The Practical Drucker

The Practical Drucker

by William A. Cohen
Released November 2013
Publisher(s): AMACOM
ISBN: 9780814433508

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Book description

Few thinkers have had a greater impact on business than Peter Drucker, the inventor of modern management, whose legacy continues to influence leaders around the globe. His keen observations about organizations took the form of deceptively simple truths and astute predictions. Concepts such as decentralization, outsourcing, the rise of the knowledge worker, the role of employees as assets, and a focus on the customer—it was Drucker who first expressed them, sometimes decades before they be came accepted wisdom. Although renowned as a thinker and idea generator, the “what” in his teachings was far more prevalent than the “how.” Now, The Practical Drucker mines his vast body of work to pinpoint 40 applicable truths for solving real-world problems. Readers will find surprising insights and clear guidance on how to: • Engage employees and achieve outstanding performance
• Remedy destructive office politics
• Approach innovation
• Ensure follow-through on good ideas by establishing controls
• Handle a crisis
• Become better decision makers by questioning assumptions
• Determine which leadership style to use in which situation
• Do more with less
• Steer clear of the biggest traps that leaders fall into
• Avoid the five deadly marketing sins
• And much more In succinct, satisfying chapters, the book distills the practical wisdom from Drucker’s myriad books, essays, articles and his decades of teaching and consulting into a set of fresh, vital lessons that will resonate today and for years to come.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Contents
  5. Foreword
  6. Introduction
  7. Part One | People
    1. 1: General Business Ethics
    2. 2: Drucker on Engagement
    3. 3: Drucker's Favorite Leadership Book
    4. 4: The Seven Deadly Sins of Leadership
    5. 5: Three Principles for Developing Yourself
    6. 6: Move your Company Ahead by Encouraging your People
    7. 7: The Most Important Leadership Decision
    8. 8: Drucker and Heroic Leadership
    9. 9: What Everyone Knows is Usually Wrong
    10. 10: Power Comes from Integrity
    11. 11: People have no Limits
  8. Part Two | Management
    1. 12: Fear of Job Loss is Incompatible with Good Management
    2. 13: You can Accomplish More with Less
    3. 14: What to do about Office Politics
    4. 15: Above All, do no Harm
    5. 16: How to Avoid Failure
    6. 17: Quality is not what you may Think
    7. 18: Implementation Requires Controls
    8. 19: Do the Right Thing at the Right Time
    9. 20: How to be a Managerial Fortune-Teller
    10. 21: What are you Going to do about it?
  9. Part Three | Marketing and Innovation
    1. 22: Can Marketing and Selling Be Adversarial?
    2. 23: The Five Great Marketing Sins
    3. 24: You can't Get the Right Strategy from a Formula
    4. 25: Drucker's Four Approaches to Entrepreneurial Marketing
    5. 26: If you Conduct Marketing Research, Conduct it Right
    6. 27: Be Careful in using a Bribe
    7. 28: There are no Irrational Customers, Only Irrational Marketers
    8. 29: Where the Best Innovations Come From
    9. 30: Drucker's Theory of Abandonment
    10. 31: The Mysteries of Supply-Side Innovation
  10. Part Four | Organizaton
    1. 32: The Purpose of your Business is not to Make a Profit
    2. 33: Social Responsibility is a Win-Win
    3. 34: There are Only Two Organizational Functions
    4. 35: Ignorance is Good
    5. 36: What to do when an Organization Faces a Crisis
    6. 37: The Ultimate Requirement for Running a Good Organization
    7. 38: Is Leadership a “Marketing Job”?
    8. 39: You must Know your Strengths
    9. 40: Drucker's Most Valuable Lesson
  11. Endnotes
  12. Index
  13. About the Author
  14. Free Sample Chapter from A Class with Drucker

Product information

  • Title: The Practical Drucker
  • Author(s): William A. Cohen
  • Release date: November 2013
  • Publisher(s): AMACOM
  • ISBN: 9780814433508