In Search of Excellence

Based on the recommendation of my mentor, the seminal "In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's best run companies" is the first ever business book I read (perhaps in 1996) and since then have been a big fan of Tom Peters. I strive to achieve excellence in all walks of life, though I'm very far from achieving it. There are many definitions of Excellence, but here are the two definitions I like the most:

• Excellence is doing ordinary things in an extraordinary way
• Excellence is doing the very best that YOU can

The core message of "In Search of Excellence" is just to have the organization/manager focus on three things:

• People
• Customer
• Action

Here is the summary of the eight themes:

1. A bias for action, active decision making - 'getting on with it'.
2. Close to the customer - learning from the people served by the business.
3. Autonomy and entrepreneurship - fostering innovation and nurturing 'champions'.
4. Productivity through people - treating rank and file employees as a source of quality
5. Hands-on, value-driven - management philosophy that guides everyday practice - management showing its commitment.
6. Stick to the knitting - stay with the business that you know.
7. Simple form, lean staff -  minimal HQ staff, flat hierarchy.
8. Simultaneous loose-tight properties - autonomy in shop-floor activities with centralised values.

The book is peppered with a lot of examples and written extremely well. If you have not read it, or want to read just one  non-fiction book this year, go for this one.