The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done (Harperbusiness Essentials)

There are a number of other reviews that summarize the contents of the book, so I won't attempt to do that here. The big picture knowledge that the book imparts, are really the key aspects to being effective in any line of knowledge work (which is most jobs today). These include: 1) Time management 2) Focusing on contributing value 3) Building on strengths as opposed to shoring up weakness 4) Focus on the priorities, don't let the pressures / inertia drive work output 5) Effective decision-making Some of the few negative reviews seem to think this book is outdated. While occasionally it does feel this way (when it references how much better educated Americans are than everyone else - a throwback to the 60s), the big picture information is still 100% relevant I think. While there are many books that may go into each topic specifically (such as time management or decision-making) I have not seen many other books that present as strong of a big picture snapshot of ALL of the key activities needed to be effective and how these might play together. There were also some tidbits here and there that I found to be very true. For example, the concept that a decision is not made until it has been effectively communicated to everyone in an organization that needs the information in order to carry it out and sustain it. Although this seems obvious, there are people who may be "boundary conditions" as Drucker calls it - that do not execute the decision but still need to be aware of the decision so that they are not acting against the overall objective. In my own line of work, directing my first project, this was actually something I had to consciously learn and reading this book put words to a concept I was aware of, but never could verbalize. Also the idea to create appropriate yardsticks and measure the results of decisions and hold them against the intended result is very reminiscent of six sigma practices that came up much later. Good to see that this general practice is timeless. There was a lot of key thinking - especially as related to an organization - that I haven't seen in other places, especially regarding decision making. Some people may be put off by how general Drucker keeps the topic of discussion, but I think this does serve a purpose on keeping the concepts of the book at a big picture level which is good. I do feel that the book was lacking in specific practices related to time management. This book would have received 5 stars if Drucker more clearly explained specific methods for managing time, as I think this is an especially difficult topic. Instead he shrugs this off and encourages you to figure it out for yourself. Well, I for one would have been curious as to the particular methods that some of the most effective executives that he interviewed in his consulting practice used to manage their time. One other word of warning - this is really a book for someone who has at some point worked in a somewhat large organization (i.e. at least 100 people). If you have, much of what Drucker says will immediately 'click'. If you haven't yet accumulated serious work experience, or have only worked in very small companies (10 people or less), you may not appreciate the full value of this book. A great read for anyone interested in increasing their personal and organization's effectiveness.

“Executives are not paid for doing things they like to do. They are paid for getting the right things done.” If you have read anything on leadership or management in the past few decades, you are probably already familiar with Peter Drucker. I first heard about Drucker a few years back while reading a book by a college president and over time Drucker’s name kept popping up everywhere. It was difficult to determine which book to read first. He has written dozens of books, and all of them have been universally praised. I chose The Effective Executive because it seemed to have a simple, straightforward message and it was under 200 pages. However, I was a bit weary because the book was first published in 1967. First, this book is amazing. It packed with great, applicable information. I actually think this book is more relevant today that it was when it was first written. Second, the message is amazing. The overall message is simple, “effectiveness can be learned and must be earned.” There may be some individuals better suited for leadership roles, but to be an effective manager you need to develop the skill of effectiveness. I will definitely be picking up more Drucker books in the future. Here are some gems: “Organizations are held together by information rather than by ownership or command.” “Working on the right things is what makes knowledge work effective.” “All in all, the effective executive tries to be himself.”

Trigger warning: blatant, ugly sexism and heaps of unexamined privilege. Dated: Points are made using anecdotes referring to products and companies that may not be familiar to modern readers. If you can get past the above, there's a lot of value in the ideas themselves. The last chapter, on the role of computers, is positively prescient. Some notes from early in the book (I ended up skimming much of the rest): 0 – Preface Defining "executive" as knowledge worker in an org. Asks: "What needs to be done?" "What's best for the org?"; Thinks and says "we". Develops action plans, sticks to the top of it, then re-evaluates. Take responsibility for decisions and communicating those decisions appropriately. Name accountable participants (to do), those affected (to consult), and followers (to inform). Set a deadline. Focus on opportunities, rather than problems, even in people-management. Run effective meetings. To prepare a document: make draft before, appoint a finalizer. To announce: just announce and discuss the announcement. To report in depth: discuss nothing else. To gather all reports: timebox each report; either pre-report in writing or allow clarifications only, leaving questions to post-report in writing. To inform an executive: executive should listen, ask questions, and sum up. Aura of the executive: cannot be effective, but may yield opportunities. Always set agenda and meeting type, and always follow up in summary and next steps. 1 – Effectiveness can be Learned For skilled/routine work, need efficiency, responsiveness. Not enough for executive. "Executive" is anyone who "is responsible for a contribution that materially affects the capacity of the organization to perform and obtain results" (5). "Realities": Time belongs to everyone else, always in meetings Strong temptation to react, to "operate", rather than envision and direct. Effective only when others use their contributions; must communicate. Org-goggles skew the realities of the outside world that the org operates in. "The danger is that executives will become contemptuous of information and stimulus that cannot be reduced to computer logic … may become blind to everything that is perception (event), rather than fact (after the event). The tremendous amount of computer information [in 1967!] may thus shut out access to reality. Eventually the computer should make executives aware of their insulation and free them for more time on the outside. In the short run, however, there is a danger of acute 'computeritis'." (17) Promise: you don't have to become smarter or learn more specialties or get a different personality, just acquire the habits of effectiveness: Know where their time goes and manage it. Focus on outward contribution, rather than work to be done. Prioritize! First things first and second things not at all. Strategic decisions, not tactics; judgment based on "dissenting opinions", not "consensus on the facts". 2 – Know Thy Time Do not start with tasks and plans. Instead: Measure where your time goes. (Profiling before optimization, in cs terms) Manage it to reduce unproductive efforts. Consolidate discretionary time into larger chunks. Time is extremely scarce, inelastic (no price/marginal utility curve), perishable. Interaction necessitates human trust and contact, which takes time; Interaction is the basis for much of knowledge and executive work; Interaction is slow and very human, at the basis with sitting down with everyone, having lunch/tea, answering questions, talking about other things, asking their view of the organization, its interactions with the world, what needs to be done; .: In ever larger organizations, ever more time is needed for such interactions. One can try to isolate with "spans of control" so it's not quite quadratic, but it's still bad. Managing: Eliminate activities without impact. "What would happen if this didn't?" Delegate Shun not one's own work, but whatever doesn't *have to be* one's work. [I might add: shed responsibilities for which one does not have authority and vv.] Ask: "What do I do that wastes your time, without contributing to your effectiveness?" Pruning too much is a mistake that squeaks, and so is easily corrected. Fix "crises" that require "heroism": after the second time, it should be planned. Fix "drama" into routine "boring" by crystallizing lessons learned into practice. "Interaction" as above, can waste time in overstaffed situations. Symptom: manager spends time on feuds, interpersonal problems. Excess of meetings — due to ineffective meetings? Better organize offline. Fix poor flows of information: those in charge of resources should be aware of their availability, get the tools to profile performance for each need, etc. Consolidating: Spend long enough, not too long, and during that time, focus attention ruthlessly. Example: [1.5h mtg w/o interruptions, 0.5h reactive/messages/etc.] repeat. Many try to consolidate secondary matters and leave the rest of the time for primary ones. Instead, estimate time for primaries, allocate it, stick to it, and care less about the secondary ones. Urgent/unpleasant matters should encroach on those, not on primary. Deadlines serve as indicators when time is getting away from you, that you need to better track yourself, and better prune and consolidate.

Note: Amazon continues to feature reviews of earlier editions. What immediately follows is my review of the 50th anniversary edition published today, January 24, 2017. What then follows is my review of an earlier edition. * * * This is the 50th anniversary edition of a book first published in 1967. Jim Collins provides the Foreword and Zachary First the Afterword. In my opinion, Peter Drucker (1909-2005) is the most influential business thinker as indicated by the endless list of other thought leaders who continue to acknowledge his value and significance to their own work. He always insisted on referring to himself as a “student” or “bystander.” With all due respect to his wishes, I have always viewed him as a pioneer who surveyed and defined dimensions of the business world that no one else had previously explored. Consider this passage in the Foreword: “Here are ten lessons I learned from Peter Drucker and this book, and that I offer as a small portal of entry into the mind of the greatest management thinker off all time.” These are the lessons that Collins cites and discusses: 1. First, manage thyself. 2. Do what you’re made for. 3. Work how you work best (and let others do the same). 4. Count your time, and make it count. 5. Prepare better meetings. 6. Don’t make a hundred decisions when one will do. 7. Find your one big distinctive impact. 8. Stop what you would not start. 9. Run lean. 10. Be useful. “He was in the end, Collins adds, "the highest level of what a teacher can be: a role model of the very ideas he taught, a walking testament to his teachings in the tremendous lasting effect of his own life.” As was true of Collins and will be true 0f everyone else who reads one of the several editions, they will have their own take-aways. Drucker provides a framework in the Introduction, stressing while discussing the importance of eight specific practices that all great business and non-profit CEOs are committed to, such as asking “What needs to be done?” and “What is right for the enterprise?” The first two enable them to obtain the information they need. The next four help them to convert this knowledge into effective action: 3. Develop action plans. 4. Take responsibility for decisions [and their consequences]. 5. Take responsibility for communicating. 6. Are focused on opportunities rather on problems. The last two ensure that the entire organization feels responsible and accountable 7. Run productive meetings. 8. Think and feel “we” rather than “I.” Yes, these are basic and obvious practices but they were not five decades ago. Until Drucker, thinking about management lacked order, structure, clarity, and focus. Borrowing a phrase from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Drucker developed thinking about management to “the other side of complexity.” To paraphrase, Albert Einstein, Drucker made management “as simple as possible but no simpler.” In the Introduction Peter Drucker concludes, “We’ve just covered eight practices of effective executives. I’m going to throw in one final, bonus practice. This one’s so important that I’ll elevate it to the level of a rule: [begin italics] Listen first, speak last [end italics]”...And, like every discipline, effectiveness [begin italics] can [end italics] and [begin italics] must [end italics] be earned.” The title of this review is a portion of one of Peter Drucker's most important insights: "The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The true dangerous thing is asking the wrong question." * * * I first read this book when it was originally published in 1967 and have since re-read it several times because, in my opinion, it provides some of Peter Drucker's most important insights on how to "get the right work done and done the right way." By nature an "executive" is one who "executes," producing a desired result (an "effect") that has both impact and value. As Drucker once observed in an article that appeared in Harvard Business Review at least 40 years ago, "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all." Therefore, the effective executive must develop sound judgment. Difficult - sometimes immensely difficult - decisions must be made. Here are eight practices that Drucker recommended 45 years ago: o Ask, "what needs to be done?" o Ask, "What is right for the enterprise?" o Develop an action plan o Take responsibility for decisions. o Take responsibility for communications. o Focus on opportunities rather than on problems. o Conduct productive meetings. o Think in terms of first-person PLURAL pronouns ("We" rather than "I"). The first two practices give executives the knowledge they need; the next four help them convert this knowledge into effective action; the last two ensure that the entire organization feels responsible and accountable, and will thus be more willing to become engaged. "I'm going to throw in one final, bonus practice. This one's so important that I'll elevate it to the level of a rule: [begin italics] Listen first, speak last." [end italics] This volume consists of eight separate but interdependent essays that begin with "Effectiveness Can Be Learned" and conclude with "Effective Decisions." Actually, there is a "Conclusion" in which Drucker asserts that "Effectiveness Must Be Learned." I agree. The essays are arranged in a sequence that parallels a learning process that prepares an executive to "assume responsibility, rather than to act the subordinate, satisfied only if he `pleases the boss.' In focusing himself and his vision on contribution the executive, in other words, has to think through purposes and ends rather than means alone." I highly recommend this to all executives who need an easy-to-read collection of reminders of several basic but essential insights from one of the most important business thinkers, Peter Drucker. I also presume to suggest that they, in turn, urge each of their direct reports to obtain a copy and read it. The last time I checked, Amazon sells a paperbound edition for only $11.55. Its potential value is incalculable.

You know you read the writing of great thinker when the line of text in front of you is simple and yet powerful. Peter Drucker writes like that. The Effective Executive is one of those books that wake up your intellect: simple, unpretentious, direct, based on experience and well practiced art of detecting underlying principles hiding behind our mundane tasks. Effective managers, according to Peter, follow eight principles: - Ask "what needs to be done?" - Ask "what is right?" - Develop action plans - Take responsibility for decisions - Take responsibility for communicating - Focus on opportunity rather than problem - Run productive meetings - Think and say "we" rather than "I" I like for instance how he describes the taking of responsibility for decisions: a decision has not been made until people know: the name of the person accountable for carrying it out, the deadline, the names of the people who will be affected by it, and the names of the people who will be informed. Simple, isn't it? A penetrating observation is that in large organisations people tend to be absorbed by what happens inside its boundaries and by perfecting a process regardless of the outside world. The removal of the executive from the customer base is fatal in the long run. Other thought that I liked is that the effective executive does not make decisions by consensus, but by what is right, even if the decision is not popular. The executive makes a few decisions, but powerful, rather than many razzle-dazzle decisions. I have this book handy, so that when I have time, I choose to read randomly a page or two. It's like doing meditation. It is simple, elegant and very sharp. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject.

The author, Peter Drucker, needs no introduction, as he is is well known in the management community. As anyone who knows his work would expect, this book is very well written: clear language, well structured, full of examples, and easy to read. The main points Drucker uses to define the effective executives are very straightforward: management of time, understanding of one's contribution, problem framing and decision taking. The book is old. But it is evident that its arguments are still as applicable today as they were when it was realeased. Any book that has passed the proof of time is worth reading. This one is no exception. If you want to know some basic principles for effectiveness, as stated by one of the brightest minds in management, I strongly recommend reading it.

The book is good, the information is interesting and really important. But the reading is tiresome, the language is from 1960. A lot of what the author tries to say in the book could be said in a few chapters, but he decided to fill the book with useless alergories and confusing examples. But the worst part of all is that the content is not modern. The author uses examples when my grandfather was 20 years old. That might be good as the concepts he is trying to share are the same, but it is very hard for a 27 year-old to relate to. Overall, three stars because I was able to extract good information out of it, but I was hoping for more, way more than I got.

Level One I’m finishing up my MBA. It is mid-March, and I will graduate in May. Though I have learned a lot, much of what we learned in the classes is on the higher level. What has been specific has been subject-specific. There isn’t much about the self-help about the classes or the books. That’s where I have found Drucker useful for my own knowledge as an independent thing to study. This is the second book I have read by him, and there are a lot of useful take-aways even if the book is horribly dated, (there’s only tangential reference to computers and it assumes that all knowledge-workers are men). Basically everyone can learn to be effective through self-knowledge about things as if such as how you actually spend your time versus how you think you spend your time. I’ve been doing a basic form of this in my own life, tracking just what I spend my time on at work for the past couple of years now in just an excel spreadsheet. There is also the need to know your strength and to build on that to contribute the best you can. Overall, as a work self-help book, it is one that you can read and find points of takeaway. Reading the book is one that is an interactive process because reading it made me think of my own life and how it applied how I could use the book to make myself more effective. It is a very practical text. The second level The other way to read this, and it didn’t strike me until I was almost done is that books like this are such that makes the aspiring effective executive one that is complicit in their own exploitation. Where in the early part of the 1900s, the working classes had scientific management forced upon them in the guise of making them more effective, the timekeeping is instead given to the executive so that they can do their own time and motion studies in the Taylorism of the white-collar worker. In this view, the book and the peers of the writer are ones that have an insidious agenda, because it assumes that the worker is one that is within a large organization and the goal is to maximize profit and not human flourishing. Or maybe I’ve just read “Labor and Monopoly Capital” too recently.