"Objectives are not fate; they are direction. They are not commands; they are commitments. They do not determine the future; they are means to mobilize the resources and energies of the business for the making of the future."

"Capital formation is shifting from the entrepreneur who invests in the future to the pension trustee who invests in the past"

"Decision making is the specific executive task."

"Concentration is the key to economic results. No other principles of effectiveness is violated as constantly today as the basic principle of concentration."

"The really important things are said over cocktails and are never done."

"The computer is a moron."

"People who don't take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year."

"Making good decisions is a crucial skill at every level."

"Most of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to get their work done."

"Most discussions of decision making assume that only senior executives make decisions or that only senior executives' decisions matter. This is a dangerous mistake."

"Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility."

"Executives owe it to the organization and to their fellow workers not to tolerate nonperforming individuals in important jobs."

"Accept the fact that we have to treat almost anybody as a volunteer."

"Few companies that installed computers to reduce the employment of clerks have realized their expectations... They now need more, and more expensive clerks even though they call them 'operators' or 'programmers.'"

"So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work."

"The most efficient way to produce anything is to bring together under one management as many as possible of the activities needed to turn out the product."

"The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different."

"The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself."

"No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings."

"The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity."

"Efficiency is doing better what is already being done."

"Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window."

"Checking the results of a decision against its expectations shows executives what their strengths are, where they need to improve, and where they lack knowledge or information."

"We can say with certainty - or 90% probability - that the new industries that are about to be born will have nothing to do with information."