Drucker had an amazing ability to predict what was coming next, and distilled management into actionable terms for entrepreneurs, eschewing fads of the day. As George Gendron, Inc.’s founding editor-in-chief, once said in a 1996 article, “Both the man and his work have been my intellectual compass for the past two decades.” Gendron wasn’t alone, and Drucker’s works are sure to continue to guide businesses for years to come.
Drucker’s four entrepreneurial pitfalls:
- The entrepreneur doesn’t realize that a new product or service is not successful where he or she thought it would be but it is instead successful in a totally different market. (This, Drucker says, is much more common than you might imagine.)
- Entrepreneurs believe that profit is what matters most in a new enterprise. Cash flow matters most.
- As a business grows, the person who founded it becomes incredibly busy. Rapid growth puts an incredible strain on a business. You outgrow your production facilities. You outgrow your management capabilities.
- When the business is a success, the entrepreneur (who is perhaps bored) begins to put himself and his needs before the business.
- For a fuller explanation, check out the complete text of the article here.