The Effective Executive

Peter F. Drucker

Overview: Drucker’s seminal work, serves as a manifesto for executives who are trying to learn how to accomplish more meaningful impacts within their companies Drucker draws from his vast experience of organizational management consulting to observe those traits that are present in all executives who perform well in his experience. He begins by walking through his five practices that he has observed in effective executives: (1) understanding their time commitments, (2) focus on contributions that face outward, (3) building on organizational and individual strengths, (4) concentrating on only a couple major areas of most benefit, and (5) making decisions. He then spends an extended period talking about how to make effective decisions.

• In Chapter 1, Drucker states, “The greatest wisdom not applied to action and behaviors is meaningless data.” Later he presents his five practices of effective executives. How does this list apply to your job? What items might be missing? Which of the items seem most relevant to leadership in the USAF? In joint environments?
• Chapter 2, the author states, “getting rid of anything that can be done by somebody else so that one does not have to delegate but can really get to one’s own work—that is a major improvement in effectiveness.” Drucker points to the importance of consolidating free time in to larger chunks. What problems can you foresee with ruthlessly applying this maxim? What benefits can you see from it? How could this help you accomplish your current job better?
• Chapter 3, Drucker states, “the man who focuses on contribution and who takes responsibility for results, no matter how junior, is in the most literal sense of the phrase, “top management.’” How does this relate to your unit organizations? At the end of the chapter, Drucker alludes to how a focus on contribution can help to cut through chaotic and competing events, thus allowing more effective prioritization. When leading in your organization, do you see this as being the case? How is this philosophy effective? Ineffective?
• In Chapter 4, Drucker proposes, “The effective executive makes strength productive. He knows that one cannot build on weakness. The effective executive knows that to get strength one has to put up with weaknesses.” Do leaders in your organization tend to focus your organization’s efforts from areas of strength or to address areas of weakness? How can you help your organization succeed in spite of the weaknesses of its people? How can you help the USAF do the same?
• Chapter 5, the author identifies that it is the “executive’s specific job—whether he works in government, in a business, or in any other institution—to commit today’s resources to the future. Further, that there is no guarantee that the policy area a politician or an administrator has decided to slight may not explode into the hottest and most dangerous political issue.” How would you commit Air Force resources to the future when we must win the current fight? What can you do to avoid “sunk costs” in your day-to-day work? How could a person’s volatility impact your interpersonal relationships? How do you prepare for and operate during such circumstances?
• In Chapter 6, Drucker proposes that the first question the effective decision-maker must ask is: “Is this a generic situation or an exception?’” Why do you believe this is important? Drucker next spends time addressing the different kinds of compromise. How much do you believe is effective compromise predicated on the parties involved and how much on the circumstances of the specific situation?
• Chapter 7, Drucker states that traditional measurements reflect yesterday’s decision. If new measurements are required, the old measurement is no longer relevant. Drucker asks the question “Does all this still apply today when we have the computer?” Where have you seen old measurements used to evaluate a changed environment/situation and they not fit? As we move forward with autonomous technologies, artificial intelligence, and the like; how do these technological advances help or hinder us in leading effectively?