Quotes By Peter Drucker

Most discussions of decision making assume that only senior executives make decisions or that only senior executives' decisions matter. This is a dangerous mistake.

So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work.

Most of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get their work done.

Today knowledge has power. It controls access to opportunity and advancement.

Time is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed.

Never mind your happiness; do your duty.

The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.

Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.

Suppliers and especially manufacturers have market power because they have information about a product or a service that the customer does not and cannot have, and does not need if he can trust the brand. This explains the profitability of brands.

Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.

Executives owe it to the organization and to their fellow workers not to tolerate nonperforming individuals in important jobs.

Accept the fact that we have to treat almost anybody as a volunteer.

Few companies that installed computers to reduce the employment of clerks have realized their expectations... They now need more, and more expensive clerks even though they call them 'operators' or 'programmers.'

My greatest strength as a consultant is to be ignorant and ask a few questions.

We can say with certainty - or 90% probability - that the new industries that are about to be born will have nothing to do with information.

Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.

Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility.

No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings.

Checking the results of a decision against its expectations shows executives what their strengths are, where they need to improve, and where they lack knowledge or information.

The most efficient way to produce anything is to bring together under one management as many as possible of the activities needed to turn out the product.

Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.

The productivity of work is not the responsibility of the worker but of the manager.

Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.

Teaching is the only major occupation of man for which we have not yet developed tools that make an average person capable of competence and performance. In teaching we rely on the "naturals," the ones who somehow know how to teach.

The best way to predict the future is to create it.

The computer is a moron.

The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different.

The new information technology... Internet and e-mail... have practically eliminated the physical costs of communications.

Making good decisions is a crucial skill at every level.

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.