40. Tom Peters searching for small business excellence in tough times No 2
Peters & Waterman’s first theme which characterised successful businesses from their study of 43 ‘successful’ US businesses was: A bias for action. What they meant by this was that they were companies that did not generally feel the need to spend years studying any development and months contemplating any action. They tended to get on with it, and […]
39. Tom Peters searching for small business excellence in tough times
In a fast changing world the need is more than ever to be at the top of your game to survive and prosper – in recession it is tough and in the growth stage the competition gets fiercer. As a small business you generally have more control over your destiny than as an employee, so you […]
38. Peter Drucker interpreted for small business part 10
This is the last part on Drucker. Drucker wrote a lot about motivation. Although like Frederick Winslow Taylor he wanted to build a business system, unlike Taylor Drucker is always aware of the human dimension. He talks about the need to be passionate about what you do, always learning and enjoying. This is not always easy […]
37. Peter Drucker in his own words interpreted for small business part 9
Peter Drucker’s three questions – although starting with ‘what is our business?’ are essentially externally focused on the customer, how they see your business and what they value. But Drucker also looks a lot at the internal process in terms of releasing the capabilities of people and focusing talents on where they are best employed. […]
36. Peter Drucker in his own words interpreted for small business part 8
“What is our business? Who are our customers? What do they value? These are Drucker’s three classic questions and they reduce to very simple non-academic terms what is often turned into a highly theoretical strategic debate. These questions reduce that debate to the essential simplicities – for business is basically simple although it is often […]
35. Peter Drucker in his own words interpreted for small business 7
“What is measured improves”. Peter Drucker built this into a manegment system – Management by Objectives – but of course people have always set objectives. One early business example of using the principles of ‘what is measured improves’ is Alfred P Sloane at General Motors in the 1920s. He was an advocate of management by walking […]
34. Peter Drucker in his own words interpreted for small business 6
“We will not be limited by the information, but we will be limited by our ability to process that information” The information overload age is with us with a vengeance but Drucker predicted it over a generation ago. How can you cope? The basic research you have done and continue to do on your market […]
33. Peter Drucker in his own words interpreted for small business 5
“The assumptions on which most businesses are being run today no longer fit reality”. Drucker wrote this quite a few years ago when the pace of change in the business world was slower and there was more of a tendency for businesses to believe that the way the market worked for them was fairly fixed. As […]
32. Peter Drucker in his own words interpreted for small business 4
“Management is mostly to do with people, not procedures”. Those of you who have been following this series will have read about Frederick Winslow Taylor and his Scientific Management work. His mechanistic approach to efficiency (which focused on what is the most effective set of physical actions to complete a physical process) ignored the fact that […]
31. Peter Drucker in his own words interpreted for small business 3
“Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things” – you could substitute the words ‘management’ and ‘leadership’ if you want to. And the distinction is critical. Focusing on making a process work smoothly and seamlessly and achieving that can be very satisfying, but if it is not the right process, it will not […]
