Practices of Effective Executives
Business owners and leaders of organizations are always short on time and the to do list can be endless. As the organization grows in size at times things can feel out of control. Growing management ability is key to growing the organization, being competitive and succeeding.
Peter Drucker and the The Effective Executive
Peter Drucker’s “The Effective Executive” is a short, insightful and timeless book on management and leadership.
Peter Drucker, the “Founding father of the science of management…..”, wrote “The Effective Executive” in 1966 in the middle of his storied and lengthy career of study, writing and teaching. He has authored many texts that are required reading at business and management schools around the world. When he recently died the “Economist” honored his seminal life’s work with a lengthy flourish.
The Most Effective Habits of Executives
“The Effective Executive” focuses on managing oneself for effectiveness. Getting “the right things done..” is the mission of the executive. Drucker observed and studied executives in action and enumerated the most effective shared habits:
- Know where your time goes and systematically manage your time
- Focus on outward contribution….results not work
- Build on strengths….your own and that of others
- Set priorities, stick to them and concentrate on the few major areas where superior performance will produce outstanding results
- Make effective decisions, know the right steps in a decision. What is needed are few, but fundamental decisions.
The challenge is to remain focused on the mission of being effective not efficient. It is easy to lapse into the rut of simply being efficient-managing piles of reports, mail, phone calls, text messages and emails; endless arrays of meetings and the depressingly long to-do list. Working longer and longer hours to keep up is the bellweather of the “efficient” but not “effective” executive.
The overworked and frustrated executive will find direction and solutions in the 174 pages of Drucker’s “The Effective Executive”.
Related Best Practices
- Focus for Success - The necessity and practice of focus for managers and leaders to drive success.
- Delegation - The need and practice of delegating.
- Startup CEO Best Practices - Startups need additional talents and experiences.
- Strength Finder -Assessing Strengths of Leaders and Managers - Define and favor your leadership strengths.
- Why Companies Fail
Resources
- "The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done", Peter F. Drucker, 1966.
Author
The author of this article is Terry Gardiner.
Terry Gardiner is the founder and President of Silver Lining Seafoods and NorQuest Seafoods - a medium-size Alaska seafood processing company; and currently a Board member of the Anvil Corporation, an employee-owned company specializing in oil and gas engineering.
His co-operative experiences include member director of the Commercial Fishermen Co-operative association; creation of legislation for the Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank; and advisor to the US Dept of Health and Social Services for the state Health CO-OPs.
Terry served ten years as a member of the Alaska House of Representatives -several legislative committee chairmanships, Speaker of the House, Chairman of the Alaska Criminal Code Commission and board member on various state and federal boards and commissions.
His non-profit experiences include National Policy Director for the Small Business Majority in Washington DC; working with the Herndon Alliance and ForTerra.
Terry authored the leadership book, "Six-Word Lessons to Build Effective Leaders: 100 Lessons to Equip Your People to Create Winning Organizations".
For more check: Terry Gardiner Long bio