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Just Relax
'The Highway'
Once a king had a great highway built for the members
of his kingdom. After it was completed, but before it was
opened to the public, the king decided to have a contest.
He invited as many as desired to participate. Their challenge
was to see who could travel the highway the best.
On the day of the contest the people came. Some of them
had fine chariots, some had fine clothing, fine hairdos, or
great food. Some young men came in their track clothes
and ran along the highway. People traveled the highway
all day, but each one, when he arrived at the end, complained
to the king that there was a large pile of rocks and debris
left on the road at one spot and this got in their way and
At the end of the day, a lone traveler crossed the finish line
warily and walked over to the king. He was tired and dirty,
but he addressed the king with great respect and handed him
He explained, "I stopped along the way to clear a pile of
rocks and debris that was blocking the road. This bag of gold
was under it all. I want you to return it to its rightful owner."
The king replied, "You are the rightful owner."
The traveler replied, "Oh no, this is not mine. I've never
"Oh yes," said the king, "you've earned this gold, for you
won my contest. "He who travels the road best is he who
makes the road smoother for those who will follow."
Bookworms
Corner
Review of Peter Drucker's 'Managing for Results'
Managing for Results by Peter
Drucker is an amazing work on the 'What to do' for any economic endeavor.
The book draws on his experience as a consultant to businesses small and
large interspersed with case studies and examples in almost every page of
the book. Even after 4 decades of being first published the book
retains a freshness of current perspective and a testimony to
Drucker's visionary and unconventional thinking.
The book is
broadly divided into three sections. The first section deals with
the understanding of the business, the result areas, cost structures,
resources and revenue aspects. There are two very interesting
chapters 'Knowledge is Business' and 'Customer is Business'
which are the focus areas for all businesses today. While today we
have reams of literature written on these subjects, Drucker deals with the
very fundamentals of these two areas and a treat to read.
The second
section looks at an important area of business which is to assess
'Opportunities'. There are interesting illustrations of the
Rothschild family, Siemens, Ford to illustrate how Opportunities are
exploited by building your strength, find new business potential and
making a future today.
The last
part presents conversion of insights and decisions into purposeful
performance.
In the mumbo
jumbo of management jargons and new fangled theories, this book stands out
as a fundamentally sound action plan for business. This is a book on
what must be done to make the organization perform, prosper and grow -
what the executive, the maker of decisions, must do to move the enterprise
forward.
It is a must
read for students of management and executives in industry and commerce
vested with the task of sound performance and economic results.
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