Peter Drucker Quotes

I do believe that any successful business starts from the top and works its way down.

You can't run a company simply by the numbers. So if you're going to bet on someone, you bet on someone you want to be in business with for a long time.

An organization, no matter how well designed, is only as good as the people who live and work in it.

The essence of business to me is great people run great companies. Mediocre people don't do a very good job.

The most important ingredient for the success of any company is the quality of its people, starting with its leadership team.

The organization reflects the behavior and characteristics of the CEO, and that establishes the culture. Foster an environment of open communication, and the organization inherits a culture of open communication.

We're all flawed, but basically, effective managers are people whose flaws are not fatal under the circumstances. Maybe the best managers are simply ordinary, healthy people who aren't too screwed up.

Basic philosophy, spirit and drive of an organization have far more to do with its relative achievements than do technological or economic resources, organizational structure, innovation and timing.

Many corporate leaders and employees have the right intentions, but it can be overwhelming when you consider how everything is affected from leadership styles, to organizational structure, to employee engagement, to customer service an marketplace.

Every employee in a company depends on the C.E.O. to make fast, high-quality decisions.

The most challenging part of being CEO is communicating to 200,000 people what you want done.

Effective management always means asking the right question.

Too many talk about a company's leadership, referring to the senior most executives in the organization. They are just that: senior executives. Leadership doesn't automatically happen when you reach a certain pay grade. Hopefully you find it there, but there are no guarantees.

I used to think business was 50 percent having the right people. Now I think it's 80 percent.

The skilful employer of men will employ the wise man, the brave man, the covetous man, and the stupid man.

Most leadership strategies are doomed to failure from the outset. As people have been noting for years, the majority of strategic initiatives that are driven from the top are marginally effective - at best.

I work strategically with my management team to make all decisions.

A lot of people saved IBM. Yes, I was the leader of that team, but I could never have done it without a group of IBMers helping me.

I recognize we will pay more attention when we have different leadership.

You can have a phenomenal technology with bad people; you're not gonna have much success. You can have mediocre technology with great people; they'll figure out a way to make a buck.

No business can succeed in any great degree without being properly organized.

It took me a while to learn that certain people may have important skills that are not always blazingly apparent. Gradually I came to realize - slow as I may have been - that what mattered was performance, that sometimes people might have to be helped to develop, and that it takes all kinds to make an organization run properly.

Investing in management means building communication systems, business processes, feedback, and routines that let you scale the business and team as efficiently as possible.

I would say that I'm blessed with a very, very good executive team that operates, reasonably autonomously, each of the companies.

Look first at management. That's the key to a company.