The pursuit of wow!

brad's Summary of tom peters' book

The one sentence summary: do you want to be WOW! or meh? If WOW! then read on. Tom Peters wrote this stuff in 1994 by the way...
Personal attributes

• Have fun – do silly things
  
• Be passionate
  
• Be inquisitive
  
• Say thanks
  
• Turn up
  
• Be reliable
  
• Ask, especially dumb questions - then listen - then follow up
• Tell stories
• Network
  
• Deal with problems ASAP
  
• Take breaks
  
• Go off-line to think
  

Organisational attributes

• Make money
  
• Keep it simple
  
• Practice effective prototyping
  
• The media is your customer
  

Innovation

• Fly by the seat of your pants – ready, fire, aim
  
• Keep innovating so any secrets stolen are yesterdays
  
• Reinvent the wheel – things change so the current wheel is probably stuffed anyway
  
• Throw enough spaghetti and some will stick

Product / service

• Why is it special? 25 words
  
• There is always a service
  
• Fabulous
  
• Faultless
  
• Never finished – can always be improved
  

Leading

• By example – walk the talk
  
• Praise in public, punish in private
  
• Always look confident!
  
• Visit your top customers often – call the others often
  
• Support your people
  
• Train your people
  
• Don’t punish fuckups – learn from them
  

Hiring

• Most important thing to do
  
• Take time but move fast
  

People

• Exciting
  
• Individual
  
• Make things happen
  
• Reinvent themselves
  

Customers and suppliers

• Exciting – fire if dull or abusive
  
• Pay on time
  
• Appreciate your work