Peter Drucker's Five Most Important Questions


Book Description

Enduring Management Wisdom for Today's Leaders From Peter F. Drucker. Peter Drucker's Five Most Important Questions provides insightful guidance and stirring inspiration for today's leaders and entrepreneurs. By applying Drucker's leadership framework in the present context of today's leaders and those who lead with them, this book is an essential resource for people leading, managing and working in all three sectors—public, private and social. Readers will gain new perspectives and develop a solid foundation upon which to build a successful and bright future. They will learn how to focus on why they are doing what they're doing, how to do it better, and how to develop a realistic, motivational plan for achieving their goals. This brief, clear, and accessible guide — peppered with commentary from distinguished management gurus, contemporary entrepreneurs and dynamic millennial leaders —will challenge readers and stimulate spirited discussion and action within any organization, inspiring positive change and new levels of excellence. In addition to contributions from Jim Collins, Marshall Goldsmith, and Judith Rodin, the book features new insights from some of today's most influential leaders in business (GE and Salesforce.com), academia (Harvard Business School and Northwestern University), social enterprise (Levo League, Pencils of Promise and Why Millennials Matter) and the military (United States Military Academy), who have been directly influenced by Drucker's theory of management.




The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization


Book Description

With Peter Drucker's five essential questions and the help of five of today's thought leaders, this little book will challenge readers to take a close look at the very heart of their organizations and what drives them. A tool for self-assessment and transformation, answering these five questions will fundamentally change the way you work, helping you lead your organization to an exceptional level of performance. Peter Drucker's five questions are: What is our Mission? with Jim Collins Who is our Customer? with Phil Kotler What does the Customer Value? with Jim Kouzes What are our Results? with Judith Rodin What is our Plan? with V. Kasturi Rangan These essential questions, grounded in Peter Drucker's theories of management, will take readers on a exploration of organizational and personal self-discovery, giving them a means to assess how to be--how to develop quality, character, mind-set, values and courage. The questions lead to action. By asking these questions, readers can focus on why they are doing what they are doing in their work, and how to do it better. Designed for today's busy professionals, this brief, clear and accessible book will challenge readers to ask these provocative questions and it will stimulate spirited discussions and action within any organization, inspiring positive change and new levels of excellence, helping all to envision the future of theirs' or any organization.




The Five Most Important Questions Self Assessment Tool


Book Description

This transformational tool offers leaders a critical resource for better understanding their organizations and themselves, honing their skills to become accomplished long-range planners and strategic thinkers. By working through the Participant Workbook, leaders will gain the insight needed to plan for results, learn from customers and clients, and ascertain how to achieve extraordinary levels of performance. The Participant Workbook draws on Peter F. Drucker's The Five Most Important Questions and is grounded in his management philosophies that address the critical aspects that make organizations viable and valuable entities. When leaders answer these questions thoughtfully and address them with purpose, these questions take one down a path to organizational transformation and enlightenment. By leveraging these essential questions, the Participant Workbook challenges leaders to take a close look at the very heart of their organization and what drives it, giving them a means to assess: how to be and how to develop quality, character, mind-set, values, and courage. Drucker's The Five Most Important Questions lead to spirited discussions and action, inspiring positive change and renewed focus. Designed for today's busy professionals, this concise, clear, and accessible workbook for social sector, nonprofit, and socially minded business and government leaders can be used as preparation for a workshop, organizational self-assessment, or as a stand-alone leadership development tool for individuals looking to develop themselves and their organizations. Praise for the Participant Workbook Self-Assessment Tool "Time and again Drucker's The Five Most Important Questions have proven to be the most effective way for nonprofit organizations to conduct self-assessment and develop plans that will help them achieve real and lasting results." —Cathey Brown, founder and CEO, Rainbow Days, Inc., and 2001 Frances Hesselbein Community Innovation Fellow "The Five Most Important Questions Self-Assessment Tool is a gift to the social leadership sector from the late management guru, Peter Drucker, and the Leader to Leader Institute. It makes incredible sense, it is easy to use, and lays the foundation for strategic planning." —Irv Katz, president and CEO, National Human Services Assembly "A must-read for social entrepreneurs who are seeking to dramatically grow their organization's impact without losing sight of the heart of their mission." —Iris Y. Chen, president and CEO, "I Have A Dream" Foundation "High-performing organizations and individuals know that self-assessment through Drucker's The Five Most Important Questions is the starting point for defining today and making tomorrow." —Lee H. Igel, assistant professor, New York University, and president, Peter F. Drucker Society of New York City "This nuts-and-bolts guide has become my compass for urging leaders and managers to ask the right questions, to look beyond what they thought they knew, and to focus on being relevant tomorrow rather than resting on yesterday's achievements." —Lieutenant Commander Carla J. Grantham [U.S. Coast Guard, Retired], Congressional Liaison for Diversity Recruitment and Talent Management, U.S. Coast Guard




The Effective Executive


Book Description

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.




Managing Oneself


Book Description

We live in an age of unprecedented opportunity: with ambition, drive, and talent, you can rise to the top of your chosen profession regardless of where you started out. But with opportunity comes responsibility. Companies today aren't managing their knowledge workers careers. Instead, you must be your own chief executive officer. That means it's up to you to carve out your place in the world and know when to change course. And it's up to you to keep yourself engaged and productive during a career that may span some 50 years. In Managing Oneself, Peter Drucker explains how to do it. The keys: Cultivate a deep understanding of yourself by identifying your most valuable strengths and most dangerous weaknesses; Articulate how you learn and work with others and what your most deeply held values are; and Describe the type of work environment where you can make the greatest contribution. Only when you operate with a combination of your strengths and self-knowledge can you achieve true and lasting excellence. Managing Oneself identifies the probing questions you need to ask to gain the insights essential for taking charge of your career. Peter Drucker was a writer, teacher, and consultant. His 34 books have been published in more than 70 languages. He founded the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, and counseled 13 governments, public services institutions, and major corporations.




Drucker on Leadership


Book Description

Although Peter Drucker, “The Father of Modern Management,” died in 2005, his timeless teachings are studied and practiced by forward-thinking managers worldwide. His lessons and wisdom on the topic of leadership—the central element of management—are in constant demand, yet he wrote little under that actual subject heading. In Drucker on Leadership, William A. Cohen explores Drucker’s lost leadership lessons—why they are missing, what they are, why they are important, and how to apply them. As Cohen explains, Drucker was ambivalent about leadership for much of his career, making it clear that leadership was not by itself “good or desirable.” While Drucker struggled with the concept of leadership, he was well aware that it had a critical impact on the accomplishment of all projects and human endeavors. There is no book from Drucker specifically dedicated to leadership, but a wealth of information about leadership can be found scattered throughout his 40 books and hundreds of articles. Drucker’s teachings about leadership have saved many corporations from failure and helped guide others to outstanding success. Many of the leadership concepts revealed in this book will surprise and perhaps shock Drucker’s followers. For example, who would have thought that Peter Drucker taught that “leadership is a marketing job” or that “the best leadership lessons for business or any nonprofit organization come from the military”? Written for anyone who values the insights of the man whose name is synonymous with excellence in management, Drucker on Leadership offers a deeper understanding of what makes an extraordinary leader.




Managing for Results


Book Description

Managing for Results: Economic Tasks and Risk-taking Decisions is a guidebook for those in management position. The book is comprised of 14 chapters that are organized into three parts. The first part talks about understanding the business; this part covers business realities, revenues, resources, and prospects. Part II discusses the opportunities and needs in economic dimensions of a business. Part III covers the key decision, business strategies, and building up economic performance. The book will be useful to managers, entrepreneurs, and individuals who are exposed to a decision-making situation that has an economic implication.




The Practice of Management


Book Description

This classic volume achieves a remarkable width of appeal without sacrificing scientific accuracy or depth of analysis. It is a valuable contribution to the study of business efficiency which should be read by anyone wanting information about the developments and place of management, and it is as relevant today as when it was first written. This is a practical book, written out of many years of experience in working with managements of small, medium and large corporations. It aims to be a management guide, enabling readers to examine their own work and performance, to diagnose their weaknesses and to improve their own effectiveness as well as the results of the enterprise they are responsible for.




The Peter F. Drucker Reader


Book Description

The best of Peter F. Drucker’s articles on management, all in one place. That “management” exists as a concept, a practice, and a profession is largely due to the thinking of Peter F. Drucker. For nearly half a century, he inspired and educated managers—and powerfully shaped the nature of business—with his iconic articles in Harvard Business Review. Through the lens of Drucker’s broad vision, this volume presents an opportunity to trace the great shifts in organizations in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries—from manufacturing to knowledge work, from career-length employee tenures to short-term contract relationships, from command-and-control structures to flatter organizations that call for new leadership techniques. These articles also offer a firm and practical grasp of the role of the manager and the executive today—their responsibilities, their relationships, their decisions, and detailed processes that can make their work more effective. A celebrated thinker at his best, in this volume Drucker paints a clear and comprehensive picture of management thinking and practice—both as it is and as it will be. This collection of articles includes: “What Makes an Effective Executive,” “The Theory of the Business,” “Managing for Business Effectiveness,” “The Effective Decision,” “How to Make People Decisions,” “They’re Not Employees, They’re People,” “The New Productivity Challenge,” “What Business Can Learn from Nonprofits,” “The New Society of Organizations,” and “Managing Oneself.”