The Drucker on Leadership
The June "Harvard Business Review" contains a feature article by Peter F. Drucker. In this piece Drucker discusses his evaluation of effective managers. According to Drucker, "Great managers may be charismatic or dull, generous or tightfisted, visionary or numbers oriented. But every effective executive follows eight simple practices." These are:
They ask, "What needs to be done?"
They ask, "What is right for the enterprise?"
They develop action plans.
They take responsibility for decisions.
They take responsibility for communication.
They are focused on opportunities rather than problems.
They run productive meetings.
They think and say "we" rather than "I."
By Peter F. Drucker
"What Makes an Effective Executive";
Harvard Business Review; June 2004; Page 58
One other important point made in this article. An effective executive can focus on one, or perhaps two, things at a time. The ability for a manager to manage this important point is critical.
Drucker is a marvelous thinker and always causes me to stop and ponder. And HBR is rapidly becoming my favorite source for management and leadership material. My only problem is that the month seems to be too short to get everything out of each issue. I will be reading and thinking about this article for a long time. And I'm only about one third of the way through............
9:42:39 PM 
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