The Essential Drucker: In One Volume the Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker's Essential Writings on Management

by Peter F. Drucker

Book Overview

In one volume a selection of the essential writings from Peter F. Drucker's sixty years of work on management.

The first selection of Drucker's management work from The Practice of Management (1954) to Management Challenges for the 21st Century (1999), this book offers, in Drucker's words, a coherent and fairly comprehensive Introduction to management and] gives an overview of my works on management and thus answers a question I have been...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0066210879
• ISBN13: 9780066210872
• Release Date: June 2001
• Publisher: Harper Business
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Lead, at least Your Own Life

" No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it. " - Andrew Carnegie / " But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated. " - Ernest Hemingway / " Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. " - Peter Drucker … As each individual is to lead, at least his/her own life, he/she needs to keep these mottoes in mind and think about them seriously ...

Grandfather of management science for today

For a long time I had been intending to read something of Drucker. He is, after all, the grandfather of management science. But I kept putting it off, for I am a busy executive and need answers to my current management problems. The old man, I thought, would have less to tell me then, say, Roberts in "The Modern Firm" (which is an excellent book) or some of my internal reports. "The Essential Drucker" it seemed, would be the right way to do my duty to history. Here I could quickly peruse a medley of the Drucker's outdated thoughts, and move on. Oh how wrong I was. Drucker's writing is as fresh and relevant today as when first written. His prescient insights foreshadow many recent works. Indeed, I found the essence of Tom Collins in the first few chapters; condensed and not said in quite the same way, of course, but the principle insights were the same. Drucker has reminded me that fundamental truths are timeless. And there is something else I especially like; the tone. Drucker writes like a commander. He has confidence - not a blaring promotional edge - but a sense of solidity and authority that comes from saying things meaningful, clear, practical, logical; things from someone with his feet firmly on the ground. Don't miss this book if you are not sure of where to start with Drucker. It may whet your appetite for more Drucker.

An excellent compilation of Drucker's best works. A must read for every manager.

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 int

The "Essentials" (Thus Far)

It is worth noting that the selections in this volume were made by Drucker himself from books and articles written during a 60-year career, one which continues in his 93rd year. According to Drucker, this volume has two purposes: "First, it offers, I hope, a coherent and fairly comprehensive Introduction to Management. But second, it gives an Overview of my works on management and thus answers a question that my editors and I have asked again and again. Where do I start to read Drucker? Which of his writings are essential?" The material is divided within three parts: Management, The Individual, and Society. In all of what Drucker has published thus far, he either asserts or implies that the profession of management has obligations to society in general (indeed to the global human community) as well as to any one organization. Indeed, he entitles another of his works The Profession of Management. The title of Drucker's first chapter in this volume suggests this: "Management as Social Function and Liberal Art." The title of the final chapter is "From Analysis to Perception -- The New Worldview." As always, Drucker has one eye on the task at hand and the other on the future. All of the material in this volume is first-rate. It remains for each reader to determine which material is of greatest relevance to her or his specific needs and interests. Other reviewers may wish to quibble with Drucker about some of his selections. Be my guest.

Summary of Peter Drucker's For-Profit Management Advice

Before going further, let me note that this book is mislabeled. The excerpts in this book are from only ten of Professor Drucker's more than 30 management books. Although there is some reference to nonprofit management (where he spent half of his time), this volume does not encapsulate all of his ideas in that sphere. Many of his early ideas about society are also missing.As great as his ideas about management are, his observations about how to think are even more valuable. The book contains no material from his autobiography, Adventures of a Bystander. You cannot hope to fully appreciate this material until you read that book. What the book does contain is a fairly easy to follow series of 26 excerpts from the ten books, organized into three sections: Management, Individual, and Society. These books date back to 1954, so you get an overview of part of his work over the last 47 years. This overview will mainly be valuable to managers who have read very little Drucker, since there is essentially no new material in the book. The excerpts are also not connected by any transitions, so there is no additional perspective available from the book's organization. Here are the sources of the chapters:The New Realities, Chapters 1 and 26;Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, Chapters 2, 3, 5, and 18;Managing for the Future, Chapters 4 and 19;Management Challenges for the 21st Century, Chapters 6, 15, 21;Managing in a Time of Great Change, Chapters 7 and 23;Practice of Management, Chapter 8;Frontiers of Management, Chapter 9;Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Chapters 10-12, 20, and 24;The Effective Executive, Chapters 13, 14, 16, and 17; andPost-Capitalist Society, Chapters 22 and 25.If you are not familiar with Professor Drucker, he is generally considered to be the first person to think systematically about what management is and needs to become. He was also the first to identify that we were moving into a knowledge-based society where the focus of work and the ways that work is organized would have to be totally transformed. His definition of what a business must do is the most often quoted one around: "The purpose of a business is to create a customer." Innovation and marketing are the prime tasks. The book is especially deep in references to his seminal thinking on how to innovate and to operate entrepreneurial businesses. He was also the first twentieth century thinker to see the connection between management of for profit and nonprofit organizations, and that both types of organizations are needed in growing numbers for a sound society. This book is also deeply presents his thinking about the social responsibility of business.I am still impressed by how substantial his imprint is on all management books that I read. Whether or not Professor Drucker is cited, credited, or admired in these books, almost all of them are simply restatements or elaborations on his fundamental concepts. I hope this edition of his work will he

Compendium of 60 Yrs. of Managerial Research/Reflection

There probably does not exist a major league manager who has not been influenced by Drucker. This is a compilation of his books spanning his career thus far on the topic of management.Drucker is always tight in his style and words with thoughts that at first make one sit up and take notice. The first chapter sets the tone for the rest. This quote says it all: "Actually, waht is our business? is almost always a difficult question and the right answer is usually anything but obvious. The answer to the question, What is our business? is the first responsibility of top management. That business purpose and business mission are so rarely given adequate thought is perhaps the single most important cause of business frustration and business failure."To his vast experience and knowledge, it is so refreshing to here him denounce profitability as a myth for the purpose of any business. He calls it irrelevant. Of the highest relevancy for Drucker are two basic functions: makerting and innovation.Hurray, say all the marketing types! Wish the top management could join in the understanding. Drucker's views are wide open to reality searching with broad vision over the world panorama. This book is exceptional collection of some of Drucker's best writing. Well chosen for their punch and coverage of such a vital, modern topic as management, this book will serve practioners as well as those who desire an understanding of the topic.