[W]hen Tom Peters wrote “In Search of Excellence” in 1982, he didn’t anticipate the book would become, at more than 3 million copies in print and counting, one of the biggest selling business books ever.
Or that, nearly four decades later, so many still don’t know its simple message.
“My argument over the past 35 years has been the same,” the longtime Vermonter says today. “Why, at the age of 75, should I have to write another book when the only thing I am saying is if you pay attention to people you will be able to live with yourself and make a lot more money?”
Peters has been reminded of the answer as he promotes his latest title, “The Excellence Dividend: Meeting the Tech Tide with Work That Wows and Jobs That Last,” a 496-page paperback from Penguin Random House. He tells of entering one bookstore and encountering a crowd waiting at the checkout line.
A good sign? Not according to the author.
“I was angry at the gross stupidity that that represented,” he says. “I told the store, ‘You are being destroyed by Amazon and you have only one thing to fight back with, and that is better service and a better experience.’”
Peters knows many business managers, reading such recent headlines as “Are You a ‘Surplus Human’? These Are the Jobs Robots Are Coming After Next,” see technology as the inevitable future. But he says for most current-day consumers, the human touch still matters.
“It always amuses me — unless the right word is ‘infuriates’ — when people say, ‘Tom, you talk a lot about people stuff.’ What else is there? An organization is people serving people. It begins with people. It ends with people.”
Peters notes some experts predict automation will ravage the job market in the next 10 to 20 years.
“There are other people who say that’s the worst possible alarmism,” he continues. “They say 30 years.”
Peters sees his principles as a way for humans to stay employed.
“In short, businesses that are committed to excellence in every aspect of their internal and external dealings are likely to be survivors,” he writes in his new book. “They are better and more spirited places to work. Their employees are engaged and growing and preparing for tomorrow. Their customers are happier and inclined to spread tales of their excellence far and wide. Their communities welcome them as good neighbors. Their vendors welcome them as reliable partners. That in turn translates directly into bottom-line results and growth.”
“This is not rocket science,” he adds in person. “I sincerely believe you can beat Amazon. The offense is sustained humanization. Artificial intelligence is not going to be able to copy that.”
Peters, who recently moved to the south coast of Massachusetts, still owns property in his longtime home of Tinmouth and says the Green Mountain State “remains near and dear to my heart.” As confirmation, his new book cites a SO Vermont Arts & Living magazine story he read about local food trucks.
“There’s something about ordering your menu selection from a sandwich board, watching the chef prepare your meal, and enjoying it picnic-style in nature,” Peters shares on page 40 before listing Indian, Jamaican, Mexican, Polish and Thai eateries in Bellows Falls, Brattleboro, Dorset, Springfield and Westminster.
“Excellence. Food truck. Vermont. Why not?”
Even at an age of simplifying and slowing down, Peters still is putting his principles into practice.
“Excellence can be the way we live our lives, professional as well as personal, the way we support one another, particularly in difficult times,” he concludes in his new book. “Excellence is the seemingly small acts that shout, ‘We care,’ and which linger in the memories of those we interact with — our own people, our communities, our suppliers, our customers.”
