Thomas J. Peters (born November 7, 1942) is an American writer on

business management Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of manageme ...

practices, best known for '' In Search of Excellence'' (co-authored with

Robert H. Waterman Jr. Robert H. Waterman Jr. (November 11, 1936 - January 2, 2022) was a non-fiction author and expert on business management practices. He was best known as the co-author, with Tom Peters, of ''In Search of Excellence''. Waterman later directed his own ...

)

Life and education

Peters was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. He went to Severn School, a private, preparatory high school, graduating in 1960. Peters then attended

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...

, receiving a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

in 1964, and a master's degree in 1966. He returned to academia in 1970 to study business at Stanford Business School receiving an MBA followed by a PhD in Organizational Behavior in 1977. The title of his dissertation was "Patterns of Winning and Losing: Effects on Approach and Avoidance by Friends and Enemies."

Karl Weick Karl Edward Weick (born October 31, 1936) is an American organizational theorist who introduced the concepts of "loose coupling", "mindfulness (psychology), mindfulness", and "sensemaking" into organizational studies. He is the Rensis Likert Disti ...

credited Peters' dissertation with giving him the idea for his 1984 article: "Small wins: Redefining the scale of social problems." While at Stanford, Peters was influenced by Jim G. March, Herbert Simon (both at Stanford), and Karl Weick (at the University of Michigan). Later, he noted that he was influenced by Douglas McGregor and

Einar Thorsrud Einar Thorsrud (30 April 1923 – 29 May 1985) was a Norwegian psychologist, researcher and professor at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim and University of Oslo, who is known for his work in the field of organizational development ...

. In 2004, he also received an honorary doctorate from the

State University of Management The State University of Management is a public university in Moscow, Russia. It was founded in 1919. Its rector is Ivan Vasilyevich Lobanov. There are more than 250 professors and 12 academics and members of the Russian Academy of Sciences workin ...

in Moscow.

Career

From 1966 to 1970, he served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, making two deployments to

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

as a Navy Seabee, then later working in

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metonym ...

. From 1973 to 1974, he worked in the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...

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 McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm founded in 1926 by University of Chicago professor James O. McKinsey, that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. McKinsey is the oldest and ...

, becoming a partner and Organization Effectiveness practice leader in 1979. In 1981, he left McKinsey to become an independent consultant. In 1990, Peters was referred to in a British Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) publication as one of the world's ''Quality Gurus''. In 1995, the ''New York Times'' referred to Peters as one of the top three business experts in the highest demand as a speaker along with

Daniel Burrus Daniel Burrus is an American technology futurist, business adviser, author, and public speaker in the areas of business strategy, global trends, and disruptive innovation. He has written on the topics of business transformation and technolog ...

and Roger Blackwell. By 2000, Peters was noted for his ever-increasingly aggressive and sometimes "crackpot" demeanor while at the same time his target audiences had changed towards the considerably lower ranks of SMI management. In 2017, "Thinkers50" awarded Peters with its Lifetime Achievement Award for his paving the way for the " thought leadership" and

business book Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." Having a business name does not separ ...

industries.

''In Search of Excellence''

The publication of the popular business book ''In Search of Excellence'' in 1982 marked a turning point in Peters' career. Peters states that directly after graduating with a PhD from Stanford in 1977, and returning to McKinsey, the new managing director,

Ron Daniel Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in ''Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe A ...

, handed him a "fascinating assignment." Motivated by the new ideas coming from Bruce Henderson's

Boston Consulting Group Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the Big Three (management consultancies), Big Three (or MBB, the world’s three larges ...

, Daniel noted that businesses often failed to effectively implement new strategies, so Peters "was asked to look at 'organization effectiveness' and 'implementation issues' in an inconsequential offshoot project nested in McKinsey's rather offbeat San Francisco office." ''In Search of Excellence'' became a bestseller, gaining exposure in the United States at a national level when a series of television specials based on the book and hosted by Peters appeared on PBS. The primary ideas espoused solving business problems with as little business-process overhead as possible, and empowering decision-makers at multiple levels of a company. The December 2001 issue of ''

Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year. History ''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan We ...

'' quoted Peters admitting that he and Waterman had falsified the underlying data for ''In Search of Excellence''. He is quoted as saying, " This is pretty small beer, but for what it's worth, okay, I confess: We faked the data. A lot of people suggested it at the time." He later insisted that this was untrue and that he was the victim of an "aggressive headline."

Later work

In 1987 Peters published ''Thriving on Chaos: Handbook for a Management Revolution''. In later books, Peters has encouraged

personal responsibility In philosophy, moral responsibility is the status of morally deserving praise, blame, reward, or punishment for an act or omission in accordance with one's moral obligations. Deciding what (if anything) counts as "morally obligatory" is a ...

in response to the " New Economy." More recent books are The Excellence Dividend, released in April 2018, and Excellence Now: Extreme Humanism, released in 2021. Peters currently lives in South Dartmouth, MA with his wife Susan Sargent, and continues to write and speak about personal and business

empowerment Empowerment is the degree of autonomy and self-determination in people and in communities. This enables them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way, acting on their own authority. It is the process of becoming strong ...

and

problem-solving Problem solving is the process of achieving a goal by overcoming obstacles, a frequent part of most activities. Problems in need of solutions range from simple personal tasks (e.g. how to turn on an appliance) to complex issues in business an ...

methodologies. His namesake company "Tom Peters Company"http://tompeterscompany.com/ is based in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, UK.

Works

* 1982 – '' In Search of Excellence'' (co-written with Robert H. Waterman, Jr.) * 1985 – ''

A Passion for Excellence A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'' (co-written with Nancy Austin) * 1987 – '' Thriving on Chaos'' * 1992 – ''Liberation Management'' * 1994 – ''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 Reinventing Work Series 50List Books'' ** 1999 – ''The Brand You 50: Or: Fifty Ways to Transform Yourself from an "Employee" into a Brand That Shouts Distinction, Commitment, and Passion! (Reinventing Work Series)'' ** 1999 - ''The Project50: Fifty Ways to Transform Every "Task" into a Project That Matters! (Reinventing Work Series)'' ** 1999 - ''The Professional Service Firm50: Fifty Ways to Transform Your "Department" into a Professional Service Firm Whose Trademarks are Passion and Innovation! (Reinventing Work Series)'' * 2003 – ''Re-imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age'' * 2005 – ''Talent'' * 2005 – ''Leadership'' * 2005 – ''Design'' * 2005 – ''Trends'' (co-written with

Martha Barletta Martha (Hebrew: מָרְתָא‎) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness to Je ...

) * 2010 – ''The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue Excellence'' * 2018 - ''The Excellence Dividend: Meeting the Tech Tide with Work That Wows and Jobs That Last'' * 2021 - ''Excellence Now: Extreme Humanism''

References

External links

tompeters
– official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Peters, Tom 1942 births American business writers American management consultants Business speakers Cornell University College of Engineering alumni Living people McKinsey & Company people Writers from Baltimore People from Tinmouth, Vermont Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni Writers from Vermont