Drucker on Being Effective

Make your organization more effective by implementing “systematic, focused and purposeful self-training.”

Yesterday morning, I went for a walk in The Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens in Claremont. The Gardens are located right next to the Claremont Colleges and are a great place for reading, reflection and relaxation. As I was walking yesteray, I saw a garden bench dedicated to Peter Drucker, the famous writer, consultant and great business thinker of the 20th century. His bench is quietly hidden in the 86 acre natural setting and on it is inscribed a phrase describing how Peter often enjoyed walking and thinking in the Botanic Gardens.

I’ve always known Drucker as being an influential thought leader and as “The Father of Modern Management” but yesterday I was left wanting to know more. I guess you could say I had a personal experience while in the Botanic Gardens – thinking in the very same place the great Peter Drucker once roamed free in thought and curiosity. And having written 38 books on business, government and the nonprofit sectors of society, I have my work set out for me. I plan to read all his books to get a real understanding of the mind of Peter Drucker. And so starting now, here is a quick review on one of Ducker’s books I’ve recently read titled: The Effective Executive.

The book rests on two main premises: One, that the executive’s job is to be effective and two, that effectiveness can be learned. To Drucker, the effective executive is a knowledge-worker who can successfully manage oneself, one’s performance and one’s organization. It draws some parallels to  what Hill mentions about time management, communication and setting proprieties in The Principles of Self-Mastery. Being effective challenges directions, goals, and purposes of the organization. It raises the eyes of its people from preoccupation with problems to a vision of opportunity, from concern with weakness to exploitation of strengths.[1] But to apply effectiveness to your organization, it must be learned.

And when it comes to learning to be effective, just like anything else, it takes time, practice and commitment. Its something that can be taught and mastered, but it must be made a habit. Drucker lays out the blueprint to becoming effective. It starts with managing oneself followed by managing others and finally an organization.  Organizations are not more effective because they have better people. They have better people because the are motivated to improving the self-development of their employees through positive habit and environment. Drucker explains that effectiveness is the result from “systematic, focused and purposeful self-training.” It’s so simple yet overlooked.

Just as character cannot be taught but learned, so the same is with effectiveness. Effectiveness is not a “subject” but rather a self-disipline; it’s a way of life. It’s crucial to man’s self-development; to organizational development; and to the fulfillment and viability of modern society. All in all, the effective executive tries to be himself; he does not pretend to be someone else. He looks at his own performance and at his own results and tries to discern a pattern.[2]

About Peter Drucker

Peter Drucker taught at New York University as a Professor of Management from 1950 to 1971 and then came to California in 1971, where he developed one of the country’s first executive MBA programs for working professionals at Claremont Graduate University. From 1971 to his death he was the Clarke Professor of Social Science and Management at Claremont Graduate University. The university’s management school was named the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management in his honor in 1987. He taught his last class at the school in 2002 at age 92.

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[1] Drucker, Peter, F. The Effective Executive. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., 1993. Page 170.
[2] Drucker, Peter, F. The Effective Executive. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., 1993. Page 97