The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say "I." And that's not because they have trained themselves not to say "I." They don't think "I." They think "we"; they think "team." They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don't sidestep it, but "we" gets the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.
Peter DruckerWhen the business grows, the person who founded it is incredibly busy. Rapid growth puts an enormous strain on a business. You outgrow your production facilities. You outgrow your management capabilities.
Peter DruckerEntrepreneurship is “risky” mainly because so few of the so-called entrepreneurs know what they are doing.
Peter DruckerPromotion should not be more important than accomplishment, or avoiding instability more important than taking the right risk.
Peter DruckerMost discussions of decision making assume that only senior executives make decisions or that only senior executives' decisions matter. This is a dangerous mistake.
Peter DruckerIt is willingness of people to give of themselves over and above the demands of the job that distinguishes the great from the merely adequate.
Peter Drucker[Entrepreneurship] is by no means hunch or gamble. But it also is not precisely science. Rather, it is judgment.
Peter DruckerDecisions of the kind the executive has to make are not made well by acclamation. They are made well only if based on the clash of conflicting views...The first rule in decision-making is that one does not make a decision unless there is disagreement.
Peter DruckerIt takes far less energy to move from first-rate performance to excellence than it does to move from incompetence to mediocrity.
Peter DruckerKnowledge is the source of Wealth. Applied to tasks we already know, it becomes Productivity. Applied to tasks that are new, it becomes Innovation.
Peter DruckerThe job of a professional manager is not to like people. It is not to change people. It is to put their strengths to work.
Peter DruckerIf a government commission had worked on the horse, you would have the first horse that could operate its knee joint in both directions. The trouble is it couldn't have stood up.
Peter DruckerEvery few hundred years in Western history there occurs a sharp transformation. Within a few short decades, society - its worldview, its basic values, its social and political structures, its art, its key institutions - rearranges itself. We are currently living through such a time.
Peter DruckerManaging innovation will increasingly become a challenge to management, and especially to top management, and a touchstone of its competence.
Peter DruckerBrilliant men are often strikingly ineffectual. They fail to realize that the brilliant insight is not by itself achievement. They never have learned that insights become effectiveness only through hard systematic work.
Peter DruckerSuccessful leaders don't start out asking, 'What do I want to do?' They ask, 'What needs to be done?' Then they ask, 'Of those things that would make a difference, which are right for me?'
Peter DruckerA man should never be appointed into a managerial position if his vision focuses on people's weaknesses rather than on their strengths.
Peter DruckerEvery single social and global issue of our day is a business opportunity in disguise.
Peter DruckerSuccessful people know they need to get many things done-and done effectively. Therefore, they concentrate their time and energy on doing one thing at a time-and on doing first things firs.
Peter DruckerIn todays economy, the most important resource is no longer labor, capital or land; it is knowledge
Peter DruckerOne has to make a decision when a condition is likely to degenerate if nothing is done.
Peter DruckerSuccess? Odd as it seems, you will achieve the greates results in business and career if you drop the word 'achievement' from your vocabulary and replace it with 'contribution'.
Peter DruckerNothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.
Peter DruckerInnovation opportunities do not come with the tempest but with the rustling of the breeze.
Peter DruckerLeadership is lifting a person's vision to high sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.
Peter DruckerAs a manager you're paid to be uncomfortable. If you're comfortable, it's a sure sign you're doing things wrong.
Peter DruckerThe most important contribution management needs to make in the 21st century is ... to increase the productivity of knowledge work and the knowledge worker
Peter DruckerObjectives are not fate; they are direction. They are not commands; they are commitments. They do not determine the future; they are a means to mobilize resources and energies of the business for the making of the future.
Peter DruckerOne of the great movements in my lifetime among educated people is the need to commit themselves to action. Most people are not satisfied with giving money; we also feel we need to work.
Peter DruckerThe most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The true dangerous thing is asking the wrong question.
Peter DruckerQuality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for. A product is not quality because it is hard to make and costs a lot of money, as manufacturers typically believe. This is incompetence. Customers pay only for what is of use to them and gives them value. Nothing else constitutes quality.
Peter DruckerWhenever anything is being accomplished, it is being done, I have learned, by a monomaniac with a mission.
Peter Drucker