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The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done by Peter F. Drucker
mrscaew's review
4.0
The intro and conclusion were fluff; a quite drily written book but despite how slow it took me to read it, full of spot on concepts regarding management and business decisions. Drucker is a great resource for any sort of manager!
erikars's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Peter Drucker's The Effective Executive lays out the key practices and habits that executives need to cultivate to be effective in their roles. Effectiveness is not an innate talent; it is a set of practices that can be learned and systematically applied. Drucker emphasizes that being effective is about getting the right things done, which requires a focus on results, time management, and leveraging strengths.
While the book targets individuals with organizational leadership roles, Drucker’s principles are valuable for any knowledge worker whose value comes from how they choose to use their time and apply their strengths. It's worth noting that the book reflects an era when formal leadership was predominantly a masculine activity, and the constant use of "he" can be grating. However, the content remains valuable despite this.
The book is well structured (and at times a bit redundant). One could probably get the key points from reading the forward (to the 50th anniversary edition), the preface, and the conclusion. Yet the text as a whole is a fairly easy read which elaborates and illustrates these key principles.
What I liked about this book is that it is written from a perspective that isn't as common in modern business books. Drucker understands individual and organizational psychology but also accepts as a given that the goal of a business is to get business results. Thus, unlike many modern business books where it seems as if individual fulfillment and business success are put in conflict with each other, Drucker deeply understands that the goal of the business organization—a fairly modern societal invention—needs to be to align these two things. Thus, his advice, while sometimes dated, overall comes across as highly practical.
With that, into the summary!
Drucker highlights that effectiveness is about converting intelligence, imagination, and knowledge into results through systematic work. He outlines five habits of effectiveness: knowing where time goes, focusing on outward contributions, building on strengths, concentrating on key areas for superior performance, and making effective decisions. The rest of the book goes into these practices in more detail.
Effective executives start by understanding where their time goes, managing it, and consolidating their discretionary time to focus on meaningful tasks. This involves recording actual time use, eliminating unnecessary activities, delegating tasks, and preventing time wasters.
Executives should have an outward focus. They should concentrate on direct results, building values, and developing people. They should avoid time wasters, especially ineffective meetings. All meetings, reports, and presentations should have a clear purpose that contributes to the organization's goals, and Drucker goes into specifics on how to do that.
Organizations should be built on harnessing individuals' strengths, not avoiding weaknesses. Positions should be designed around the job to be done, not around individuals. However, when choosing which people should fill those positions, don't focus on the person who best meets the criteria overall (but in a mediocre way). Focus on the people who bring the most relevant strengths to bear and whose weaknesses are irrelevant to the goal to be met.
Effective executives do one thing at a time, concentrating their efforts on what is most important. They regularly reassess their activities, sloughing off tasks that no longer contribute to the organization's goals. This process involves making tough decisions about what not to do and having the courage to stick to those decisions.
Effective executives focus on making a small number of important decisions. They focus on making those decisions as general rules, not specific instances. Ultimately, decisions are judgments based on opinions rather than facts. This is why they spend most of their effort upfront: defining the boundary conditions, thinking through the right solution before considering compromises, ensuring the decision defines what is needed to turn it into action, and establishing feedback mechanisms to test the decision against actual events. They encourage dissent and diverse opinions to explore alternatives and identify the best course of action. They also consider the option of doing nothing when appropriate and resist the temptation to delay decisions unnecessarily.
Drucker stresses that every knowledge worker needs to develop these skills to create effective organizations. The practices of effectiveness not only enhance organizational performance but also fulfill individuals' needs for achievement and impact. Effective individuals are motivated and capable of making meaningful contributions, which is essential for both personal and organizational success.
While the book targets individuals with organizational leadership roles, Drucker’s principles are valuable for any knowledge worker whose value comes from how they choose to use their time and apply their strengths. It's worth noting that the book reflects an era when formal leadership was predominantly a masculine activity, and the constant use of "he" can be grating. However, the content remains valuable despite this.
The book is well structured (and at times a bit redundant). One could probably get the key points from reading the forward (to the 50th anniversary edition), the preface, and the conclusion. Yet the text as a whole is a fairly easy read which elaborates and illustrates these key principles.
What I liked about this book is that it is written from a perspective that isn't as common in modern business books. Drucker understands individual and organizational psychology but also accepts as a given that the goal of a business is to get business results. Thus, unlike many modern business books where it seems as if individual fulfillment and business success are put in conflict with each other, Drucker deeply understands that the goal of the business organization—a fairly modern societal invention—needs to be to align these two things. Thus, his advice, while sometimes dated, overall comes across as highly practical.
With that, into the summary!
Drucker highlights that effectiveness is about converting intelligence, imagination, and knowledge into results through systematic work. He outlines five habits of effectiveness: knowing where time goes, focusing on outward contributions, building on strengths, concentrating on key areas for superior performance, and making effective decisions. The rest of the book goes into these practices in more detail.
Effective executives start by understanding where their time goes, managing it, and consolidating their discretionary time to focus on meaningful tasks. This involves recording actual time use, eliminating unnecessary activities, delegating tasks, and preventing time wasters.
Executives should have an outward focus. They should concentrate on direct results, building values, and developing people. They should avoid time wasters, especially ineffective meetings. All meetings, reports, and presentations should have a clear purpose that contributes to the organization's goals, and Drucker goes into specifics on how to do that.
Organizations should be built on harnessing individuals' strengths, not avoiding weaknesses. Positions should be designed around the job to be done, not around individuals. However, when choosing which people should fill those positions, don't focus on the person who best meets the criteria overall (but in a mediocre way). Focus on the people who bring the most relevant strengths to bear and whose weaknesses are irrelevant to the goal to be met.
Effective executives do one thing at a time, concentrating their efforts on what is most important. They regularly reassess their activities, sloughing off tasks that no longer contribute to the organization's goals. This process involves making tough decisions about what not to do and having the courage to stick to those decisions.
Effective executives focus on making a small number of important decisions. They focus on making those decisions as general rules, not specific instances. Ultimately, decisions are judgments based on opinions rather than facts. This is why they spend most of their effort upfront: defining the boundary conditions, thinking through the right solution before considering compromises, ensuring the decision defines what is needed to turn it into action, and establishing feedback mechanisms to test the decision against actual events. They encourage dissent and diverse opinions to explore alternatives and identify the best course of action. They also consider the option of doing nothing when appropriate and resist the temptation to delay decisions unnecessarily.
Drucker stresses that every knowledge worker needs to develop these skills to create effective organizations. The practices of effectiveness not only enhance organizational performance but also fulfill individuals' needs for achievement and impact. Effective individuals are motivated and capable of making meaningful contributions, which is essential for both personal and organizational success.
kovyrin's review
5.0
If I were to choose the one book to recommend to a new executive (a person whose decisions affect the whole company or an organization), this book would be it. Clear, concise and highly on-point explanation of what makes an effective executive and what happens when an executive gets consumed by daily distractions and tactical work at the expense of strategic thinking and working towards bigger goals.
Absolute must read for any manager and highly recommended for individual contributors looking to increase their impact on the results of their organization.
Absolute must read for any manager and highly recommended for individual contributors looking to increase their impact on the results of their organization.
raijhu's review
2.0
This book says a lot of things, but most of them are obvious, or they don't offer suggestions on how to improve.
andgineer's review against another edition
5.0
После чтения плохо структурированных книжек - просто удовольствие прочитать этот классический труд.
Стройное, логичное изложение, без ненужных заумствований, но и не примитивно.
Изложены с современной точки зрения совсем базовые вещи, но от этого не менее актуальные. Компактно и логично объяснено, то что пережевывают в толстенных книжках по GTD.
Понравилось effectivness, while capable of being learned, surely cannot be taught.
Стройное, логичное изложение, без ненужных заумствований, но и не примитивно.
Изложены с современной точки зрения совсем базовые вещи, но от этого не менее актуальные. Компактно и логично объяснено, то что пережевывают в толстенных книжках по GTD.
Понравилось effectivness, while capable of being learned, surely cannot be taught.
kimball_hansen's review against another edition
2.0
Not my favorite business/productivity book. I didn't get much as I would have liked from it.
In order for one to manage his time he must first know where it goes.
The author is against delegation because the executive should do the important things himself.
Whoever tries to place a man to staff an organization in order to avoid weakness will at best get mediocrity. Reminds me when my brother hired an RLS for his company and assumed he'd be good because he was an RLS.
The United States and Canada are the only countries that don't have the telephone service owned by the government because they're privately owned. I wish we had other entities that were privately owned and not government-owned. I hate government owned crap.
He says effectiveness can be learned but not taught. Hmmm.
Well I tried. No one can say I didn't try.
ali_ikhan's review
4.0
I think if you're here and reading this review, you already know who Ducker was and why his books are recommended so strongly for professionals. Therefore I'll not write anything about how good this book is and why it should be read, instead, I would just clarify something that got me confused too until I read this book, and that is who the EXECUTIVE is?
Usually executive is thought of as somebody in senior managerial or leadership position, and that is NOT what Ducker meant in the title of this book. Ducker's executive is a 'Knowledge Worker'. So if you are a programmer, designer, accountant, engineer, teacher etc., you are an Executive, as per Ducker. So think of the title of the book as THE EFFECTIVE KNOWLEDGE WORKER.
See, this makes all the difference. And that is why, I deferred reading this book so many times in my career and now that I read it, I felt I should have read this book lot earlier. Therefore I'd recommend even if you are a junior knowledge worker, to read this book and try to internalize it. Though most of the examples in the book have aged, wisdom is really timeless.
Usually executive is thought of as somebody in senior managerial or leadership position, and that is NOT what Ducker meant in the title of this book. Ducker's executive is a 'Knowledge Worker'. So if you are a programmer, designer, accountant, engineer, teacher etc., you are an Executive, as per Ducker. So think of the title of the book as THE EFFECTIVE KNOWLEDGE WORKER.
See, this makes all the difference. And that is why, I deferred reading this book so many times in my career and now that I read it, I felt I should have read this book lot earlier. Therefore I'd recommend even if you are a junior knowledge worker, to read this book and try to internalize it. Though most of the examples in the book have aged, wisdom is really timeless.
aargee's review
4.0
If you're looking to improvise life trying to be more productive, then this effective timeless book is a MUST READ!!