I had the opportunity to attend the workshop of one of my favorite consultants who happened to be giving a workshop to us fellow consultants on consulting, because consulting is one of the things he consults on.
Anyhow, one of my colleagues raised the question of what would be good books to read to help further our management thought. Without hesitation, he responded, “Read Drucker, and not much else, because frankly, there aren’t that many good business books out there.” This consultant has authored several books of his own, and no one had the courage to ask him if he included his own titles in that appraisal, but I do agree with at least half of his answer. I think you should read as much and as often as you can, but if you find reading difficult to work into your busy life, Drucker’s work will give you a much greater return than the time you have to sacrifice to read it.
“Read Drucker” is good advice because Drucker’s thought is both common sense and powerful. Perhaps it’s so powerful because it is rooted in simple, straightforward common sense, which is often so woefully lacking in most organizations. Drucker was called “The guru to guru to gurus” by Tom Peters, and something that has almost become habit with me is to flip to the index and/or bibliography of any business book I’m reading to see if Drucker is mentioned or cited in the book. I almost consider the book incomplete if it doesn’t cite Drucker at least once.
What was it that distinguished Drucker? Some may argue that he is considered a “guru” because he came along at a time when there notion of the “management guru” was an emerging phenomenon, but I think author Jim Collins summed it up best. Collins had the opportunity to work with and interview Drucker for one of his books, and he said that his immediate realization upon meeting Dr. Drucker was that what made him such a great thinker was that he still very much considered himself a student.
We should all consider ourselves fortunate students of the remarkable game of business and consider ourselves blessed to work in a free market, and we should strive to have as much expertise about what we do as we can, whatever our field or industry. After all, that’s essentially what made Drucker, well, Drucker!
A lot of people think that because I make my living in marketing that the Super Bowl is one of my favorite events. I hate to say it, but, the opposite is the case, and not just because Brett Favre didn’t make it this year.
The B-17 was a powerful bomber whose contributions to winning the Second World War were legendary. The aircraft was known affectionately as the “Flying Fortress” because of its durability and firepower, and it to this day holds a special place in the hearts of its manufacturer, the Boeing company.
There are a growing number of die-hard Apple fans who have found a neat way to have their cake and eat it too - Inexpensively!
Guy Kawasaki told an enlightening story about the old Woolworth’s Department Stores in 
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How can you eliminate risk altogether? Here’s a better question: Why even try?
I ran across a good book about Drucker a while back and ended up ordering it through the good folks at 
Typically it’s better to be first into the market because the organization or product who is first in the market winds up being first in the mind when consumers are making their purchase decisions. A degree of ownership accompanies being “first” into the market because the opportunity to obtain ownership of the whole category or “high ground” is possible. But is being first absolutely essential to success?
There’s a lot to be said for being the “first mover” into the marketplace. As some of my favorite marketng authors, Reis & Trout, said years ago, “It’s better to be first than it is to be better.” One of the reasons they said it’s better to be first in the market is because whoever is first in the market is also first in the mind. This is essentially like owning the marketing high ground because whoever is “first” becomes the standard against which everyone else is measured. In fact, being first may even mean having the brand be equated with the product.
I once heard of a law firm that had one guiding principle that was ingrained in every single employee at every department from the time they were first hired. It goes like this: “You’re either serving the client, or you’re serving the person who’s serving the client. If you’re not, then what the heck are you doing?”
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