The Essential Drucker: The Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker's Essential Writings on Management (Collins Business Essentials) Paperback – July 22, 2008

For a long time I had been intending to read something of Drucker. He is, after all, the grandfather of management science. But I kept putting it off, for I am a busy executive and need answers to my current management problems. The old man, I thought, would have less to tell me then, say, Roberts in "The Modern Firm" (which is an excellent book) or some of my internal reports."The Essential Drucker" it seemed, would be the right way to do my duty to history. Here I could quickly peruse a medley of the Drucker's outdated thoughts, and move on.Oh how wrong I was.Drucker's writing is as fresh and relevant today as when first written. His prescient insights foreshadow many recent works. Indeed, I found the essence of Tom Collins in the first few chapters; condensed and not said in quite the same way, of course, but the principle insights were the same. Drucker has reminded me that fundamental truths are timeless.And there is something else I especially like; the tone. Drucker writes like a commander. He has confidence - not a blaring promotional edge - but a sense of solidity and authority that comes from saying things meaningful, clear, practical, logical; things from someone with his feet firmly on the ground.Don't miss this book if you are not sure of where to start with Drucker. It may whet your appetite for more Drucker.

This is an excellent book to source the wisdom of Peter Drucker. He isn't only the father of modern business philosophy, he wrote, eloquently about politics and self-development as well. This little book condenses some of his finer points in one book. He is probably one of the most quoted business consultants and writers of the past three generations and if you haven't read his work, you have no doubt read someone else books or columns that has emulated Drucker.Tom Peters - In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies (Collins Business Essentials),The Little Big Things: 163 Ways to Pursue EXCELLENCESeth Godin - Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?, Purple Cow, New Edition: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable--Includes new bonus chapter,Jim Collins - Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great,Forbes - How Capitalism Will Save Us: Why Free People and Free Markets Are the Best Answer in Today's EconomyAll of these writers, thinkers and business consultants owe a debt to Peter Drucker.One of the best Drucker quotes from this book, "The purpose of a business is to create a customer," He was the first to identify critical principles in management, economics, politics, and the world in general.One of the more popular principles we have read in FastCompany to Forbes is "Management by Objectives and Self-Control" ("Each manager, from the 'big boss' down to the production foreman or the chief clerk, needs clearly spelled-out objectives"So if you're like me you like to know the history behind current trends. This book will give you perspective on where current business pontiffs source their work, where business leadership was and should be, and most important why we are in such an economic mess. Peter Drucker would have made an excellent President, Secretary of State, Commerce Secretary, or Secretary of the Interior.

I have to admit that I am a latecomer to Drucker. I decided to give it a try when someone whom I respect immensely mentioned his name in passing. As there are about 50 books/essays to choose from, I picked this based solely on the title (and the reviews, of course!).I have to say that I have been very impressed with the clarity of thought, the simplicity of his ideas, and more importantly the longevity of his advice (considering that some of his initial work was with GM when Alfred Sloan was around). I, perhaps like other people, mistakenly wrote Drucker off in favor of new authors on the block. However, that's been my loss until recently.Furthermore, I decided to try some of his ideas relating to performance management, employee morale and setting expectations - the bread and butter of most business settings. The simplicity of his ideas coupled with their easy applicability is what impressed me. I will definitely try some of his other books, having gone through this and would recommend this to anyone else not sure about Drucker.So, why the 4 stars instead of 5? The book, in an attempt to cover his best writings, covers everything from business strategy to social entrepreunership to business history. That leaves the reader wanting more details and examples in the individual articles.

Drucker has long been known as one of the premier business and management philosophers of all time. I found The Essential Drucker to be a simply amazing combination of the best of many of his previous works. If you had to only have one book on business management, this is the one to choose folks! Drucker combines common sense with near-uncanny foresight and accuracy in his predictions, and his analysis of human psychology, particularly for his coined term "knowledge workers," is incredible (I know, I AM one).I wish my supervisors would read and follow this book, they would save a GREAT deal of headache, all sorts of trouble, and probably cut the very high turnover by at least 75%. Whether you are a laborer or top CEO or president of a corporation, everyone can learn something from Drucker. I guarantee it will be well worth your time and money. Making its precepts key to your business will definitely pay handsome dividends both short and long term.