The Circle of Innovation

WARNING! This book is not for the die hard, stuffy, stereotypical management theorist. It is a innovative and easy to read look into the world of management "Tom Peters" style. What has now become a trade-mark writing style Peters uses a very personal style to get across some sensational ideas. Even though it was written pre-dotcom bust AND it is almost 6 years old, a lot of the ideas are still very relevant. Short, punchy and still very enlightening!

Peters excells in this thought provoking book on innovation. This book will cause you to re-think age old principals and ideas that are cemented into your thinking. Written, truely, like a Power Point presentation with exceptional visuals- a reader can review tid bits of the information at a time- with gaps of time imbetween. Great for busy execs that travel.This book WILL change the way you think. Great Job Tom Peters!

Be warned that if you like unusual formats, you'll find this book refreshing. If you hate anything unusual, you may not like this book. The Circle of Innovation is written in slide book form. This is the form that consultants use for seminars. Each exhibit that the seminar attendees will see is included, along with a page of script that covers the content of the exhibit. The result is highly enjoyable, as you vicariously imagine being in the room with Tom Peters, the world's most sought-after business speaker. The exhibits are wonderfully funny and evocative, and use all kinds of visual tricks to get and keep your attention. I had people all over the plane looking over my shoulder to see them, as I read the book on a recent flight. Tom Peters also walks his talk, and really lives with passion -- which strongly comes through in this book. His interpretations of the world are almost always tied to quotes from important thinkers and business leaders, which gives the book a relevance and immediacy that a more intellectual book would have lacked. I found this book to be very satisfying to read. It affected me at a very fundamental level, so I could tell that I was "getting" the message. The result is a most impressive example of a way to communicate through books. The principles seem to be sound in most cases (although not all markets are dominated by women purchasers -- such as boxing gloves, football tickets, Viagra, etc. -- but many are, such as cars), and they should stimulate your thinking to expand the scope of the innovations you think about. The book could have been improved with a consideration of processes that work better than others for getting the innovation work done. For that assistance, you will have to look elsewhere. In the meantime, do read, think about, enjoy, and apply the lessons of The Circle of Innovation.Another good book on innovation is Peter Drucker's Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

THE CIRCLE OF INNOVATION is written in slide book form. This is the form that consultants use for seminars. Each exhibit that the seminar attendees will see is included, along with a page of script that covers the content of the exhibit. The result is highly enjoyable, as you vicariously imagine being in the room with Tom Peters, the world's most sought-after business speaker. The exhibits are wonderfully funny and evocative, and use all kinds of visual tricks to get and keep your attention. I had people all over the plane looking over my shoulder to see them, as I read the book on a recent flight. Tom Peters also walks his talk, and really lives with passion -- which strongly comes through in this book. His interpretations of the world are almost always tied to quotes from important thinkers and business leaders, which gives the book a relevance and immediacy that a more cerebral book would have lacked. I found this book to be very satisfying to read. It affected me at a very fundamental level, so I could tell that I was "getting" the message. The result is a most impressive example of a way to communicate through books. The principles seem to be sound in most cases (although not all markets are dominated by women purchasers -- such as boxing gloves -- but many are such as cars), and they should stimulate your thinking to expand the scope of the innovations you think about. The book could have been improved with a consideration of processes that work better than others for getting the innovation work done. For that assistance, you will have to look elsewhere. In the meantime, do read, think about, enjoy, and apply the lessons of THE CIRCLE OF INNOVATION.

Tom Peters points out (as he has done so many times before) that most of us are focusing on doing Yesterday a little better, instead of creating a much better Tomorrow. The themes of this book will seem familar at first, until you see how Peters turns them on their heads in highly innovative ways. This is like having all of your ideas shaken up like a James Bond martini. After you finish with the excitement (he captures his seminar technique in book form, rather than writing a traditional book), you will be ready for THE 2,000 PERCENT SOLUTION which has an eight-step process for innovation that gives you a system for implementing what Peters talks about. I especially liked the many quotes from a variety of successful and unsuccessful executives, and the many humorous pictures -- they really help to bring home the message. Have fun reading this book, and then have even more fun living it. Peters even encourages you to be messy (compulsive types beware!). Get this book right away and keep rereading it until you change what you are doing to focus on innovation rather than stewardship of the past.