"I think 'beauty' has a (prominent) place in every project." Tom Peters

President of Environmental Defense Fund, and coauthor of Earth: The Sequel—The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming, Fred Krupp is our new Cool Friend. The book is a field guide to innovation in the alternative energy industry, primarily through a cap and trade law. Not familiar with cap and trade? Read the Cool Friends interview here.

View our Archives for past interviews.

Blog Roll

800-CEO-Read
Ageless Marketing
andHow To Reach Women
Katya Andresen
Tom Asacker
Asia Business Intel
Jordan Ayan
Martha Barletta
Dave Barry
Ed Batista
Becker-Posner
BeeLog
Bigger Isn't Always Better
The Bing Blog
Bird's Eye View
Blog Business Summit
Blog Critics
John Bogle
BoingBoing
Boomer411
Brand Autopsy
BusinessPundit
BW Brand New Day
BW Deal Flow
BW Management IQ
BW The Tech Beat
Cali and Jody
Change This
Church of the Customer
Clear Path International
Cooking for Engineers
Core77
Coudal Partners
Creating Passionate Users
Mark Cuban
design*sponge
Jory Des Jardins
Betsy Devine
Don the Idea Guy
Dooce
Down the Avenue
Daniel W. Drezner
Esther Dyson
eHub
English Cut
Enterprise Media
Escapable Logic
Evhead
Steve Farber
Fast Company
Fast Lane
Brad Feld
The Fischbowl
Richard Florida
Ze Frank
Freakonomics
Free Business Tips
Gil Friend
gapingvoid
Felix Gerena
Dan Gillmor
Seth Godin
Good Experience
Gothamist
Daniel Harrison
Tom Hayes
Health Beat
Hilgenstock | Sachlichkeit
Sally Hogshead
Hyperthinker
IDEO Eyes Open
iinnovate
Influx Insights
Innovate on Purpose
Instapundit
The Intuitive Life
Isenblog
Eric Jackson
Joi Ito
Rich Karlgaard/Forbes
Josh Kaufman
Guy Kawasaki
Learned on Women
Lawrence Lessig
Martin Lindstrom
Chris Locke
The Long Tail
Made to Stick
John Maeda/SIMPLICITY
David Maister
Management by Baseball
MarketingProfs:DailyFix
Marketing to Boomer Women
Mavericks at Work
The Messaging Times
Metacool
Name Wire
Netwoman
NEXT> by Ramla
Nuts about Southwest
John O'Leary
Personal Branding
Dan Pink
Pink Slip
Play the Game of Life
Pollster
John Porcaro
Virginia Postrel
Power Line
PressThink
PSFK
Pyromarketing
Mitch Ratcliffe
Rattle-the-Cage
Fred Reichheld
re:invention
ResearchBuzz
Rethink Pink
Penelope Trunk
Re-Versioning Your Life
Jennifer Rice
Dan Roam
Kevin Roberts
Evelyn Rodriguez
Scott Rosenberg
Samizdata
Ian Sanders
Tim Sanders
Mary Schmidt
Robert Scoble
Scripting News
Doc Searls
Rajesh Setty
Stephen Shapiro
Signal vs. Noise
Slashdot
Simplicity
Smart Mobs
Sorted Books
Springwise
Startup Garden
Startupping
Biz Stone
Halley Suitt
Andrew Sullivan
Sustainable Work
Bob Sutton
TechCrunch
The Technium
TeeBeeDee
Third Age
Trend Hunter
Trend Watching
Trump University
Trusted Advisor
Twist Image
Fara Warner
Web Worker Daily
David Weinberger
What I've Learned So Far
Wild Women Entrepreneurs
Susan Willett Bird
The Wisdom of Improv
WonderBranding
Wooster Collective
Steve Yastrow

Free Stuff

Tom Peters is a passionate communicator with many provocative ideas to share. The documents listed here include a number of Tom's most inspiring messages. And they're all absolutely free. Download, print, discuss, dissect, and disseminate to your heart's content. We ask only that you not alter the files, claim them as your own work, or charge for their use.

PDFs require Acrobat Reader which you can download for free from Adobe.

Subscribe to the Free Stuff RSS Feed

Don't miss new additions to our Free Stuff page. To subscribe by RSS, copy and paste this URL into your feed reader: http://tompeters.com/blogs/freestuff/index.xml

Real People

Page 1 of Real People "Real People" is the shorthand title for what Tom calls "Excellence for the Rest of Us: A Book for Real People, Working in the Real World in 2008." In this manifesto, Tom contrasts the thinking of gurus (like him!) to the thinking of the rest of us ... those who toil in more conventional settings. In Search of Excellence introduces this idea when Tom and Bob Waterman write, "Hard is Soft. Soft is Hard." By that phrase, they are referring to the people things, the soft stuff that's more difficult than the numbers game of business. Tom revisits and expands on this thinking in "Real People."

Download file, 552 KB | posted on 04/21/08

Cookie Lessons, 24 December 2007

Gingerbread Man cookie We're re-issuing this column as a holiday offering from tompeters.com. Tom wrote it once upon a time for his column syndicated by the Chicago Tribune, but we think its lessons are timeless. And, what better way for us to recognize the holiday season than to post this article—"Lessons About Life & Enterprise from Baking Christmas Cookies."

Download file, 68 KB | posted on 12/24/07

XF 50

Page One of Cross-functional 50 Tom introduced this collection as his effort to get you to pay "'strategic' attention to what has always been Issue #1 in organizational effectiveness ... from Napoleon to the man in the moon." Namely, cross-functional effectiveness, which will help you "'Deliver Speed,' 'Service Excellence,' and 'Value-added Customer Solutions.'"

Download file, 82 KB | posted on 12/11/07

"Top 50" "Have-Yous"

Page One of Top 50 Have-Yous The Top 50 Have You [done these things in the last week, day, hour?] list is Tom's reaction to the phrase "Mapping Your Competitive Position." He contends that you should, instead, put some effort to the tasks on his list. In his estimation, they're important to the short- and long-term health of any enterprise, big or small. If so, the mapping will become a secondary issue.

Download file, 71 KB | posted on 12/11/07

Organizations Serve

Page One of Organizations Serve Further ruminations on the ideas that led Tom to his "Purpose" screed, below, resulted in this offering—his attempt to lay out the "big stuff." He introduced this rambling piece in a blog titled "To Get Out of Bed. Or Not Get Out of Bed. That Is the Question." You can find Tom's answer in this PDF, "Organizations Serve."

Download file, 106 KB | posted on 09/04/07

Tom Peters' Purpose

Page one of Tom Peters Purpose 08.31.07 As the 25th birthday of In Search of Excellence approaches, Tom has been pondering what the practice of management is all about—good, bad, or indifferent. He concluded that entrepreneurial capitalism is the strongest force possible for unleashing human potential, and that it depends upon the effective practice of management. And, according to a review of Thriving on Chaos, "Effective management is management that delivers more value to customers and more opportunity for service, creativity, and growth to workers. ... The decent thing to do is also the smart thing." That is, effective management is humanistic management.

After a lot of thought on these matters, Tom came up with this attempt to answer the perennial question, "What's it all about, Alfie?"

Download file, 335 KB | posted on 08/31/07

100 Ways to Succeed/Make Money: 51-75

Page One of Success Tips 51-75 This is the next installment in the Success Tips series. It is not as nicely done as the Success Tips 1-50, because that was designed by the folks at ChangeThis. Tips 51-75 is a quick conversion from MSWord to Adobe Acrobat. When we get to 100, we'll have ChangeThis post the second half of the collection, and offer a classier PDF here. But for now, at the request of a member of our community, here is Tom's Success Tips 51-75.

Download file, 71KB | posted on 01/10/07

Redux. Redux. Redux.

Page One of Redux. Redux. Redux. Tom unapologetically repeats himself and revisits a favorite theme—the importance of saying "Thanks." He asks you to send the PDF to ten colleagues-friends today. Get Tom's "Redux. Redux. Redux." here, and pass it on. Thank you.

Download file, 71KB | posted on 11/02/06

Pursuit of Luck

Page One of Pursuit of Luck Unofficially called "Getting Lucky," of course. This is a list that appeared in Liberation Management in 1992, in which Tom offers 50 ideas for increasing the likelihood that you'll "get lucky"—in business. Download it below, and find its relevance to your life today. (Don't miss the challenge at the end.)

Download file, 166KB | posted on 09/08/06

The 173 Irreducibles

Page 1 of Irreducibles Another question posed to Tom, another list of ideas by Tom. This collection is his Irreducibles, 173 things he'd say "for sure."

Download file, 166KB | posted on 03/13/06

Cup Challenge

Page One of Cup Challenge Asked to come up with some quotes suitable for printing on the side of a coffee mug, Tom was inspired to write this collection: The Cup Challenge.

Download file, 112KB | posted on 02/14/06

TP's "Top 41" Quotes

Page One of TP's Top 41 Quotes As an alternative to New Year's Resolutions, Tom assembled his "Top 41" Quotes to live by in 2006. He offers them to you to adopt if you wish, also. Pick one or two, or use them all. TP's "Top 41" Quotes.

Download file, 166KB | posted on 01/03/06

What I've Done This Year

Page One of What I've Done This Year In Dubai, on September 18th, 2005, the head of IIR Middle East, Jessica Sutherland, asked Tom a "simple" question. He pondered it for weeks and gave us this, What I've Done This Year (updated 3 Jan 2006).

Download file, 228KB | posted on 01/03/06

The "PSF" is Everything

In the face of outsourcing, automating, downsizing, and all the other possible assaults on your position, Tom gives you tips on turning your company, your department, or yourself into a Professional Service Firm—doing work that makes a difference. Link to PDF. Also available from ChangeThis.

Download file, 899KB | posted on 09/07/05

Project05

Project05 Tom's 2005 summer project, a 240-page PDF full of rants ("CEOs Are Idiots!"), raves ("Lord Nelson Had All the Answers"), and more. Link to PDF.

Download file, 1.3MB | posted on 08/08/05

Tomato, Toma[h]to!

They say, "Plan it." Tom says, "Do it." They say, "We need an initiative." Tom says, "We need a Dream. And Dreamers." Tom takes issue with what "they" say and goes against popular organizational wisdom in Tomato, Toma[h]to!.

Download file, 1.3MB | posted on 07/25/05

100 Ways

100 Ways … to Help You Succeed/Make Money, Pt. 1 This is the first half, Success Tips #1-50, of a work in progress. Tom set out to post 100 success tips on the tompeters.com blog, and this PDF includes the first 50. Also available at ChangeThis.

Download file, 776KB | posted on 02/24/05

Tom’s Big Blog

This Microsoft Word file includes every post Tom wrote for the tompeters.com blog from July 2004 through January 2005. It's a searchable, printable reference for easy reading of Tom's posts. Link to Big Blog.

Download file, 552KB | posted on 01/31/05

The Off-Shoring Manifesto

Tom presents 20 hard truths about the inevitabilities, pitfalls, and matchless opportunities arising as off-shoring, automation, and technology permanently change how we do business in the world. This manifesto is also available at ChangeThis.

Download file, 372MB | posted on 11/02/04

A Baker's Dozen Eternal Verities

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Strategy. If your business strategy hinges on knowing where you're going, you'll find a very different point of view in Tom's questions and answers about "strategies" for success. Link to file.

Download file, 1.1MB | posted on 10/18/04

Summer04

summer04 This compilation of topics on Tom's mind in the summer of '04 features his "Summer of Soul" discussion of the journey to Greater Awareness. You'll also get "10 Good Reasons to Get Up in the Morning," and more. Link to PDF.

Download file, 716KB | posted on 09/26/04

This I Believe!

This I Believe Tom's 60 TIBs. In honor of his 60th birthday, Tom put pen to paper (and fingers to keyboard) and compiled 60 thoughts, one for each year, that captured his professional and, to some extent, personal journey. He wrote about technicolor, audacity, revolution, weirdos, branding, and taking charge of your own destiny, among other things. This manifesto is also available from ChangeThis.

Download file, 900KB | posted on 08/24/04

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