The Redbull of Management
There are those in your life that shape your thoughts and careers. For me in particular, there are two management thinkers that have shaped how I view business. The first is Peter Drucker who is called "The Father of Modern Management." His teachings and writings spanned a 65 year career starting with the publication in 1939 The End of Economic Man to his last publication in 2004 of The Daily Drucker. Peter Drucker passed away November 11, 2005 in Claremont, California. The second management thinker that affected our business thinking is "The Redbull of Management Thinking," Tom Peters. We will discuss their teachings and thoughts which have affected thinkers and students globally.
One of the best concepts popularized by Tom Peters and his co-author Robert H. Waterman in their best seller In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best Run Companies is MBWA. Most of us who are students of MBWA know that it is an acronym for "Management by Wandering Around" or also known as "Management by Walking Around." But the concept popularized by the book has been around since the 1970s. Tom Peters found MBWA while researching for the book at Hewlett Packard (HP). William Hewlett and David Packard, founders of HP, used and taught this concept to their managers. They even wrote a book on it called The HP Way. The real goal of MBWA is not just exercise but increasing interaction opportunities between senior management and employees. This is a simple concept that works flawlessly as we've used it throughout our careers effectively.
What stops you from excellence?This question may sound counterintuitive as who would build a company without excellence. The reality is for one reason or the other the company that is built or that you manage becomes mediocre. The company becomes mediocre because of a disengaged workforce, a toxic culture, bad strategy, or more commonly bad leadership. This rot was built up in days, weeks, months, and years of forgotten maintenance on what excellence means. But what does it mean to be on the other side. Tom Peters sums it up in his book The Excellence Dividend perfectly. Excellence equals the next five minutes. We discuss this in a different blog on our website. So our question to you (the reader) is, "What stops you from excellence for people and humanity?" We are helping people answer this question through The PeopleFirst Academy.
The basics of management
For any business, management is an important factor in its success or failure. As Tom Peters has a nickname, Peter Drucker also had a name. Peter Drucker was known as "The Father of Modern Management Theory." This was due to his 65 year contribution to management theory and the 39 books that he wrote during his lifetime. The reason we are drawn to Peter Drucker is because he was a holistic thinker where he believed that businesses were components of a larger social system. The six concepts that Drucker was well known for included decentralization, knowledge work, workforce development, corporate social responsibility, organizational culture, and customer experience. Both of these thinkers have highly influenced us at The PeopleFirst Academy.
Leadership and Why it MattersIn times like COVID19, leadership is more important and vital to a company's health than ever. Drucker believed that a company's primary responsibility is to serve its customers. Profit is not the primary goal, but rather an essential condition for the company's continued existence and sustainability. He also believed in the notion that great companies could stand among mankind's noblest inventions. This is where the philosophical roots of The PeopleFirst Academy is born where we "stand among mankind's noblest inventions." It's something we admire about thinkers like Drucker and Peters where they are decades ahead in their vision. We are using these concepts to build a business with a rock-solid foundation of management and leadership thinking.
In these times of COVID19, leadership is sorely needed. Whether in business or politics or at that micro-level of a small mom-and-pop restaurant, the determinant to success or failure is leadership. Our leadership and management thinking is based faithfully on Peter Drucker's and Tom Peter's time-tested concepts and thinking. This is where The PeopleFirst Academy is training the next generation of Managers and Leaders. Our primary responsibility is to serve our customers. Our customer is YOU.
