Page 211 - The Drucker Lectures
P. 211
192 [ The Drucker Lectures
a big adding machine. Yet none of us anticipated what really
happened. We were quite sure that, in short order, the computer
would revolutionize the way business is being run. And so far, it
has done nothing of the sort. Most of today’s business manage-
ment is still done the old way, which is largely by the seat of the
pants. Then we quantify what the seat of the pants has told us
and call it long-range planning.
From now on, increasingly, in every organization, the execu-
tive will have to ask: “What information do I need to run the
business?” “What information does the business need?” “What
information do I need to do my job, from whom, where, and
when?” This very shortly will show business executives that the
information they need most is outside information.
These are some of the major things that are not in the future
but are already here.
From a speech delivered at the Jonathan Club in Los Angeles.