Posts from — October 2007

Peter Drucker made to the world, and especially the world of business. One of the more useful resources in this context is the book ‘The Essential Drucker’. For my class I had prepared a sumamry of content. I am posting it here as I am convinced it is a good source of information for those who contemplate to look deeper into Druckers ideas and philosophies.

The Essential Drucker 

Ever since his first book was published some six decades ago, Peter Drucker has been essential to everyone serious about the “management of an enterprise (and) the self-management of the individual, whether executive or professional, within an enterprise and altogether in our society of managed organizations.” This distinguished 30-year

Claremont

University professor has continuously identified critical principles in management, economics, politics, and the world in general. And he has redirected our thinking about them through more than two dozen books, including an autobiography and a couple of works of fiction.  With The Essential Drucker, he has overseen the compilation of his most important fundamentals into one indispensable book. Reaching back as far as 1954 with his treatise “Management by Objectives and Self-Control” (”Each manager, from the ‘big boss’ down to the production foreman or the chief clerk, needs clearly spelled-out objectives” that clarify expected contributions “to the attainment of company goals in all areas of the business”),

Drucker’s now-established ideas take on a surprising new relevancy when remixed equally pioneering ideas from the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. Between the thoughtful “Management as Social and Liberal Art” through the provocative “From Analysis to Perception–The New Worldview” (both originally published in 1988’s The New Realities), this book revisits some of modern management’s most inspired writing and presents it in a way that should appeal to both newcomers and those needing a refresher course on Drucker’s basic beliefs. –Howard Rothman 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. 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: Ø      The New Realities, Chapters 1 and 26; n style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: Georgia">Ø      Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, Chapters 2, 3, 5, and 18; Ø      Managing for the Future, Chapters 4 and 19; Ø      Management Challenges for the 21st Century, Chapters 6, 15, 21; Ø      Managing in a Time of Great Change, Chapters 7 and 23; Ø      Practice of Management, Chapter 8; Ø      Frontiers of Management, Chapter 9; Ø      Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Chapters 10-12, 20, and 24; Ø      The Effective Executive, Chapters 13, 14, 16, and 17; and Ø      Post-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.

After you finish reading these landmark ideas, I suggest that you think about one element of the book from the individual section.

Ø      What values do you want to bring to your work?

Ø      Are you succeeding?

Ø      If yes, congratulations! How can you accomplish more?

Ø      If not, what can you change to make those values come to life?

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.

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  

Ø      Management by Objectives (MBO),

Ø      the process of making effective decisions,

Ø      the importance of focusing on contributions and results,

Ø      get introduced to the “knowledge worker” (page 304), a term Drucker created in the 60s,

Ø      and learn about the “post-capitalist society” with knowledge as the central resource (page 288).  

Thoughts from 4 chapters that were originally published in “The Effective Executive” (1966):

In Chapter 13: Effectiveness must be Learned, Drucker explains the difference 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”.

Axel Meierhofer, President AMC LLC

It’s about metrics.  We start out by benchmarking and scientifically measuring known performance successes within any given job as determined by our client companies or individuals.  Each job has its own specific demands and pressures as well as technical duties. How well each person responds to these job demands can be affected by one’s own individual “Px-12 Performance Drivers”. The Px-12 Profile addresses how a person responds to outside everyday experiences through a scientific assessment of their performance drivers. These drivers determine a person’s “adaptive mechanism” which in turn affects the level of stress and productivity levels. The Profile is a valid tape measure of the human response to performance and a predictor of how people will function on the job.

The more clearly you understand the derivative of people’s performance, the more likely companies and individuals are to achieve success in hiring top performers in an organization.  Understanding what makes people perform differently is key. The Px-12 Profile™ is the key to what makes the PerformanceIQ hiring systems so accurate and objective as it provides the need-to-know critical information in the three (3) major categories that differentiate people’s performance:

1. Self-Motivation
2. Fear or Stress Motivation
3. Drive Scale or thinking speed,

all which the Px-12 Performance Profile™ measures. You can learn more about it at www.MyPerformanceIQ.com

Axel Meierhoefer, President AMC LLC

Leadership and Change

Change is frightening, invigorating, enlivening, and deadening.

Change is emotional. Pay attention to your emotions and the emotions of others as you move through change. Embedded in emotion is motion, scan emotions during change for their reactions, inactions, or actions.

Change is transition. Transitions are the psychological adaptations to change. William Bridges outlined the transitional process of change. It begins with an end, has a neutral zone in between, and ends with a beginning. Your first concern during change needs to be: What is ending and what is being lost with this change?

Change is learning. The most common definition of learning is a change resulting from experience. What do you need to learn to manage change and what have you learned from mastering change?
 

Change is impermanence. Nothing is permanent or lasts - good or bad. From an Eastern perspective we need to recognize impermanence and that much of our suffering is due to clinging to the way things were or hoping for things not to change.

Change is a central feature of life. Change often asks us to let go or loosen our hold of the way things were.

Change is a metaphor. What is change like for you? Develop a personal metaphor for change to get a fresh perspective. Perhaps even a laugh as you compare change to something ridiculous. Creating metaphors can be a way to play with change and mentally break free from change challenges.

Change is a stage. From the stages of loss: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance to the other change model. Examine models outlining the stages of change and consult them as a guide to navigate through the complexity, ambiguity, and uncertainty of change. 

Change is ineffable. Change is more than words. It is actions, relationships, advancement, loss, opportunity, stress, and so much more. The wisest comment about change can be distilled to the two simple words woven through this page:  

Change is!

 Everything else is extra.

By Axel Meierhofer, Presidnet AMC LLC, with permission from David Zinger,

I recently found a very interesting list of statement I like to share with you today. It was given to me by Gary Morais. You be your own judge for where you fall along this list. Here it goes:

Winner versus Loser

The winner:              is always part of the game

The loser:                 is always part of the problem

The winner:              always has a program

The loser:                 always has an excuse

The winner:              says, “Let me do it for you”

The loser:                 says, “That’s not my job”

The winner:              sees an answer for every problem

The loser:                 sees a problem for every answer

The winner:              sees green at every sand trap

The loser:                 sees two or three sand traps at every green

The winner:              says, “It may be difficult, but it’s possible”

The loser:                  says, “It may be possible, but it’s difficult”

 

Axel Meierhoefer, President AMC LLC