The Effective Executive

Peter Drucker is considered by many to be the father of modern business management. He went into General Motors to study the management workings of this mega corporation way before it was fashionable.

He has written numerous books and journal articles over the course of his distinguished academic career. Most of them are enjoyable and thought-provoking reading even for the non-academic. If you are interested in managing your business or your life better, Drucker has some helpful solutions.

Written in the 1966, The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done was written to help the individual make a more valuable contribution to his or her organization. While organizational settings have changed in the half century since this book was written, the principles are still very applicable.

Drucker's first principle is that effectiveness can and must be learned. He defines effectiveness as "getting the right things done." As opposed doing things in the right way (efficiency). Or doing things quickly (expediency). You can do the wrong thing and still do it efficiently and expediently. This book focuses on doing the right things.

The second principle is that effective executives have to know how to manage their time. He suggests this is a three-step process:
(1) recording what you are currently doing with your time;
(2) managing what you will do with your time in the future; and
(3) consolidating time to make large chunks available for important tasks.

The third principle suggested by Drucker in The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done relates to contribution. Figuring out what your contribution is to the organization by asking such questions as:

"What can I and no on else do which, if done really well, would make a real difference to this company?"

Then buried deep in the book, on page 100, is the secret. Drucker states, "If there is any one "secret" of effectiveness, it is concentration. Effective executives do first things first and they do one thing at a time." The first rule of concentration is to get rid of the things in your life that have ceased to be productive.

Regarding decision making, Drucker points out in The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done, that effective executives do not make a great many decisions, they concentrate on the important ones.


So if your job is to be effective, and it probably is, then the news is good: Effectiveness can and must be learned. And this book can help!