THRIVING ON CHAOS
Handbook for a Management Revolution
Tom Peters, 1987, Harper Perennial
Created: July 31th, 2003, Thursday, 20:57, Ankara
Notes that I took while reading:
- "The 3M Rule: Tradition demands that each scientist devote 15% of his time to projects of his own selection." (p.253)
- "Substitute pilots and prototypes for proposals." (p.268)
- "Move forward on the basis of hard facts and quick testing, not speculation." (p.274)
- "So many research methods are designed to say don't take any risks at all." (p.275)
- "Put NIH (Not Invented Here) behind you - and learn to copy (with unique adaptation / enhancement) from the best! Do so by aggresively seeking out the knowledge of competitors (small and overseas, not just tired old foes) and interesting noncompetitors." (p.278)
- "Any one innovation project, whether in accounting or in new-product development, has low odds of success. We must learn to cherish those with a passionate enough attachment to a new idea to push for it, though must such people will be rough around the edges and most of the projects will fail." (p.296)
- "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. [George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman]" (p.297)
- "Every middle manager...is not just passively 'coordinating' but is actively seeking ways to force activity that involves multiple functions to occur faster" (p.443)
- "You won't reduce the paperwork in a lasting fashion until you remove the underlying cause for it - mistrust and adversarial relations" (p.458)
- "In the office...you are shielded from the truth by a bewildering array of devices, prudent or malicious, all designed to 'save' you from trivia and complexity so that your mind can be clear as you confront the 'big picture' decisions. Instead, your mind is all too likely to be empty of all but prepackaged data, leading you to make uninformed decisions." (p.514)
- "...if you're well liked, easy to get along with, committed to service, you're still in trouble - because the gems whom you've hired don't want to dissapoint you." (p.515)
- "...it is to listen and facilitate, not give commands and inspect." (p.515)
- "Only promote people whose greatest pleasure is bragging about the accomplishments of their front line troops." (p.539)
- "...the real art for the manager lies in creating challenging but achievable targets." (p.602)
