The Effective Executive – Book Notes

This is one of our favorite books on productivity. It’s not about working more efficiently; it’s about finding the right things to work on in the first place.

You can apply this as a student taking exams, but it becomes even more important when you get to the workplace.

The Effective Executive — Highlights

Management books usually deal with managing other people. The subject of this book is managing oneself.

Intelligence, imagination, and knowledge are essential resources, but only effectiveness converts them into results. By themselves, they only set limits to what can be attained.

Knowledge work is not defined by quantity. Neither is knowledge work defined by its costs. Knowledge work is defined by its results.

Effectiveness is a habit; that is, a complex of practices. And practices can always be learned.

These are essentially five such practices—five such habits of the mind that have to be acquired to be an effective executive:

1. Effective executives know where their time goes. They work systematically at managing the little of their time that can be brought under their control.

2. Effective executives focus on outward contribution. They gear their efforts to results rather than to work. They start out with the question, “What results are expected of me?” rather than with the work to be done.

3. Effective executives build on strengths—their own strengths, the strengths of their superiors, colleagues, and subordinates; and on the strengths in the situation, that is, on what they can do.

4. Effective executives concentrate on the few major areas where superior performance will produce outstanding results.

5. Effective executives, finally, make effective decisions.

Step 1: Know Thy Time

This three-step process: recording time, managing time, and consolidating time is the foundation of executive effectiveness.

To find these time-wastes, one asks of all activities in the time records: “What would happen if this were not done at all?” And if the answer is, “Nothing would happen,” then obviously the conclusion is to stop doing it.

A common cause of time-waste is largely under the executive’s control and can be eliminated by him. That is the time of others he himself wastes.

Another common time-waster is malorganization. Its symptom is an excess of meetings. For one either meets or one works. One cannot do both at the same time.

Step 2: Focus on Outward Contribution

The effective executive focuses on contribution. He looks up from his work and outward toward goals.

He asks: “What can I contribute that will significantly affect the performance and the results of the institution I serve?” His stress is on responsibility.

For every organization needs performance in three major areas:

• It needs direct results;
• building of values and their reaffirmation;
• and building and developing people for tomorrow.

The focus on contribution by itself supplies the four basic requirements of effective human relations: communications; teamwork; self-development; and development of others.

Step 3: Build on Strengths

To achieve results, one has to use all the available strengths—the strengths of associates, the strengths of the superior, and one’s own strengths.

The test of organization is not genius. It is its capacity to make common people achieve uncommon performance.

He looks at his own performance and at his own results and tries to discern a pattern.

Step 4: Concentrate on High-Leverage Activities

If there is any one “secret” of effectiveness, it is concentration. Effective executives do first things first and they do one thing at a time.

The job is, however, not to set priorities. That is easy. Everybody can do it.

Most executives have learned that what one postpones, one actually abandons.

Courage rather than analysis dictates the truly important rules for identifying priorities:

• Pick the future as against the past;
• Focus on opportunity rather than on problem;
• Choose your own direction—rather than climb on the bandwagon;
• Aim high, aim for something that will make a difference, rather than for something that is “safe” and easy to do.

Step 5: Make Effective Decisions

The first rule in decision-making is that one does not make a decision unless there is disagreement.

The effective decision-maker compares the risk of action to risk of inaction.

Act if on balance the benefits greatly outweigh cost and risk; and

Act or do not act; but do not “hedge” or compromise.

Executives are not paid for doing things they like to do. They are paid for getting the right things done – most of all in their specific task, the making of effective decisions.