Foreword

My intention in writing this foreword is to introduce you to the book Doing the Right Things Right: How the Effective Executive Spends Time by Laura Stack, aka The Productivity Pro®. But above and beyond a simple introduction, I’m going to tell you why reading this book is one of the “rightest” things you can do for yourself.

For you to understand why I can make such a claim and why it matters, you have to understand where I’m coming from.

Recently, I received an email from Neal Maillet, one of my early editors, announcing that he was editing a new book. There’s nothing unusual about that; it’s what editors do. But this one had him excited. He insisted that I consider writing the foreword.

I have a soft spot for former editors, but I didn’t want to commit without seeing the manuscript first. I told him I would read the book and then make my decision. He sent me the entire manuscript right away. I was immediately hooked.

As Laura explains in her preface, her book was inspired by Peter Drucker’s The Effective Executive. Drucker is nothing less than the Father of Modern Management, and this was one of his classics, written in the mid-1960s. Laura describes it as her favorite book, and I have no difficulty understanding why that’s so.

You see, Peter Drucker was a true genius. There are Drucker Societies today in more than nineteen countries, still studying and analyzing his thirty-nine books and hundreds of articles and speeches ten years after his death. I was the first to receive my PhD at Drucker’s hands, and I later founded the California Institute of Advanced Management (CIAM), to offer an affordable MBA in Executive Management and Entrepreneurship based on the principles and values of Peter Drucker. In addition, I write a syndicated column on Drucker, and my last four books are all about Drucker and his ideas.

I devoured Laura’s book—and what a feast it was! Understand, Drucker was the first scholar to differentiate management and leadership, and this difference goes a long way toward explaining both Peter’s and Laura’s book titles. “Management,” Peter said, “is about doing things right—leadership is about doing the right things.” He went on to write that the latter was critical, and that while doing things right meant efficiency, doing the right things was about being effective.

Thus, The Effective Executive. Of course, we’d like managers to be both efficient and effective, because, as Laura points out and Drucker proclaimed, nothing is worse than spending time, effort, and money in doing the wrong things with 100 percent efficiency. So Laura set herself the task of showing us how To Do the Right Things Right. She succeeds wonderfully.

Laura does far more, actually. Without a doubt, Drucker’s genius was in showing us what to do. Rarely, however, did he tell us how or suggest ways to carry out his recommendations and insights. Laura does. In just over 50,000 words, she goes nonstop with hundreds of ways, steps, and checklists to implement Drucker’s ideas. If you don’t get at least a couple of million-dollar ideas on every page, you aren’t paying attention. The breadth of coverage is more than impressive—it is amazing.

Laura categorizes the three areas where leaders spend their time into what she calls “The Three Ts”: Thinking Strategically, Team Focus, and Tactical Work. Then, with four principles in each, she covers everything about each from Action to Vision, and everything in between and back again. Moreover, she illustrates everything with specific examples so you know exactly what she is talking about and exactly how to apply her ideas.

You’ll enjoy and profit from her book. I know I did.

—Bill Cohen, PhD Major General, USAF, Ret.; President, California Institute of Advanced Management