If the executive lets the flow of events determine what he does, what he works on, and what he takes seriously, he will fritter himself away “operating.” He may be an excellent man. But he is certain to waste his knowledge and ability and to throw away what little effectiveness he might have achieved. What the executive needs are criteria which ena

Efficiency is doing things right, but effectiveness is doing the right things.

As Peter Drucker said, “It is less important to do things right than to do the right things.”

it is worth noting that the term “efficiency” comes from physics. In physics, efficiency measures how energy translates into useful work; in markets, efficiency measures how information translates into stock prices.

Drucker termed the “activity trap”: “[S]tressing output is the key to increasing productivity, while looking to increase activity can result in just the opposite.”