn readers into proactive, action-oriented winners in the 21st-century marketplace. Small graphics and illustrations emphasize such gems as "Service with Soul," and "Return phone calls, fast." To succeed, individuals and organizations must stand out from the growing crowd of lookalikes; in his words, "Being average has never had much appeal. Better fail with flair in pursuit of something neat." There is something for everyone in this book.
Susan C. Awe, Jefferson Cty. P.L. System, Arvada, Col.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Though Peters has gained more than his share of critics, his high-priced seminars remain wildly popular, and those who attend become enthusiastic supporters, vowing that their lives have been changed. But Peters sometimes contradicts himself, and the dozen years after his groundbreaking In Search of Excellence find almost two-thirds of his excellence standard-bearers failed or in trouble. This is Peters' second of the publisher's original paperback editions--with "simultaneous Random House AudioBook" ($12)!--following last summer's The Tom Peters Seminar: Crazy Times Call for Crazy Organizations. Depending on one's view of Peters, it might be summed up as either "the best of Peters" or "the rest of Peters." It consists of 210 observations, snippets, aphorisms, conceits, and quotes, "loosely collected by topic in 13 more-or-less chapters," that have been gathered by Peters over the last several years and haven't found room in his seminars or other books. Given that barrage of ideas, the reader is guaranteed more than an occasional "WOW!" David Rouse

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 349 pages
• Publisher: Vintage Books; First Edition edition (November 22, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679755551
• ISBN-13: 978-0679755555
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #117,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #94 in Books > Business & Investing > Organizational Behavior > Organizational Change

More About the Author

Tom Peters is co-author of In Search of Excellence--the book that changed the way the world does business, and often tagged as the best business book ever. Sixteen books and almost thirty years later, he's still at the forefront of the "management guru industry" he single-handedly invented. What's new? A lot. As CNN said, "While most business gurus milk the same mantra for all its worth, the one-man brand called Tom Peters is still reinventing himself." His most recent effort, released in March 2010: The Little BIG Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence. Tom's bedrock belief: "Execution is strategy--it's all about the people and the doing, not the talking and the theory." (Keep up with Tom at tompeters.com, ranked #9 among "The Top 150 Management and Leadership Blogs.")

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended! October 30, 2001

By Rolf Dobelli HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

Even when he's not at his best, as is the case in The Pursuit of Wow!, Tom Peters is head-and-shoulders above any other management guru. Peters is all about simplicity and excitement, both in his language and in his message. His basic mantra never changes: The workplace is becoming ever more competitive, so you need to make yourself and your company stand out. Do this by viewing your work as a series of critical projects and injecting limitless enthusiasm into each one. In delivering this consistent message, Peters tosses out scores of common-sense lines that are so insightful that you just have to jot them down. You'll find quite a few such keepers in this book, but you won't find too much of an overriding theme. Instead, Peters presents a string of 210 observations that flow together loosely. If you want to get going , we recommend this motivational booster.

28 of 34 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Tom Peters is enthralled with his own "zaniness." March 12, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

Here's Tom Peters' advice: hire "zany" people who don't know how to dress professionally (because they have a lot of energy); throw out every idea, concept, and system that has ever WORKED for your firm (because you don't want to grow stale); and forget any and all conventional measures of success (because they're wrong, and Tom Peters is right). We are not in business to make money or even to provide a great product/service --we're in business to be different at all costs (proof: Peters pooh-pooh's McDonald's as "McOrdinary's"). Although some of his ideas might prove useful to some readers, I found myself increasingly annoyed with Peters' own infatuation with himself ("aren't I crazy? aren't I just rocking your world?"). His tone conveys the sense that he'll say anything to be shocking--hardly a good motivation for writing a business book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Ex-cellent . . . June 10, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

It's not quite the rebirth of business, but it tries to be - and comes close. 214-odd observations from the renowned Tom Peters about work, life, entrepreneurship, management, and how the world as we know it is changing FAST. Plenty of thought-provoking comments that pull everywhere from Bob Dylan to Glide Memorial Church. Analysis of companies as diverse as De-Mar Plumbing and the formerly-no-real-estate Verifone. Round table interviews with executives from around America - for me, this was the most valuable part. And a few ideas that may not be workable in your situation. But The Pursuit Of WOW! certainly makes you laugh, cringe, shout, curse, and think about how you can redo your job, product, life, and whatnot so that you, and those around you, can look and say "WOW!"