GREAT 196 IDEA: Tom Peters—Forget Credentials

Tom Peters is a best-selling author, high-level consultant, entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and fellow Vermonter. His wife, Susan Sargent, owns a textile and bedding company based in Pawlett, Vermont.

Before starting the Tom Peters Group, which he sold in 1997, Peters worked for McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm, where he eventually became a partner.

Peters admired Japanese companies and adopted many management strategies from many them. A popular keynote speaker, he shared two great ideas for small business owners with me.

1. Focus on a creative brand design. “Produce first-class marketing materials for your company,” he said. “Find an innovative, young design team on day one to create a Starbucks/Nike kind of feel for the enterprise.”

   Peters said you should then add your cool logo to “everything from the web site to your business cards.” Although graphics and printing are costly, “spend the money whether you are running a 12-table restaurant, a 3-person company, or anything in between.”

2. Look beyond credentials. “Great businesspeople love hanging around great people,” said Peters. “When you are building your team, my advice is, ‘forget the certificates.’”

When he and Susan wanted to hire their first administrator for the textile company, Peters said he took advice from Apple Computer founder Steve Jobs. “Jobs said, ‘this is a company that from day one intends on being insanely great. So, if you're not insanely great—don't even think about applying.’”

“Well,” Peters said with a smile, “that approach may attract some flakes you wouldn't touch with a 20-meter pole—on the other hand, it was great to see the responses from all over the map.”

Peters shared one last thought: “You gotta be damn good at something. Your ‘it' has to be fabulously special.”