Executives are not paid for doing things they like to do.

They are paid for getting the right things done. Peter F. Drucker

That quote (from chapter 7) summarizes the philosophy of The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done quite well. Its a book that explores what the job of an executive knowledge worker is to make the right decisions for the organization being served.

The book is a fairly easy read, spread across seven chapters: 1.Effectiveness Can be Learned Effective leadership is a skill you learn by understanding whats expected of you, and focusing on the right things. Its a differentiating skill that has become increasingly valuable as weve moved from an industrial- to a knowledge-based economy. 2.Know Thy Time Time is a finite resource, and youre probably wasting more of it then you think. If you want to accomplish great things, you must manage your time wisely. Start by auditing your workday. 3.What Can I Contribute Your energy will be wasted if youre not focused on the right contributions. An executives salary comes with an expectation of addressing the right organizational opportunities. 4.Making Strength Productive The key to being effective is to leverage your strengths. Position yourself so that your weaknesses are irrelevant. 5.First Things First Focus on whats important now, not in the past. Tackle issues one at a time (multitasking is rarely more productive then concentrated effort.) 6.The Elements of Decision-making Focus on the important decisions; Identify boundary conditions; Determine what is right before making compromises; Understand what the decision needs to accomplish; Separate strategic implications from one-off situations; Build-in a plan for action and feedback. 7.Effective Decisions Start with your gut; Dont base future planning on todays (or yesterdays) way of doing things; Disagreement is a good thing (it means people are thinking about the problem. Find out why its happening or you wont see the whole picture.)

In addition to the original (1960s) text, the edition I have starts with a reprint of Druckers What Makes an Effective Executive, first published in the June 2004 issue of Harvard Business Review. This introductory piece is actually quite good, and reflects some updating, more clarified thinking on the role of an executive. To paraphrase the introduction, it outlines the behaviors of successful executives as:

Understanding what needs to be done Understanding whats right for the organization Developing plans for getting things done Making good decisions Communicating Focusing on opportunities Runing productive meetings Focusing on the team/organization, rather than the individual (everyone is responsible, and accountable)

Overall, I enjoyed the book. It provides a very clear opinion on the role of the executive knowledge worker. Sometimes the material feels a little dated (though often its amazingly timeless), but the examples add interesting business and political history to the lessons. I dont think I would have gotten as much out of this book back when I first started my career (where I was focused more on excellence in my craft), but now, the lessons provide a good framework for filtering through all the things I could be focusing on, so that I can select the ones that I should be focused on.

The Effective Executive was written as a sort of research report, summarizing the characteristics of the effective executives that he saw over the period of about two decades. He concludes that effectiveness is not inherent to a person but is the result of learning to do four things: manage time, determine what he can contribute, making use of subordinates' strengths, and making decisions well. The book is a discussion of these four things, complete with copious and cogent examples.

The first principle is that the effective executive (by which he means not only a CEO but anyone who is responsible for making decisions that in some way affect the organization) must manage his time. The purpose of the executive is to note outside trends and adapt his company to them, but unavoidably he will spend most of his time on internal matters. The only way to spend less time on internal (and unimportant to his task) matters is to record what time is spent doing things and ruthless prune away any tasks that cannot be done by someone else. Next, make sure that you have large chunks of time (not necessarily large quantities) to work on the important things and that you are uninterrupted during that time. One executive, for instance, scheduled 1.5 hour meetings because that was his attention span--he could get something accomplished but he didn't waste time after his attention wandered.

The second principle is asking "what can I contribute?". The purpose of everyone in the organization is to contribute something and the effective executive needs to ask what his contribution should be. What can he do to change the company in a way that will make it more successful? "Increase profits" does not qualify although focusing on efficient manufacturing, or low rates of return, or identifying talented managers might. Merely playing the job of CEO, expecting wield power and authority are ego boosters, not effectiveness.

The third principle is to use the peoples' strengths and not worry about their weaknesses. Drucker observes that an organization can be more effective than one person because each person contributes their strength but does not contribute their weaknesses. So therefore, hire for strengths. Do not worry about a person's weaknesses (unless it prevents them from using their strengths) as they are largely irrelevant. We all have our weaknesses and people with great strengths tend to have great weaknesses.

Hiring for lack of weakness results in hiring mediocrity and does not take advantage of one of the main purposes of an organization.

The fourth principle is the process of decision making. The executive does not need to make many decisions, but he needs to make them at a high level. It is the executive's job to determine whether a problem is a unique situation or a manifestation of a general trend. If it is the latter, and it is in more cases than we think, the executive must determine a principle for solving it. Drucker observed that too many decisions are made on the assumption that the problem is unique when it is really not. Drucker also argues that correct decisions cannot be made unless there are a multiplicity of viewpoints, for only then can one option be compared with the others and the correct option for the organization's boundary conditions (i.e. requirements) be selected.

Drucker maintains a very clear understanding of the concepts of effectiveness and presents these to the reader with concise writing and pointed examples. The book, in fact, follows the outline of a good speech to the letter, except that the discussion of the material has more depth than the length of an oration will permit. The clarity of thought presented in The Effective Executive will, without doubt, impart much of Drucker's concepts to the reader