4 timeless management tips from Peter Drucker

John Moore of Brand Autopsy provides a thorough review of Jeffrey Krames' book Inside Drucker's Brain. Here are some of the management tips you'll find in John's IDB Project:

1) Solving Problems Solves Little
Jeffrey Krames summarizes Drucker’s wisdom by writing, “Solving problems can only return the organization to its prior status quo. To achieve results managers must exploit opportunities.” Constantly fire-fighting problems will never allow a company to grow. It is only by finding and taking advantage of opportunities that causes a company to grow.

2) Effectiveness is Better than Efficiency
Drucker once said, “Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.” And, Drucker also said, “Doing the right thing is more important than doing the thing right.”

3) Avoid the Misallocation of Resources
Drucker contends too many employees are misallocated and required to work on “yesterday” projects and “yesterday” programs that will not result in helping a company achieve market leadership today. He claims executives, working under ”managerial vanity,” are so desperate to turnaround poor-performing products and programs that they allocate resources to solve problems rather than to find new opportunities.

4) A Business is More Effective When it is Selective
Businesses try too accomplish far too much. They lose concentration and give in to the temptation of being all things to all people. Drucker asserts, “Economic results require that staff efforts be concentrated on the few activities that are capable of producing significant business results. Managers must minimize the amount of attention devoted to products which produce primarily costs.”