Summary
The Effective Executive argues that executive effectiveness hinges on the ability to "get the right things done" by focusing on what others overlook and avoiding unproductive activities. Peter Drucker identifies five essential, learnable practices: managing time, choosing contributions to the organization, mobilizing strengths for maximum effect, setting the right priorities, and effective decision-making. These habits transform intelligence, imagination, and knowledge into tangible results.
Drucker illustrates the executive's distinctive skill through examples from business and government, offering new perspectives on familiar situations. Readers will understand that effectiveness is an acquired skill, not an innate talent, emphasizing the practical application of learned habits.
Key concepts
- Getting the right things done — The primary measure of an executive's effectiveness.
- Managing time — One of five essential practices for executive effectiveness.
- Choosing what to contribute — A practice focused on an executive's specific impact on the organization.
- Mobilizing strength — Strategically applying resources for the best possible effect.
- Setting the right priorities — A key practice for directing executive effort productively.
- Effective decision-making — The practice that integrates other executive habits into actionable outcomes.
From the book
Description: What makes an effective executive? The measure of the executive, Peter F. Drucker reminds us, is the ability to "get the right things done." This usually involves doing what other people have overlooked as well as avoiding what is unproductive. Intelligence, imagination, and knowledge may all be wasted in an executive job without the acquired habits of mind that mold them into results. Drucker identifies five practices essential to business effectiveness that can, and must, be learned: Managing time Choosing what to contribute to the organization Knowing where and how to mobilize strength for best effect Setting the right priorities Knitting all of them together with effective decision-making Ranging widely through the annals of business and government, Peter F. Drucker…
Snippet: What makes an effective executive? The measure of the executive, Peter F. Drucker reminds us, is the ability to "get the right things done.