I’m continuing my tradition of posting a variety of Peter Drucker quotes at the beginning of the year, and this year we need them more than ever. I’ve kept the emphasis on new beginnings, hope, optimism, future-focused thinking, and positive change. Each quote includes the title and year of the book in which it appeared:
- “Any attempt to base today’s actions and commitments on predictions of future events is futile.” – Managing for Results, 1964
- “Change is opportunity.” – The Frontiers of Management, 1986
- “Entrepreneurs see change as the norm and as healthy.” – Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 1985
- “Good executives focus on opportunities rather than problems.” – The Effective Executive, 2004
- “I have always been attracted to the unexpected success; in my experience, it holds the key to understanding.” – The Frontiers of Management, 1986
- “If you have more than five goals, you have none.” – The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization, 2008
- “Innovation is thus not only opportunity. It is not only risk. It is first and foremost responsibility.” – Landmarks of Tomorrow, 1959
- “Listening for the signal that it is time to change is an essential skill for self-development.” – Managing the Non-Profit Organization, 1990
- “One cannot manage change. One can only be ahead of it.” – Management Challenges for the 21st Century, 1999
- “Performance in management, therefore, means in large measure doing a good job of preparing today’s business for the future.” – Managing in Turbulent Times, 1980
- “Planning tries to optimize tomorrow the trends of today. Strategy aims to exploit the new and different opportunities of tomorrow.” – Managing in Turbulent Times, 1980
- “The first policy-and the foundation for all the others- is to abandon yesterday.” – Management Challenges for the 21st Century, 1999
- “The first thing to do to attain tomorrow is to slough off yesterday.” – Management: Revised Edition, 2008
- “The future requires decisions-now. It imposes risk-now. It requires action-now.” – Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, 1974
- “The most effective road to self-renewal is to look for the unexpected success and run with it.” – Managing the Non-Profit Organization, 1990
- “The time dimension is inherent in management because management is concerned with decisions for action. And action is always aimed at results in the future.” – The Practice of Management, 1954
- “There are hidden opportunities in developments that seem to threaten a business or an industry.” – Managing for Results, 1964
- “To get at the new and better, you have to throw out the old, outworn, obsolete, no longer productive, as well as the mistakes, failure and misdirections of effort of the past.” – Managing For the Future, 1993
- “To make the future demands courage.” – Managing for Results, 1964
- “What do we have to do today to be ready for an uncertain tomorrow?” – Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, 1974
- “Yet surely this is a time to make the future- precisely because everything is in flux. This is a time for action.” – Post-Capitalist Society, 1993
I hope these quotes provide a jump-start for your new and better tomorrow. For continued inspiration, check out the Drucker quotes I post daily on Twitter.