Week 7 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Jason Pearson is our guest writer today.
Week 7: Manage in Two Time Dimensions
THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: You must be intentional about balancing your short-term mission with your long-term mission—and they must be compatible while at the same time they might be different. Both missions will have to sacrifice dimensions (time, resources, focus, etc.) to serve the other.
JASON PEARSON’S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 7, pages 51-55:
• “If the manager does not take care of the next hundred days, there will be no next hundred years.” (p. 53)
• “You have to have short-term and long-term missions and the two have to be compatible. And yet they are often different.” (p. 53)
• “Executives must fix the problems of the past but the real job of the executive is to commit the organization’s resources to opportunities in the future.” (p. 54)
• “Are both short-range and longer-range objectives spelled out in your organization’s mission statement? What are they?” (p. 55)
• “Does your organization focus most of its time and effort on problems related to past decisions?” (p. 55)
• “How can you free up some of your time and resources to focus on opportunities that serve the future of your unit?” (p. 55)
JASON PEARSON’S COLOR COMMENTARY:
Drucker understood the practical everyday dilemmas that leaders face—and he understood the currency of time. If you spend all your time fixing problems from the past and putting out fires, you won’t have any time to focus on future opportunities. While that sounds simplistic and obvious, we all know it is an easy trap to fall into. The leader or task force in the organization has the unique calling to discern God’s will for the future and take steps to plan for it.
Author Joseph Maciariello challenges us to “spell out our objectives” by writing two mission statements—one for the short-term and one for the long-term. If you asked your team what those two missions are today, could they articulate them? Are your team members on the same page—for both missions?
THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY JASON PEARSON:
Jason Pearson, principal at CrossSection, San Clemente, Calif., specializes in media production and marketing to faith markets. His creative side also oozes out at Pearpod.
TO-DO TODAY:
Complete these sentences:
• Our short-term mission is…
• Our longer-term mission is…
What will you do today to ensure that there is clarity tomorrow?
NEXT MONDAY:
On Feb. 23, 2015, we’ll begin a four-week segment on “The Road Map to Personal Effectiveness.” Week 8’s topic is “Concentration.” Watch for the color commentary by Mark Thrash, Director of Partner Development, Office of the President, at CRM in Anaheim, Calif.
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