The most important, and indeed the truly unique, contribution of management in the 20th century was the fifty-fold increase in the productivity of the MANUAL WORKER in manufacturing. The most important contribution management needs to make in the 21st century is similarly to increase the productivity of KNOWLEDGE WORK and the KNOWLEDGE WORKER.

Every success creates new opportunities. So does every failure.

The essence of management is to make knowledge productive.

The need to manage oneself is creating a revolution in human affairs.

Here I am, fifty-eight, and I still don't know what I'm going to be when I grow up.

Only three things happen naturally in organizations: friction, confusion, and underperformance. Everything else requires leadership.

The task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths so strong that it makes the system's weaknesses irrelevant.