The Daily Drucker

Good Books: (via Emergic) The Daily Drucker is a compilation of Drucker’s writings in easy-to-absorb capsules. The Daily Drucker is a must read + requires commitment + habitualize reading with action. It's not that easy.

He writes:
General George C. Marshall followed Five Simple Decision Steps in making people decisions. First, Marshall carefully thought about the assignment. Job descriptions may last a long time, but job assignments change all the time. Second, Marshall always looked at several qualified people. Formal qualifications, such as those listed in a resume, are no more than a starting point. Their absence disqualifies a candidate. However, the most important thing is that the person and assignment fit each other. To find the best fit, you need to consider at least three to five candidates. Third, Marshall studied the performance records of all three to five candidates to find what each did well. He looked at the candidates strengths. The things a person cannot do are of little importance; instead, you must concentrate on the things they can do and determine whether they are the right strengths for this particular assignment. Performance can only be built on strengths. Fourth, Marshall discussed the candidates with others who worked with them. The best information often comes through informal discussions with a candidate’s former bosses and colleagues. And fifth, once the decision was made, Marshall made sure the appointee understood the assignment. Perhaps the best way to do this is to ask the new person to carefully think over what they have to do to be a success, and then, ninety days into the job, have the person to commit it to writing.

This excerpt is via 800-CEO-Read:
Drucker’s primary contribution is not a single idea, but rather an entire body of work that has one gigantic advantage: nearly all of it is essentially right. Drucker has an uncanny ability to develop insights about the workings of the social world, and to later be proved right by history. His first book, The End of Economic Man, published in 1939, sought to explain the origins of totalitarianism; after the fall of France in 1940, Winston Churchill made it a required part of the book kit issued to every graduate of the British Officer’s Candidate School. His 1946 book The Concept of the Corporation analyzed the technocratic corporation, based upon an in-depth look at General Motors. It so rattled senior management in its accurate foreshadowing of future challenges to the corporate state that it was essentially banned at GM during the Sloan era. Drucker’s 1964 book was so far ahead of its time in laying out the principles of corporate strategy that his publisher convinced him to abandon the title Business Strategies in favor of Managing for Results, because the term strategy was utterly foreign to the language of business.

There are two ways to change the world: with the pen (the use of ideas) and with the sword (the use of power). Drucker chooses the pen, and has rewired the brains of thousands who carry the sword.

Drucker’s genius shines best in the short paragraph or single sentence that cuts through the clutter and messiness of a complex world and exposes a truth. Like a Zen poet, Drucker packs universal truth into just a few words; we can return to his teachings repeatedly, each time with a deeper level of understanding. This wonderful collection presents these pearls of insight in one place, where you can reflect upon them one at a time, without having to read all 10,000 pages.