Review of Peter Drucker’s The Effective Executive

When I trace back much of today’s leadership thought, I inevitably find myself at the doorstep of one man: Peter Drucker. He is, to me, one of the foremost leadership gurus. His book The Effective Executive, though written in 1967, still speaks powerfully to leadership issues. Though dated in some ways, scanning its pages immediately alerts the reader that Drucker is a leadership sage whose wisdom remains relevant.

I should clarify something at this point. Some of the quotes I include from Drucker’s book will appear to be self-evident or common leadership practice. What we must remember is that these statements were groundbreaking when Drucker originally made them! After his book’s release, his opinions became widely accepted and promulgated as common knowledge. How clearly Drucker anticipated the leadership issues of the twenty-first century is truly amazing.

Drucker begins by stating, “Management books usually deal with managing people. The subject of this book is managing oneself for effectiveness. That one can truly manage other people is by no means adequately proven. But one can always manage oneself” (ix). Drucker suggests that management is largely carried out by example. In Drucker’s day, the terms management and leadership had not been sharply distinguished. To manage, for him, meant to lead. Interestingly, he notes, “I have not come across a single ‘natural’; an executive who was born effective. All the effective ones have had to learn to be effective . . . Effectiveness can be learned—and it also has to be learned” (ix).

Drucker suggests that effective executives do eight things (xi). He summarizes effectiveness this way: “Effective executives get the right things done” (xxi). He observes that the key to manual labor is doing things right. For executives, the key is to get the right things done. Warren Bennis would later popularize this distinction by saying managers do things right while leaders do the right things.

Drucker also notes that there are no results within an organization, only outside (15). Leaders often spend too much time focusing inwardly. But the key to growth is what happens outside the organization. He also notes that the truly important events on the outside are not trends but changes in trends (17).

Drucker purports that there is no effective personality. Effectiveness is a learned habit (21-22). He notes that effective executives do first things first (24). Stephen Covey popularized this idea in his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

Concerning time management, Drucker notes, “Effective executives, in my observation, do not start with their tasks. They start with their time” (26). He adds, “Nothing else, perhaps, distinguishes effective executives as much as their tender loving care of their time” (26). He also suggests that important work cannot be completed in 15-minute increments (29). He asserts that executives’ important work ought to be consigned to no smaller than one-hour time blocks. He notes that executives often waste time on unimportant tasks. He notes, “It is amazing how many things busy people are doing that never will be missed” (36). He adds, “I have yet to see an executive, regardless of rank or station, who could not consign something like a quarter of the demands on his time to the wastepaper basket without anyone noticing the disappearance” (37).

Drucker promotes healthy routines. He suggests that routine “makes unskilled people without judgment capable of doing what it took near-genius to do before” (41). He is also critical of meetings. He claims, “Meetings are by definition a concession to deficient organisation. For one either meets or one works” (44). Drucker makes numerous thought-provoking observations about organisations. He suggests that leadership is generally not effective top-down (65). He also notes that in an organisation, a person’s weaknesses can be minimised and his strengths maximised (75). Of course, in unhealthy bureaucracies, 00one’s weaknesses are merely justified or never addressed.

Drucker places a strong emphasis on achieving results, for achieving results is an executive’s ultimate goal. While character and integrity are commendable qualities, Drucker notes that merely possessing such traits does not accomplish anything (87). He also insists that people who continually underperform must ultimately be released from their position. He observes, “Indeed, I have never seen anyone in a job for which he was inadequate who was not slowly being destroyed by the pressure and the strains, and who did not secretly pray for deliverance” (89).

Drucker touches on some subjects that others will later pick up and run with. For example, he includes a section entitled “How do I manage my boss?” (93). He also incorporates an interesting discussion on the difference between readers and listeners. He suggests that executives should deal with each type of person differently (94).

Naturally, Drucker draws illustrations from his own time. He cites Alfred Sloan of GM as the best leader her ever met. He admires Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman but says JFK’s only true success was the Cuban missile crisis. Nonetheless, Drucker’s work on leadership is classic. The reader will often notice statements and principles in his work that later leadership writers expanded and popularized. Drucker tends to make definitive statements that sound extremely authoritative. They often are. Some, however, can be pushed back against and re-examined, especially since half a century has passed since he first wrote them.

 

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