Week 10 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.) Steve Bury is our guest writer today.
Week 10: Information Literacy for Executive Effectiveness
THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: In this four-part segment on “The Road Map to Personal Effectiveness,” Week 10 reminds leaders that what Drucker calls “the knowledge organization” is “structured around information, not hierarchy.” His examples: a hospital and a symphony orchestra.
STEVE BURY’S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 10, pages 71-77:
• “Major changes always start outside an organization.”
• “For strategy, we need organized information about the environment. Strategy has to be based upon information about markets, customers and noncustomers; about technology in one’s own industry and others; about worldwide finance; and about the changing world economy. For that is where results are.”
• “Inside an organization there are only cost centers. The only profit center is a customer whose check has not bounced. . . .It is always with noncustomers that basic changes begin and become significant.”
STEVE BURY’S COLOR COMMENTARY:
I appreciated the emphasis in this chapter on moving from “data literacy” to “information literacy” and why leaders must answer two questions:
First, what information does our organization need? Second, what information do I need?
Drucker stresses that in information technology we must put more emphasis on the “I” than on the “T.”
While our organization does a pretty good job of gathering and analyzing information, I especially appreciated the question, “Have we experienced any events we have not anticipated?” That’s a great question for our next staff meeting!
THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY STEVE BURY:
Steve Bury is the Executive Director of Urban Impact, Seattle, Wash., a Christian Community Development Organization, with a mission to partner with families and communities to break the cycle of social, material, and spiritual poverty. Steve’s heart is the development of dynamic multi-ethnic community-focused ministries that create Godly, lifelong disciples and urban leaders.
TO-DO TODAY:
• “Drucker says the role of executives today is to be “technologically literate about the role of each member of the team so that all members’ efforts can be coordinated.”
• Identify one team member you will ask this week: “Do you have the information you need to do your job well?”
NEXT MONDAY:
On March 16, 2015, we’ll complete this four-week segment on “The Road Map to Personal Effectiveness.” Week 11’s topic is “Principles of Professional Leadership and Management.” Stay tuned: “Defining mission is one of the most difficult things organizations have to do. The obvious answer is usually wrong.”
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