An important aspect of the intellectual life of anyone in a country founded on principles of capitalism and business, is knowing what seminal ideals are driving it.
This is especially crucial for the nonprofit community which plays its best role when it embraces (to complement its mission-driven practice) the principles that have created successful capitalism and effective business management.
Keep On Druckin'
Blue-chip books on business management.
BY KEN ROMAN
Saturday, March 17, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT
1. "The Effective Executive" by Peter F. Drucker (Harper & Row, 1967).
"The Effective Executive" is the quintessential guide to management principles by the acknowledged master of the subject, Peter F. Drucker. He defines effectiveness as "a habit . . . a complex of practices that can always be learned." Those practices include knowing where time goes, focusing on outcomes rather than work, building on strengths and not weaknesses, and concentrating on a few areas that will produce outstanding results. Drucker once observed that there are not 24 hours in a day but only two or three; the difference between the effective executive and everyone else, he said, is the ability to use those hours productively and "get the right things done."
2. "Management and Machiavelli" by Antony Jay (Holt, 1967).
British author Antony Jay makes the case in "Management and Machiavelli" that management is but a continuation of the old art of government. He finds management principles in Renaissance Italy, Bismarck's Prussia and imperial Rome. He regards Machiavelli's "The Prince" (1513) as "bursting with urgent advice and acute observations for top management"--e.g., strong vs. weak leaders ("the barons are strong when the king is weak"). Jay shows how the Roman Empire ran its world-wide business by putting in command men who were "trained, selected and trusted by Rome to govern the province." Ultimately, this is a portrait of leadership. Machiavelli saw success and failure for states as stemming directly from the qualities of the leader--the prince.
