Tom Peters. 'The Little BIG Things', and local entrepreneurship

I've set down the new Tom Peters book all over my home and office, fully impailed with post-it notes.

'The Little BIG Things' is Mr. Peters' most recent contribution. It's a great series of short essays about organizing our business lives wisely in the 21st century. I've been a huge fan of Mr. Peters for many years, starting with the publication of the seminal, 'In Search of Excellence'.

The people that can hire Tom would be larger organizations not typically startups and emerging enterprises, but he writes in a way that will benefit any small business, especially those wanting to be sustainable through chaotic economic times.

Here's a piece from Mr. Peter' bio (linked below):

"'Excellence in Execution'... was, is, wherever, and forever will be Sustainable Competitive Advantage #1."

At the end I'm going to focus this advice on local foods entrepreneurship and our new Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen.

Check out these pieces from a guy I believe has changed capitalism in the last few decades:

"I sometimes, and not in jest, call 'it' the only thing I've learned 'for sure' in the last 44 years.

She or he who tries the most stuff… wins!

44 years.
One idea.
Not bad."

And this, in part, immediately followed:

"ACTION WORDS:

'Experiment fearlessly' - Business Week on the #1 tactic of innovation stars.

'Ready. Fire. Aim.' - Ross Perot and others [Editor's note - Please note that 'Ready' is the first step in the sequence].

'Intelligent people can always come up with intelligent reasons to do nothing.' - NPR host Scott Simon

'Blame no one. Expect nothing. Do something.' Football coach Bill Parcells.

'You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.' - Wayne Gretzky."


This is real life business advice for any entrepreneur, startup or small business.

I especially think there are specific lessons for food entrepreneurs considering starting or growing a food business through our new Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen.

We are setting it up as a platform capable of running many kinds of experiments in artisan and commercial-scale local foods processing.

If local foods are to be made available year round they need processing of all kinds. The Innovation Kitchen will be a platform for testing and growing food businesses to meet this demand.

All of Mr. Peters' books are valuable. This new one "The Little BIG Things" is a great addition.

So, fellow food entrepreneurs, please pay heed to Mr. Peter's one 'sure thing' idea when considering the possibilities of the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen: "She or he who tries the most stuff… wins!"

The Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen opens July 11. Join us that day in Mineral Point.



Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen Grand Opening July 11. 11AM to 4 PM.

Tom Peters' site. It's been my greatest writing honor to be included on Mr. Peters' recommended blog roll for the past 4 years.

Tom Peters' bio.