Tom is co-author of In Search of Excellence—the book that changed the way the world does business and often tagged as the best business book ever. Seventeen books and thirty-five years later, he is still at the forefront of the “management guru industry” he single-handedly invented.

What’s new? A lot.

As CNN said, “While most business gurus milk the same mantra for all it’s worth, the one-man brand called Tom Peters is still reinventing himself.”

His most recent effort is The Excellence Dividend: Meeting the Tech Tide with Work That Wows and Jobs That Last (Vintage, 2018). Tom’s bedrock belief: “Execution is strategy—it’s all about the people and the doing, not the talking and the theory.”

In November 2017, Tom received the Thinkers50 Lifetime Achievement Award. (Effectively, All of Tom’s written and speech material covering the last 15+ years is available— free to download—at tompeters.com and excellencenow.com.)

This interview was recorded on 24/4/20.

Robert and Tom discuss:

• The COVID-19 crisis: how it will define your career as a digital agency leader and how it will define our lifetime
• Being generous in times of struggle
• How to be a great leader – hire nice people, technical is over rated
• Susan Cain – Quiet
• Finance - You don’t need spreadsheets!
• You don’t need a fat bank account to survive in these times
• Now is the time to grow and evolve – now is the time to create something different – come out of these period with something amazing – wild ass differentiation
• You must have a high proportion of female employees – for better business – be diverse
• Will the world be different when we come out of the COVID-19 crisis? Working from home and improvements in technology. Business occupancy rates will go through the floor.
• Shoshanna Zuboff – the exploitation of data – the control that the big data companies have
• Philanthropy, Charity, Environment
• The core skills that we need to develop coming out of this – theatre, music, philosophy, art, liberal arts – these skills will develop amazing products that make a difference
• Apple – isn’t just about good design – create something that’s remarkable
• Business isn’t just about growth or breakthrough – do great things
• Tom’s words of wisdom:

• >50 staff – dig into your net worth and carry your people
• 5 person agency – it hurts to let people go
• Do the best work you’ve ever done
• Write your eulogy – what do you want to be known for?