Thomas J. Peters (born November 7, 1942) is an American writer on business management practices, best-known for, In Search of Excellence (co-authored with Robert H. Waterman, Jr).

Peters was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He went to Severn School for High School and attended Cornell University, receiving a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1965, and a master's degree in 1966. He then studied business at Stanford Business School, receiving an M.B.A. and Ph.D.. In 2004, he also received an honorary doctorate from the State University of Management in Moscow.

From 1966 to 1970, he served in the United States Navy, making two deployments to Vietnam as a Navy Seabee, then later working in the Pentagon. From 1973 to 1974, he worked in the White House as a senior drug-abuse advisor, during the Nixon administration. Peters has acknowledged the influence of military strategist Colonel John Boyd on his later writing.

From 1974 to 1981, Peters worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, becoming a partner and Organization Effectiveness practice leader in 1979, and then in 1981, he went solo and became an independent consultant.

In 1990, Tom Peters was honoured by the British Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as one of the world's Quality Gurus.

In Search of Excellence was published in 1982, and became a bestseller, gaining national exposure when a series of television specials based on the book and hosted by Peters appeared on PBS. The primary idea espoused was that of solving business problems with as little business process overhead as possible, and empowering decision-makers at multiple levels of a company.

In his more recent books, Peters has encouraged personal responsibility in response to the "New Economy". Quoting from his book, Talent: Develop It, Sell It, Be It: "The harsh news: This Is Not Optional. The microchip will colonize all rote activities. And we will have to scramble to reinvent ourselves - as we did when we came off the farm and went into the factory, and then as we were ejected from the factory and delivered to the white-collar towers. The exciting news (as I see it anyway): This Is Not Optional. The reinvented you and the reinvented me will have no choice but to scramble and add value in some meaningful way."

In the December 2001 issue of Fast Company, Peters was quoted admitting that he had falsified the underlying data for In Search of Excellence. In an odd turn of events, however, he later insisted that this was untrue, and that he was the victim of an "aggressive headline." [1]

Peters currently lives in Vermont with his wife Susan Sargent, and continues to write and speak about personal and business empowerment and problem solving methodologies. His namesake company is based in Charlestown, Massachusetts.

Robert H. Waterman Jr is an author and expert on management practices. He is best known as the co-author, with Tom Peters, of In Search of Excellence.

In Search of Excellence was published in 1982, and became a bestseller, gaining national exposure when a series of television specials based on the book and hosted by Waterman and Peters appeared on PBS. The primary idea espoused was that of solving business problems with as little business process overhead as possible, and empowering decision-makers at multiple levels of a company.

Mr. Waterman chairs the RLS Foundation, the national non-profit organization that sponsors research, raises awareness of, and looks for better treatments of Restless Leg Syndrome. He also serves on the boards of the AES Corporation (the independent power producing company he helped found) and the World Wildlife Fund. He earned his MBA from Stanford University and his degree in geophysics from the Colorado School of Mines. Waterman currently directs his own company, The Waterman Group, Inc., after 21 years at the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

He is also the author of The Renewal Factor, Adhocracy: the Power to Change, and What America Does Right (Frontiers of Excellence in Europe and UK).

The "Greatest Business Book of All Time" (Bloomsbury UK), In Search of Excellence has long been a must-have for the boardroom, business school, and bedside table.

Based on a study of forty-three of America's best-run companies from a diverse array of business sectors, In Search of Excellence describes eight basic principles of management -- action-stimulating, people-oriented, profit-maximizing practices -- that made these organizations successful.

Joining the HarperBusiness Essentials series, this phenomenal bestseller features a new Authors' Note, and reintroduces these vital principles in an accessible and practical way for today's management reader.