“The effective executives I have seen differ widely in their temperaments and their abilities, in what they do and how they do it, in their personalities, their knowledge, their interests --- in fact in almost everything that distinguishes human beings. All they have in common is the ability to get the right things done. “
That’s Peter Drucker, back in 1966. I didn’t read The Effective Executive until 2001, but when I did it changed my life.
Much, if not all, of what Drucker writes applies to salespeople. He outlines five habits that are required to be effective:
1. Know where your time goes.
2. Focus on results.
3. Build on your strengths.
4. Do first things first.
5. Make good decisions.
A friend of mine once told me about a mantra she had received, which for me seemed to summarize Drucker perfectly: “Focus, and Deliver.”
Some of Drucker’s gems:
“It is amazing how many things busy people are doing that never will be missed.”
“Meetings have to be the exception rather than the rule.”
”If I had a son or a daughter, would I be willing to have him or her work under this person?”
“The first rule in decision-making is that one does not make a decision unless there is disagreement.”
After reading the book, I began to ask myself, nearly every day: what is the mission-critical inch of my business? It was my way of running a daily Drucker diagnostic, to ensure that I was laser-focused on the most important thing I could contribute to my company that day.
I couldn’t possibly do justice to Drucker’s words, so I will simply say: read the book. And if that’s not enough, I’ll leave you with this:
“The [executive] who focuses on efforts and who stresses his downward authority is a subordinate no matter how exalted his title and rank. But the [executive] 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.”
