Alan Weiss, my mentor and coach, invites all his clients (current and former) to his yearly, high class Mentor Summit. I booked my ticket to the Summit at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas because I was not going to miss hanging out with world class, success creating and performance supporting thought leaders.
Our first hour together I was reminded of the value and depth of Peter Drucker, the master of executive performance and management excellence.
Peter Drucker is leadership 101 and graduate level learning at the same time.
One of his most famous quotes is:
“Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things”.
What stopped me in my tracks was the idea that we spend so much time managing things and so little time leading to completion and innovation.
So I am bringing you back to class. Pretend it is your first day of management or executive training. We are opening our books (kindles) and reading, for the first time, the principles of excellence in doing business. We start with the principles and then we turn to the mirror and see who is going to put these principles in practice – it’s us. We are the leaders and managers.
Drucker is a resource that never stops giving. A benevolent father, if you will. A brilliant and down to earth guy who believed and practiced (and taught) business principles that remind us and remain today as solid stepping stones to how to get it done; with profitable results and inspiring people with motivating practices and creating innovation with ease and confidence.
On the plane back to my office, I wrote down all the valuable lessons that I have learned, practiced or coached from the Drucker library. It was a long list and I was doing this from memory.
Drucker has instilled, easily and logically, principles we can use every hour of the day. Solid guidance that will create what we need when we need it. A roadmap of excellence. A confidence building lexicon at your fingertips.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from Drucker. Each is a principle in itself. He taught me and millions of others to how to effectively manager and then brilliantly lead, consistently and without failure or lack of courage.
Peter Drucker Quotes:
- “Doing the right thing is more important than doing the thing right.”
- “If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old.”
- ”The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.”
- “There is nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency something that should not be done at all.”
- “What gets measured gets improved.”
- “Results are gained by exploiting opportunities, not by solving problems.”
- “So much of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to work.”
- “People who don’t take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.”
- “Meetings are by definition a concession to a deficient organization. For one either meets or one works. One cannot do both at the same time.”
- “Long-range planning does not deal with the future decisions, but with the future of present decisions.”
Much of my coaching with my terrific clients is asking them about they are doing: Is it effective? So the next quote by Drucker is near and dear to my heart.
“Efficiency is doing the thing right. Effectiveness is doing the right thing.”
So I would like you to consider ordering your own copy of Peter Drucker’s “The Effective Executive” for your own perusal and library. It will never let you down and it will remind you how much you are doing right and how much more there is to being effective, clear, profitable and successful.
Since being reminded again of this giant of effectiveness and success, I have my copy right next to my desk…to be reviewed during my green tea time and strategy sessions.
To our success,
