ABSTRACT

Effective executives do first things first and they do one thing at a time. The need to concentrate is grounded both in the nature of the executive job and in the nature of man. Any analysis of executive contributions comes up with an embarrassing richness of important tasks; and any analysis of executives’ time discloses an embarrassing scarcity of time available for the work that really contributes. Effective executives know that they have to get many things done – and done effectively. Therefore, they concentrate – their own time and energy as well as that of their organization – on doing one thing at a time, and on doing first things first. The first rule for the concentration of executive efforts is to slough off the past that has ceased to be productive. The executive who wants to be effective and who wants his organization to be effective always polices all programmes, all activities, all tasks.