With Peter Drucker's five essential questions and the help of five of today's thought leaders, this little book will challenge readers to take a close look at the very heart of their organizations and what drives them. A tool for self-assessment and transformation, answering these five questions will fundamentally change the way you work, helping you lead your organization to an exceptional level of performance. Peter Drucker's five questions are: What is our Mission? with Jim Collins Who is our Customer? with Phil Kotler What does the Customer Value? with Jim Kouzes What are our Results? with Judith Rodin What is our Plan? with V. Kasturi Rangan These essential questions, grounded in Peter Drucker's theories of management, will take readers on a exploration of organizational and personal self-discovery, giving them a means to assess how to be--how to develop quality, character, mind-set, values and courage. The questions lead to action. By asking these questions, readers can focus on why they are doing what they are doing in their work, and how to do it better. Designed for today's busy professionals, this brief, clear and accessible book will challenge readers to ask these provocative questions and it will stimulate spirited discussions and action within any organization, inspiring positive change and new levels of excellence, helping all to envision the future of theirs' or any organization.
Enduring Management Wisdom for Today's Leaders From Peter F. Drucker. Peter Drucker's Five Most Important Questions provides insightful guidance and stirring inspiration for today's leaders and entrepreneurs. By applying Drucker's leadership framework in the present context of today's leaders and those who lead with them, this book is an essential resource for people leading, managing and working in all three sectors—public, private and social. Readers will gain new perspectives and develop a solid foundation upon which to build a successful and bright future. They will learn how to focus on why they are doing what they're doing, how to do it better, and how to develop a realistic, motivational plan for achieving their goals. This brief, clear, and accessible guide — peppered with commentary from distinguished management gurus, contemporary entrepreneurs and dynamic millennial leaders —will challenge readers and stimulate spirited discussion and action within any organization, inspiring positive change and new levels of excellence. In addition to contributions from Jim Collins, Marshall Goldsmith, and Judith Rodin, the book features new insights from some of today's most influential leaders in business (GE and Salesforce.com), academia (Harvard Business School and Northwestern University), social enterprise (Levo League, Pencils of Promise and Why Millennials Matter) and the military (United States Military Academy), who have been directly influenced by Drucker's theory of management.
This transformational tool offers leaders a critical resource for better understanding their organizations and themselves, honing their skills to become accomplished long-range planners and strategic thinkers. By working through the Participant Workbook, leaders will gain the insight needed to plan for results, learn from customers and clients, and ascertain how to achieve extraordinary levels of performance. The Participant Workbook draws on Peter F. Drucker's The Five Most Important Questions and is grounded in his management philosophies that address the critical aspects that make organizations viable and valuable entities. When leaders answer these questions thoughtfully and address them with purpose, these questions take one down a path to organizational transformation and enlightenment. By leveraging these essential questions, the Participant Workbook challenges leaders to take a close look at the very heart of their organization and what drives it, giving them a means to assess: how to be and how to develop quality, character, mind-set, values, and courage. Drucker's The Five Most Important Questions lead to spirited discussions and action, inspiring positive change and renewed focus. Designed for today's busy professionals, this concise, clear, and accessible workbook for social sector, nonprofit, and socially minded business and government leaders can be used as preparation for a workshop, organizational self-assessment, or as a stand-alone leadership development tool for individuals looking to develop themselves and their organizations. Praise for the Participant Workbook Self-Assessment Tool "Time and again Drucker's The Five Most Important Questions have proven to be the most effective way for nonprofit organizations to conduct self-assessment and develop plans that will help them achieve real and lasting results." —Cathey Brown, founder and CEO, Rainbow Days, Inc., and 2001 Frances Hesselbein Community Innovation Fellow "The Five Most Important Questions Self-Assessment Tool is a gift to the social leadership sector from the late management guru, Peter Drucker, and the Leader to Leader Institute. It makes incredible sense, it is easy to use, and lays the foundation for strategic planning." —Irv Katz, president and CEO, National Human Services Assembly "A must-read for social entrepreneurs who are seeking to dramatically grow their organization's impact without losing sight of the heart of their mission." —Iris Y. Chen, president and CEO, "I Have A Dream" Foundation "High-performing organizations and individuals know that self-assessment through Drucker's The Five Most Important Questions is the starting point for defining today and making tomorrow." —Lee H. Igel, assistant professor, New York University, and president, Peter F. Drucker Society of New York City "This nuts-and-bolts guide has become my compass for urging leaders and managers to ask the right questions, to look beyond what they thought they knew, and to focus on being relevant tomorrow rather than resting on yesterday's achievements." —Lieutenant Commander Carla J. Grantham [U.S. Coast Guard, Retired], Congressional Liaison for Diversity Recruitment and Talent Management, U.S. Coast Guard
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.
Managing for Results: Economic Tasks and Risk-taking Decisions is a guidebook for those in management position. The book is comprised of 14 chapters that are organized into three parts. The first part talks about understanding the business; this part covers business realities, revenues, resources, and prospects. Part II discusses the opportunities and needs in economic dimensions of a business. Part III covers the key decision, business strategies, and building up economic performance. The book will be useful to managers, entrepreneurs, and individuals who are exposed to a decision-making situation that has an economic implication.
The best of Peter F. Drucker’s articles on management, all in one place. That “management” exists as a concept, a practice, and a profession is largely due to the thinking of Peter F. Drucker. For nearly half a century, he inspired and educated managers—and powerfully shaped the nature of business—with his iconic articles in Harvard Business Review. Through the lens of Drucker’s broad vision, this volume presents an opportunity to trace the great shifts in organizations in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries—from manufacturing to knowledge work, from career-length employee tenures to short-term contract relationships, from command-and-control structures to flatter organizations that call for new leadership techniques. These articles also offer a firm and practical grasp of the role of the manager and the executive today—their responsibilities, their relationships, their decisions, and detailed processes that can make their work more effective. A celebrated thinker at his best, in this volume Drucker paints a clear and comprehensive picture of management thinking and practice—both as it is and as it will be. This collection of articles includes: “What Makes an Effective Executive,” “The Theory of the Business,” “Managing for Business Effectiveness,” “The Effective Decision,” “How to Make People Decisions,” “They’re Not Employees, They’re People,” “The New Productivity Challenge,” “What Business Can Learn from Nonprofits,” “The New Society of Organizations,” and “Managing Oneself.”
This book gathers together Peter Drucker's articles from Harvard Business Review and frames them with a thoughtful introduction from the Review's Editor Tom Stewart One of this century's most highly regarded students of management, Drucker has sought out, identified, and examined the most important issues confronting managers, from corporate strategy to management style to social change. Through his unique lens, this volume gives us the rare opportunity to trace the evolution of the great shifts in our workplaces, and to understand more clearly the role of managers. This book gathers together Drucker's articles from Harvard Business Review and frames them with a thoughtful introduction from the review's editor Thomas A. Stewart.
Finally, the book that all professionals frustrated with fleeting client loyalty and relentless price pressure have waited for—the first in-depth, guide to developing lasting client relationships. Millions of people in this country earn their livings by serving clients, and their numbers are growing every day. Unfortunately, far too few develop the skills and strategies needed to rise to the top in a world where clients have almost unlimited access to information and expertise. Clients for Life sets forth a comprehensive framework for how professionals in all fields can develop breakthrough relationships with their clients and enjoy enduring client loyalty. Supported by more than 100 case studies and wisdom gleaned from interviews with dozens of leading CEOs and prominent business advisors, Clients for Life identifies what clients really want and lays out the core qualities that distinguish the client advisor—an irreplaceable resource—from the expert for hire, a tradable commodity. Readers will learn, for example, to develop selfless independence, which tempers complete emotional, intellectual, and financial independence with a powerful commitment to client needs; to become deep generalists and overcome the narrow perspective caused by specialization; to systematically build lifelong trust; and to cultivate the power of synthesis—big-picture thinking—that is so highly valued by clients. Portraits of history's most famously successful advisors, including Machiavelli, Sir Thomas More, and J. P. Morgan, underscore these timeless qualities that modern professionals need to develop to excel in today's competitive environment.
A year-long leadership development course, divided into short, weekly lessons, based on Peter Drucker's personal coaching program, previously unpublished material, and selected readings from the management guru's classic works, compiled by his longtime collaborator Joseph A. Maciariello. A Year with Peter Drucker distills the essence of Peter Drucker's personal mentorship program into an easy-to-follow 52-week course, exploring the themes Drucker felt were most important to leadership development, including: Leaders Must Set Sights on the Important and not the Urgent—a key differentiator between a subordinate and a chief. Management is a Human Activity—Process must serve people, in and out of the organization. The Roadmap to Personal Effectiveness—the importance of mission and doing the Right Things not just Getting Things Done. The critical importance of leadership succession especially at top ranks of the organization. Each weekly management meditation includes a lesson and a message or anecdote taken from Drucker's extensive body of work, as well as suggestions for further reading, reflective questions, and quick, easy prompts to help readers incorporate the knowledge they've learned into their daily work. A lifetime of wisdom brilliantly honed into a single essential volume by Drucker's collaborator Joseph A. Maciariello, A Year with Peter Drucker gives both lifelong Drucker fans and young executives now discovering his brilliance an invaluable opportunity to learn directly from the late master.
