The Professional Service Firm50 (Reinventing Work): Fifty Ways to Transform Your "Department" Into a Professional Servicefirm Whose Trademarks Are Pas

by Tom Peters

Offers advice on selecting clients, organizing projects, reviewing current work, attracting the best employees, and creating effective marketing. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375407715
• ISBN13: 9780375407710
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.4" x 7.1"

Customer Reviews

Highly Recommended!

Tom Peters takes this book's role in the "Reinventing Work Series" seriously. He urges corporate departments, such as human resources and accounting, to reinvent themselves as professional service firms, thinking of their work as projects and of their companies as clients. He believes this will result in a more energized workforce and higher-quality work. His approach is marked by his now signature "gee whiz" writing style, which is punctuated by large typefaces, exclamation points and remarks like "Amen!" and "WOW!" We [...] recommend this book for its innovative points and no "b.s." attitude, but Peters-bashers will groan at the repetition of ideas and cheerleading expressions. This is a useful, inspiring pep talk, and if it is not exactly In Search of Excellence - which seemed to be written for adults who didn't need quite so much hip-hip hoopla - that was then and this is now.

Tom Peters Puts The Wow! Back Into Work!

This book has several potential uses. Although I have worked in professional service firms almost my entire life, I found this book to be a useful reminder of what makes a professional service firm great. In fact, this is much more useful than The McKinsey Way (a book about Tom's original firm). Although Tom Peters did not intend this purpose, I think it may be the best use of the book. The second use is the intended one: Turn your internal business department into a professional service firm look-alike. The book will work well for those who have driving ambition to be the best. For those who do not yet share Peters' passion, this book may seem over the top. Peters is a very qualitative thinker, so it would be easy to misapply his ideas in a way that created a tough work environment that provided little benefit. For example, The Dance of Change warns against trying to create new language and culture in an organizational sector because everyone else may think you are weird and ignore you. Peters could create that kind of tension for a group if you followed his advice too literally (he suggests that you use questions like "How can we wow you?" when working with colleagues in the firm -- that may work if you politely ask the person first if you may ask them an unusual question). On the other hand, Peters is at his best when he is a little off-the-wall because he makes you think. There are plenty of references to outstanding books, and he is really trying to create a picture of perfection. That is helpful, because most business books simply share dated information about past best practices. As someone who helps executives design simple, effective approaches to perfection, I applaud the effort. Peters would do well to accommodate other perspectives. Being totally committed to work and perfection through maximum effort often does not appeal to people as a permanent life style. What should the other people do? If you are an ambitious MBA who wants a mentor, you could do a lot worse than adopt this book as your guide. If you want balance in your life, you had better read Life Strategies as well. Keep up the good work, Tom Peters! I hope you keep challenging us!

THIS IS NOT A "BOOK"...ITS AN ACTION PACKED SPRINGBOARD!

This book brims over with thought-stimulating advice on how to transform a department into a high-quality, Professional Service Firm. Fast-paced reading, witty, and charged with insights and Tom Peters' WOW (excitement)! Highly recommended.

The book ROCKS and you should BUY IT!

Toms Circle of Innovation redifined (for me anyway) the way books CAN be written.Mr. Peters did it again.The only problem with this book is that every five minutes Tom tells you to put the book down and do something else NOW. Hey Tom, how about a list of the things you said to do NOW at the end of the book (or ONLINE) Me.. I took a highliter to them and am going back through the book and doing them Now?My review? Kewl! PHAT! worth reading and DOING! Get the Book Now!

Vintage Tom Peters "Wow"!

This book has several potential uses. Although I have worked in professional service firms almost my entire life, I found this book to be a useful reminder of what makes a professional service firm great. Although Tom Peters did not intend this purpose, I think it may be the best use of the book. The second use is the intended one: Turn your internal business department into a professional service firm look-alike. The book will work well for those who have driving ambition to be the best. For those who do not share Peters' passion, this book may seem over the top. Peters is a very qualitative thinker, so it would be easy to misapply his ideas in a way that created a tough work environment that created little benefit. For example, The Dance of Change warns against trying to create new language and culture in an organizational sector because everyone else may think you are weird and ignore you. Peters could create that kind of tension for a group if you followed his advice too literally (he suggests that you use questions like "How can we wow you?" when working with colleagues in the firm). On the other hand, Peters is at his best when he is a little off-the-wall because he makes you think. There are plenty of references to outstanding books, and he is really trying to create a picture of perfection. That is helpful, because most business books simply share dated information about past best practices. As someone who helps executives design simple, effective approaches to perfection, I applaud the effort. Peters would do well to accommodate other perspectives. Being totally committed to work and perfection through maximum effort often does not appeal to people as a permanent life style. What should the other people do? If you are an ambitious MBA who wants a mentor, you could do a lot worse than adopt this book as your guide. If you want balance in your life, you had better read Life Strategies as well. Keep up the good work, Tom Peters!