“One cannot manage change. One can only be ahead of it…In a period of upheavals, such as the one we are living in, change is the norm. To be sure, it is painful and risky, and above all it requires a great deal of very hard work. But unless it is seen as the task of the organization to lead change, the organization…will not survive.”
— Legendary management guru Peter Drucker from his book, Management Challenges for the 21st Century. Drucker passed away in 2005, but his lessons continue to guide Procter & Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley, as Pattie mentions in her post today on how the best bosses find focus.
Lafley references this passage from Drucker in his article, “What only the CEO can do,” in the May Harvard Business Review. “The outside changes inevitably, sometimes very fast, and often unpredictably,” writes Lafley. It’s the job of the CEO, he says, to connect external dynamics with what’s happening inside the company. –Jessica Shambora