Tom Peters
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Categories: American writers | People from Maryland | 1942 births | Living people | Business speakers
- For other uses of the name, see Thomas Peters
Thomas J. Peters (born November 7, 1942) is an American writer and expert on business management practices, best-known for co-writing the classic book, In Search of Excellence, with Robert H. Waterman, Jr.
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Biography
Peters was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and attended Cornell University, receiving a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1965, and a master's degree in 1966. He then studied business at Stanford University, receiving an M.B.A. and Ph.D.. In 2004, he also received an honorary doctorate from the State University of Management in Moscow.
From 1966 to 1970, he served in the United States Navy, making two deployments to Vietnam as a Navy Seabee, then later working in the Pentagon. From 1973 to 1974, he worked in the White House as a senior drug-abuse advisor, during the Nixon administration. Peters has acknowledged the influence of military strategist Colonel John Boyd on his later writing.
From 1974 to 1981, Peters worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, becoming a partner and Organization Effectiveness practice leader in 1979, and then in 1981, he went solo and became an independent consultant.
Bestselling author
In Search of Excellence was published in 1982, and became a bestseller, gaining national exposure when a series of television specials based on the book and hosted by Peters appeared on PBS. The primary idea espoused was that of solving business problems with as little business process overhead as possible, and empowering decision-makers at multiple levels of a company.
Peters currently lives in Vermont with his wife Susan Sargent, and continues to write and speak about personal and business empowerment and problem solving methodogies.
Works
- 1982 - In Search of Excellence (co-written with Robert H. Waterman, Jr.)
- 1985 - A Passion for Excellence (co-written with Nancy Austin)
- 1987 - Thriving on Chaos
- 1992 - Liberation Management
- 1993 - The Tom Peters Seminar: Crazy Times Call for Crazy Organizations
- 1994 - The Pursuit of WOW!
- 1997 - The Circle of Innovation: You Can't Shrink Your Way to Greatness
- 1999 - The Brand You50, The Project50 and The Professional Service Firm50
- 2003 - Re-imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age
References
- tompeters! - official site
- Summary Biography from Global Leaders
- Speechtek biography
- Corporate Man to Corporate Skunk: The Tom Peters Phenomenon
- Tom Peters: The Bestselling Prophet of the Management Revolution (part of a 4-book series of business biographies on Peters, Bill Gates, Peter Drucker, and Warren Buffet)
External links
- Enterprise Media - Tom Peters official video distributor.
- Learnoutloud - Tom Peters audio and video bibliography
