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GREAT COMMUNICATION SECRETS OF GREAT LEADERS
Eisenhower tried to rely on give-and-take with the press and wing his answers;
it didn’t work. Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman were listeners and could
roll with the reporters’ questions. For Drucker, it is a matter of knowing how
you process information, orally or printed. Knowing what you are will enable
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you to communicate your point of view more effectively.
Drucker devotes a chapter to managerial communications in Manage-
ment: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. He draws a distinction between infor-
mation and communication. Information is data—“formal” and “logical.”
Communications is perception—how we interpret the data. Communications
then becomes, as Drucker says, “the mode of an organization,” meaning how
the organization uses communications to function. Commands (e.g., informa-
tion) flow downward, but genuine communications (perception) stands apart
from hierarchy; it is peer to peer or person to person. 14
In The Concept of the Corporation, Drucker writes that “Management is
the organ of institutions, the organ that converts a mob into an organization,
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and human efforts into performance.” For Drucker, it is management that
tames the wild beast of anarchy and enables people working together to
achieve great results. And it is Drucker’s words and teachings that have made
the topic accessible to generations of managers.
Leadership Communications Lessons

Draw analogies. Make use of metaphors and parables. Drucker is for-
ever sprinkling his texts with artful images and little stories.
Illustrate with historical references. Reading Drucker is reading his-
tory. Whether he is citing the ancients in Greece or China or mak-
ing reference to modern Europe, Drucker uses historical
references to place his lessons in the context of history.
Share the learning. Teach what you know. Drucker is a teacher; he
wants people to share his ideas.
Admit mistakes. Unlike some academics, Drucker admits his mis-
takes. He underestimated the role of behavior in management
until he read Maslow. As a result, he changed his point of view
and in the process made his lessons more instructive.
Live your message. Looking at the whole of Drucker’s writings, we
can discern consistency and constancy in his messages. Again
and again he pleads the case for the besieged manager, always
trying to show him or her a better way.