Book Brief 03 | The Effective Executive

Welcome all. Today's briefing will cover the management classic, Peter F. Drucker's book: THE EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done

As always, the purpose of a Book Brief is to provide as much potentially useful information as busy people like yourself may need, to decide if reading the book under consideration will be a good use of your time. We'll begin with specifications, and move on to more subjective information.

ISBN-13: 9780060833459

Year: 1967 (original), 2006 (my edition)

Version: Paperback (purchased used on Thriftbooks.com for $6.09 in 07/2020)

Pages: 174 (add 15 for Preface and Introduction)

Dimensions: 8.0 x 5.25 x 0.5 (inches)

Other versions: hardcover, paperback, audiobook, Kindle, used, mp3 and audio cd (Amazon); hardcover, paperback, and Nook (Barnes & Noble); used paperback and hardcover (Thriftbooks.com)

Front and back cover of The Effective Executive.

Why did you buy it?

I bought it because I had it on one of my book lists. The Effective Executive is insanely popular on book lists for business leaders, MBA candidates, and entrepreneurs. It was one of several recommendations I noted from Tim Ferriss. I think it was one of his “top 5” for people who want to start a business.

Would you buy it again? Probably not. Having read it, I would have opted to pick up one of the other books on my list.

Will you keep it as a resource? In truth, I keep most books I buy. This one will probably be no different, unless I take it to my local used book shop for trade. I can see this book being randomly useful as a source for pull quotes. Snippets of wisdom from a notable management expert. But that’s because I write about leadership and management, and I design and present trainings. So, I sometimes need pull quotes.

Contents page

Who is it for?

People LOVE this book. They love it. They give it five stars. So, this book could be for you, simply because of how popular it is.

On its face, it's a book about management principles. And, even though this is an outdated book, the management principles are sound. They’re also pretty basic. So, if you haven’t received much training in management, and you're looking for some basic management principles, The Effective Executive could have great insight for you.

If you’ve held a position of mid-level supervision for a while, but didn't have any formal management training. Even if you moved up through the ranks of leadership, which usually provides some basic understanding of good and bad management. This book might be useful for you, but maybe not the best use of your time.

If you’ve received basic training in management and leadership, even if it was just a few years of really good mentoring, this book really is not be the best use of your time. It might still be something you want to have for reference. Or you could just get something more current.

If you read my first Book Brief for Art of the Start 2.0, then you may recall that I suggested you get to know the author to better understand who their intended audience is. So let's do that.

Peter F. Drucker was a man born in 1909 in Vienna, Austria (back when it was still Austria-Hungary). He was a European male, born, raised, and educated in Europe. (Not that there's anything wrong with that. Some of my best friends and family are males of European descent.) We're just getting to know him, so we know where and when he's coming from. So we can understand who he's talking to. So let's continue.

He didn’t come to live in the U.S. until the early 1940s and published this book in 1967. At that time, women were not as prominent in management and executive leadership, as they are now. But women were establishing themselves in the corporate world by 1967. So, it was disturbing to me that they weren't really mentioned.

Hello beauty magnates Madame C.J. Walker, Helena Rubenstein, Elizabeth Arden, and Estee Lauder... And Ruth Handler, who created Barbie and in 1967, became the President of Mattel, Inc.... But maybe Drucker was unimpressed by beauty and toys. So what about Olive Beech? She and her husband founded Beech Aircraft, and when her husband died in 1950, she took over as President. Taking Beech Aircraft into research and development for spacecraft components needed by NASA... Or Brownie Wise, who created the party/event-plan marketing model that made Tupperware, Tupperware. Earl Tupper (Mr. Tupperware) made her Vice President because of how successful her innovation made the company. Then fired her in 1958 because she deservedly got so much credit. (A great product is nothing, if you don't have a great marketing strategy, Earl.)

As I’m sure you know, in business, you spend plenty of time looking in the rearview, but not nearly as much time as you should spend looking around at the current landscape, and up ahead, down the road. To the future. Despite the fact that women in 1967 were clearly visible in the past, present and the future, they are practically invisible in this book.

There is just one reference to women in Chapter 1: Effectiveness Can Be Learned.

“Every knowledge worker in modern organization is an ‘executive’ if, by virtue of his position or knowledge, he is responsible for a contribution that materially affects the capacity of the organization to perform and to obtain results…

It may be the capacity of a hospital to provide bedside care to its patients, and so on. Such a man (or woman) must make decisions; he cannot just carry out orders…”

There it is. Did you miss it? The parenthetical woman.

It was a reference to bedside care. In the 1960s, a woman would obviously come to mind, when thinking of nurses and caregivers. And, indeed, later in the book, there is another reference to a woman. Also, a nurse. She is referred to as Nurse Bryan. In Chapter 3: What Can I Contribute, he tells the story of a hospital administrator, holding his first staff meeting. In the staff meeting, someone asks if the solution to a difficult problem being discussed would have pleased Nurse Bryan.

“Nurse Bryan, the administrator learned, had been a long-serving nurse at the hospital. She was not particularly distinguished, had not in fact ever been a supervisor… Though Nurse Bryan herself had retired almost ten years earlier, the standards she had set still made demands on people who in terms of training and position were her superiors.”

Okay. I’m going to put the Drucker-bashing feminism back in the bitch box and tuck it away on my mother’s “You’ll Never Make Friends That Way” shelf. Excuse me while I clear my throat, and try to flick this chip off my shoulder.

This book is, in my opinion, an historical, sentimental reference to some great management insight, from a highly respected thinker on business and the education of business leaders.

However, it is clearly written from the perspective of, and for, male executives and the boys (his reference, not mine) who aspire to be them. If you can read around that exclusivity, this book could be for you.

As a woman who has successfully managed and led people and teams for almost 30 years, in human and social services fields, which have traditionally been dominated by women, and therefore, are still grossly underpaid, underappreciated, and moderately disrespected, this book was not for me.

Text sample

How does it read? Easy.

Did you find it useful?

Slightly. As I stated, there is wisdom to be found in its pages. But, it was honestly not useful for me, because over many years, I’ve received so much relevant, current training and management experience. If I’d read it 20-25 years ago, it might have been more useful. However, I am confident there are more useful books out there.

I include a photo of the Contents page in each Book Brief, so you can see how the author breaks down and organizes their thoughts. That could determine how useful it is for you.

Again, it contains good information, but it’s so outdated, I found it difficult to wade through. Maybe difficult is the wrong word. Tedious. That’s a better word. It just wasn’t worth it, when I have so many other books I could read.

How long did it take you? About 2 hours.

Did you skip anything?

No, but I skimmed a lot. I read the first 39 pages (Preface, Introduction, and Chapter 1). A few pages into Chapter 1, I made a deal with myself and Drucker. If Drucker had more than the one reference to women (parenthetical or not) in Chapter 1, I would continue reading into Chapter 2. Otherwise, I would save myself some time and just skim…

Suffice it to say, I skimmed everything after Chapter 1.

Anything else I might want to know?

As I referenced above, I think this is a great book for people who enjoy historical non-fiction. A cultural, anthropological look back at business and management in the 20th century, written by the definitive thinker in the field.

The stories and case studies reference companies, people, and institutions that are so old they may verge on meaninglessness for some readers. But they were relevant and important at the time. And it’s fun to read about them now.

I do not think that Drucker was a sexist. I think he was a man of his time, which was a long time ago. I'm sure that, at that time, and for a while after that, his book was appreciated and accepted without controversy. But that's because men and women of the time were accustomed to exclusive use of masculine pronouns. Unless a specific female was being referenced... like Nurse Bryan.

Part of me wants to apologize for hating on this book’s exclusion of women. The truth is, my time with this book was spent chuckling to myself, thinking of my ancestors, and how far society has come.

Even if it still has a long way to go.

This concludes my Book Brief. If there are books you'd like me to read or questions you'd like answered, please let me know.

Thank you for reading. Have a great day, and come back soon.

Shannon