The Essential Drucker
by Peter F. Drucker · first published 2002
78% recommend22% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Collects decades of Drucker's management writing into one volume, with a practical focus on strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship. Suited to managers and anyone scaling a startup.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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If you're looking for a book on strategy, you can't go wrong with Peter Drucker. http://www.amazon.com/The-Essential-Drucker-Management-Essen... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Drucker
on “Ask HN: Dev promoted to more strategic role in startup. What literature?” ↗The Essential Drucker: The Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker's Essential Writings on Management https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Drucker-Druckers-Management...
on “Ask HN: What books can teach me engineering management skills?” ↗Start with "The Essential Drucker" - it's a collection of chapters from all his books, and then you can pick out what seems most interesting from that. I'm currently reading "The Post-capitalistic society", which is fascinating, and…
on “Be Good” ↗…biology, ... The Design of Everyday Things -- the bible of design. Read it to know why everyday frustrations with tech are probably not your fault. His book Emotional Design is a good compliment. The Essential Drucker -- "essential" reading for anyone in management or scaling a startup. History, and why the world is the way it is today: Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond The Birth…
on “Ask HN: What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models?” ↗His 1973 tome Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, The Essential Drucker, and Managing for Results are three I find myself opening regularly. The Effective Executive is great as well. It's hard to narrow down because he was such a prolific writer. Recommendations are also…
on “A Lifetime of Systems Thinking” ↗"The Essential Drucker" has the best excerpts form "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" in a tidy 3-4 chapters. It's highly recommended if you like reading "The Art of the Start" and those types of books.
on “Be Good” ↗Peter Drucker wrote a really good essay called The Second half of your life. I can’t find it online outside of buying the Essential Drucker, but this article covers some of the points: https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/peter-druckers...
on “Early Retirement (2006)” ↗…Cusumano), "Damn Right: Behind the scenes with Charlie Munger" (Janet Lowe), "Crossing the Chasm" (Geoffrey Moore), "A Good Hard Kick in the Pants" (Rob Adams), "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" and "The Essential Drucker" (Peter Drucker), "Only the Paranoid Survive" (Andy Grove), "dot.bomb: My days and nights at an Internet goliath" (J. David Kuo), "Accidental Empires" (Robery X. Cringely), "The Microsoft Way" (Randall…
on “What startup/VC/tech/internet blogs do you read ?” ↗…http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17278287-the-founder-s-di... http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Minds-Technology-Officers-Peopl... http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1118443667/ref=as_li_ss_t... http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Essential-Drucker-Management-Ess...
on “Ask HN: Dev promoted to more strategic role in startup. What literature?” ↗…Crossing the chasm (get the latest edition) -- good for technical product introductions and marketing behavior. CTO's/VP's etc need to know marketing and business methodologies well to be successful. The Essential Drucker -- not saying I agree with everything, but at least it helps you understand a lot of concepts and you can see patterns. Chainsaw by John A Byrne -- This book is about Al Dunlap and Sunbeam and corporate…
on “Ask HN: Books and Courses for Wannabe CTOs and Heads of Engineering?” ↗