Re-imagine!
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Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age
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What, according to Tom Peters, Chairman of Tom Peters Company, is the problem with the way people do business today? Well-intentioned people who like to get things done are being thwarted at every step of the way by absurd organizational barriers and by the egos of petty tyrants.
Focusing on how the business climate has changed, this inspirational audiobook outlines how the new world of business works, explores radical ways of overcoming outdated company values, and embraces an aggressive strategy that empowers talent and brand-driven organizations where everyone has a voice.
His vision: Employees who dance from project to project, making "it" up as they go along. Enterprise that reduces the bureaucracy to almost nothing. Societies that educate their young to break the rules and invent vivid new futures.
More than just a how-to book for the 21st century, Re-imagine! is a call to arms, a passionate wake-up call for the business world, educators, and society as a whole.
 Write a Review of Re-imagine!
 
LOLJPB, February 17, 2006
Reviewer: LOLJPB
General Content: Tom Peters is the preeminent “management guru” in business today and with good reason. You often get the feeling while listening to him that he’s years if not decades ahead of his time. He covers a number of topics in this highly entertaining book ranging from creative destruction to the increasing power of diversity. While I like most about Peters and what separates him from many of other business books of the day is that he is always challenging the status quo. Peters might not always be right but at least he’s never lukewarm, which is very refreshing.
I would highly recommend Re-Imagine to just about anyone, regardless of whether they are in the business world or not. For instance, he talks a lot about education and things that can be done to improve schools. He then draws a lot of analogies to the business world and how similar improvements can be made in corporate America. So while this reading is important and relevant for CEOs it’s probably just as important and relevant for elementary school teachers and other “non-business” types. This is a point on which I’m sure Mr. Peters would agree with me.
Audio-Specific Content: I listened to the unabridged (8.5 hours in length) version of this title through Audible.com. This version is read by Mr. Peters which I was impressed with given that very few authors read the unabridged versions of their books. Peters is a great speaker and was a pleasure to listen to. His personality comes out many times throughout the recording which makes listening to this book a very enjoyable experience.
Donald, February 17, 2006
Reviewer: Donald
This Text Refers to the Hard Cover Edition:
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.
Donald Mitchell
http://livebetterthanabillionaireon5dollars.blogspot.com/
- Published:
2004
- LearnOutLoud.com Product ID:
R001152
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1597772461 |
9781597772464 |
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Business
Strategy
Business
Leadership & Management
Business
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