Peter Drucker Quotes

Peter Drucker Biography
Type: Businessman
Nationality: American
Born: November 19, 1909
Died: November 11, 2005

Peter Ferdinand Drucker (November 19, 1909 – November 11, 2005) was a writer, management consultant, and self-described “social ecologist.” His books and scholarly and popular articles explored how humans are organized across the business, government and the nonprofit sectors of society. He is one of the best-known and most widely influential thinkers and writers on the subject of management theory and practice. His writings have predicted many of the major developments of the late twentieth century, including privatization and decentralization; the rise of Japan to economic world power; the decisive importance of marketing; and the emergence of the information society with its necessity of lifelong learning. In 1959, Drucker coined the term “knowledge worker" and later in his life considered knowledge work productivity to be the next frontier of management.

A manager is responsible for the application and performance of knowledge.
Peter Drucker

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

Business, that's easily defined - it's other people's money.
Peter Drucker

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.
Peter Drucker

Company cultures are like country cultures. Never try to change one. Try, instead, to work with what you've got.
Peter Drucker

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

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

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

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.'
Peter Drucker

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

Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship. The act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth.
Peter Drucker

Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes.
Peter Drucker

Making good decisions is a crucial skill at every level.
Peter Drucker

Management by objective works - if you know the objectives. Ninety percent of the time you don't.
Peter Drucker

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

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

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

Never mind your happiness; do your duty.
Peter Drucker

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.
Peter Drucker