Peter Drucker

認識Peter Drucker是幾年前當我在 HKU SPACE 讀 Diploma in Marketing 的時候。那時教Market Research這個module的那位阿Sir, 向我們介紹了兩位很出名的作家/學者, 一是Father of Marketing, Philip Kolter, 另一位是Father of Management, Peter Drucker.

仍記得阿SIR打趣的說:「完成這個COURSE之後, 你們不用記得我, 但請你們記得Kolter和Drucker，有機會的話, 看看他們的書, 一生受用。」幾年後, 我在美國買了兩本Drucker, 其中一本是以下這一本, 看後的感覺是----沒想到自己會看得如此津津有味!


The Essential Drucker
by Peter Drucker
Collins Business Essentials 2001

我不是讀Business School出身的。可能曾經有一點看不起其他專業的思想吧(罪過, 罪過), 我一直以為Business Related的書會很悶, 而且會有點空洞, 但看了這本Peter Drucker後, 我會極力推介給任何人, 因為除了講Management, 也講做人。在此節錄一些我覺得很受用的章節, 共勉之。

Under Marketing Objectives: (我是做MARKETING的, 這一節, 體會很深)
"Obviously, not everybody can be the leader. One has to decide in which segment of the market, with what product, what services, what values, one should be the leader. It does not do much good for a company's sales to go up if it loses market share, that is, if the market expands much faster than the company's sales do."
"Market standing, regardless of the sales curve, is therefore essential."
"There is also a maximum market standing above which it may be unwise to go -- even if there were no antitrust laws. Market domination tends to pull the leader to sleep..."
(P33)

我不是一個Management(一般人的看法), 因為我一直只是一個曾經在不同機構任職的小職員。在不同的機構, 遇過不同的Management, 再看這本書, 萬般滋味在心頭:

"Long before the time has come at which management by one person no longer works and becomes mismanagement, that one person also has to start learning how to work with colleagues, has to learn to trust people, yet also how to hold them accountable. The founder has to learn to become the leader of a team rather than a "star" with "helpers"." (pp155-156)

"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." (p208)

"The foundation of effective leadership is thinking through the organization's mission, defining it, and establishing it, clearly and visibly. The leader sets the goals, sets the priorities, and sets and maintains the standards. He makes compromises, of course; indeed, effective leaders are painfully aware that they are not in control of the universe." (p270)
".....the leader see leadership as responsibility rather than as rank and privilege." (p270)
"...an effective leader wants strong associates; he encourages them, pushes them, indeed glories in them. Because he holds himself ultimately responsible for the mistakes of his associates and subordinates, he also sees the triumphs of his associates and subordinates as his triumphs, rather than as threats." (p270)
"The final requirement of effective leadership is to earn trust." (p271)

This strikes me very hard indeed....我知道, 我要找一個可以令我沈迷的興趣, 或去做義工, 或去找一個SECOND CAREER...

"In a knowledge society we expect everyone to be a "success". But this is clearly an impossibility. For a great many people there is, at best, absence of failure. For where there is success, there has to be failure. And then it is vitally important for the individual -- but equally for the individual's family -- that there be an area in which the individual contributes, makes a difference, and is somebody. That means having a second area, whether a second career, a parallel career, a social venture, a serious outside interest, anything offering an opportunity for being a leader, for being respected, for being a success." (pp284-285)