Tom Peters’s True Confessions

Almost 20 years ago, In Search of Excellence, by Tom Peters and Bob Waterman, was published. No one much cared. At the time, the United States had more serious business problems to attend to: inflation: 10%. Prime interest rate: 20%. Unemployment: 10%. Japan was eating America’s lunch.

Search slipped unnoticed into this realm of business darkness and competitive gloom. But it began to catch on. And catch on. And catch on. Until it became a fad. Then a cause. Then an industry. Search became a publishing event without precedent in the business world.

Twenty years later, Search can legitimately claim to have fired the starting gun in the race to the new economy. It marked an important inflection point in business history.

The 20th anniversary of the publication of Search comes at another inflection point in history. The September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, arriving on the heels of a dramatic economic downturn, have combined to raise new questions about American business and leadership. Those factors make the 20th anniversary of Search a perfect time for a fresh look at a powerful set of ideas, their creation, and their implications.