Customer Reviews

Re-Imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age

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Before we take a step further, I have to come clean:

While managing my career, I have placed bets on Tom Peters.

There. I feel much better. And (Pete Rose's overdue confession aside) it's completely true. I have indeed gambled on Tom Peters. Not on Peters himself, but on his ideas and his advice.

His three little books from 1999--"The Brand You 50," "The Professional Service Firm 50" and "The Project 50"--played a powerful role in my decision to leave a truly dead-end job in 2000 and become a free agent. My career and my life are immeasurably richer today, thanks in part to Peters' passionate and sometimes bombastic ideas.

Given that, you'd be right to guess that I snapped up his latest work, "Re-Imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age" in the blink of an eye. I'm glad I did, though I'm not saying that Re-Imagine! is flawless. It's not. But it is eminently worthy of your time and especially so if you have never read Peters before.

Let's start with the book itself--not its contents, but its design. In jumping from his longtime publisher Knopf to design-driven DK (Dorling Kindersley), Peters takes a big chug of his own medicine. In previous books (and continuing in Re-Imagine), he has argued that design is critical to success. And this book's design is indeed a departure from "traditional" business books. It doesn't look like management book nor act like a management book. It's chockful of vivid photos, bold colors (especially Peters' trademark red), icons and imaginative screening. Marginal callouts are not fluff, but vital expressions of the soul of the book, linked to corresponding paragraphs by soft-colored swoops and lines.

It's a great experiment. I'm just not sure it how well it works. For example, many of the photos have a stock, even clip-art, feel to them--and the credits indeed reveal their stock origins. Sometimes the screened words, colors and images behind the text make reading unnecessarily difficult. Yet I loved the way the marginal callouts drew and amplified key points--and the "Was/Is" comparisons at the end of each chapter are simply marvelous.

In short, the daring design is a mixed bag. It's taking a risk--something Peters himself preaches. He's fond of quoting Phil Daniels: "Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes." To this reader, Re-Imagine's design falls into the former category.

Fortunately, it's what Peters says that's most important. And Re-Imagine! is the single best work TP has produced, and a terrific summary of the ideas he has been spouting for umpteen years. If you haven't read Peters and wonder what all the noise is about, this is the best place to begin.

But hang tough. After an inspiring, even startling, introduction, Re-Imagine! starts slowly. Those used to Peter's histrionics and fireworks might feel disappointed. I certainly was--until I realized what was happening. Like a great litigator, TP builds his case quietly and firmly, building a bedrock that can handle the bomb bursts of his later frenzies. Momentum builds as Peters steadily presents his theme: We're in a new business climate and we'd better make some big changes.

And what changes does Peters propose--or, shall I say, demand? Try these on for size:

* Basing all business (from the smallest department to the biggest megacorp) on projects and the professional service firm model, thus increasing value.

* Embracing branding and design--and providing experiences to Clients rather than just products and services.

* Charging after new markets: Boomers, seniors and--especially--women.

* Relentlessly pursuing talent, especially among (again) women.

* Rebuilding education to prepare young minds for the new world they will soon face.

Oh, that's all. It's typical of Peters to hold nothing back. And I think that's what makes him so invaluable. For too long, it has been "business as usual" with most "management gurus" spouting the party line. How many Enrons and MCIs--indeed, how many Californias and Iraqs--will we have to see before we get the message that some mighty BIG changes are in order, not just in business life but in life itself? How many once-impregnable giants must topple before someone catches a clue? We need more loud, boisterous, devil-may-care prophets like Peters stirring up trouble.

Is TP always right? Heck, no. He'd be the first to admit it--and does in one of my favorite chapters, a look back at his seminal work (with Bob Waterman), 1982's "In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies." But being correct isn't at issue. We need new ideas, new practices, new ways of working before hell arrives in the proverbial handbasket--and the more ideas we can try, the better. We all need to enjoy some excellent failures.

After all this, I've sold Peters short. Only a reader (not a reviewer) can experience TP's manic punctuation, capitalization and sometimes stream-of-consciousness phrases--and grapple with his profound understanding of our challenging business climate.

Take a gamble. Read Re-Imagine!

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.

The layout of this book is irritating. Colors, pictures, full pages with one sentence hopeful sound bites - the only thing missing was the crayon.

I wouldn't have minded the layout so much if the material were fresh or even well presented. If you read the following you can skip the book: "Smell the dream." "The internet will change everything." "Honor roll students will be working for the kids who didn't make the honor roll." "Companies have to re-imagine or reinvent themselves." "Women are wired differently than men because they would design washing machines on the second floor of homes near the kids room (perhaps because they do the laundry - Mr. Peters - an insight they'd trade for less drudgery and better pay any day)." "Women buy everything (unsupported by hard statistics for luxury automobiles, SUVs, other autos, VCR's, flat screen televisions, computers, and more)." "Incrementalism is bad; make big changes - followed by 'twenty women as head of Fortune 500 companies by 2020' (there are now eight)." "Harley Davidson doesn't sell motorcycles; it sells a lifestyle."

There you have it, old material with all of its consistencies. There is good work being done at major graduate business schools on this topic, but this isn't it.

It's been said before, but love him or hate him one thing Tom Peters always achieves is the near impossible feat of making business sound interesting. I've done a management degree and had to read no end of dross that is largely irrelevant in today's economy. Tom Peters was not part of my course reading list, but I've read all his books cover to cover out of choice because no matter what you think of his views and ideas, the guy does manage to connect - and that is partly the problem with Re-Imagine...

This latest book will appeal more than ever to devoted Tom Peters followers (of which there are many), but I also think it will leave them feeling shortchanged. He's really gone to town on the design, making it look more like a website than a book (he's said himself he now writes in "web-English"). He's also upped the ante with some of his statements that are designed to provoke a reaction, such as his musings on 9/11.

However when you get down to the nitty-grittty - ie his ideas and what he actually has to say - Tom Peters is in fact covering old ground. Women as a marketing opportunity? He said much the same in the 1999 Reinventing Work series, and it has also been said to much better effect by the likes of Faith Popcorn. Wow projects have been part of his mantra since the early 90s. Personal Brand Equity was covered in 1999 and has been flogged to death in recent years by just about every leadership and career consultant going. War For Talent? Do me a favour.

Management books need to appeal to either the theorist or the practitioner. This book will do neither. Its too subjective, opinionated and lacking in fact-based analysis to appeal to MBA students and the like. But then its also too wooly to appeal to a manager trying to get to grips with the realities of today's business environment. The Reinventing Work books had useful and practical checklists (Things To Do) at the end of each chapter that you could literally tick-off to help you with implementing Tom's ideas in practice. The new book has plenty of lists and literally shouts at you when telling you what to do, but it's not as practical as the T.T.D. lists of his previous books. For example, in The Talent 50, Peters' #1 is to "Make talent your top priority". Good advice, but not much use to the average leader who is perpetually drowning under the weight of their inbox and "to do" lists. What's more Peters also seems to insist that you make everything a priority - Talent, Women, Baby Boomers, Sales, destroying everything you hold dear and working in a building with no more than two floors. There is no central core to this book, only a vague pointer that we have to learn to "love the mess".

That said, Peters remains as ever a provocative read and this book will probably sell by the bucketload. He knows how to make a point and he is certainly more readable than most. Unfortunately what you end up with is something originally packaged, both from a design and writing perspective, but at its core lacking in original content. For me his pocket-sized Reinventing Work books were more digestable and for their time were more transformative.

Okay, so there's not much new here; it's a lot of vintage Tom albeit expanded, revised, refuted, and re-packaged in an awesome (and mold-breaking) design. Worth the price of admission? Absolutely. Even though Tom's been making some of these points for decades, there's clearly a need for reiteration and re-amplification. Tom's ample side commentaries together with the new design transform this material into a kick-your-ass experience. On a BOS to ATL flight, I jotted a dozen pages of notes and ideas even though I'd read/seen/heard Tom present all of these topics a dozen or more times in twenty years. Still, Tom only hints at what I'd hoped he'd turn his prodigious talent to exploring, namely, the nobility of work that's possible if you let it happen. You sense that undergirding all these ideas is a unifying call to purpose, meaning, and (of course) excellence ... "work that matters". It's right there, but somehow Tom never quite brings it to the surface. Perhaps it's the civil engineer in him. Rarely do bridges or tunnels reveal the engineering separating us from a watery grave. So, there remain even greater questions for Tom to help us explore next time. Thanks again, Tom.

I was introduced to Tom Peters when I was in College (10 years back). I first read his book "Seminar". Thereafter I have never missed any of his books. These books have been very instrumental in my career.

Actually Tom Peters is just an observer, he observes & tell what has gone right & what has not with reasons. His books are not a management theory (unlike Drucker), he just gives you some food for thoughts. My recommendation is that if you are reading his book, don't read it more that 4-5 pages at a time then stop-take notes-think about-how you can use it in your prospective.

The book "RE-IMAGINE" is complete TOM PETERS Encyclopedia. It has some new things & some old writing from his books Pursuit of Wow, The Project 50, The Brand You 50, The Professional Service Firm50, The Circle of Innovation. If I were to name this book I would have named it as Best of Tom Peters.

I love Tom Peters. I love his enthusiasm, his positive outlook, and his motivating ideas on how to excel in our dynamic, ever changing workplace.

This book is pure Tom, wonderfully insightful and covering most of his current themes. Once you get into (or past) his slightly frantic magazine-like format you'll be well rewarded as he hip-hops from topic to topic covering everything White-Collar Cataclysm (and how to survive it) to bringing Weird and Wow to the workplace.

If you're going to be in the workplace for the next 10+ years, I strongly recommend you pick it up!

Some of my favorite quips from the book:

* Innovation comes from pissed off people.
* Embrace failure! We avoid failures but we must embrace it. We must glory in the murk and muss that yields true innovation.
* It's easier to kill then change. It's easier to make Walmart then change Sears.
* "Good" management was the most powerful reason that leading firms failed to stay atop their industries.
* For 2 decades we have outsourced blue-collar jobs, now comes white-collar jobs.
* Culture isn't just 1 aspect of the game - it is the game! (Lou Gerstner)
* Design is the #1 determinant on whether a product-service-experience stands out, or not.
* Engage your folks. Make things that are cool and that work. Stick your neck out.
* No body gives you power. You just take it. Obeying the rules is obeying their rules. Astonish me. Build something great. Make it immortal.
* Getting Things done is ultimately not about power or rank. It's about passion and imagination and persistence.
* Never accept an assignment as it is given. You are never so powerful as when you're "powerless".
* Every "small" project contains the DNA of the entire enterprise.
* Fail, Forward, Fast. Fail sooner, succeed sooner.
* Find Heroes. Do Demos. Tell Stories.
* Know Your Product - Have true, deep knowledge of your product.
* Success = Sales Success! Everywhere. Period. We're All in Sales. All the Time.
* Blame No One! Expect Nothing! Do Something! (NY Jets Locker Room by then-coach Bill Parcells)
* Meet the New Boss: Women Rule!
* Think Weird: The High Value-Added Bedrock
* Be Performance oriented - to a fault. Collect the Best Dammed Group Of Talent possible and then convince them to go where they never imagined they could
[...]

The reviewer who said it was OK to freely borrow from "Free Agent Nation" should be aware that in my view this would be a violation of our Honor Code and would probably get me kicked out of my MBA program. The internet didn't change the Honor Code.

Perhaps this book wasn't geared to MBA programs. Even so, trying to repackage to appeal to a younger audience without upgrading the content is a mistake. The reviewer below underestimates people's sense of right and wrong as well as attention spans. Mr. Peters underestimates people's ability to discriminate between form and substance.

These ideas aren't new for the market, and they aren't even new for Tom Peters. They are a repeat of what he's been saying for ten years. This design is touted as good, but it is fluff over substance. The book runs around chasing its own tail. The design is distracting and bad.

While the title is re-imagine the theme is regurgitation of old ideas in inferior packaging.

What strikes one at the first look at 'Re-imagine!' is its looks. Tom Peters chose Dorling Kindersley, known for their atlases, as publisher for his book. 'Design: The 'Soul' of New Enterprise' is the title of Chapter 10. Design is very much at the core of the book too as Tom Peters makes a case for companies to redesign themselves.

'Re-imagine!' opens with the metaphor of New War, using 9/11. Just as 'a tiny band of fundamentalists humbled the world's only super power', big enterprises too are vulnerable at the hands of disruptive upstarts. Perpetuity is nonsense. Jim Collins (of 'Built to last') got it wrong. It is survival of the fittest, not the fattest. There is dire need for organizations to transform themselves.

'Re-imagine!' essentially addresses the American audience although there are many chapters that could interest non American readers too. Just as there has been 98.5% reduction in the blue-collar manpower requirement, white-collar jobs too are under trouble. According to Jeff Immelt, the CEO of GE, 75% of jobs in GE will disappear in 3 years. A bureaucrat is an expensive microchip. Embrace the model of the PSF (Professional Services Firm) such as McKinsey. Tom Peters laments that there are hardly any books on PSFs except a few including one by him.

The section titled 'new bus!ness new brand', easily the most interesting part of the book, deals with experience, dream business, design, beautiful systems and the heart of branding. Over the years, services have come to dominate the business. Tom Peters draws attention to how product companies like IBM, AT&T, Ericsson and GE Power Systems have progressed 'from Product Provider to Solutions Impresario' and aim at giving great experience to their customers. Quoting a friend, Tom Peters describes various levels in the value chain, viz.. 'The raw-materials economy', 'The goods economy', 'The service economy' and 'The experience economy'. The 'experience bit' adds the major chunk of the revenue. What Harley-Davidson sells is 'the ability for a 43-year-old accountant to dress in black leather, ride through small towns, and have people be afraid of him'. Lest it may sound undermining products, Tom Peters adds that the integrated solutions stuff 'makes sense if the original product (that is, the 'price of entry') ...is great. Not good, but great'. Also you can focus either on creating major revolutions in products or providing integrated solutions, not both.

What is the next level above experience? It is 'embracing the dream business'. Ferrari is a dream product while Hyundai is a common product. Marketing of dreams is called 'dreamketing' by Longinotti-Buitoni, former Ferrari North America CEO. While it is exciting to read this chapter, one doesn't agree with Tom Peters here as it is rather over simplified. Just as one can infuse emotion into common products, one can also innovate by stripping the emotional appeal and offer a functional product. Anita Roddick's (whom even Tom Peters extols repeatedly) Body Shop is a cosmetics company that reduced the price by doing away with glamour and fancy packaging, emphasizing the use of natural ingredients and healthy living.

How can an individual (read American, although others too may need this in the near future) survive and succeed in the present times? By taking wow projects that make a difference. And rate each project on a scale of 10, where 10 is for aiming to change the world. What if one doesn't have the power or rank? Getting things done doesn't have anything to do with power or rank. What one needs are passion, imagination and persistence.

What about the boss? How can he change the status quo? Ordering systematic change is a waste of time. In stead the boss must wander around, discover heroes and show their work as demos to prove that such things are doable within the company. And tell stories to fire the heroes in the making. Also hang out with weird to think weird.

'Re-imagine!' worships Steve Jobs and companies like Netscape. Silicon Valley is the model. Change the world like Netscape and die fast. While Netscape did change the world, its death was premature. In stead of celebrating its end, one will expect to know from the book the strategy to avoid it (such as staying below Microsoft's radar). Companies like GE, IBM and Dell are also repeatedly mentioned but there is no in-depth analysis of their success.

'Re-imagine!' is a collage of exciting, weird, outrageous and subversive ideas. It excites and even shocks one by its audacity, which can help in forcing one to think in the process. The book makes a case for action as against strategy and planning. This could be to correct the excessive reliance on strategy and planning over the years but it can lead to another danger of acting without any business strategy which is crucial to achieve innovation. Tom Peters often sounds like a missionary. While the book is by and large inspiring, it may ward off some readers who will find it flashy and not offering solutions to business problems. 'Re-imagine!' essentially addresses those who ride their Harley Davidsons, carry their iPods and swear by Steve jobs. It does not go beyond reaching those who are already converted, although its portrayal of the contemporary business world could be instructive to a larger audience.