Synopsis
A book about how to be a better executive, an executive being anyone who makes decisions, where value is measured by outcome not effort, IE most corporate employees today. Please note, I will not add my own notes to the quotes in the below post.
Key Takeaways
Preface
But to be effective also does not require special gifts, special aptitude, or special training. I have not come across a single natural executive who was born effective. All the effective ones have had to learn to be effective. Effectiveness can be learned, and it also has to be learned.
Chapter 1 – Effectiveness can be learned
Page 1
To be effective is the job of the executive
Brilliant men are often strikingly ineffectual, they fail to realize that the brilliant insight is not by itself achievement
Intelligence, imagination, and knowledge are essential resources, but only effectiveness converts them into results
Page 2
For manual work, we need only efficiency; that is, the ability to do things right rather than the ability to get the right things done
Page 3
Working on the right things is what make knowledge work effective. This is not capable of being measured by any of the yardsticks for manual work
Page 4
One can never be sure what the knowledge worker thinks – and yet thinking is his specific work, it is his doing
The motivation of the knowledge worker depends on his being effective, on his being able to achieve
The knowledge worker does not produce something that is effective by itself
The greatest wisdom not applied to action and behaviour is meaningless data
Page 5
And productivity for the knowledge worker means the ability to get the right things done. It means effectiveness
Every knowledge worker in modern organization is an executive if, by virtue of his position or knowledge, he is responsible for contribution that materially affects the capacity of the organization to perform and to obtain results
Page 6
In a guerrilla war, every man is an executive
Page 7
Knowledge work is defined by its results
Page 8
For the authority of knowledge is surely as legitimate as the authority of position
Page 9
The realities of the executive situation both demand effectiveness from him and make effectiveness exceedingly difficult to achieve
Page 10
In his situation there are four major realities over which the executive has no control, he has to co-operate with the inevitable but everyone of these realities exerts pressure toward non-results and non-performance.
- The effective executives time tends to belong to everybody else.
- Executives are forced to keep on operating unless they take positive action to change the reality in which they live and work. If the executive lets the flow of events determine what he does, what he works on and what he takes seriously, he will fritter himself away operating. What the executive needs are criteria which enable him to work on the truly important, that is on contributions and results, even though the criteria are not found in the flow of events.
- The third reality pushing the executive toward ineffectiveness is that he is within an organization. This means that he is effective only when other people make use of what he contributes. Unless the executive can reach these people, can make his contribution effective for them and their work, he has no effectiveness at all
- The executive is within an organization, but the organization is an abstraction. The decision makers can be on the outside and inside the organisations (executives and customers). At the most, results are co-determined, as for instance in warfare, where the outcome is the result of the actions and decisions of both armies.
Page 16
The truly important events on the outside are not the trends. They are changes in the trends, these determine ultimately success or failure of an organization and its efforts
Page 17
Executives of necessity live and work within the organisation. Unless they make conscious efforts to perceive the outside, the inside may blind them to the true reality
Page 20
There is no effective personality. Effective executives in other words, differ as widely as physicians, high school teachers and violinists
Page 21
Effectiveness in other words is a habit, that is a complex of practices. And practices can always be learned. Practices one learns by practising and practising and practising again
Page 22
What is needed in effectives is competency
- Effective executives know where their time goes
- Effective executives focus on outward contribution. They gear their efforts to results rather than to work
- Effective executives build on strengths – their own strengths, the strengths of their superiors, colleagues, and subordinates. They do not start out with the thing they can’t do.
- Effective executives concentrate on the few major areas where superior performance will produce outstanding results
- Effective executives finally makes effective decisions. They know that an effective decision is always a judgement based on dissenting opinions. And they know to make many fast decisions means to make the wrong decisions. What is needed is the right strategy rather than razzle-dazzle tactics.
Chapter 2 – Know Thy Time
Page 24
Effective executives, in my observation, do no start with their tasks. They start with their time. And they do not start out with planning. They start by finding out where their time actually goes.
- Record time
- Manage time
- Console time
Time is a unique resource
Page 25
One cannot rent, hire buy or otherwise obtain more time
The supply of time is totally inelastic. No matter how high the demand, the supply will not go up. Time is totally perishable and cannot be stored
Nothing perhaps distinguishes the effective as much as their tender loving care of time
Page 26
The effective executive must first know where his time goes
Any executive, whether he is a manager or not, has to spend a great deal of his time on things that do not contribute at all.
Page 27
In every executive job, a large part of the time must therefore be wasted on things which apparently have to be done, contribute nothing or little.
To spend in one stretch less then this minimum amount of required time is sheer waste. One accomplishes nothing and must begin all over again.
Page 28
To be effective, every knowledge worker and especially every executive, therefore needs to be able to dispose of time in large chunks
Most people are time wasters
The manager who thinks that he can discuss the plans, direction, and performance of one of his subordinates in fifteen minutes – and many managers believe this – is just deceiving himself
The knowledge worker must be focused on the results and performance goals of the entire organization to have any results and performance at all
Good senior executives take the time out on a regular schedule to ask
What should we at the head of this organization know about your works?
What do you want to tell me regarding this organization?
Where do you see opportunities we do not exploit?
Where do you see dangers to which we are still blind?
And, altogether, what do you want to know from me about the organization?
Page 30
The larger the organization, therefore, the less actual time the executive will have. The more important will it be for him to know where his time goes and to manage the little time at his disposal
Fast personnel decisions are likely to be wrong decisions. The time quantum of the good personnel decision is amazingly large.
But without exception they make personnel decisions slowly and the make them several time before the really commit themselves.
Page 31
All effective executives have learned that they must give several hours of continuous and uninterrupted thought to decisions on people if they hope to come up with the right answer
Page 32
People decisions are time consuming
What one does not have in one’s feet, one’s got to have in one’s head
Page 33
But one cannot even think of managing ones time unless one first knows where it goes
The difference between time use and time waste is effectiveness and results
The first step toward executive effectiveness is therefore to record actual time
Time use does improve with practice, but only constant efforts at managing time can prevent drifting
One must find the non-productive, time wasting activities and get rid of them if one possibly can
Page 34
- First one tries to identify and eliminate the things that need not be done at all, the things that are purely waste of time without any results
- The next question is: ‘Which of the activities on my time log could be done by somebody else just as well, if not better?
- A common cause of time waste is largely under the executive’s control and can be eliminated by him. That is the time of others he himself wastes
Page 39
- Time waster 1 – Identify time-waste which follow from lack of system or foresight. The symptom to look for is the recurrent ‘crisis’, the crisis comes back year after year. A crisis that recurs a second time is a crisis that must not occur gain
The definition of a ‘routine’ is that it makes unskilled people without judgement capable of doing what it took near genius to do before
Page 40
The recurrent crisis is simply a symptom of slovenliness and laziness
A well-managed plant is a quiet plant, nothing exciting happens because all the crises have been anticipated and have been converted into routine
Similarly, a well-managed organization is dull organizations
- Time waster 2 – Time wasting often results from overstaffing
Page 41
One symptom of overstaffing is if the manager spends a significant portion of his time on human relation, people are getting into each other’s way
- Time waster 3 – Another common timewaster is mal-organization. Its symptom is an excess of meetings
Page 42
We meet because the knowledge and experience needed in a specific situation are not available in one head but must be pieced together out of the experience and knowledge of several people
Too many meetings are a result of malorganization
As a rule, meetings should never be allowed to become the main demand on an executive’s time
Page 44
- Time waster 4 – The last major time waster is malfunction in information
Equally common is information in the wrong form
The accountant has all the information but no one thought of telling him what is needed
Page 45
The key question is how much discretionary time can the effective executive consolidate to really contribute?
Page 46
60–90-minute blocks are needed without interruption to understand and accomplish a great many things
Page 47
Some suggestion to console time are, work from home one day a week, schedule all meetings/sessions for two days a week to work through major issues, schedule a daily work period at home in the morning. Waking up early and working through big problems proves to be very effective.
Page 49
Know Thyself is the old prescription for Wisdom, is almost impossibly difficult for mortal men. But everyone can follow the injunction, know thy time, if he wants to, and be well on the road toward contribution and effectiveness
Chapter 3 – What can I contribute?
Page 50
The effective executive focuses on contribution. He looks up from his work and outward toward goals. He asks: What can I contribute that will significantly affect the performance and the results of the institution I serve? His stress is on responsibility.
The focus on contribution is the key to effectiveness
The great majority of executives tend to focus downward. They are occupied with efforts rather than with results. They worry over what the organisation and their superiors owe them and should do for them. And they are conscious above all of the authority they should have. As a result, they render themselves ineffectual.
Page 51
The man who focuses on efforts and who stresses his downward authority is a subordinate no matter how exalted his title and rank. But the man who focuses on contribution and who takes responsibility for results no matter how junior is in the most literal sense of the phrase top management. He holds himself accountable for the performance of the whole.
The focus on contribution turns the executive attention away from his own speciality, his own narrow skill, his own department and toward the performance of the whole
Page 52
What can I contribute?
To ask: What can I contribute? Is to look for the unused potential in the job
Page 53
For every organization needs performance in three major areas: it needs direct results; building of values and their reaffirmation and building and developing people for tomorrow
Direct results always come first. In the care and feeding of an organization they play the role of calories play in the nutrition of the human body. But any organization also needs a commitment to values and their constant reaffirmation as a human body needs vitamins and minerals
Value commitments, like results are not unambiguous
An organization that is not capable of perpetuating itself has failed
Page 54
An organization which just perpetuates today’s level of vision excellence and accomplishment has lost the capacity to adapt
Page 55
Are we really making the best contribution to the purpose of this hospital?
Commitment to contribution is commitment to responsible effectiveness. Without it, a man short changes himself, deprives his organisation and cheats the people he works with
The executive who keeps on doing what he has done successfully before he moved is almost bound to fail
Page 56
What can I and no one else do which, if done really well, would make a real difference to this company?
Page 58
Knowledge workers do not produce a thing. They produce ideas, information and concepts
This means that he must think through who is to use his output and what the user needs to know and to understand to be able to make productive the fragment the specialist produces
Page 59
If a man wants to be an executive, that is, if he wants to be considered responsible for his contribution, he must concern himself with the usability of his ‘product’ that is, his knowledge.
What contribution from me do you require to make your contribution to the organization? When do you need this and how do you need it and what form?
Page 60
They have good human relations because they focus on contribution
Page 61
The focus on contribution, by itself supplies the four basic requirements of effective human relations
- Communication
- Teamwork
- Self-development
- Development of others
Page 62
Communication is practically impossible if they are based on the downward relationship
But the executive who takes responsibility for contribution in their own work will as rule demand that their subordinates take responsibility too. They will tend to ask their men “What are the contributions for which this organization and I, your superior, should hold you accountable? What should we expect of you? What is the best utilization of your knowledge and your ability?
Page 63
The focus on contribution leads to communications sideways and thereby makes teamwork possible
Who must use my output for it to become effective?
Page 64
They must consider themselves responsible for their own competence and for the standards of their work
Only direct contact, whether by voice or by written word, can communicate
Individual self-development in large measure depends on the focus on contribution
Page 65
What is the most important contribution I can make to the performance of this organization? Asks in in effect, “what self development do I need? What knowledge and skill do I need? What knowledge and skill do I have to acquire to make the contribution I should be making? What strength do I have to put to work? What standards do I have to set myself?
We know very little about self-development. But we do know one thing: people in general, and knowledge workers in particular grow according to the demands they make on themselves.
They grow according to what they consider to be achievement and attainment.
If they demand little of themselves, they will remain stunted.
If they demand a good deal of themselves, they will grow to giant stature – without any more effort than is expended by the nonachievers
Why are we having this meeting: do we want a decision, do we want to inform, or de we want to make clear to ourselves what we should be doing?
Insist the meeting serve the contribution to which they have committed themselves
Page 66
The effective man always states at the outset of a meeting this specific purpose and contribution it is to achieve
The focus on contribution imposes an organizing principle. It imposes relevance on events
Chapter 4 – Making Strength Productive
Page 67
The effective executive fills positions and promotes on the basis of what a man can do. He does not make staffing decision to minimize weakness but to maximize strength
Page 68
Whoever tries to place a man or staff on an organization to avoid weakness will end up at best with mediocrity
Page 69
Here lies a man who knew how to bring into his service men better than he was himself
Effective executives know that their subordinates are paid to perform and not to please their superiors
Effective executives ask “what does he contribute?”
Page 70
Human excellence can only be achieved in area, or at the most in very few
To staff from what there is not and to focus on weakness is wasteful – a misuse if not abuse, of the human resource
Organization is the specific instrument to make human strengths rebound to performance while human weakness is neutralized and largely rendered harmless
One cannot hire a hand – the whole man always come with it
Page 71
The main cause is that the immediate task of the executive is not to place a man, it is to fill a job. The tendency is therefore to start out with the job as being a part of the order of nature. Then one looks for a man to fill the job. It is only too easy to be misled this way into looking for the ‘least misfit” – the one man who leaves least to be desired. And this is invariably the mediocrity
Page 72
Jobs have to be objective that is, determined by task rather than personality
Jobs in an organization are interdependent and interlocked
To tolerate diversity, relationships must be task focused rather than personality-focused
Page 73
Structuring jobs to fit personality is almost a certain to lead to favouritism and conformity
Picking people for they can do rather than on personal likes or dislikes, they seek performance not conformance. To insure this outcome, they keep a distance between themselves and their close colleagues
FDR had no friends in cabinet, by staying aloof they were able to build teams of great diversity but also of strength
Page 74
Four rules of staffing
- They do not start with the assumption that jobs are created by nature or by God. And they are therefore forever on guard against the impossible job that are not fit for human beings.
The rule is simple, any job that has defeated two or three men in succession even though each had performed well in his previous assignments, must be assumed unfit for human beings. The effective executive therefore first makes sure that the job is well designed
- The second rule for staffing from strength is to make each job demanding and big. The most important thing is to find out is what he really can do. The first job should therefore enable him to test both himself and the organization. Am I in the right work and in the right place for my strengths to tell?
- Effective executives know that they have to start with what a man can do rather than with what a job requires. Always look for strength. All one can measure is performance. Ask four questions
- What has he done well?
- What, therefore, is he likely to be able to do well?
- What does he have to learn or to acquire to be able to get the full benefit from his strength?
- If I had a son or daughter would I be willing to have him or her work under this person?
- If yes, why?
- If no, why?
It begins with that a man can do. Weaknesses are limitations to the full use of his strengths and to his own achievement, effectiveness and accomplishment. By itself character does not accomplish anything. But its absence faults everything else. Here, therefore, is the one area where weakness is a disqualification in itself rather than a limitation in performance capacity and strength
- The effective executive knows that to get strength one must put up with weakness. He sees the inevitable, all the traits that are not relevant, all the traits that have nothing to do with the specific task for which a man has been called on the stage of history. Does this man have strength in one major area? And is this strength relevant to the task? If he achieves excellence in this one area, will it make a significant difference? This also implies that they focus on opportunity in their staffing – no on problems. Altogether it must be an unbreakable rule to promote the man who by the test of performance is best qualified for the job to be filled. The man of proven performance has earned the opportunity. Conversely, it is the duty of the executive to remove ruthlessly anyone – and especially any manager – who consistently fails to perform with high distinction
Page 84
All that matters is that you know that this man is not equal to the task. Where his replacement comes from is the next question
Page 85
What can this man do? Was his constant question. And if a man could do something, his lacks became secondary
Page 86
Every people-decision is a gamble, by basing it on what a man can do, it becomes at least a rational gamble
But even more does he owe it to the human beings over whom he exercises authority to help the get the most out of whatever strength that they may have
Page 87
Staffing for strength is thus essential to the executives own effectiveness and to that of his organization but equally to individual and society in a world of knowledge work
The secret is that effective executives make the strengths of the boss productive
Conversely, there is nothing as conducive to success as a successful and rapidly promoted superior
Page 88
The effective executive accepts that the boss is human
How does your boss learn? What can the new boss do? These are the questions the effective executive asks himself
Page 89
Building on strength to make weakness irrelevant. Few things make an executive as effective as building on the strengths of his superior
Page 90
The assertion that somebody else will not want me do anything should always be suspected as a cover up for inertia. But even where the situation does set limitations – and everyone lives and works within rather stringent limitation – there are usually important, meaningful, pertinent things that can be done.
The effective executive looks for them. If he starts out with the question: What can I do? He is almost certain to find that he can do is much more then he has time and resources for.
Page 91
Altogether the effective executive tries to be himself; he does not pretend to be someone else. He looks at his own performance and his own results and tries to discern a pattern
Page 92
But temperament is also a factor in accomplishment and a big one
Making strength productive is as much an attitude as it is a practise. But it can be improved with practice
In every area of effectiveness within an organization, one feeds the opportunities and starves the problem
Page 93
In human affairs, in other words, the distance between the leaders and the average is a constant. If leadership performance is high, the average will go up
The task of an executive is not to change human beings. Rather, as the Bible tell us in the Parable of Talents, the task is to multiply performance capacity of the whole by putting to use whatever strength, whatever health, whatever aspiration there is in individuals
First Things First
Page 94
Effective executives do first things and they do one thing at a time
The need to concentrate is grounded both in the nature of the executive job and in man
Page 95
But concentration is dictated also by the fact that most of us find it hard enough to do well even one thing at a time, let alone two
For doing one thing, at a time means doing it fast. The more one can concentrate time, effort and resources, the greater number and diversity of tasks one can actually perform
Page 97
They do only one thing at a time. As a result, they need much less time in the end than the rest of us
The people who get nothing done often work a great deal harder
The unexpected is indeed the only thing one can confidently expect
Effective executives do not race, they set an easy pace and keep going steadily
They concentrate – their own time and energy as well as that of their organization – on doing one thing at a time, and on doing first things first.
One important question around what to start is “If we did not already do this, would we go into it now?”
Page 98
But one can at least try to limit one’s servitude to the past by cutting out those inherited activities and tasks that have ceased to promise results
Page 99
There is serious need for a new principle of effective administration under which every act, every agency, and every programme of government is conceived as temporary, and as expiring automatically after a fixed number of years – maybe ten – unless specifically prolonged by new legislation following careful outside study of the programme, its results, and its contributions
Page 100
The only effective means for bailing out the new are people who have proven their capacity to perform. Such people are always already busier than they should be. Unless one relives one of them by his present burden, one cannot expect him to take on the new task.
Page 101
An organization needs to bring in fresh people with a fresh point of view fairly often. It only promotes from within it soon becomes inbred and eventually sterile. But if possible, one does not bring in the newcomers where the risk is exorbitant, that is into the top executive positions or into leadership of an important new activity. One brings them in just below the top and into an activity that is already defined and reasonably well understood
Page 102
A decision therefore has to be made which task deserves priority and which are of less importance
If the pressures rather than the executive are allowed to make the decision, the important tasks will predictably sacrificed, pressures always favour yesterday
Page 103
For the pressures always favour what goes on inside. They always favour what has happened over the future, the crisis over the opportunity, the immediate and visible over the real, and the urgent over the relevant
The reason why so few executives concentrate is the difficulty and deciding what tasks not to tackle and sticking to the decision
Page 104
Courage rather than analysis dictates the truly important rule for identifying priorities
- Pick the future as against the past
- Focus on opportunity rather than on problem
- Choose your own direction, rather than climb on the bandwagon
- Aim high, aim for something that will make a difference rather than for come thing that is safe and easy to do
Page 105
Achievement goes to the people who pick their research priorities by the opportunity and who consider other criteria only as qualifiers rather than as detriments
In business similarly, the successful companies are not those that work at developing new products for their existing line but those that aim at innovating new technologies or new businesses
It is more productive to convert an opportunity into results than to solve a problem – which only restores the equilibrium of yesterday
The effective executive does not, in other words, truly commit himself beyond the one task he concentrates on right now. Then he reviews the situation and pick the next one task that now comes first
Concentration, that is the courage to impose on one time and events his own decision as to what really matter and comes first, is the executives only hope of becoming master of time and events instead of their whipping boy
The Elements of Decision-making
Page 106
Making decisions is the specific executive task
Effective executives do not make a great many decisions. They concentrate on the important ones
They want to know what the decision is all about and what the underlying realities are which it must satisfy. They want impact rather than technique; they want to be sound rather than clever
Page 107
They know that the most time-consuming step in the process is not making the decision but putting it into effect
This means that, while the effective decision itself is based on the highest level of conceptual understanding, the action to carry it out should be as close as possible to the working level and as simple as possible
Page 113
The big business, Sloan saw needs unity of direction and central control. It needs its own management with real powers. But it equally needs energy, enthusiasm, and strength in operations
They tried to think through what the decision was all about, and they tried to develop a principle for dealing with it. Their decisions, were, in other words, strategies, rather than adaptations to the apparent needs of the moment. They all innovated. They were all highly controversial. Indeed, all five decisions went directly to counter to what “everybody knew” at the time
Page 114
Alfred Sloan’s decentralisation was completely unacceptable at the time and seemed to fly in the face of everything everybody “knew”
Page 115
The elements of the effective decision process
- The clear realization the problem was generic and could only be solved through a decision which established a rule, a principle
- The definition of the specification which the answer to the problem had to satisfy
- The thinking through what is right, that is, the solution which will fully satisfy the specifications before attention is given to the compromises, adaptations and concessions needed to make the decision acceptable
- The building into the decision of the action to carry it out
- The feedback that which test the validity and effectiveness of the decision against the actual course of events
The generic always must be answered through a rule, a principle. The exceptional can only be handled as such and as it comes.
Page 116
Truly unique events are rare, however. Whenever one appears one must ask; is this a true exception or only the first manifestation of a new genus?
Page 117
All events but the truly unique require a generic solution. They require a rule, a policy, a principle.
By far the most common mistake is to treat a generic situation as if it were a series of unique events.
Page 120
He always assumes that the event that clamours for his attention is in reality a symptom. He looks for the true problem. He is not content with doctoring the symptom alone.
The effective decision maker always tries to put his solution on the highest possible conceptual level.
He asks himself every time, “if I had to live with this for a long time, would I be willing to? If the answer is no he keeps working to find a more general, more conceptual, a more comprehensive solution, one which establishes the right principle”
Page 121
Clear specification as to what the decision must accomplish. What are the objectives the decision must reach?
Page 122
The more concisely and clearly boundary conditions are stated, the greater likelihood that the decision will indeed be an effective one and will accomplish what it set out to do
What is the minimum needed to resolve this problem?
Page 123
The effective executive knows that decision that does not satisfy the boundary conditions is ineffectual and inappropriate
Page 125
Everyone can make the wrong decision, but no one needs to make a decision which on its face, falls short of satisfying the boundary conditions
Page 126
One must start with what is right rather than what is acceptable precisely because one always has to compromise in the end. But if one does not know what is right to satisfy the specifications and boundary conditions, one cannot distinguish between the right compromise and the wrong compromise – and will end up by making the wrong compromise
You can not make the right compromise unless you first know what right is.
There are different kinds of compromise, one kind of compromise is “half a loaf is better than no bread” and there is the story of the Judgement of Solomon
Page 127
One gains nothing in the other words by starting out with the question. “What is acceptable?”
Converting the decision into action is the fourth major element in the decision-process.
In fact, no decision has been made unless carrying it out in specific steps has become someone’s work assignment and responsibility. Until then, there are only good intentions
Converting a decision into action requires answering several distinct questions
- Who has to know of this decision?
- What action has to be taken?
- Who is to take it?
- What does the action have to be so that the people who have to do it, can do it?
The first and last of these are too often overlooked – with dire results.
Page 129
One must make sure that their incentives/measurements/standards are changed simultaneously to match the new decision otherwise people will get caught in the paralysing internal emotional conflict.
Page 130
Finally a feedback has to be built into the decision to provide continuous testing, against actual events, of the expectations that underlie the decisions
Decisions are made by men. Men are fallible, at their best their works do not last long. Even the best decision has a high probability of being wrong. Even the most effective one eventually become obsolete
Page 133
Failure to go out and look is the typical reason for persisting in a course of action long after it has ceased to be appropriate or even rational
Unless one builds feedback around direct exposure to reality – unless one disciplines oneself to go out and look – one condemns oneself to a sterile dogmatism and with it to ineffectiveness
Effective Decisions
Page 134
A decision is a judgement. It is a choice between alternatives. It is rarely a choice between right and wrong. It is at best a choice between ‘almost right’ and ‘probably wrong’
Page 135
The only rigorous method, the only one that enables us to test an opinion against reality, is based on the clear recognition that opinions come first – and that this is the way it should be.
What do we have to know to test the validity of this hypothesis?
Page 136
Whenever one analyses the way a truly great, a truly right, decision has been reached, one finds that a great deal of work and thought went into finding the appropriate measurement. The effective decision-maker assumes that the traditional measurement is not the right measurement…The traditional measurement reflects yesterday’s decision. That there is a need for a new one normally indicates that the measure is no longer relevant
Page 137
The averages serve the purposes of the insurance company, but they are meaningless, indeed misleading, for personnel management decisions
Number of accidents per car are useless for car companies, severity of bodily injuries resulting from accidents is a useful metric
Page 138
Whenever one must judge, one must have alternatives, among which one can choose. A judgement in which one can only say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ is no judgement at all. Only if there are alternatives can one hope to get insight into what is truly at stake.
Effective executives therefore insist on alternatives of measurement – so that they can choose the one appropriate one.
The effective executive will insist on having the same investment decision calculated in all three ways – to be able to say at the end; ‘this measurement is appropriate to this decision”
Unless one has considered alternatives, one has a closed mind
The first rule in decision-making is that one does not decide unless there is disagreement
Page 139
Without disagreement there cannot be understanding
Do not become a prisoner of somebody’s preconceived conclusions
Page 140
The only way to break out of the prison of special pleading and preconceived notions is to make sure of argued, documented, thought-through disagreements
Secondly, disagreement alone can provide alternatives to a decision. And a decision without an alternative is a desperate gambler throw, no matter how carefully thought through it might be.
Page 142
Above all, disagreement is needed to stimulate the imagination.
In all matters of true uncertainty such as the executive deals with – whether his sphere is political, economic, social, or militarily – one needs creative solutions which create a new situation
Disagreement, especially if forced to be reasoned, thought through, documented, is the most effective stimulus we know
Page 143
The effective executive is concerned first with understanding. Only then does he even think about who is right and who is wrong
Page 145
He uses conflict of opinion as his toll to make sure all major aspects of an important matter are looked at carefully
Is a decision necessary? One alternative is always the alternative of doing nothing
Page 146
Nor does one interfere if the condition, while annoying, is of no importance and unlikely to make any difference anyhow.
Two guidelines
- Act if on balance the benefits greatly outweigh cost and risk
- Act of do not act, but do not ‘hedge’ or compromise
Page 147
The surgeon who takes out half an appendix risks as much infection or shock as if he did the whole job
Most effective decisions are distasteful
“Lets make another study” is the cowards way, and the coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave man but once
Do not waste the time of good people to cover up indecision
Pay attention to your inner voice, ‘daimon’
Page 148
Always stop when things seem out of focus
Nine times out of ten the uneasiness turns out to be some silly detail. But the tenth time one suddenly realizes that one has overlooked the most important fact in the problem, has made an elementary blunder or has misjudged altogether.
Executives are not paid for doing things they like to do. They are being paid for getting the right things done, most of all the specific task, then making of effective decisions.
Conclusion
Page 155
This book rests on two premises
- The executive job is to be effective
- Effectiveness can be learned
Effectiveness is a self-discipline
Page 156
- The first step toward effectiveness is a procedure; recording where the time goes
- Focus on outward contribution, think why you are on the pay roll, have high demand on yourself, your goals and the organizations
- Making strengths productive
- First things first, develop a more enduring leadership, one of dedication, determination, and serious purpose.
- Make effective decisions using a solid framework
Page 160
Learn to feed opportunities and starve problems. Work on making your strengths productive and concentrate and set priorities instead of trying to do everything
Final Thoughts – This is a great book, not only about being effective at work but in life. Not wasting time, focus on what matters, use your skills for the greater good, take action on the things that matter and make sound decisions. 10/10
Stranger in Sydney 