Drucker's Effective Executive Is as Timely as It Is Timeless

Drucker’s Effective Executive was one of the first great business books (Dzombak, 2014), and has remained significant for generations.

Part of what makes it so convincing even fifty years after its publication is the fact that it was so far-sighted to begin with. Drucker was one of the first to explore the consequences of the computer and automation (Drucker, 2006, p.177-84), and most of his insights have become manifest in the last several years.

It might be said, The Effective Executive is timely today because it is timeless.

Five Principles of Effectiveness

The premise of this book is that effectiveness can be learned (Drucker, 2006, p. 184). If it couldn’t be learned, there would be little point in writing to others about it. Drucker shows us through trenchant case studies and analysis just how we too can be more effective.

The idea is to embrace the five principles of effectiveness: (1) Time management, (2) focus on contribution, (3) build on strengths, (4) do what you do well, and (5) and make good decisions (Drucker, 2006, p. 24).

Drucker might fall into the Behavioral Theories school of leadership thought since these five are all behaviors and can this be learned.

The best way to learn the principles is to practice them. I’ve already set out to put many of these principles into practice in my own work, especially time chunking (Drucker, 2006, p. 28-30), starting with a “zero draft” (Drucker, 2006, p. 29), and building on strengths (Drucker, 2006, p. 80-110).

Employ them in your business and you’ll see your effectiveness increase.

References

Dzombak, D. (2014, November 8). The 12 best business books of all time. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/11/08/the-12-best-business-books-of-all-time/18659453/.

Drucker, P. F. (2006). The effective executive. New York: Harper Business. ISBN13: 9780060833459