The Real Confessions of Tom Peters

Oops! Again. Nearly two decades ago, the top-selling management book of all time made its debut. In Search of Excellence, by McKinsey & Co. consultants Tom Peters and Robert Waterman, immediately vaulted onto the best-seller list and ushered in an era of management gurus, management fads, and popular business books that endures to this day.

But now, the outspoken and flamboyant Peters, 59, shockingly admits that he and his co-author falsified the underlying data in that breakthrough book. In an article in the December issue of Fast Company, Peters writes: "This is pretty small beer, but for what it's worth, okay, I confess: We faked the data."