A Passion for Excellence: The Leadership Difference

by Tom; Austin Peters

Cutting through traditional "data-based" dogmas about management, A Passion for Excellence champions the innovative, people-oriented spirit that made In Search of Excellence the bestselling business book of all time. Now, through hundreds of concrete, real-world examples, Tom Peters and Nancy Austin zero in on the key areas of competence that add up to excellence, offering scores of anecdotes and practical insights to help all businesspeople on their road to leadership, success, and most of all...excellence.

Genres: Business, Leadership, Nonfiction, Management, Professional Development

575 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Greg]

I'm not sure what to say on this book. I speed-read it, by which I don't mean to say that I 'skimmed' it, only that I forced myself to read it very fast. And I feel that that is the appropriate way to approach this book. It has a set of really interesting and meaningful insights, but the count is like 10 eye-opening insights in 500 pages. So in order to make sure I was picking up a cool new insight every time I read, I had to make sure I was reading 40-60 pages in a sitting, because I lot of this is pretty fluffy stuff. If you're actually a manager at the moment, there are some exercises for you that might be valuable and may slow you down compared to me.

One of the best parts of this book is the set of other books it references, and my 'To-Read list' has grown a lot since picking up this book.

[Jim]

I was a charter member of the Tom Peters fan club during my "business" days. Unfortunately I never had the chance to work for an organization that glommed on to his ideas. Still, watching his seminars is always inspiring and fun, and his books, for the most part, are quenching sips at the business revolution kool-aid.

[Don Stanton]

Blah blah blah……..Another management / leadership book regurgitating the same tired tripe of most other ‘Business’ books.
It’s worth the read is you haven’t read one of these types before. Definitely fits in the category of ‘read if you have to.’

[Deepak Imandi]

At first glance, when i bought this book, I just wanted to give it a try and learn the few tips grand titles like this one provides, but boy! what a book this was! My view of management has been completely transformed owing to concepts like MBWA, Skunkworks, case studies of HP, IBM, Purdue farms, Raychem. Though the book was written 36 years ago, it holds timeless truths of management in an excellently executed narrative. This is just perfect. Gonna revisit this at frequent points in my near and not so near future. Blessed to have picked this one.

[Greg]

Guide on leadership. Written in 1985 and yet surprisingly current. I guess every generation needs to learn the same lessons.

Topics discussed:
Customers - how to satisfy them
Innovation - how to maintain it through small teams
People - how to focus on them, motivate, and empower to do the job
Leadership - Attention, Symbols, Drama, Vision, MBWA - Manage by Wandering Around.

[Jannie van Schalkwyk]

The book reads like diarrhea. It's filled with tiring little case studies and what feels like scattered notes, awkwardly forced into a book format. The author attempts to tie it all together with the concept of 'Management by Wandering About,' but it comes across as disjointed and exhausting rather than insightful.

[Major Doug]

You could tell the parts he wrote, and the parts that she wrote. Enjoyed military and education portions, primarily because it is harder to MBWA in those arenas. Liked the 'coaching' breakdowns as well.

[Alexander Fedyunin]

Какой-то смузи из цитат, самоцитат и лозунгов "сделайте всё хорошо".

[Lucy Isaula]

When I say reading this book was a drag - I mean it was a DRAG. I honestly don't know why I even bothered finishing it.

[elsalmon L]

Zeroing-in on the key areas of competence that add up to excellence.

[Teri Temme]

Simply the best: "Treat your people as adults, and they will respond as adults, consciously and creatively. Treat them as mindless automatons, treat them with contempt, and they will respond with contempt for you and your product, will respond as automatons. It's as simple as that and as complex as that."

Additionally: "The power that can be unleashed as a result of "mere" ownership (or even the perception of it) is awesome!"

..."the ability to say good isn't good enough,..."

[Bryan]

Good book on customer service. Provides cases and studies on how to better serve customers.

[Milo]

Used as atraining manual for our real estate sales team. Good info

[Wayne Zill]

Overrated, enough said.

[Kathy]

Another one from my personal library (for anyone who wants to borrow)

[Girish]

from scott berkun's 'making things happen'

[Beez Beasley]

Always looking for a book to inspire excellence...