The Practical Drucker

CHAPTER  |  SEVEN

The Most Important Leadership Decision

Peter Drucker, the “Father of Modern Management,” taught us that the first and most important leadership decision to be made is the decision to become a leader. Like much of Drucker's advice, this pronouncement sounds self-evident, overly simplified, and even a trifle absurd. The truth is that it is profoundly true and important. For someone who has never been a leader previously, acceptance of the responsibilities of a leader is frequently not an easy decision to make.

Many who have never had the responsibility and authority of leadership fear both. They fear something going wrong, they fear being blamed for actions that they do not think will be fully under their control, they fear that ...