95歳のPeter Druckerは何を語ったか

http://www.forbes.com/columnists/business/forbes/2004/1213/045.html/
http://www.forbes.com/columnists/management/2004/11/19/cz_rk_1119drucker.html/

Peter F. Drucker was born 95 years ago-can it be possible? Now confined to a walker and nearly deaf, Drucker stopped giving press interviews about a year ago. But in late October he granted an exception to FORBES

というわけで95歳のドラッカーは何を言っているか。

I've seen a great many people who are exceedingly good at execution but exceedingly poor at picking the important things. They are magnificent at getting the unimportant things done. They have an impressive record of achievement on trivial matters.

は至言である。この「picking the important things」の重要性はどれほど強調しても足りないだろう。「impressive record of achievement on trivial matters」は、何の意味もないばかりでなくただの消耗である。

Too many leaders try to do a little bit of 25 different things and get nothing done. They are very popular because they always say yes.

これも同じ流れの中で語られている含蓄深い言葉。いつもyesと言う人は、何も成し遂げられない。
そして歴代米国大統領についてはトルーマンとレーガンを高く評価する。トルーマンを評価する理由は、

But everybody who worked for him worshipped him because he was absolutely trustworthy. If Truman said no, it was no, and if he said yes, it was yes. And he never said no to one person and yes to the next one concerning the same issue.

そしてレーガンを評価する理由は、

His great strength was not charisma, as is commonly thought, but his awareness and acceptance of exactly what he could do and what he could not do.

である。