William A. Cohen Offers Business Advice in THE PRACTICAL DRUCKER

By: Christina Mancuso Oct. 08, 2013

Decentralization, outsourcing, the rise of the knowledge worker, viewing employees as assets, a focus on the customer-these widely accepted business concepts, and many more, were first expressed by the world's premier management visionary, Peter Drucker. Anticipating monumental changes and challenges on the business landscape, sometimes by decades, Drucker wrote volumes about what business leaders should do to bring out the best in their people and move their company ahead. Yet, for all the astuteness of his observations, Drucker rarely wrote about how to actually do what he believed business leaders should be doing.

In his new book, THE PRACTICAL DRUCKER: Applying the Wisdom of the World's Greatest Management Thinker (AMACOM; November 2013; $25; Hardcover), noted author William A. Cohen, Drucker's first executive Ph.D. graduate and long-time friend, bridges the gap between Drucker's brilliant ideas and their application. Mining Drucker's vast body of work, Cohen distills 40 of the business thinker's most important insights and immediately relevant assertions, including keys for solving today's real-world problems. Throughout, Cohen explains not only what needs to be done to implement Drucker's theories and pronouncements, but also how to go about doing this implementation. "'How-to-do-it' discussions are usually easier to comprehend than 'what-to-do' discussions," says Cohen. "So, for better or worse, this is what you will find in The Practical Drucker."

Grouped around four major categories-People, Management, Marketing and Innovation, and the Organization-each chapter concentrates on a specific topic and truth according to Drucker. With the help of enlightening anecdotes and instructive real-life examples from business, history,

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and the military, THE PRACTICAL DRUCKER offers business leaders clear and concrete how-to guidance on:

Conducting their business with integrity and ethics.
Increasing employee engagement and improving performance by setting high standards, sharing information, and encouraging everyone to acquire managerial vision.
Accomplishing more with less by applying Drucker's take on the Pareto Principle.
Putting a stop to toxic office politics before they spread.
Avoiding failure by continually questioning assumptions.
Redefining quality in meaningful, measurable ways and establishing controls upfront to ensure that good ideas get carried out.
Understanding the importance of timing and preparation, while recognizing the inevitability of change.
Avoiding the five deadly marketing sins, according to Drucker, including giving problems priority over opportunities.
Handling a crisis with outstanding leadership-by facing difficult facts, taking responsibility, sharing the pain, and taking action.

Reinvigorating Peter Drucker's enduring lessons, THE PRACTICAL DRUCKER is a book for every business leader who appreciates the value of continuous learning and informed action.

About the Author

WILLIAM A. COHEN, Peter Drucker's first executive Ph.D. graduate, is President of the Institute of Leader Arts and The California Institute of Advanced Management. He has held executive positions in several companies and served as president of two universities. A prolific author, his previous books include Heroic Leadership, A Class with Drucker, Drucker on Leadership, and Drucker on Marketing. He makes his home in Pasadena, California.

Title: THE PRACTICAL DRUCKER

Applying the Wisdom of the World's Greatest Management Thinker

Author: William A. Cohen

Pub. Date: November 2013

Price: $25; Hardcover

Pages: 288

ISBN: 978-0-8144-3349-2

Also available as an eBook, ISBN: 978-0-8144-3350-8

Find book covers and author photos online at http://www.amacombooks.org/go/art