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

by Tom Peters (Author) "One-minute excellence..." (more)
Key Phrases: reservation person, United States, San Francisco, Federal Express (more...)

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

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (November 22, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679755551
• ISBN-13: 978-0679755555
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #40,130 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Tom Peters is enthralled with his own "zaniness.", March 13, 2000

By A Customer

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.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Tom Peters is enthralled with his own "zaniness.", March 13, 2000

By	Sharon Wylie (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars the amble after the ordinary, April 25, 2002

By	K F Ashton (North Shore City, Auckland New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This is the abridged version of the review

If `apple pie' and a business version of `words to live by from mother', is up your alley, then Tom Peters The Pursuit of WOW!, is the soft cover management book for you!!! Peter's book is an amalgamation of `everything you were ever taught' and that has slipped your mind, on how to do good business. Primarily aimed at management and entrepreneurs there is a little something for everyone, broken into 210 sections, which are sorted into 13 categories, Peters for the most part, has an informal narrative style that utilises case studies, interviews, personal experience, examples and photographs that are consumer friendly. The end result is that WOW! can be opened at any page or read from beginning to end (although I wouldn't recommend it all in one sitting).

Entrepreneurs' Dream
Another chapter, another group, this time Peters brings together a group of 11 entrepreneurs for "a free-for-all discussion on the perils and joys of starting your own business". The distinct feeling of `one- up-man-ship' starts to leave a nauseous roiling in the gut, and even Peters himself states "pick your metaphor". Little to no structure is present, while ideas from passion and creativity to staleness and demotion are wildly bounced around.

Attaining Perpetual Adolescence
Peters uses chapter 12 to espouse the value of the `big concepts' that make a difference (in his humble opinion) to the success of an entrepreneur/manager. Iconoclastic, Inquisitive, Audacious, Crazy, Passionate, Advanced immaturity and Self-improvement, to mention just a few. The problem is, without application, they are just words and words that are hard to spell at that. One gets the distinct impression that he has put the most popular jargon and buzzwords of the moment into a hat and written a sentence on the resulting selection. Hype? Definitely. Practical application? Dicey at best.

In summation, one can't help but be left with the feeling that Peters was beginning to run out of things to write, the format of the chapters became shorter as the book progressed, furthermore the input from him lessened and had less `wow' the more you read. The knowledge that Peters imparts for most is known, but through laziness, busyness or lack of practicality is not used. Overall the book was generally entertaining, with a sprinkle of enlightenment, and worth a read (if you can get it from the library). Ultimately, the pursuit of `WOW!' was more like an `amble after ordinary'.