QUOTATION 56

PETER DRUCKER AND THE POWER TO SAY NO

Use this to remind you that the best decision makers know when to say no.

Peter Drucker (1909–2005), the godfather of management studies, argued strongly that the most important ability of any decision makers was to:

Learn to say no.

Peter Drucker

The ability to say no stood Warren Buffet, the world’s most successful investor, in good stead in 1998/9 when he refused to invest in technology stocks and again in 2006/7 when he said no to investing in sub-prime mortgages. In both instances, he justified his decision by saying, ‘I don’t understand them.’ He’s not known as the Sage of Omaha for nothing.

NO coming from loud hailer

WHAT TO DO

  • As a manager and decision maker, your job isn’t to please people. It’s to do whatever is best for the organisation. That means you may have to disappoint staff, colleagues and even your boss or board. To do this you have be assertive. That means being able to explain clearly your reasons for saying no and then sticking to them. If you are overruled by your boss or board, then it’s their decision not yours and they have to take responsibility for it.
  • If you feel that you aren’t assertive enough, get some training. A one- or two-day training session will be all you need. It will teach you the basic techniques. It will then be up to you to put them into practice. The more you practise, the better you’ll get at saying no and the easier it will become.
  • Saying no is a particular problem for many inexperienced managers who may lack self-confidence and still feel the need to please people (see Quotation 14). Yet it is precisely when you start to say no that you become a manager and are recognised as such.
  • If you are in an argument about a particular decision with colleagues and all your arguments are based on your professional background knowledge and experience, your opponents will undermine you by saying that you can’t see the bigger picture. You must rise above the constraints imposed on you by professional socialisation and see problems in organisational terms. That means understanding all the issues involved in the decision. But, by itself, that’s not enough. You have to be willing and able to argue your case and stand toe to toe with those senior to you. Often, that will involve you saying ‘No. That’s not the right thing to do and these are the reasons why …’

QUESTIONS TO ASK

  • How often have I said no to someone’s request in the last week?
  • Do I ever say no to my boss or other managers more senior than me?
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