Among other powerful ideas, Tom Peters, in his book In Search of Excellence, stresses that your entire proactive business team adds little bits of value into your business continuously and doesn’t ever rest on its laurels.
In his book, the former McKinsey & Company partner also describes the firm’s 7-S model for business: structure, strategy, systems, style of management, skills (corporate strengths), staff, and shared values.
Other business classics to consider have truly helped form the foundation of the American economy:
See http://businesslibrary.uflib.ufl.edu/businessclassics for some excellent resources.
