Peter F. Drucker (1909–2005)

An excellent book by Peter Drucker. He gets here the essence of what management should be and the actual role of executives in organization. That is to orient the resources available toward their productive usage. Many parts of the book can be extended to a more general conception of productivity or effectiveness than simply the big corporation and interesting conclusions can be drawn to personal productivity or family management for example. From time management to the effective way of taking decisions, all the key concepts are here and illustrated by highlights of the first half of the twentieth century history, be it from business or military worlds.… (mer)

A very practical read that remains relevant, despite being written in 1966. Drucker premises the book about maximizing the effectiveness (getting the right things done) of a new class of 'knowledge workers' -- what strikes me as particularly relevant is the these lessons can be applied beyond the stereotypical white collar office worker, particularly in service and light manufacturing.

Today, I don't think there is as clear of a dichotomy as Drucker proposes. All workers would benefit from:
-Reducing the non-value add work that wastes their time and energy (Know Thy Time)
-Focusing their efforts on high-contribution initiatives (What Can I Contribute?)
-Having jobs that are designed to be demanding and big, so as to be engaged to grow personally and professionally (Making Strength Productive)
-Communicate what parts of their role could be abandoned or de-prioritized (First Things First)

The book can lose your attention a bit in written form, so I particularly enjoyed the free audiobook version available as a podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8xMjI1ZDRkMC9wb2RjYXN...… (mer)