The effective executive

P. F. Drucker

Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007 - Business & Economics - 167 pages

The measure of the executive, Peter Drucker reminds us, is the ability to 'get the right things done'. Usually this involves doing what other people have overlooked, as well as avoiding what is unproductive.
He identifies five talents as essential to effectiveness, and these can be learned; in fact, they must be learned just as scales must be mastered by every piano student regardless of his natural gifts. Intelligence, imagination and knowledge may all be wasted in an executive job without the acquired habits of mind that convert these into results.
One of the talents is the management of time. Another is choosing what to contribute to the particular organization. A third is knowing where and how to apply your strength to best effect. Fourth is setting up the right priorities. And all of them must be knitted together by effective decision-making.
How these can be developed forms the main body of the book. The author ranges widely through the annals of business and government to demonstrate the distinctive skill of the executive. He turns familiar experience upside down to see it in new perspective. The book is full of surprises, with its fresh insights into old and seemingly trite situations.

* A timeless classic from Peter F. Drucker, one of the world's leading management thinkers.
* Identifies five talents essential to effectiveness
* A bestseller in the Drucker Classic Collection

What people are saying

Review: The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done

User Review  - Michael Brunton-spall - Goodreads

an excellent overview of effective decision making. setting out principles by which we can measure our own effectiveness at making decisions and improve ourselves. I think the most interesting points ...

Review: The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done

User Review  - Maura - Goodreads

Although the "he" pronouns were out-of-date, this is still one of the best books on workplace effectiveness I've read. I took copious notes. Loved the definition of executive to include all of us ...

About the author

Peter F. Drucker has been Clarke Professor of Social Science and Management at Claremont Graduate School in California since 1971.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The effective executive; The classic Drucker collection
• Author: P. F. Drucker
• Edition: 2, revised
• Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007
• ISBN: 0750685077, 9780750685078
• Length: 167 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Management