Peter Drucker Quotes

“The ultimate resource in economic development is people. It is people, not capital or raw materials that develop an economy.”

“The world political system is till based on the concept of the national sovereign state. For the first time therefore, in three hundred years economy and sovereignty are becoming divorced from each other.”

“Results are obtained by exploiting opportunities, not by solving problems.”

“As to the idea that advertising motivates people, remember the Edsel.”

“Everything requires time. It is the only truly universal condition. All work takes place in time and uses up time. Yet most people take for granted this unique, irreplaceable, and necessary resource. Nothing else, perhaps, distinguishes effective executives as much as their tender loving care of time.”

“What we are good at comes easy, and we believe that unless it comes hard, it can't be very good.”

“Efficiency, which is doing things right, is irrelevant until you work on the right things.”

“An established company which, in an age demanding innovation, is not able to innovation, is doomed to decline and extinction.”

“We have tried to substitute mass for purpose. We have tried to regain military potency of defense by making it gigantic, unwieldy, complex. It never works.”

“Objectives are not commands; they are commitments.”

“If "socialism" is defined as "ownership of the means of production"--and this is both the orthodox and the only rigorous definition--then the United States is the first truly Socialist country.”

“Organizations are no longer built on force, but on trust.”

“As a rule we perceive what we expect to perceive... The unexpected is usually not received at all.”

“You cannot predict the future, but you can create it.”

“The new always looks so puny-so unpromising-next to the reality of the massive, ongoing business.”

“There is the general belief that the corporation income tax is a tax on the "rich" and on the "fat cats." But with pension funds owning 30% of American large business-and soon to own 50%-the corporation income tax, in effect, eases the load on those in top income brackets and penalizes the beneficiaries of pension funds.”

“No financial man will ever understand business because financial people think a company makes money. A company makes shoes, and no financial man understands that. They think money is real. Shoes are real.”

“Elephants have a hard time adapting. Cockroaches outlive everything.”

“You can't manage knowledge.Knowledge is between two ears and only between two ears.”

“The most common source of mistakes in management decisions is the emphasis on finding the right answer rather than the right question.”

“The manager who comes up with the right solution to the wrong problem is more dangerous than the manager who comes up with the wrong solution to the right problem.”

“No executive has ever suffered because his subordinates were strong and effective.”

“The single minded ones, the monomaniacs, are the only true achievers”

“As soon as you move one step up from the bottom, your effectiveness depends on your ability to reach others through the spoken and written word.”

“The relevant question is not simply what shall we do tomorrow, but rather what shall we do today in order to get ready for tomorrow.”