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Thriving on Chaos
Book

Thriving on Chaos

Handbook for a Management Revolution

Tom Peters
Knopf, 1987
First Edition: 1987

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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

In Search of Excellence guru Tom Peters says today’s rapidly changing times are forcing a management revolution. He suggests that being excellent is no longer enough: companies need to be perpetually ready to innovate. They must be willing to make continual improvements because the business environment is so competitive. Rather than focusing on cost-cutting efficiencies, these improvements must stress providing customers with value. He predicts this rapidly changing world - fueled by new technology - will be unpredictable, so companies must learn how to "thrive on chaos" to survive the turbulent times ahead. To this end, Peters offers a series of steps that managers must take to become proactive and respond to change. He organizes his action prescriptions in five areas of management: 1) being responsive to the customer; 2) constantly innovating in all areas; 3) entering partnerships with everyone connected to your organization; 4) creating an inspiring vision based on change; and 5) setting up controls that measure what’s really important. Peters wrote these prescriptions in 1987, but they are still timely, since change continues unabated. This classic is easy-to-read, with hands-on specific strategies. getAbstract.com recommends it to everyone in business.

Take-Aways

  • The changing world will be unpredictable; companies must learn to "thrive on chaos."
  • Focus on providing customers with value, rather than on cost-cutting efficiencies.
  • Get rid of the old assumption that "bigger is better and biggest is best."

About the Author

Tom Peters is a management consultant, who has written many business books, including In Search of Excellence (with Robert H. Waterman, Jr.), A Passion for Excellence (with Nancy Austin), Liberation Management, The Circle of Innovation and The Tom Peters Seminar.

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