Peter Drucker Quotes

If individuals have no sufficient reason to believe that a good situation today will have adverse long-term consequences, it must always be rational for them to aim to maximize their short-term good.

If you study the root causes of business disasters, over and over you'll find this predisposition toward endeavors that offer immediate gratification.

Whilst large organisations need foresight, they are also notorious in their bias for short term thinking, sometimes rejecting or even suppressing foresight.

It's a very wise thing for people to rationally sit down and look at what the risks are not only on a daily basis, on a weekly basis, on a monthly basis, on a yearly basis, on a lifetime basis, and then plan one's life accordingly.

By ignoring tomorrow, we undermine today.

Because of the nature of this industry, it's a bit dangerous to think far ahead.

Tomorrow always arrives. It is always different. And even the mightiest company is in trouble if it has not worked on the future. Being surprised by what happens is a risk that even the largest and richest company cannot afford, and even the smallest business need not run.

It's impossible for us to forecast what's going to happen ten years from now and make a decision today to say what we're going to do.

In order to be in control, you have to have a definite plan for at least a reasonable period of time. So how, may I ask, can man be in control if he can't even draw up a plan for a ridiculously short period of time, say, a thousand years, and is, moreover, unable to ensure his own safety for even the next day?

You have to make smart decisions, but you never know what will happen in the future.

America looks 10 minutes ahead; Japan looks 10 years.

You politicians have got to look further ahead; you always got a Putter in your hands, when you ought to have a Driver.

If you don't choose to do it in leadership time up front, you do it in crisis management time down the road.

Present thinking people kill the future.

Where was the middle ground between a sense of adventure and just plain sense?

Foresight is not about predicting the future, it's about minimizing surprise.

Plan for what is difficult while it is easy, do what is great while it is small.

Be mindful of the link between present action and desired future outcome. Ask yourself: if I repeat today’s actions 365 times, will I be where I want to be in a year?

I'm no genius. I'm not at all; I just happen to look five or 10 years ahead and think things through.

Starving the future to feed the present is a mistake - it leads to obsolescence and stagnation. Sometimes it is hard to make this understood.

All economic activity is by definition "high risk." And defending yesterday--that is, not innovating--is far more risky than making tomorrow.

Don't shortchange the future, because of fear in the present.

You want to be an alchemist so badly? Don't wait to react to the immediate problem. Plan ahead. Look at the big picture and you won't ever have to deal with that problem. Better to save yourself from a major catastrophe than drag your feet over a bunch of little inconveniences.

Strategy is about shaping the future.

My job is to think beyond the immediate.