Introduction

This introductory chapter offers an account of the text’s core concerns:

To offer an account of the birth and development of the excellence project timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the publication of In Search of Excellence.

To offer a critical appreciation of the literature on organizational storytelling that may be deployed to examine the core ideas and orientations of the excellence project.

Tom Peters, the architect of the excellence project, is introduced to the reader and a map of the chapters that constitute the text as a whole is offered. These introductory remarks conclude with critical reflections on the extent to which it is legitimate to speak of Tom Peters as a guru of management.