5 Takeaways from Tom Peters, Influential Leader, Author, Speaker [Replay]

As we all take this time to relax and express gratitude for the many things in our lives that are worth giving thanks for, even in this crazy time, it’s my pleasure to replay one of the most special podcast shows we’ve had this year, which was with the incredible author, keynote speaker, and businessman, Tom Peters.

Tom Peters is such an impressive thought leader and, also, just a really good human. In our conversation, we talked about the importance of leadership, humanity, and enabling people to live their best life. I hope you enjoy our conversation, please take care, and please have a great and safe holiday!

5 Business Lessons From Tom Peters

1. The Tone for Enabling People to Rise and Show Grace is Set at the Top of the Organization.

Are you giving your people the ability to deliver grace? Tom shares that when employees are enabled to support each other and customers, it’s usually because the tone for this behavior has been set from the top. He tells us an anecdote about the CEO of Campbell Soup who sent over 30,000 handwritten thank you notes to employees as a way to demonstrate his care.

The tone for enabling people to rise and show grace is set at the top of the organization. -- @tom_peters, #customerexperience #CX #leadership Click To Tweet

2. Diversity in Leadership is Necessary

Tom shares his insights on having more women as leaders and the effects this has on a company. He believes that by having more women in top positions, there will be an improvement in sales, leadership, and negotiations.

3. People, First!

“People are important,” says Tom Peters. Tom believes that business should be about “people serving people; it’s leaders serving their frontline employees who in turn serve their customers.” Tom shares the importance of hiring people for their people skills and we’ve got to change the way we look at “soft skills,” as these attributes end up being important for teamwork and success.

4. Innovation Doesn’t Have to be Complicated

“Forget the breakthroughs; the small stuff is more important than the big stuff,” says Tom when it comes to innovation. He goes on to say, “Whoever tries the most stuff wins. What you have to do with innovation is quit treating it as some esoteric thing.” Tom shares the importance of always trying to come up with a new or better way to do something even on a small scale. Don’t believe the hype that innovation has to be created by someone with a Ph.D.

Innovation doesn’t have to be complicated. @tom_peters, #customerexperience #CX #leadership Click To Tweet

5. Don’t Be Afraid to Give Things Away

Tom gives away a lot of free resources on his site, TomPeters.com. You can find slides to some of his presentations that he also encourages folks to share with other people. The idea behind this is that it never hurts to give, you don’t lose out on anything. If or when people are ready to work with you in a capacity that requires them to pay for your services, they’d be more willing to do so because you’ve already shown your value.

About Tom Peters

Tom Peters 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. Eighteen books and thirty-five years later, Tom is still at the forefront of the “management guru industry” he single-handedly invented.

Effectively, all of Tom’s written and spoken material covering the last 15+ years is available—free to download—at tompeters.com and excellencenow.com.

Subscribe to the podcast on

Let us know how we're doing here.

Get every new episode

sent straight to your inbox!

0 comments to " 5 Takeaways from Tom Peters, Influential Leader, Author, Speaker [Replay] "

Leave a Comment