Book Review: The Effective Executive

The Effective Executive

by Peter F. Drucker

The Premise

Peter Drucker argues that an effective executive is neither about "talent" nor "genius". I have a great reservation about that premise. Hence, the highly popular and influential book in the business world had started with the wrong foot. I read the rest of the book with critical eyes toward its weakness. Unfair? Maybe. But it is important for a non-fiction work to be accurate, instead of pandering to every demographic in order to sell as many books as possible.

The Practice of Effectiveness

This is not to say that it's useless to try and learn to be effective, or rather more accurately, more effective than before. In this regard, the author is correct, and that a relevant set of practical habit can make a talented, genius executive to be even more effective and productive in his environment. 

In the first chapter, the author makes a distinction between smart and highly intelligent people with effective ones. What this tells me, in simple terms, is that Work=Force*Distance, or in business term, Productivity=Effort*Efficiency. I'm sure the author will happily substitute the term "Effectiveness" in there somewhere.

I note with glee that the second chapter deals with time. Among producers and other productive people, time is the most coveted resource of all. 

Time Blocking Practice

The author noted that the most effective executive practice time blocking. This is basically gathering enough uninterrupted time that is reserved for the most heavy duty thinking. Knowledge workers are valued for their knowledge, after all, and that thinking is a sizable activity for them. My personal experience agree with his observation, and I note in my observations that managers have, with deterministic observation, increasing the amount of time the workers must be available for instant consultations, and thus, breaking any effort in time blocking activities. 

Also included in the mismanagement practice, is the occurrence of endless meetings! In fact, an absurd amount of text is devoted to the denouncement of the practice. I can't help but wonder just how many meetings are there in the daily routines of a big company. Do the managers really ends up with having too many meetings? Perhaps these demanding managers can benefit a read of this book!

Part of effective time management skill is pruning: Identify the most important things and do them first. it certainly results in not having done all the things desired, but at least those things that get done are the most important ones. That is better than having distracted to death, or having overwhelmed by numerous tasks before you. This is something that I personally struggle with, that I was only able to manage it once I practice journaling. My journal is a pen and paper variety, which most informational tech nerds deride as being inefficient, but the flexibility it afforded means that I can customize it however I want, and what I want is: Everything! At least, this way, I know what to discard, and what sparks joy!

Contribution

This is another pet peeve of mine. Why bother working hard if you're not accomplishing anything? That is the very opposite of the desired result! And yet, how many managers do you know demands that the workers be working a set number of hours per day? While that may work for physical labor where you have to be on a certain place at a certain time, the knowledge workers can work from anywhere. In fact, my best, most productive time was generally spend on the bed, trying to sleep. Certainly, if the most desirable executive is the most effective one, then one must assume to spend as much time as possible in place where the most productive work is observed. Which, in my case, is my bed. Say hello to Zoom meetings!

There is a special "Nurse Bryan" section where the question asked is "Are we doing the best we can do to help this patient?" When the workers regularly asked the question, the result is better than the most official, formal problem solving technique. This, I think, encapsulates the best framing of problem solving technique, and I'm glad to see it in the book.

There are other considerations mentioned in the book, too, but to me, "Nurse Bryan" is the core idea of the book, and represents the most valuable idea in the book!

The Conclusion

Most of the book deals with time management. As I have said in the beginning, this alone isn't sufficient to be an effective executive. You have to be smart as well. However, the importance of managing time cannot be understated. I learned this the hard way. It's easy enough to say that you have to manage your time effectively, but it's another regarding how to do it. In my case, I end up keeping a journal, heavily inspired by Ryder Carroll's Bullet Journal, heavily patterned toward Project Management bias. 

Yet, that practice is validated by this book, or rather, predated by this book since this book has existed before my journaling activity. In short, if you're truly interested in being an effective executive, or just a very productive person in general, get this book!