The Effective Executive
“The Effective Executive” by Peter Drucker
My Notes
- staff based on strength
- what can i do really well?
- what can my boss do really well?
- always ask, is this worth doing?
- continually shed all processes if they are not providing value/results
- say yes to less and no more by using the correct boundary conditions (OKRs that drive right results) as guiding lights; you can’t act on everything! You can only truly focus on one thing at a time
- make sure you are measuring the right things — don’t say you want objective X, but reward those or examine data that contradicts the objective.
- continually challenge your objectives and assumptions about how the market or “the field” is working. Otherwise objectives and assumptions can get stale and falter. Get out in the field yourself, learn about your customer, keep your ears low to the ground because reality changes fast!
- don’t start with a conclusion and then try to find facts to back it up
- disagreement is good when making decisions b/c it brings out all of the things that should be thought about before making a decision
Conclusion
- know/record where your time goes
- focus your efforts around the biggest contribution you can make to the company based on your unique skillset; you should try to define this yourself, don’t wait to be handed this from an upper manager
- make your strengths productive; optimize and produce
- Feed opportunities and starve problems
- To make CS exceptional, let’s not focus on yesterday or avoid decision and movement forward — let’s keep making decisions that are extremely focused!
- Don’t tell me you had a good meeting, tell me what your going to do different on Monday
- What can I do different that helps people beyond myself?