Peter Drucker’s The Effective Executive is a true leadership classic. Many of today’s leadership experts have been influenced by it, and they may not even know it. His advice is intesely practical but also paradigmic and deep. Drucker wrote his book for business executives and leaders, but much of it applies well to ministry contexts as well. He was an ethical, honest man who understood the nature of people, decisions, and leadership.
Here are 10 (of what could be many more) quotes from the book. Please tweet and share these on Facebook and other social media to encourage and challenge other leaders.
1. “That one can truly manage other people is by no means adequately proven. But one can always manage one’s self. Indeed, executives who do not manage themselves for effectiveness cannot possibly expect to manage their associates and subordinates. Management is largely by example.”
2. “I have never encountered an executive who remains effective while tackling more than two tasks at a time.”
3. “Knowledge is useless to executives unless it has been translated into deeds.”
4. “Without an action plan, the executive becomes a prisoner of events. And without check-ins to reexamine the plan as events unfold, the executive has no way of knowing which events really matter and which are only noise.”
5. “Good executives focus on opportunities rather than problems.”
6. “Effective executives put their best people on opportunities rather than on problems.”
7. “It’s also necessary to terminate a meeting as soon as its specific purpose has been accomplished.”
8. “Brilliant men are often strikingly ineffectual; they fail to realize that brilliant insight is not by itself achievement.”
9. “Organization is a means of multiplying the strength of an individual.”
10. “The truly important events on the outside are not the trends. They are the changes in the trends. These determine ultimately the success or failure of an organization and its efforts.”
