Tom Peters
2011 Ranking: #24
Tom Peters has been credited with inventing the modern management guru industry. He is chairman of the Tom Peters Company.
In Search of Excellence, Peters’ best-known book, was published in 1982 and became a publishing phenomenon. Written by Peters and Bob Waterman, at a time when America's competitiveness was being threatened by Japan, In Search of Excellence demonstrated that there were still many excellent American companies.
A Passion for Excellence (1985) co-written with Nancy Austin, continued the excellence theme; while Thriving on Chaos (1987) and Liberation Management (1992), were among the first books to address the newly emerging business world. The Brand You 50 (1999) and Project 50 (1999), focused on the changing nature of careers.
In 2003, Re-imagine: Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age returned to the theme of excellence and was extended in the Essentials series, which ran through the 2000s. Peter's most recent book is The Little BIG Things: 163 Ways to Pursue EXCELLENCE, (2010).
