Working on the right things is what makes knowledge work effective.

The higher up in the organization he goes, the more will his attention be drawn to problems and challenges of the inside rather than to events on the outside.

3. Effective executives build on strengths—their own strengths, the strengths of their superiors, colleagues, and subordinates; and on the strengths in the situation, that is, on what they can do.

The fundamental problem is the reality around the executive. Unless he changes it by deliberate action, the flow of events will determine what he is concerned with and what he does.

Intelligence, imagination, and knowledge are essential resources, but only effectiveness converts them into results.

The knowledge worker cannot be supervised closely or in detail. He can only be helped. But he must direct himself, and he must direct himself toward performance and contribution, that is, toward effectiveness.

To be effective, every knowledge worker, and especially every executive, therefore needs to be able to dispose of time in fairly large chunks.

For manual work, we need only efficiency; that is, the ability to do things right rather than the ability to get the right things done.

Such a man (or woman) must make decisions; he cannot just carry out orders.