Product Description

The measure of the executive, Peter Drucker reminds us, is the ability to 'get the right things done'. Usually this involves doing what other people have overlooked, as well as avoiding what is unproductive.

He identifies five talents as essential to effectiveness, and these can be learned; in fact, they must be learned just as scales must be mastered by every piano student regardless of his natural gifts. Intelligence, imagination and knowledge may all be wasted in an executive job without the acquired habits of mind that convert these into results.

One of the talents is the management of time. Another is choosing what to contribute to the particular organization. A third is knowing where and how to apply your strength to best effect. Fourth is setting up the right priorities. And all of them must be knitted together by effective decision-making.

How these can be developed forms the main body of the book. The author ranges widely through the annals of business and government to demonstrate the distinctive skill of the executive. He turns familiar experience upside down to see it in new perspective. The book is full of surprises, with its fresh insights into old and seemingly trite situations.


* A timeless classic from Peter F. Drucker, one of the world's leading management thinkers.
* Identifies five talents essential to effectiveness
* A bestseller in the Drucker Classic Collection

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73473 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

Harvard Business Review
'Long recognised in business circles as a voice to listen to'

Review
'Long recognised in business circles as a voice to listen to'
Harvard Business Review

'...it would be difficult to overestimate his contribution to management thinking'
Financial Times

About the Author
Born in Vienna in 1909, Peter F. Drucker was educated in Austria and England. From 1929 he was a newspaper correspondent abroad and an economist for an international bank in London. Since 1937 he has been in the United States, first as an economist for a group of British banks and insurance companies, and later as a management consultant to several of the country's largest companies, as well as leading companies abroad. Drucker has since had a distinguished career as a teacher, first as Professor of Politics and Philosophy at Bennington College, then for more than twenty years as Professor of Management at the Graduate Business School of New York University. Since 1971 he has been Clarke Professor of Social Science at Claremont Graduate School in California. In addition to his management books, Peter Drucker is also renowned for his prophetic books analysing politics, economics and society. These books span fifty years of modern history beginning with The End of Economic Man (1939) and including The Practice of Management; Innovation and Entrepreneurship; Managing in the Next Society; Management Challenges in the 21st Century; The Effective Executive and The Essential Drucker.

Customer Reviews

Being a Help Rather Than a Bother
Have you ever run into executives who create more harm than good? Do you realize that some people may see you that way, at least in some situations.

One of the most famous quotes by Peter Drucker is that he sometimes refers to himself as an "insultant" rather than a consultant. His straight talk in this book will direct you onto the right path for helping your organization accomplish more.

Peter Drucker begins this book by pointing out that there is no science of how to improve executive effectiveness, nor any naturally-occurring effective executives. The redeeming point of this problem is that he argues that executive effectiveness can be learned.

The principles begin with a focus on time management. We can get greater quantities of every other resource we need, except time. Drucker reports that executives spend their time much differently than they think they do and much differently than they would like to. His solution is to begin by measuring how you spend your time, and compare it with an ideal allocation. Than begin to systematically get rid of the unimportant in favor of the important. His suggestions include stopping some things, delegation, creating policy decisions to replace ad hoc decisions, staying out of things that others should do, and so forth. Any student of time management will recognize the list he suggests. One of the best points is to give yourself large blocks of uninterrupted time to do more significant tasks. He also cautions us not to cut down on time spent with other people. If an hour is required, don't try to do it in 15 minutes.

Next, Drucker argues that we should focus on what will make a difference rather than unimportant questions. Otherwise, we will fill our time with motion rather than proceeding towards results.

Beyond that, he points out that we have to build on our own strengths and those of the people in our organization. That is how we can outperform the competition and accomplish much more.

We also need to be systems thinkers, getting to the core of the issue first. If you would like to know more about that subject, look at The Fifth Discipline. For example, if you are weak on new products, you need to work on the new product development process before fine-tuning your marketing. If you reverse the order of these activities, your results will be far less.

Perhaps the best section in the book has to do with executive decision-making, when to make a decision, about what, and what principles to apply. If you only read this section, you would be well rewarded for studying this fine book.

I especially liked the familiar Drucker use of important historical examples to make his points. You'll remember the principles better because the examples are so vivid.

Although this book was written some time ago, it retains the strength of its insight today. Truly , this is a timeless way to achieve greater effectiveness.

You may be concerned about how you are going to learn to apply these concepts. That is actually quite easy. Drucker provides questions in each section that will guide you, step-by-step, to focus your attention on the most promising areas.

If you only read one book about how to improve your personal effectiveness as an executive, you will find this to be a rewarding choice.

If you liked what Peter Drucker had to say in this book, you may want to read his latest book, Management Challenges for the 21st Century, to get your agenda for using the skills you developed from The Effective Executive.

Managing onself for effectiveness, which MUST be learned
Peter F. Drucker is probably the greatest management thinker of the 20st Century. He has been Professor at New York University and at 83 years old still teaches at the Graduate Management School of Claremont University, California. This book, originally published in 1966, is split up in seven chapters, plus a conclusion.

Effectiveness is not just about intelligence, imagination and knowledge, it is about getting results. And the author believes that "effectiveness can be learned - and it also has to be learned." In Chapter 1 - Effectiveness Can Be Learned, Drucker discusses the five habits of the mind that have to be acquired to be an effective executive: 1. Know thy time; 2. Outward contribution, or what can I contribute?; 3. Making strength productive; 4. First things first; and 5. Effective decision-making. Each of these elements of executive effectiveness are covered in the next five chapters.

In Chapter 2 - Know Thy Time, Drucker explains the three-step process that is the foundation of executive effectiveness. Step 1 is the recording of time; step 2 is the management of time; and step 3 is the consolidation of time. Time is the limiting factor. "Time is the scarcest resource, and unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed."

"The focus on contribution is the key to effectiveness: in a man's own work ...; in his relations with others ...; and in his use of the tools of the executive ..." This outward contribution is the subject of Chapter 3 - What Can I Contribute? The executive is accountable for the performance of the whole. This accountability results in four basic requirements of effective human relations in order to manage the effectiveness of the team: 1. communications; 2. teamwork; 3. self-development; and 4. development of others. "To focus on contribution is to focus on effectiveness."

It is also the executive's task to use the strength of each man as a building block for joint performance. The unique purpose of organization is to make the strengths of associates, superior(s), and one's own strengths productive. This task is the subject of Chapter 4 - Making Strength Productive. One of the major challenges is to staff from strength, which follows four rules: 1. Be aware of "impossible" job(s); 2. Make each job demanding and big; 3. What can a man do, not what a job requires; and 4. To get strength one has to put up with weaknesses. Personally, I believe that this chapter is probably the most important (and complicated) subject of the book.

"If these is any one 'secret' of effectiveness, it is concentration. Effective executives do first things first and they do one thing at a time." In Chapter 5 - First Things First, Drucker explains that effective executives concentrate on the one task right now, then review the situation and pick the next one task that now comes first. This requires courage to let certain tasks and matters go, in order to concentrate on the really important events.

Chapter 6 - The Elements of Decision-Making, which is quite a long chapter is the start of the second part of the book. "Effective executives do not make a great many decisions. They concentrate on the important ones. They try to think through what is strategic and generic, rather than 'solve problems'. So what are the elements of the decision process? 1. "Is this a generic situation or an exception?" Most problems are really generic.; 2. What the decision to accomplish?; 3. What is right, rather than what is acceptable?; 4. Converting the decision into action.; and 5. Feedback has to be built into the decision. This sounds simple, but is rather difficult in practice.

But what about the decision itself? "A decision is a judgment. It is a choice between alternatives." And this is the subject of Chapter 7 - Effective Decisions. Contrary to common knowledge one does not start with facts, but one starts with opinions. "To determine what is a fact requires a decision on the criteria of relevance, especially on the appropriate measures. This is the hinge of the effective decision, and usually its most controversial aspect." And the right decision ultimately grows out of the clash and conflict of divergent opinions and out of consideration of competing alternatives. Although the book was originally published in 1996, the master of management also includes some important aspects on the impact of the computer on decision-making.

Finally, Drucker concludes with the conclusion that effectiveness MUST be learned. He bases his assumption on the fact that the executive's job is to be effective and that effectiveness can be learned. He believes that effectiveness is based on the subjects discussed in chapters 2 to 5. And he concludes that effectiveness will/has become more important for the knowledge worker.

As usual, another great book by Peter Drucker. Although the book was originally published in 1966, it still strikes home the simple basic of effectiveness. This book is not only for business executives, but for all people wanting to become effective and in any field required. The author makes use of great examples from the greatest thinkers in time. I recommend this book to readers who did like Larry Bossidy's Execution and Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The author uses simple business US-English.

Just a comment about typesetting
I bought this book six months ago here from Amazon UK but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet because the typesetting was so poor - it instantly put me off. The book type clearly hasn't been set from digitized text; it's been scanned from some source, cleaned up and printed on the page as an image. The individual characters are thick and blobby. The font weight is so heavy that sometimes top loop of an 'e' is completely filled in. The weight of the font varies throughout the book - in my copy, the font in the starting third and final third looks bolder than the font of the middle third.

Despite this, the text is still very legible - it's like a good photocopy. However, it isn't nearly as good as a modern book, newspaper or laser print.

I fully expect it to be the classic it's been since it was first published. Unfortunately, this print, as an object unto itself, can only get a 4 from me.