The Essential Drucker: The Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker's Essential Writings on Management [Paperback]

 

 

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The late Peter F. Drucker invented the discipline that we know as Management. This book is an excellent compilation of his best works, written over six decades and published in journals, magazines and over 30 books.
I am amazed at the breadth and depth of this compilation. It includes several topics (categorized in sections for Management, The Individual and Society). In the first few chapters Drucker defines management through its tasks and states that "there is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer" (page 20). In the other chapters you will learn Management by Objectives (MBO), the process of making effective decisions, the importance of focusing on contributions and results, get introduced to the "knowledge worker" (page 304), a term Drucker created in the 60s, and learn about the "post-capitalist society" with knowledge as the central resource (page 288). This book has five chapters on Innovation & Entrepreneurship. And more.
While there is a lot of wisdom in each chapter, I will share below my thoughts from 4 chapters that were originally published in "The Effective Executive" (1966):
In Chapter 13: Effectiveness must be Learned, Drucker explains the diferrence between efficiency and effectiveness - efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things. For manual work, efficiency was enough. In today's world, the center of gravity has shifted from the manual worker to the "knowledge worker". For knowledge work, effectiveness is more important than efficiency.
An executive is ... a knowledge worker who is ... responsible for contributions (decisions, actions) ... that have significant impact on ... performance and results of the whole organization (derived from Chapter 13).
In Chapter 14: Focus on Contribution, Drucker stresses the importance of focusing outward, on contributions and results; as opposed to downward, on efforts. He then discusses the four basic requirements of effective human relations - communication, teamwork, self-development and development of others.
In Chapter 16: Know Your Time, Drucker explains time-diagnosis with questions for the executive:
a. What would happen if this were not done at all?
b. Which activities could be done by somebody else just as well, if not better?
c. (ask others) What do I do that wastes your time without contributing to your effectiveness?
Drucker then explains the identification of time wasters caused by - a lack of system, overstaffing, bad organization structure and malfunction in information. He also states that "Time is the scarcest resource, and unless it is managed, nothing else can be managed".
In Chapter 17: Effective Decisions, Drucker explains the decision process in five steps:
a. Determine whether the problem is generic or unique
b. Specify the objectives of the decision and the conditions it needs to satisfy
c. Determine the right solution that will satisfy the specifications and conditions
d. Convert the decision into action
e. Build a feedback process to compare results with expectations
He states that "No decision has been made unless carrying it out in specific steps has become someone's work assignment and responsibility. Until then, there are only good intentions". He then explains the importance of creating disagreement, rather than consensus. He states that disagreement provides alternatives and stimulates imagination and that "The first rule in decision making is that one does not make a decision unless there is disagreement".
This book is an excellent introduction to management. As you may have guessed from the quotes, it contains many of the most famous Druckerisms. I recommend this book as a must read to every manager and anybody interested in management. If my review was helpful to you, I request you to select "Yes" so that the rating is improved and more readers will get to read it.

REVIEW: While I only rated this book 4 stars, keep in mind that this is a relative rating and that Peter Drucker's primary competition is himself. Drucker's books are always full of great thinking and great content, but I'm not sure that this book is for everyone interested in Peter Drucker (at least it's not one that I'd recommend first). First of all, the idea of distilling Drucker's work into a single book of material is hard for me to accept because he has so much great material that was already written fairly concisely (though there some overlap in his works). Does having the Essential Drucker mean you can read it and skip the original books? Certainly not if your serious about becoming a more effective person/executive. It is sort of like picking one Shakespeare or one Mozart, you'll get a good piece of work, but you're still missing a whole lot of important stuff.

Anyway, I think there is a couple situations for which this book will be especially useful. First, it may be most valuable to people (like me) who have read a number of Drucker's books. In essence, the Essential Drucker can act as a short refresher on many of Drucker's important concepts without having to go back and reread all of the original books. For this purpose the book was highly valuable to me. Also, the book may be valuable to those that have read a little Drucker and want to read more, but are unsure which of his many books to start with. Since the introduction lists the book that each chapter was originally published in, you can easy go to the source to expand upon something that interests you. However, for the reader that's fairly new to Drucker, why not go to the source and read something like Management Challenges for the 21st Century, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, The Practice of Management, or The Effective Executive. No matter what you choose you'll get great content related to the theory and practice of management. A final comment, an interesting approach to reading the Essential Drucker would be to read each chapter and then guess what year the chapter was written. In many cases, I think the answer will surprise.

STRENGTHS: As always, you get great content from one of the world's great thinkers on management, organization, and society. His writing is very concise, to-the-point, and sprinkled with real life examples.

WEAKNESSES: Some people are put-off by his very matter-of-fact writing style. He knows when he's right and rarely hedges his statements. Also, those needing fancy diagrams and graphics to learn material will be put off, because there are none.

WHO SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: For the reasons stated above, I'm recommending this book mainly to those who are interested in Drucker's management writings and who are already familiar with some of them. It makes a great refresher.

ALSO CONSIDER: Other major works by Drucker including, Management Challenges for the 21st Century, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, The Practice of Management, and The Effective Executive.

Everything is prefect, except the shipping date is a little long. I do have got notice that the book has been shipped, but only after a week of purchase. Let me give you a advise, If you know it will take some days for shipping to foreign customer, Please mark your item shipped first, and tell them it will take days to arrive. do not pretent the shipping process only take 2 ro 3 days.
Thank you.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Leadership par Excellence
In my humble opinion there is no one who can touch Drucker when it comes to management thinking and this proves it yet again, although my favorite book is "The Daily... Read more

Published on Oct 14 2009 by M. Villaruz

5.0 out of 5 stars A foundation for managers of all types
As a new manager, I have read a few articles and books to help focus my attention on what matters most. None compare to Drucker. Read more

Published on Jun 27 2009 by Sam Krow

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good introduction to Drucker
This is a good book if you are just introducing yourself to Peter Drucker. The author makes several wise selections in the excerpts he chooses especially the section on... Read more

Published on July 9 2004

2.0 out of 5 stars Drucker is no Jim Collins
I'll say up front that I really wanted to enjoy this book. I had heard a lot about Drucker over the years and was excited to be introduced to his work. Read more

Published on Mar 6 2004 by Gregory J. Blencoe

5.0 out of 5 stars Drucker - the Management Guru of the 20th Century
Drucker - Drucker writes about the importance of management. The Japanese used many of Drucker's principles to industrialize Japan!
1. Read more

Published on Oct 13 2003 by Wynand Meyering

5.0 out of 5 stars The only true GURU
A must read for all Managers or "to be" Managers.

Published on Sep 2 2003 by C K Venkatraman

5.0 out of 5 stars Drucker is a BRAND
How do you value a 60 years work condensed into a book? a 92 year old Guru in a book?

This is the condensation of: The New Realities (1988), Management, Tasks, Responsibilities,... Read more

Published on Mar 29 2003 by T SANTOSO

5.0 out of 5 stars The Father of Modern Management
I know of no person besides Peter Drucker who has such a solid reputation for managerial expertise. Anyone in a management position, regardless of the size of the organization,... Read more

Published on Mar 16 2003 by David R. Bess

5.0 out of 5 stars Intellectually stimulating book.
This is the first book of Drucker that I had read. This is the book for all those people out there who have heard, read or come across Drucker's work in their professional life ,... Read more

Published on April 19 2002 by manjithn

5.0 out of 5 stars DRUCKER IS THE BOMB! THIS BOOK IS THE MGMT BOOK!
BUY THE BOOK! Don't read any more reviews, just buy it! More importantly, READ IT, front to back and absorb the material. Read more

Published on Feb 14 2002 by Dan E. Ross

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