Tom Peters, Master of Quotation

Tom Peters may write in an unconventional manner, but it allows him to get ideas across in a remarkably concise fashion, as he does in his This I Believe! manifesto at ChangeThis. He reads a huge amount, and I found some valuable tidbits within for design inspiration:

### Quoted in This I Believe

* “The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get the old ones out.” — Dee Hock, Visa founder

* “Reward excellent failures. Punish mediocre successes.” — Phil Daniels

* “You can’t be a serious innovator unless you are willing and able to play. ‘Serious play’ is not an oxymoron; it’s the essence of innovation.” — Michael Schrage

* “Leaders achieve their effectiveness largely through the stories they relate” — Howard Gardner

* “We shape our buildings. Thereafter they shape us.” — Churchill

* “I never, ever thought of myself as a businessman. I was interested in creating things I would be proud of.” — Richard Branson

* “There’s no use trying,’ said Alice. ‘One can’t believe impossible things.’ ‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.'” — Lewis Carroll

* The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it. — Michelangelo

* “Nobody gives you power. You just take it.” — Roseanne

* “You can pretend to care. You cannot pretend to be there.” — Texas Bix Bender

* “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” — Gandhi

* “The deepest human need is the need to be appreciated.” — William James, psychologist

* “The two most powerful things in existence–a kind word and a thoughtful gesture.” — Ken Langone, co-founder of Home Depot

* “You must care.” — Melvin Zais, General, U.S. Army

* “A leader is a dealer in hope” — Napoleon

### And a few words of his own:

* Question authority! (And hire disrespectful people!)

* It is the foremost task–and responsibility–of this generation to re-imagine all of our institutions, private and public.

* Action…ALWAYS…takes precedence.

* Do…NOW. Think…later. At the very least, you’ll have something to think about since you’ve just done…something.

* He who makes the quickest, coolest prototypes reigns!

* Two Trends Worth Trillions, as in Trillion$$$. Namely: (1) Women buy All the Stuff (2) We’re getting older!

* Powerlessness is an advantage, not a disadvantage. Why? Because “powerless” people work in nooks and crannies, and are invisible enough to be able to surreptitiously pursue contrarian strategies.

* I once watched a highly energetic chief ripped asunder by a senior member of his board. “Richard,” the determined board member almost shouted, “you are smart, energetic, creative to a fault, perhaps even a genius. But much of your ‘genius’ is dissipated because you apply it to ten different things at a time, albeit with great skill.”

“Let me tell you what you need,” he concluded. “A ‘to don’t’ list.”

* Major change takes…30 days…or 3 Years. Your choice!

* Fun is not a Four-Letter Word