Book Reviews: June 2008 Archives
Book Review: The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker.
This is the first Drucker book I have read. I've heard so many rave reviews about his books that I just had to try one. I've listened to a few audio programs from Drucker and gained a lot from those, but the book was disappointing.
Like many business books, I felt like this could have been summed up in a blog post or two. Drucker gives long-winded explanations that consist of saying the same thing over and over again. Simply bolding a sentence or two of the main points would have gotten the message across. Further, Drucker backs up his explanation with weak examples that break the flow of his long-winded explanations.
Towards the end of the book I skipped most of the examples (conveniently provided in bullet point paragraphs) and attempted to extract only the main points.
Here are the two "nuggets" that he provided that I found enlightening:
This is the first Drucker book I have read. I've heard so many rave reviews about his books that I just had to try one. I've listened to a few audio programs from Drucker and gained a lot from those, but the book was disappointing.
Like many business books, I felt like this could have been summed up in a blog post or two. Drucker gives long-winded explanations that consist of saying the same thing over and over again. Simply bolding a sentence or two of the main points would have gotten the message across. Further, Drucker backs up his explanation with weak examples that break the flow of his long-winded explanations.
Towards the end of the book I skipped most of the examples (conveniently provided in bullet point paragraphs) and attempted to extract only the main points.
Here are the two "nuggets" that he provided that I found enlightening:
- Effective executives do NOT multi-task. Effective executives focus on one thing at a time for maximum results.
- Effective decisions are not based on the facts, they are based on opinions. The facts are often too hard to find and not substantial enough to make a meaningful decision. Opinions of those around the effective executive are more important because their outcomes can be determined by testing the hypothesis through a trial.
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