Effective Executive by Peter Drucker is a leadership classic. Drucker’s work has served as the foundation of modern business principles, and Effective Executive is one of his seminal books.
The book focuses on a few key ideas:
- Effectiveness can be learnt - it is a tool for managing oneself.
- Know where your time goes. Actively manage, measure and make modifications to get the most of your day. This applies to yourself, individuals you manage and teams.
- An executive is always focused on their own and their teams contributions
- An executive is always building on strengths vs weakness
- An executive is always focused on concentration through prioritization
- Effective executives need to know how to make good decisions
Most of the concepts in the book are centered in the domain of self management. The central premise of the book is that effectiveness is the art of managing oneself. The notion of tracking and managing time, a central technique explored in the book, is an excellent productivity tool.
However, many concepts also apply to the individual and team domains. The sections on contribution, strengths and concentration - all have lessons for managing individuals and creating organizational flow. There is a significant focus in managing teams time and running effective meetings.
The lessons from Effective Executive fit well in the structure of the lattice, and reinforce the lattice as a useful framework for learning about leadership and management.