The purpose of an organization is to enable ordinary humans beings to do extraordinary things.
Peter DruckerRead
There's an enormous number of managers who have retired on the job.
Interpretation
Many managers remain in their roles without effectively engaging or adding value, often merely going through the motions.
This quote by Peter Drucker highlights the phenomenon of managers who, despite still holding their positions, fail to actively contribute or lead effectively. It reflects on the importance of genuine engagement and the responsibility leaders have to be proactive and innovative rather than complacent in their roles, implying that simply occupying a position is not enough to fulfill the duties expected of a leader.
In practice
This quote can be used in a leadership training session to emphasize the importance of active management.
The purpose of an organization is to enable ordinary humans beings to do extraordinary things.
In the Western tradition, we have focused on teaching as a skill and forgotten what Socrates knew: teaching is a gift, learning is a skill.
We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.
The basic economic resource - the means of production -_x000D_ _x000D_ is no longer capital, nor natural resources, nor labor._x000D_ _x000D_ It is and will be knowledge.
Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes... but no plans.
The strength of the computer lies in its being a logic machine. It does precisely what it is programed to do. This makes it fast and precise. It also makes it a total moron; for logic is essentially stupid.
I will never work merely to make a reputation for myself, to be popular for appearances rather than for what I am. My task is to lead my country through service.
My name is Mankiller, and in the old Cherokee Nation, when we lived here in the Southeast, we lived in semi-autonomous villages, and there was someone who watched over the village, who had the title of mankiller. And I'm not sure what you could equate that to, but it was sort of like a soldier or someone who was responsible for the security of the village, and so anyway this one fellow liked the title mankiller so well that he kept it as his name, and that's who we trace our ancestry back to.
What I learned at LucasArts was, you don't make your bets on ideas: ideas are cheap. You make your bets on people.
Women, it turns out, are built to lead - particularly in the modern world.
Most people don't like change. They revolt against it unless they can clearly see the advantage it brings. For that reason, when good leaders prepare to take action or make changes, they take people through a process to get them ready for it.
Just because you are CEO, don't think you have landed. You must continually increase your learning, the way you think, and the way you approach the organization. I've never forgotten that.
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