Peter Drucker and one question
Peter Drucker is likely the founder of the science of management and leadership. His research centered around one question: “What makes leaders effective?”. That question sounds simple, but leaders come in all shapes, sizes and with many many different personality traits. What do successful leaders then share?
8 + 1 common traits of effective managers
In one of his last articles in the HBR he looked back at his life-long research and condensed 8 + 1 traits that successful managers have in common.
The traits:
- They ask: What needs to be done?
- They ask: What is right for the enterprise?
- They develop plans
- They take responsibility for decisions
- They take responsibility for communicating
- They focus on opportunities rather than problems
- They ran productive meetings
- They say we rather than I
Plus one bonus trait:
- They listen first and speak last
The traits look simple, yet they seem to be hard to achieve. It’s a good practice for every manager and leader to go through the items from time to time and critically ask if you are really doing your best in each case.
