Many esoteric works on management never make it past the campus gates. Others can influence the way companies are organized and run, though they usually have to filter their way through the consultancy profession first. A limited number of management books deliver an idea that’s gripping enough to be read by senior management itself, drinking directly from the source. But only one has single-handedly created a whole new industry - In Search of Excellence, by McKinsey consultants Tom Peters and Robert Waterman. You could say it created two: the mass business book industry and the Tom Peters industry.
The book appeared like a torch of hope to a benighted corporate America, that felt it had lost its way in the dark. Battered by competition from the most unlikely source, in markets they had dominated proudly only a few years before, American managers reached for Peters and Waterman like a cartoon man-on-knees-in-desert for water. Their message was that there were excellent companies in America, and that excellence was there for the taking, if only managers could concentrate on the customer, realize the power of their people and do it with passion. This was do-it-yourself management consultancy in the most readable form, and people bought it in their millions. It remains the best-selling business book ever and launched a highly lucrative career for Tom Peters, with his personal appearances, books, videos and TV series.
