..A Moment for Peter Drucker

I turned to "The Essential Drucker" to glean some advice from the management guru himself before embarking on this “change the game of leadership” adventure. Sure enough, Peter Drucker provides a laser-sharp response to the question of “how can I make a difference” in chapter 15 entitled, “Focus on Contribution”.

Drucker says that the effective person focuses on contribution with a stress on responsibility. An effective person turns the attention away from his or her own specialty and toward the performance of the whole. An effective person recognizes the value of the contributions of others. Furthermore, an effective person understands that the value of his or her own work is constrained by the needs, the directions, the limitations, and the perceptions of others. Effective persons therefore focus on their contributions while working on developing relationships with others. Productive relationships produce results and accomplishments for all concerned.

How does this translate into a strategy for influencing ineffective leaders? Surely the individual who views the performance of the whole first before focusing on their own contribution will be in a better position to influence their manager. Know your business. Know yourself. Know what you can do. Understand the connections, and focus on results. I’ll explore these tactics in more depth in the “leading up” post.


Reference:
Drucker, Peter F. (2001). The Essential Drucker New York: Harper Collins Books