Peters & Waterman In Search of Excellence

They concluded in In Search of Excellence that there were 8 keys to excellence that were shared by all 43 firms. They are:

A bias for action — Do it. Try it. Don’t waste time studying it with multiple reports and committees. Customer focus — Get close to the customer. Know your customer. Entrepreneurship — Even big companies act and think small by giving people the authority to take initiatives. Productivity through people — Treat your people with respect and they will reward you with productivity. Value oriented CEOs — The CEO should actively propagate corporate values throughout the organization. Stick to the knitting — Do what you know well. Keep things simple and lean — Complexity encourages waste and confusion. Simultaneously centralized and decentralized — Have tight centralized control while also allowing maximum individual autonomy