David Collins is Professor in Management at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, UK, and Visiting Professor in Management at the University of the Faroe Islands, Denmark.
No one understands Tom Peters and his work better than David Collins. In the forty years since In Search of Excellence, organisation theories have come and gone, but the Excellence movement captured the neoliberal zeitgeist and changed the organisational landscape. Collins charts the rise of Peters, who traded on his ability to engage with the hopes and fears of his audience. This book shows that while Tom Peters' case for Excellence may be flawed, its impact should not be ignored. If we are to understand, challenge and change the behaviour of today's organisations and those who manage them, we have to understand Peters and his work. Collins does that better than anyone else. This is a great book - buy it, read it, recommend it to friends, colleagues, and students. Bernard Burnes, Chair of Organisational Change, Stirling Management School, University of Stirling, UK.