25 Best Quotes on Managing Change

Successfully Lead in Change Management

“We are all prisoners of our past. It is hard to think of things except in the way we have always thought of them. But that solves no problems and seldom changes anything.”
Charles Handy (b. 1932), British Management Guru

“Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
James Baldwin (1924–1987), American Novelist

“If anything is certain, it is that change is certain. The world we are planning for today will not exist in this form tomorrow.”
Philip Crosby (1926–2001), Expert on Quality Management

“Every new change forces all the companies in an industry to adapt their strategies to that change.”
Bill Gates (b. 1955), Computer Pioneer and Philanthropist

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.”
John F. Kennedy (1917–63), American Head of State

'Leading Change' by John P. Kotter (ISBN 1422186431) “To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.”
Henri Bergson (1859–1941), French Philosopher

“Change masters are – literally – the right people in the right place at the right time. The right people are the ones with the ideas that move beyond the organization’s established practice, ideas they can form into visions. The right places are the integrative environments that support innovation, encourage the building of coalitions and teams to support and implement visions. The right times are those moments in the flow of organizational history when it is possible to reconstruct reality on the basis on accumulated innovations to shape a more productive and successful future.”
Rosabeth Moss Kanter (b. 1943), Harvard Professor of Management

“If you want truly to understand something, try to change it.”
Kurt Lewin (1890–1947), American Psychologist

“Producing major change in an organization is not just about signing up one charismatic leader. You need a group – a team – to be able to drive the change. One person, even a terrific charismatic leader, is never strong enough to make all this happen.”
John Kotter (b. 1947), American Management Consultant

“The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.”
Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947), English Mathematician and Philosopher

'Managing Change (Pocket Mentor)' by Harvard Business School Press (ISBN 1422129691) “There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.”
Nicolo Machiavelli (1469–1527), Italian Diplomat and Author

“Where there are changes, there are always business opportunities.”
Minoru Makihara (b. 1930), Japanese Executive and CEO of Mitsubishi Corporation

“Change is inevitable – except from a vending machine.”
Robert C. Gallagher, American Humorist

Change Management is about People Management

“The new always carries with it the sense of violation, of sacrilege. What is dead is sacred; what is new, that is, different, is evil, dangerous, or subversive.”
Henry Miller (1891–1980), American writer

“The manager, in today’s world, doesn’t get paid to be a steward of resources, a favored term not so many years ago. He or she gets paid for one and only one thing: to make things better (incrementally and dramatically), to change things, to act – today.”
Tom Peters (b. 1942), American Management Guru

'Managing Change in Organizations: A Practice Guide' by Project Management Institute (ISBN 1628250151) “We cannot become what we need to be, by remaining what we are.”
Max De Pree (b. 1924), American Business Executive

“Change is scientific, progress is ethical; change is indubitable, whereas progress is a matter of controversy.”
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), British Philosopher, Logician, and Mathematician

“If you can’t change your fate, change your attitude.”
Amy Tan (b. 1952), American Author

“There are companies which are prepared to change the way they work. They realize that nothing can be based on what used to be, that there is a better way. But, 99 percent of companies are not ready, [they are] caught in an industrial Jurassic Park.”
Ricardo Semler (b. 1959), Brazilian Business Executive and Author

“Change Management: The process of paying outsiders to create the pain that will motivate insiders to change, thereby transferring the change from the company’s coffers into those of the consultants.”
Eileen Shapiro, American Management Author

'Lean Change Managment: Innovative Practices For Managing Organizational Change' by Jason Little (ISBN 0990466507) “If an organization is to meet the challenges of a changing world, it must be prepared to change everything about itself except beliefs…. The only sacred cow in an organization should be its basic philosophy of doing business.”
Thomas Watson Jr. (1914–93), American Business Executive

“A change of heart is the essence of all other change and it is brought about by a re-education of the mind.”
Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence (1867–1954), English Women’s Rights Activist

“Organizations need employees who understand that change is the norm and employees who are prepared to learn continuously.”
Beverly Goldberg, American Management Author

“We are living through the most profound changes in the economy since the Industrial Revolution. Technology, globalization, and the accelerating pace of change have yielded chaotic markets, fierce competition, and unpredictable staff requirements.”
Bruce Tulgan (b. 1967), American Business Author

“You can’t move so fast that you try to change the [norms] faster than people can accept it. That doesn’t mean you do nothing, but it means that you do the things that need to be done according to priority.”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962), American First and Author

Recommended Books on Change Management

Koch Industries’ Market-Based Management

Koch Industries

Koch Industries employs a rigorous approach called the Market-Based Management philosophy to run the business. CEO Charles Koch has perfected his management playbook over the decades, and in 2007, published a book called “The Science of Success”, explaining how the system works at Koch.

MBM, as Koch employees call it, lies at the heart of how Koch operates every day. MBM is significant for the reason that it unites Koch’s employees, giving them a common language and a common goal. There is not a lot of art on the walls in Koch’s headquarters, but everywhere you turn, there is a copy of MBM’s 10 guiding principles hanging from the wall. When employees get a free cup of Starbucks coffee in the break room, the principles are printed on the disposable cup.

Five Dimensions of Koch Industries’ Market-Based Management

Companies owned by Koch Industries strive to bring the productive power of the free market into their operations by systematically applying Koch’s market based management philosophy through these five dimensions:

  1. Vision: Determining where and how the organization can create the greatest long-term value.
  2. Virtue and Talents: Helping ensure that people with the right values, skills and capabilities are hired, retained and developed.
  3. Knowledge Processes: Creating, acquiring, sharing and applying relevant knowledge, and measuring and tracking profitability. (Read, “Knowledge sharing in action,” from Discovery newsletter.)
  4. Decision Rights: Ensuring the right people are in the right roles with the right authority to make decisions and holding them accountable.
  5. Incentives: Rewarding people according to the value they create for the organization.

The Kochs Brothers consists of Charles Koch and David Koch. Two other brothers, William and Frederick, cashed out in 1983 and no longer have a stake in the company. The Koch brothers became heir to their father’s company in Kansas, and Koch Industries into the second-largest privately held company in the nation. The conglomerate makes a gamut of products including Dixie cups, chemicals, jet fuel, fertilizer, electronics, toilet paper and much more.

Kochs Brothers: Charles Koch and David Koch

Guiding Principles of Koch Industries’ Market-Based Management

'The Science of Success: How Market-Based Management Built the World's Largest Private Company' by Charles G. Koch (ISBN 0470139889) Market-Based Management has ten guiding principles that set the standards for evaluating policies, practices and conduct, establishing norms of behavior and building the shared values that guide individual actions. These guiding principles also serve as rules of just conduct along with shared values and beliefs. Koch’s focus and hard nosed thinking combined with his application of economics to management decision making, have enabled his firm to grow into a nimble, large company that keeps performing excellently.

  1. Integrity: Conduct all affairs with integrity, for which courage is the foundation.
  2. Compliance: Strive for 10,000% compliance with all laws and regulations, which requires 100% of employees fully complying 100% of the time. Stop, think and ask.
  3. Value Creation: Create long-term value by the economic means for customers, the company and society. Apply MBM to achieve superior results by making better decisions, pursuing safety and environmental excellence, eliminating waste, optimizing and innovating.
  4. Principled Entrepreneurship: Apply the judgment, responsibility, initiative, economic and critical thinking skills, and sense of urgency necessary to generate the greatest contribution, consistent with the company’s risk philosophy.
  5. Customer Focus: Understand and develop relationships with customers to profitably anticipate and satisfy their needs.
  6. Knowledge: Seek and use the best knowledge and proactively share your knowledge while embracing a challenge process. Develop measures that lead to profitable action.
  7. Change: Anticipate and embrace change. Envision what could be, challenge the status quo and drive creative destruction through experimental discovery.
  8. Humility: Exemplify humility and intellectual honesty. Constantly seek to understand and constructively deal with reality to create value and achieve personal improvement. Hold yourself and others accountable.
  9. Respect: Treat others with honesty, dignity, respect and sensitivity. Appreciate the value of diversity. Encourage and practice teamwork.
  10. Fulfillment: Find fulfillment and meaning in your work by fully developing your capabilities to produce results that create the greatest value.

Robert Greene’s “The 48 Laws of Power”: 48 Laws of Manipulation

48 Laws of Manipulation

'The 48 Laws of Power ' by Robert Greene (ISBN 0140280197) [Robert Greene’s ‘The 48 Laws of Power’ identifies a darker path to fulfil our deep seeded desire to be powerful. The philosophies and actions advocated in this book are callous, unprincipled, devious, scheming, manipulative—a good dose of pure utilitarian nonsense for the foolish, insensitive, and greedy personality. Manipulation is a term much more appropriate for the suggestions in this book. Manipulation by means of deceit and maintaining the illusion of power is what you are going to learn from this book, not how to be ethical and influential!

  1. Kiss the boss’s ass.
  2. Make enemies. You can learn from them.
  3. Conceal your intentions.
  4. Speak cryptically.
  5. Defend your reputation; destroy those who challenge it.
  6. Be an attention seeker.
  7. Use other people to do things for you and take the credit.
  8. Bait people.
  9. Don’t analyze, act.
  10. People who are hurt are like contagious parasites.
  11. Make people depend on you.
  12. Be “selectively honest”, disarm your “victim” with generosity.
  13. People have no sense of mercy or thankfulness.
  14. Pretend to be someone’s friend while gathering information on them.
  15. Destroy people, annihilate them. Ruin their lives.
  16. Play hookie to make people “want” you.
  17. Engage in interpersonal intimidation.
  18. Be one in the crowd; use the crowd to shield you from your enemies.
  19. Don’t screw over the wrong person.
  20. Be non-committal.
  21. Pretend to be dumb, so they won’t suspect.
  22. Surrender, to stab your enemy in the back.
  23. Use every resource you have to defeat an enemy.
  24. Flatter people, yield to your boss, and be cruel to those under you.
  25. Don’t abide by the social contract. Ally yourself only to yourself. Redefine this self to get as much attention as possible.
  26. Keep your hands clean: erase any knowledge others have of you messing things up. Never admit to your mistakes. Instead, scapegoat other people.
  27. Develop a God complex. Feed people what they want to hear and make them follow you.
  28. Be bold in all of your actions.
  29. Plan out every little thing.
  30. Make your accomplishments seem effortless. Also, never let anyone know how you did them.
  31. Control people’s options.
  32. Feed people the lies they want to hear.
  33. Find out everyone’s button, save this information, and push it accordingly.
  34. Act like a member of royalty.
  35. Master timing.
  36. Show contempt for things (and people) you cannot have. By showing you are upset, you are admitting “weakness”.
  37. Create a lot of spectacles.
  38. Behave like other people as a mask.
  39. Use other people’s emotions; play with them.
  40. Free things are dangerous. Instead, pay for everything yourself and make sure people see it.
  41. Don’t follow in anyone’s footsteps.
  42. Attack someone that bothers you. Don’t bother negotiating or understanding them. Just attack them so they shut up and your reputation remains intact.
  43. Seduce people by playing with their emotions.
  44. Mirror people so they get annoyed and humiliated.
  45. Preach “change” and other vague promises, but never act too much on them.
  46. Pretend to mess up once in a while. People will see that you’re not a sociopath after all.
  47. Achieve in moderation.
  48. Be formless. Form, order, routine equals predictability. And those watchful guys following you over your shoulder all this time will spot that and destroy you.

25 Best Quotes on Being a Manager

Twenty-Five Quotes on Being a Manager

'Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader' by Linda Hill, Kent Lineback (ISBN 142216389X)“Most ideas on management have been around for a very long time, and the skill of the manager consists in knowing them all and, rather as he might choose the appropriate golf club for a specific situation, choosing the particular ideas which are most appropriate for the position and time in which he finds himself.”
Sir John Harvey-Jones, English Businessman

“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”
Theodore Roosevelt, Former President of the United States

“Sure, lots of managers talk about the importance of people, but so much of that talk is lip service. Very few managers carry through when it comes to managing their human capital in constructive ways. A lot of people think that managers are jerks, and unfortunately, as a profession, we’ve earned that reputation.”
John Reh, Business Executive

“The extraordinary manager operates on the emotional and spiritual resources of the organization, on its values, commitment, and aspirations.”
Warren Bennis, American Academic and Management Consultant

“If the role of rewards is to drive performance, managers should make performance the only lever for controlling rewards. That means it is critical to make very clear to individual contributors exactly what performance—what results, within what guidelines, parameters and deadlines—the organization needs and will therefore reward.”
Bruce Tulgan, Management Consultant

'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' by Stephen Covey (ISBN 1451639619)“Only when all managers are fully committed to needed change can an organization begin the process of getting the lower-level employees on board. These employees will sense any lack of a manager’s conviction by the way the manager expresses the need for change. Managers must be sincerely behind the proposed changes.”
Don Harrison, Former Anchor on CNN Headline News

“People are the key to success in any undertaking, including business. The foremost distinguishing feature of effective managers seems to be their ability to recognize talent and to surround themselves with able colleagues.”
Norman Augustine, American Aerospace Businessman

“A basic rule for managers is “Pass the pride down.” People like to create when they can earn recognition for their ideas. When a good idea surfaces, the creator’s immediate superiors should show prompt appreciation.”
James L. Hayes, Former president of the American Management Association

“The key, essential element in all good business management is emotional attitude. The rest is mechanics. As I use the term, management is not a collection of boxes with names and titles on the organizational chart. Management is a living force. It is the force that gets things done to acceptable standards—high standards, if you will. You either have it in a company or you don’t. Management must have a purpose, a dedication, and that dedication must be an emotional commitment. It must be built in as a vital part of the personality of anyone who truly is a manager.”
Harold Geneen, Former President of the ITT Corporation

“As a leader in your organization, how important is it for you and your managers to coach others? Plenty! If coaching is alive in the organization, then it’s probably doing things right. If there is little or no coaching going on, then you are unlikely to find real teamwork, real ongoing improvement, and true leadership.”
Linda Richardson, Management Consultant

'The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter' by Michael Watkins (ISBN 1422188612)“The achievement of stability, which is the manager’s objective, is a never-to-be attained ideal. He is like a symphony orchestra conductor, endeavoring to maintain a melodious performance in which the contributions of the various instruments are coordinated and sequenced, patterned and paced, while the orchestra members are having various personal difficulties, stage hands are moving music stands, alternating excessive heat and cold are creating audience and instrumental problems, and the sponsor of the concert is insisting on irrational changes in the program.”
Leonard Sayles, Management Consultant

“Good management consists in showing average people how to do the work of superior people.”
John D. Rockefeller, American Business Magnate and Philanthropist

“A manager’s job should be based on a task to be performed in order to attain the company’s objectives… the manager should be directed and controlled by the objectives of performance rather than by his boss… . Management means, in the last analysis, the substitution of thought for brawn and muscle, of knowledge for folklore and superstition, and of cooperation for force.”
Peter Drucker, Management Consultant

“If you are the boss and your people fight you openly when they think you’re wrong, that’s healthy. If your people fight each other openly in your presence for what they believe in, that’s healthy. But keep all conflict eyeball to eyeball.”
Robert Townsend, American Actor, Comedian, Film Director, Writer

“The secret of managing is to keep the five guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided.”
Casey Stengel, American Major League Baseball Outfielder and Manager

'Assertiveness: How to Stand Up for Yourself and Still Win the Respect of Others' by Judy Murphy (ISBN 1495446859)“Hire the best. Pay them fairly. Communicate frequently. Provide challenges and rewards. Believe in them. Get out of their way—they’ll knock your socks off.”
Mary Ann Allison and Eric Anderson, Management Consultants

“People don’t quit companies; they quit managers. When managers talk about loyalty, what they really mean is that they can count on someone. People aren’t loyal to a company, or to the year-end results—they’re loyal to other people. And they will be loyal to managers who support their development, recognize their achievements, and understand their need to balance work and personal life. But managers will have to earn that level of performance and commitment. Make no mistake, when it comes to employee retention: the manager is absolutely pivotal.”
Barbara Moses, Career Advisor

“The worst rule of management is “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” In today’s economy, if it ain’t broke, you might as well break it yourself, because it soon will be.”
Wayne Calloway, Former Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo

“Your position never gives you the right to command. It only imposes on you the duty of living your life that others can receive your orders without being humiliated.”
Dag Hammarskjold, Swedish diplomat, economist, and author

“If you ask managers what they do, they will most likely tell you that they plan, organize, coordinate and control. Then watch what they do. Don’t be surprised if you can’t relate what you see to those four words.”
Henry Mintzberg, Professor of Management Studies

'The First-Time Manager' by Loren Belker, Jim McCormick, Gary Topchik (ISBN 0814417833)“Management is more art than science. No one can say with certainty which decisions will bring the most profit, any more than they can create instructions over how to sculpt a masterpiece. You just have to feel it as it goes.”
Richard D’Aveni, Professor of Business and Strategy

“Preventing layoffs is management’s responsibility. It’s management’s primary responsibility. In a sense, it’s management’s only responsibility. Because to prevent layoffs, you have to do a lot of other things right. And you’re much more likely to do them when you’re constantly reminding yourself that jobs are at stake and that you’re responsible for the livelihood of real people who have put their trust in you.”
Jack Stack, American Entrepreneur

“Managing at any time, but more than ever today, is a symbolic activity. It involves energizing people, often large numbers of people, to do new things they previously had not thought important. Building a compelling case—to really deliver a quality product, to double investment in research and development, to step out and take risks each day (for example, make suggestions about cost-cutting when you are already afraid of losing your job)—is an emotional process at least as much as it is a rational one.”
Tom Peters, Management Consultant

“To manage is to forecast and plan, to organize, to command, to coordinate and to control.”
Henri Fayol, French Mining Engineer

“The sign of a good manager is his ability to give and take negative feedback.”
Richard Pascale, Management Consultant

Books Recommended by Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger

“In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time—none, zero. You’d be amazed at how much Warren reads—at how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.”
— Charlie Munger

Charlie Munger (Vice-Chairman at Berkshire Hathaway) and Mugerisms Charlie Munger is Warren Buffett’s partner and Vice-Chairman at Berkshire Hathaway, the investment conglomerate. In his capacity, Munger has been a behind-the-scenes co-thinker at Berkshire and has influenced many a decision made by Warren Buffett.

At the 2004 annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, Charlie Munger said,

“We read a lot. I don’t know anyone who’s wise who doesn’t read a lot. But that’s not enough: You have to have a temperament to grab ideas and do sensible things. Most people don’t grab the right ideas or don’t know what to do with them.”
— Charlie Munger

Munger was chair of Wesco Financial Corporation from 1984 through 2011. He is also the chair of the Daily Journal Corporation, based in Los Angeles, California, and a director of Costco Wholesale Corporation. Unlike Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger has claimed that he is a generalist for whom investment is only one of a broad range of interests that include architecture, philosophy, philanthropy, investing, yacht-design, etc.

Charlie Munger is a voracious reader and engages in books on history, science, biography and psychology. He once said, “In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time—none, zero. You’d be amazed at how much Warren reads—at how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I’m a book with a couple of legs sticking out.”

At the 2014 annual meeting of The Daily Journal Company that Charlie Munger leds as Chairman, Charlie said,

“I’m very selective. I, sometimes, skim. I, sometimes, read one chapter and I sometimes read the damn thing twice. It’s been my experience in life [that] if you just keep thinking and reading, you don’t have to work.”

Charlie Munger’s Book Recommendations in Biography

Charlie Munger’s Book Recommendations in Biology

Charlie Munger’s Book Recommendations in Business & Investing

Charlie Munger’s Book Recommendations in Management & Leadership

Charlie Munger’s Book Recommendations in Philosphy & Psychology

Charlie Munger’s Book Recommendations in Sociology

Consequences of Organizational Commitment Level for Individual Employees and an Organization

Consequences of Organizational Commitment Level

Like various social groups at different times throughout history, organizations and corporations developed distinctive cultures.

Organizational culture is the entirety of socially transmitted behavior patterns that are typical of a particular organization or a company. Organizational culture encompasses the structure of the organization and the roles within it, the leadership style, the prevailing values, norms, sanctions, and support mechanisms, and the past traditions and folklore, methods of enculturation, and characteristic ways of interacting with people and institutions outside of the culture (such as customers, suppliers, the competition, government agencies, and the general public).

Consequences of Organizational Commitment Level for Individual Employees

  • Low Organizational Commitment: Potentially positive consequences for opportunity for expression of originality and innovation, but an overall negative effect on career advancement opportunities
  • Moderate Organizational Commitment: Enhanced feeling of belongingness and security, along with doubts about the opportunity for advancement
  • High Organizational Commitment: Greater opportunity for advancement and compensation for efforts, along with less opportunity for personal growth and potential for stress in family relationships

Consequences of Organizational Commitment Level for the Organization

  • Low Organizational Commitment: Absenteeism, tardiness, workforce turnover, and poor quality of work
  • Moderate Organizational Commitment: As compared with low commitment, less absenteeism, tardiness, turnover, and better quality of work, as well as increased level of job satisfaction
  • High Organizational Commitment: Potential for high productivity, but sometimes accompanied by lack of critical/ethical review of employee behavior and by reduced organizational flexibility

Companies need to engage their employees to capitalize on emotional energy and consistently achieve higher levels of performance than their competition. It’s critical for leaders to do their best to gain effective commitment, and reduce their teams’ reliance on continuance and normative commitment, so that they lead teams of employees who feel passionate for their roles in the organization.

Ten Quotes from Bill Hewlett and David Packard that Every Manager and Leader Must Read and Follow

Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard

On 23-Aug-1937, two electrical engineers who had recently graduated from Stanford University met to consider the idea of founding a new company. During the course of their studies at Stanford, they had developed a strong friendship and respect for each other. Bill Hewlett and David Packard put their ideas to paper, starting with a broad declaration about design and manufacture of products in the electrical engineering field. Initially, Hewlett and Packard any engineering product would be fair game to move the company forward, and expand beyond their Palo Alto garage. Therefore, they were unfocused and worked on a wide range of electronic products for industry and agriculture. Through hard work, perseverance, and forethought, Bill Hewlett and David Packard developed Hewlett Packard into an instrumentation and computing powerhouse before retiring and handing over management to a new crop of business leaders.

  1. “The greatest success goes to the person who is not afraid to fail in front of even the largest audience.”
  2. “Set out to build a company and make a contribution, not an empire, and a fortune.”
  3. 'The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company' by David Packard (ISBN 887307477) “The best possible company management is one that combines a sense of corporate greatness and destiny, with empathy for, and fidelity to, the average employee.”
  4. “The biggest competitive advantage is to do the right thing at the worst time.”
  5. “A company that focuses solely on profits ultimately betrays both itself and society.”
  6. “Corporate reorganizations should be made for cultural reasons more than financial ones.”
  7. 'Bill & Dave: How Hewlett and Packard Built the World's Greatest Company' by Michael S. Malone (ISBN 1591841526) “A frustrated employee is a greater threat than a merely unhappy one.”
  8. “The job of a manager is to support his or her staff, not vice versa and that begins by being among them.”
  9. “The best business decisions are the most humane decisions. And, all other talents being even, the greatest managers are also the most human managers.”
  10. “Investing in new product development and expanding the product catalog are the most difficult things to do in hard times, and among the most important.

'Beyond the Obvious: Killer Questions That Spark Game-Changing Innovation' by Phil McKinney (ISBN 1401324460) Source: “Beyond The Obvious: Killer Questions That Spark Game Changing Innovation” by Phil McKinney. Phil McKinney was an innovation manager at Hewlett Packard. Phil’s book has great questions for managing and leading businesses.

For Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard’s legendary management style and the history of Hewlett Packard, read ‘Bill & Dave: How Hewlett and Packard Built the World’s Greatest Company’ by Michael S. Malone and ‘The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company’ by David Packard.

A Comprehensive List of Books Authored by Management Guru Peter F. Drucker

Peter Ferdinand Drucker, the father of management theory

Famed management guru Peter Ferdinand Drucker spent his life contemplating and writing about how business interests, politics, and human nature interact at companies, non-profits, and governments all over the world. His consultations had an almost legendary reputation in business circles.

Peter Drucker wrote influential works about management since the 1940s. He has written about 30 books, and from 1975 to 1995 he was an editorial columnist for the Wall Street Journal.

Books by Peter F. Drucker

“The End of Economic Man” (1939)

'The End of Economic Man', Book by Peter Drucker The End of Economic Man is Drucker’s first full-length book. It is a diagnostic study of the totalitarian state and the first book to study the origins of totalitarianism. He describes the reasons for the rise of fascism and the failures of established institutions that led to its emergence. Drucker develops an understanding of the dynamics of the totalitarian society and helps us to understand the causes of totalitarianism in order to prevent such a catastrophe in the future. Developing social, religious, economic, and political institutions that function effectively will prevent the emergence of circumstances that frequently encourage the totalitarian state.
     Buy “The End of Economic Man” by Peter Drucker

“The Future of Industrial Man” (1942)

'The Future of Industrial Man', Book by Peter Drucker Drucker describes the requirements for a functioning society by developing a social theory of society in general and of the industrial society in particular. In The Future of Industrial Man, Peter Drucker presents the requirements for any society for it to be both legitimate and functioning. Such a society must give status and function to the individual. The book addresses the question: “How can individual freedom are preserved in an industrial society in light of the dominance of managerial power and the corporation?” Written before the entrance of the U.S. into World War II, it is optimistic about post-World War II Europe and reaffirms its hopes and values through a time of despair. The book dared to ask, “What do we hope for the postwar world?”
     Buy “The Future of Industrial Man” by Peter Drucker

“Concept of the Corporation” (1946)

'Concept of the Corporation', Book by Peter Drucker This classic book is the first to describe and analyze the structure, policies, and practices of a large corporation, General Motors. The book looks upon a “business” as an “organization,” that is, as a social structure that brings together human beings in order to satisfy economic needs and the wants of a community. It establishes the “organization” as a distinct entity, and management of an organization as a legitimate subject of inquiry. The book represents a link between Drucker’s first two books on society and his subsequent writings on management. Detailed information is provided regarding such management practices as decentralization, pricing, and the roles of profits and of labor unions. Drucker looks at General Motors’ managerial organization and attempts to understand what makes the company work so effectively. Certain questions are addressed, such as: “What are the company’s core principles, and how do they contribute to the success of the organization?” The principles of organization and management at General Motors described in this book became models for organizations worldwide. The book addresses issues that go beyond the borders of the business corporation, and considers the “corporate state” itself.
     Buy “Concept of the Corporation” by Peter Drucker

“The New Society – The Anatomy of Industrial Order” (1950)

'The New Society - The Anatomy of Industrial Order', Book by Peter Drucker In The New Society, Peter Drucker extends his previous works The Future of Industrial Man and Concept of the Corporation into a systematic, organized analysis of the industrial society that emerged out of World War II. He analyzes large business enterprises, governments, labor unions, and the place of the individual within the social context of these institutions. Following publication of the of The New Society, George G. Higgins wrote in Commonweal, “Drucker has analyzed, as brilliantly as any modern writer, the problems of industrial relations in the individual company or ‘enterprise.’ He is thoroughly at home in economics, political science, industrial psychology, and industrial sociology, and has succeeded admirably in harmonizing the findings of all four disciplines and applying them meaningfully to the practical problems of the ‘enterprise.’ Drucker believes that the interests of the worker, management, and corporation are reconcilable with society. He advances the idea of “the plant community” in which workers are encouraged to take on more responsibility and act like “managers.” He questions whether unions can survive in their present form if the worker is encouraged to act as a manager.
     Buy “The New Society – The Anatomy of Industrial Order” by Peter Drucker

“The Practice of Management” (1954)

'The Practice of Management', Book by Peter Drucker This classic is the first book to define management as a practice and a discipline, thus establishing Drucker as the founder of the discipline of modern management. Management has been practiced for centuries, but this book systematically defines management as a discipline that can be taught and learned. It provides a systematic guide for practicing managers who want to improve their effectiveness and productivity. It presents Management by Objectives as a genuine philosophy of management that integrates the interests of the corporation with those of the managers and contributors to an organization. Illustrations come from such companies as Ford, GE, Sears, Roebuck & Co., GM, IBM, and AT&T.
     Buy “The Practice of Management” by Peter Drucker

“America’s Next Twenty Years” (1957)

'America's Next Twenty Years', Book by Peter Drucker In this collection of essays, Peter Drucker discusses the issues that he believes will be significant in America, including the coming labor shortage, automation, significant wealth in the hands of a few individuals, college education, American politics, and perhaps most significantly, the growing disparity between the “haves” and the “have nots.” In these essays, Drucker identifies the major events that “have already happened” that will “determine the future.” “Identifying the future that has already happened” is a major theme of Drucker’s many books and essays.
     Buy “America’s Next Twenty Years” by Peter Drucker

“Landmarks of Tomorrow” (1957)

'Landmarks of Tomorrow', Book by Peter Drucker Landmarks of Tomorrow identifies “the future that has already happened” in three major areas of human life and experience. The first part of the book treats the philosophical shift from a Cartesian universe of mechanical cause to a new universe of pattern, purpose, and configuration. Drucker discusses the need to organize men of knowledge and of high skill for joint effort, and performance as a key component of this change. The second part of the book sketches four realities that challenge the people of the free world: an educated society, economic development, the decline of the effectiveness of government, and the collapse of Eastern culture. The final section of the book is concerned with the spiritual reality of human existence. These are seen as basic elements in late-twentieth-century society. In his new introduction, Peter Drucker revisits the main findings of Landmarks of Tomorrow and assesses their validity in relation to today’s concerns.
     Buy “Landmarks of Tomorrow” by Peter Drucker

“Managing for Results” (1964)

'Managing for Results', Book by Peter Drucker This book focuses upon economic performance as the specific function and contribution of business and the reason for its existence. The effective business, Peter Drucker observes, focuses on opportunities rather than problems. How this focus is achieved in order to make the organization prosper and grow is the subject of this companion to his classic, The Practice of Management. The earlier book was chiefly concerned with how management functions as a discipline and practice, this volume shows what the executive decision-maker must do to move his enterprise forward. One of the notable accomplishments of this book is its combining of specific economic analysis with the entrepreneurial force in business prosperity. For though it discusses “what to do” more than Drucker’s previous works, the book stresses the qualitative aspect of enterprise: every successful business requires a goal and spirit all its own. Managing for Results was the first book to describe what is now widely called “business strategy” and to identify what are now called an organization’s “core competencies.”
     Buy “Managing for Results” by Peter Drucker

“The Effective Executive” (1966)

'The Effective Executive', Book by Peter Drucker The Effective Executive is a landmark book that develops the specific practices of the executive that lead to effectiveness. It is based on observations of effective executives in business and government. Drucker starts by reminding executives that the measure of effectiveness is the ability to “get the right things done.” This involves five practices: (1) managing one’s time, (2) focusing on contribution rather than problems, (3) making strengths productive, (4) establishing priorities, and (5) making effective decisions. A major portion of the book is devoted to the process of making effective decisions and the criteria for effective decisions. Numerous examples are provided of executive effectiveness. The book concludes by emphasizing that effectiveness can be learned and must be learned.
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“The Age of Discontinuity” (1968)

'The Age of Discontinuity', Book by Peter Drucker Peter Drucker focuses with great clarity and perception on the forces of change that are transforming the economic landscape and creating tomorrow’s society. He discerns four major areas of discontinuity underlying contemporary social and cultural reality: (I) the explosion of new technologies resulting in major new industries, (2) the change from an international to a world economy, (3) a new sociopolitical reality of pluralistic institutions that poses drastic political, philosophical, and spiritual challenges, and (4) the new universe of knowledge work based on mass education along with its implications. The Age of Discontinuity is a fascinating and important blueprint for shaping a future already very much with us.
     Buy “The Age of Discontinuity” by Peter Drucker

“Men, Ideas, and Politics” (1970)

'Men, Ideas, and Politics', Book by Peter Drucker Technology, Management, and Society presents an overview of the nature of modern technology and its relationships with science, engineering, and religion. The social and political forces, which increasingly impinge on technological development, are analyzed within the framework of broad institutional change. Scholars and students troubled by society’s growing reliance on technological solutions to complex social and political problems will welcome Peter Drucker’s critical perspective.
     Buy “Men, Ideas, and Politics” by Peter Drucker

“Technology, Management, and Society” (1971)

'Technology, Management, and Society', Book by Peter Drucker This book is a compilation of thirteen essays addressing the issues of society “people, politics, and thought. Included are essays on Henry Ford, Japanese management, and effective presidents. Two articles in particular show aspects of Drucker’s thinking that are especially important. One is an essay on “The Unfashionable Kierkegaard,” which encourages the development of the spiritual dimension of humankind. The other is on the political philosophy of John C. Calhoun, describing the basic principles of lsowo0 America’s pluralism and how they shape government policies and programs.
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“Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices” (1973)

'Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices', Book by Peter Drucker This book is a compendium of Drucker on management. It updates and expands upon The Practice of Management. It is an essential reference book for executives. Management is an organized body of knowledge consisting of managerial tasks, managerial work, managerial tools, managerial responsibilities, and the role of top management. According to Peter Drucker, “This book tries to equip the manager with the understanding, the thinking, the knowledge, and the skills for today’s and also tomorrow’s jobs.” This management classic has been developed and tested during more than thirty years of management teaching in universities, executive programs, seminars, and through the author’s close work with managers as a consultant for large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals, and schools.
     Buy “Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices” by Peter Drucker

“The Pension Fund Revolution” (1976)

'The Pension Fund Revolution', Book by Peter Drucker In this book, Drucker describes how institutional investors, especially pension funds, have become the controlling owners of America’s large companies, and the country’s “capitalists.” He explores how ownership has become highly concentrated in the hands of large institutional investors, and that through the pension funds, “ownership of the means of production” has become “socialized” without becoming “nationalized.” Another theme of this book is the aging of America. Drucker points to the new challenges this trend will pose with respect to health care, pensions, and social security’s place in the American economy and society, and how, altogether, American politics would increasingly become dominated by middle-class issues and with the values of elderly people. In the new epilogue, Drucker discusses how the increasing dominance of pension funds represents one of the most startling power shifts in economic history, and examines their present-day impact.
     Buy “The Pension Fund Revolution” by Peter Drucker

“Adventures of a Bystander” (1978)

'Adventures of a Bystander', Book by Peter Drucker Adventures of a Bystander is Drucker’s collection of autobiographical stories and vignettes, in which he paints a portrait of his life, and of the larger historical realities of his time. Drucker conveys his life story “from his early teen years in Vienna through the interwar years in Europe, the New Deal era, World War II, and the postwar period in America” … “through intimate profiles of a host of fascinating people he’s known through the years. Along with bankers and courtesans, artists, aristocrats, prophets, and empire builders, we meet members of Drucker’s own family and close circle of friends, among them such prominent figures as Sigmund Freud, Henry Luce, Alfred Sloan, John Lewis, and Buckminster Fuller. Shedding light on a turbulent and important era, Adventures of a Bystander also reflects Peter Drucker himself as a man of imaginative sympathy and enormous interest in people, ideas, and history.
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“Managing in Turbulent Times” (1980)

'Managing in Turbulent Times', Book by Peter Drucker This important and timely book concerns the immediate future of business, society, and the economy. We are, says Drucker, entering a new economic era with new trends, new markets, a global economy, new technologies, and new institutions. How will managers and management deal with the turbulence created by these new realities? This book, as Drucker explains it, “is concerned with action, rather than understanding, with decisions, rather than analysis.” It deals with the strategies needed to adapt to change and to turn rapid changes into opportunities, to turn the threat of change into productive and profitable action that contributes positively to our society, the economy, and the individual. An organization must be structured to withstand a blow caused by environmental turbulence.
     Buy “Managing in Turbulent Times” by Peter Drucker

“Toward the Next Economics” (1981)

'Toward the Next Economics', Book by Peter Drucker These essays cover a wide-ranging collection of topics on business, management, economics, and society. They are all concerned with what Drucker calls “social ecology” and especially with institutions. These essays reflect ‘the future that has already happened.”, The essays reflect Drucker’s belief that, in the decade of the 1970s, there were genuine changes in population structure and dynamics, changes in the role of institutions, changes in the relation between sciences and society, and changes in the fundamental theories about economics and society, long considered as truths. The essays are international in scope.
     Buy “Toward the Next Economics” by Peter Drucker

“The Changing World of the Executive” (1982)

'The Changing World of the Executive', Book by Peter Drucker These essays from the Wall Street Journal explore a wide variety of topics. They deal with changes in the workforce “its jobs, its expectations” with the power relationships of a “society of employees,” and with changes in technology and in the world economy. They discuss the problems and challenges facing major institutions, including business enterprises, schools, hospitals, and government agencies. They look anew at the tasks and work of executives, at their performance and its measurement, and at executive compensation. However diverse the topics, these chapters have one common theme, the changing world of the executive “changing rapidly within the organization, changing rapidly with respect to the visions, aspirations, and even characteristics of employees, customers, and constituents, changing outside the organization, as well, economically, technologically, socially, politically.
     Buy “The Changing World of the Executive” by Peter Drucker

“Innovation and Entrepreneurship” (1985)

'Innovation and Entrepreneurship', Book by Peter Drucker The first book to present innovation and entrepreneurship as a purposeful and systematic discipline. It explains and analyzes the challenges and opportunities presented by the emergence of the entrepreneurial economy in business and public service institutions. It is a major contribution to functioning management, organization, and economy. The book is divided into three main sections: (1) The Practice of Innovation, (2) The Practice of Entrepreneurship, and (3) Entrepreneurial Strategies. Drucker presents innovation and entrepreneurship as both practice and discipline, choosing to focus on the actions of the entrepreneur as opposed to entrepreneurial psychology and temperament. All organizations, including public-service institutions, must become entrepreneurial to survive and prosper in a market economy. The book provides a description of entrepreneurial policies and windows of opportunity for developing innovative practices in both emerging and well-established organizations.
     Buy “Innovation and Entrepreneurship” by Peter Drucker

“The Frontiers of Management” (1986)

'The Frontiers of Management', Book by Peter Drucker This book is a collection of thirty-five previously published articles and essays, twenty-five of which have appeared on the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal. Featuring a new introduction, Drucker forecasts the business trends of what was then the next millennium. The Frontiers of Management is a clear, direct, lively, and comprehensible examination of global trends and management practices. There are chapters dealing with the world economy, hostile takeovers, and the unexpected problems of success. Jobs, younger people, and career gridlock are also covered. Throughout this book, Drucker stresses the importance of forethought and of realizing that “change is opportunity” in every branch of executive decision-making.
     Buy “The Frontiers of Management” by Peter Drucker

“The New Realities” (1989)

'The New Realities', Book by Peter Drucker This book is about the “next century.” Its thesis is that the “next century” is already here, indeed that we are well advanced into it. In this book, Drucker writes about the “social superstructure” politics and government, society, economy and economics, social organization, and the new knowledge society. He describes the limits of government and dangers of “charisma” in leadership. He identifies the future organization as being information-based. While this book is not “futurism,” it attempts to define the concerns, the issues, and the controversies that will be realities for years to come. Drucker focuses on what to do today in contemplation of tomorrow. Within self-imposed limitations, he attempts to set the agenda on how to deal with some of the toughest problems we are facing today that have been created by the successes of the past.
     Buy “The New Realities” by Peter Drucker

“Managing the Non-Profit Organization” (1990)

'Managing the Non-Profit Organization', Book by Peter Drucker The service, or nonprofit, sector of our society is growing rapidly (with more than 8 million employees and more than 80 million volunteers), creating a major need for guidelines and expert advice on how to lead and manage these organizations effectively. This book is an application of Drucker’s perspective on management to nonprofit organizations of all kinds. He gives examples and explanations of mission, leadership, resources, marketing, goals, people development, decision-making, and much more. Included are interviews with nine experts that address key issues in the nonprofit sector.
     Buy “Managing the Non-Profit Organization” by Peter Drucker

“Managing for the Future” (1992)

'Managing for the Future', Book by Peter Drucker Bringing together the most exciting of Drucker’s many recent essays on economics, business practices, managing for change, and the evolving shape of the modern corporation, Managing for the Future offers important insights and lessons for anyone trying to stay ahead of today’s unremitting competition. Drucker’s universe is a constantly expanding cosmos composed of four regions in which he demonstrates mastery: (1) the economic forces affecting our lives and livelihoods, (2) today’s changing workforce and workplaces, (3) the newest management concepts and practices, and (4) the shape of the organization, including the corporation, as it evolves and responds to ever-increasing tasks and responsibilities. Each of this book’s chapters explores a business or corporate or “people” problem, and Drucker shows how to solve it or use it as an opportunity for change.
     Buy “Managing for the Future” by Peter Drucker

“The Ecological Vision” (1993)

'The Ecological Vision', Book by Peter Drucker The thirty-one essays in this volume were written over a period of more than forty years. These essays range over a wide array of disciplines and subject matter. Yet they all have in common that they are “Essays in Social Ecology” and deal with the man-made environment. They all, in one way or another, deal with the interaction between individual and community. In addition, they try to look upon the economy, upon technology, upon art, as dimensions of social experience and as expressions of social values. The last essay in this collection, The Unfashionable Kierkegaard, was written as an affirmation of the existential, the spiritual, and the individual dimension of the Creature. It was written by Drucker to assert that society is not enough “not even for society. It was written to affirm hope. This is an important and perceptive volume of essays.
     Buy “The Ecological Vision” by Peter Drucker

“Post-Capitalist Society” (1993)

'Post-Capitalist Society', Book by Peter Drucker In Post-Capitalist Society, Peter Drucker describes how every few hundred years a sharp transformation has taken place and greatly affected society “its worldview, its basic values, its business and economics, and its social and political structure. According to Drucker, we are right in the middle of another time of radical change, from the Age of Capitalism and the Nation-State to a Knowledge Society and a Society of Organizations. The primary resource in the post-capitalist society will be knowledge, and the leading social groups will be “knowledge workers.” Looking backward and forward, Drucker discusses the Industrial Revolution, the Productivity Revolution, the Management Revolution, and the governance of corporations. He explains the new functions of organizations, the economics of knowledge, and productivity as a social and economic priority. He covers the transformation from Nation-State to Megastate, the new pluralism of political systems, and the needed turnaround in government. Finally, Drucker details the knowledge issues and the role and use of knowledge in the post-capitalist society. Divided into three parts “Society, Polity, and Knowledge” Post-Capitalist Society provides a searching look into the future as well as a vital analysis of the past, focusing on the challenges of the present transition period and how, if we can understand and respond to them, we can create a new future.
     Buy “Post-Capitalist Society” by Peter Drucker

“Managing in a Time of Great Change” (1995)

'Managing in a Time of Great Change', Book by Peter Drucker This book compiles essays written by Drucker from 1991 to 1994 and published in the Harvard Business Review and the Wall Street Journal. All of these essays are about change: changes in the economy, society, business, and in organizations in general. Drucker’s advice on how managers should adjust to these tectonic shifts centers on the rise of the now-ubiquitous knowledge worker and the global economy. In this book, Drucker illuminates the business challenges confronting us today. He examines current management trends and whether they really work, the implications for business in the reinvention of the government, and the shifting balance of power between management and labor.
     Buy “Managing in a Time of Great Change” by Peter Drucker

“Drucker on Asia” (1995) with Isao Nakauchi

'Drucker on Asia', Book by Peter Drucker Drucker on Asia is the result of an extensive dialogue between two of the world’s leading business figures, Peter F. Drucker and Isao Nakauchi. Their dialogue considers the changes occurring in the economic world today and identifies the challenges that free markets and free enterprises now face, with specific reference to China and Japan. What do these changes mean to Japan? What does Japan have to do in order to achieve a “third economic miracle”? What do these changes mean to society, the individual company, the individual professional and executive? These are the questions that Drucker and Nakauchi address in their brilliant insight into the future economic role of Asia.
     Buy “Drucker on Asia” by Peter Drucker

“Peter Drucker on the Profession of Management” (1996)

'Peter Drucker on the Profession of Management', Book by Peter Drucker This is a significant collection of Peter Drucker’s landmark articles from the Harvard Business Review. Drucker seeks out, identifies, and examines the most important issues confronting managers, from corporate strategy to management style to social change. This volume provides a rare opportunity to trace the evolution of great shifts in our workplaces, and to understand more clearly the role of managers in the ongoing effort to balance change with continuity, the latter a recurring theme in Drucker’s writings. These are strategically presented here to address two unifying themes: the first examines the “Manager’s Responsibilities,” while the second investigates “The Executive’s World.” Containing an important interview with Drucker on “The Post-Capitalist Executive,” as well as a preface by Drucker himself, the volume is edited by Nan Stone, longtime editor of the Harvard Business Review.
     Buy “Peter Drucker on the Profession of Management” by Peter Drucker

“Management Challenges for the 21st Century” (1998)

'Management Challenges for the 21st Century', Book by Peter Drucker In this compilation of essays culled from published magazine articles and a lengthy essay appearing in The Economist in November 2001, and interviews during the period of 1996 to 2002, Drucker has expertly anticipated our ever-changing business society and ever-expanding management roles. In this book, Drucker identifies the reality of the ‘Next Society,” which has been shaped by three major trends: the decline of the young portion of the population, the decline of manufacturing, and the transformation of the workforce (together with the social impact of the Information Revolution). Drucker also asserts that e-commerce and e-learning are to the Information Revolution what the railroad was to the Industrial Revolution, and thus, an information society is developing. Drucker speaks of the importance of the social sector (that is, nongovernmental and nonprofit organizations), because NPOs can create what we now need: communities for citizens and especially for highly educated knowledge-workers, who increasingly dominate developed societies.
     Buy “Management Challenges for the 21st Century” by Peter Drucker

“Managing in the Next Society” (1999)

'Managing in the Next Society', Book by Peter Drucker In his first major book since The Post-Capitalist Society, Drucker discusses the new paradigms of management “how they have changed and will continue to change our basic assumptions about the practices and principles of management. Drucker analyzes the new realities of strategy, shows how to be a leader in periods of change, and explains the “New Information Revolution,” discussing the information an executive needs and the information an executive owes. He also examines knowledge-worker productivity, and shows that changes in the basic attitude of individuals and organizations, as well as structural changes in work itself, are needed for increased productivity. Finally, Drucker addresses the ultimate challenge of managing oneself while meeting the demands on the individual during a longer working life and in an ever-changing workplace.
     Buy “Managing in the Next Society” by Peter Drucker

“The Daily Drucker” (2002)

'The Daily Drucker', Book by Peter Drucker Revered management thinker Peter F. Drucker is our trusted guide in this thoughtful, day-by-day companion that offers his penetrating and practical wisdom. Amid the multiple pressures of our daily work lives, The Daily Drucker provides the inspiration and advice to meet the many challenges we face. With his trademark clarity, vision, and humanity, Drucker sets out his ideas on a broad swath of key topics, from time management, to innovation, to outsourcing, providing useful insights for each day of the year. These 366 daily readings have been harvested from Drucker’s lifetime of work. At the bottom of each page, the reader will find an action point that spells out exactly how to put Drucker’s ideas into practice. It is as if the wisest and most action-oriented management consultant in the world is in the room, offering his timeless gems of advice. The Daily Drucker is for anyone who seeks to understand and put to use Drucker’s powerful words and ideas.
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“The Effective Executive in Action” (2004)

'The Effective Executive in Action', Book by Peter Drucker The Effective Executive in Action is a journal based on Peter F. Drucker’s classic and preeminent work on management and effectiveness “The Effective Executive“. Here Drucker and Maciariello provide executives, managers, and knowledge workers with a guide to effective action “the central theme of Drucker’s work. The authors take more than one hundred readings from Drucker’s classic work, update them, and provide provocative questions to ponder and actions to take in order to improve your own work. Also included in this journal is a space for you to record your thoughts for later review and reflection. “The Effective Executive in Action” will teach you how to be a better leader and how to lead according to the five main pillars of Drucker’s leadership philosophy.
     Buy “The Effective Executive in Action” by Peter Drucker

“Managing Oneself” (2007)

'Managing Oneself', Book by Peter Drucker We live in an age of unprecedented opportunity: with ambition, drive, and talent, you can rise to the top of your chosen profession regardless of where you started out. However, with opportunity comes responsibility. Companies today are not managing their knowledge workers’ careers. Instead, you must be your own chief executive officer. That means it is up to you to carve out your place in the world and know when to change course. In addition, it is up to you to keep yourself engaged and productive during a career that may span some 50 years. In Managing Oneself, Peter Drucker explains how to do it. The keys: Cultivate a deep understanding of yourself by identifying your most valuable strengths and most dangerous weaknesses. Articulate how you learn and work with others and what your most deeply held values are. Describe the type of work environment where you can make the greatest contribution. Only when you operate with a combination of your strengths and self-knowledge can you achieve true and lasting excellence. Managing Oneself identifies the probing questions you need to ask to gain the insights essential for taking charge of your career.
     Buy “Managing Oneself” by Peter Drucker

Anthologies by Peter Drucker

“The Essential Drucker” (2001)

The Essential Drucker', Anthology by Peter Drucker The Essential Drucker offers, in Drucker’s words, “a coherent and fairly comprehensive ‘Introduction to Management’ and gives an overview of my management work and thus answers the question I’ve been asked again and again: ‘Which writings is Essential?’ The book contains twenty-six selections on management in the organization, management and the individual, and management in society. It covers the basic principles and concerns of management and its problems, challenges, and opportunities, giving managers, executives, and professionals the tools to perform the tasks that the economy and society of today and tomorrow will demand of them.
     Buy “The Essential Drucker” by Peter Drucker

“A Functioning Society” (2003)

A Functioning Society', Anthology by Peter Drucker In these essays, Drucker has brought together selections from his vast writings on community, society, and the political structure. Drucker’s primary concern is with a functioning society in which the individual has status and function. Parts I and II identify the institutions that could recreate community, the collapse of which produced totalitarianism in Europe. These selections were written during World War II. Part III deals with the limits of governmental competence in the social and economic realm. This section is concerned with the differences between big government and effective government.
     Buy “A Functioning Society” by Peter Drucker

Novels by Peter Drucker

“The Last of All Possible Worlds” (1982)

The Last of All Possible Worlds', Novel by Peter Drucker This novel occurs in the world of upper-class European society of the transitional age just before World War I. At the center of this novel are the lives of four distinguished Europeans who reach their later years around the turn-of-the-century.

  • The aristocratic Polish Prince Sobieski, a wealthy landowner, businessperson, and the Austro-Hungarian diplomat to Great Britain
  • McGregor Hinton, a mathematics historian and an immensely successful banker, who faces an ethical crisis and reviews his life, his poor beginnings, his noble secret marriage to a prostitute after she bore his deformed child, and his brushes with aristocracy.
  • A wealthy Jewish banker Julius von Mosenthal is planning a major restructuring of a bank while ruminating on the future meeting with partners Hinton and Sobieski
  • Baroness Rafaela Wald-Reifnitz—descended from the purest Sephardic Jews, painted by two great artists, devoted to music, in love with her problematic husband Arthur.
         Buy “The Last of All Possible Worlds” by Peter Drucker

“The Temptation to Do Good” (1984)

The Temptation to Do Good', Novel by Peter Drucker “The Temptation to Do Good”, like “The Last of all Possible Worlds”, is outstanding and brilliant. They are very important additions to Peter Drucker’s outstanding and comprehensive picture of management thinking and practice. The Temptation to Do Good features Father Heinz Zimmerman, the President of a Catholic university. Father Zimmerman faces all of the leadership challenges common to nonprofit CEOs: budgets, donors, staff conflicts, board members, and ethical issues. If you’d add to the mix student and faculty and their expectations, you’ll come to appreciate the sense and purpose of an organization more.
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The Rules of Bill Hewlett and David Packard’s Garage

Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard

When Bill Hewlett and David Packard started HP in a Palo Alto garage, they prepared a set of eleven rules that represented their core beliefs. To keep these core beliefs front and center of their new-found venture and remind them of the founding principles as they tinkered and toiled with various inventions, they posted a sign at their garage that articulated the succinct and to-the-point guiding principles they shared.

These guiding principles coupled with core values of Bill Hewlett and David Packard— the HP Way—translated into a wide-ranging set of operating practices, cultural norms, and business strategies that transformed into the one of the most respected companies of their time.

  1. Believe you can change the world.
  2. Work quickly, keep the tools unlocked, and work whenever.
  3. Know when to work alone and when to work together.
  4. Share tools, ideas. Trust your colleagues.
  5. No Politics. No bureaucracy. (These are ridiculous in a garage.)
  6. The customer defines a job well done.
  7. Radical ideas are not bad ideas.
  8. Invent different ways of working.
  9. Make a contribution every day. If it doesn’t contribute, it doesn’t leave the garage.
  10. Believe that together we can do anything.
  11. Invent.

For Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard’s legendary management style and the history of Hewlett Packard, read ‘Bill & Dave: How Hewlett and Packard Built the World’s Greatest Company’ by Michael S. Malone and ‘The HP Way: How Bill Hewlett and I Built Our Company’ by David Packard.

Responsibilities of a Process Consultant

Responsibilities of a Process Consultant

A Process Consultant is a process expert who is part of the project team right from the project initiation till the project closure. The main responsibilities includes,

During Project Initiation

  • Participate in the project kick-off meeting
  • Help the project team in understanding the customer requirements, scope and expectations about the project
  • Identifying the necessary Quality Assurance mechanism for the project

During Project Planning

During Project Execution

  • Providing process support and ensure that there is no process violation.
  • Intimate quality manager on any process violation.
  • Review weekly process activity reports of the project
  • Participate in weekly meetings of the project
  • Review the monthly status report
  • Participate in reviews of monthly status reports
  • Send weekly Process Activity reports to the top management and the quality manager.
  • To routinely take the Quality and CM view in project’s technical screens
  • Assist the project team in closing the discontinuities and ensure that the project team closes all audit discontinuities by the target date

During Project Closure

  • Participate in the closure meeting of the project and contribute as to ‘what went right’ and ‘what went wrong’