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Title: In Search of Excellence: Lessons from
America’s Best Run Companies
Author: Thomas J. Peters, Robert H. Waterman, Jr.
Stars: ****
Although this was written quite a few years ago, the basic truths outlined in
this book remain as pertinent today as then. The two authors set out to
find the basic characteristics of excellent companies and they came up
with a nice list including, but not limited to the following:
It’s loaded with good quotes, like “Creativity is thinking up new things.
Innovation is doing new things. Creativity without action-oriented follow
through is useless.”
If you’ve read or listened to Tom Peters recently, he continues to harp on
innovation through chaos, hiring geeks, experimentation, etc. It appears
this book is where it all began.
He and his co-author further report that competition within company units
is fine. In fact organizing as suboptimal divisions is the way to go. Matrixed
organizations simply don’t work. In excellent companies, autonomy is the
important thing. Managers need to be in control of all aspects of the
business. It outweighs any duplication of effort.
This is but a small taste of the many valuable lessons in this book.
America’s Best Run Companies
Author: Thomas J. Peters, Robert H. Waterman, Jr.
Stars: ****
Although this was written quite a few years ago, the basic truths outlined in
this book remain as pertinent today as then. The two authors set out to
find the basic characteristics of excellent companies and they came up
with a nice list including, but not limited to the following:
- A bias for action, Hands on, value driven
- Close to the customer
- Productivity through people
- Autonomy and entrepreneurship
It’s loaded with good quotes, like “Creativity is thinking up new things.
Innovation is doing new things. Creativity without action-oriented follow
through is useless.”
If you’ve read or listened to Tom Peters recently, he continues to harp on
innovation through chaos, hiring geeks, experimentation, etc. It appears
this book is where it all began.
He and his co-author further report that competition within company units
is fine. In fact organizing as suboptimal divisions is the way to go. Matrixed
organizations simply don’t work. In excellent companies, autonomy is the
important thing. Managers need to be in control of all aspects of the
business. It outweighs any duplication of effort.
This is but a small taste of the many valuable lessons in this book.
V E N T U R E S , L L C