Home > posts > Who Knew Nancy Pelosi Was a Peter Drucker Acolyte?
March 25th, 2010 12:25 pm
Who Knew Nancy Pelosi Was a Peter Drucker Acolyte?

Probably not even the Speaker herself.  But that doesn’t change the fact that her managing of Obamacare mirrors the characteristics of effective leaders Drucker identifies in his classic, The Effective Executive.  There are eight points Drucker sees in every effective executive.

(1)    They asked, “What needs to be done?”

(2)    They asked, “What is right for the enterprise?”

(3)    They developed action plans.

(4)    They took responsibility for decisions.

(5)    They took responsibility for communicating.

(6)    They were focused on opportunities rather than problems.

(7)    They ran productive meetings.

(8)    They thought and said “we” rather than “I.”

I think most observers would agree that Pelosi nailed numbers 3-8, and number 1; especially with her members in Congress.  Was anyone certain she wouldn’t pass the bill?  If I had to pick a flaw it would be failure to comply with number 2, the only normative criteria on the list.  It isn’t right for the American enterprise and its constitutional structure to ram a bill through Congress by using tricks and gimmicks because doing so destroys people’s confidence that we are a nation of rules, not (wo)men.  But as we see with Democrats like Pelosi, the only thing that matters is “winning” – even if it means corrupting government in the process.

For that, Dr. Drucker would no doubt be appalled.

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