Currently Reading: Concept of the Corporation by Peter F. Drucker

As a young professional I have realized the importance in forming, at the very least, a foundation of management theories and principles to to guide me on my inevitable climb up the corporate ladder. At my father's recommendation I checked out Concept of the Corporation from the public library as a primer and I have found Peter F. Drucker's 70 year old theories, ideas, and philosophies to be both insightful and thought provoking. Some highlights include corporate decentralization as a means to encouraging vertical growth within a company through initiative, reason, and risk taking, and the nature of manager's engaging subordinates by connecting the work they do with the products greater meaning in the social construct - as an example, bringing a restaurant prep cook out to a restaurant on a busy Friday night to see a house full of customers enjoying the meal he helped create.

Owning sound management theories are relevant regardless of your industry or profession as all industries have managers. For those of us who did not got to business or management school, learning principles of management and leadership will make us better subordinate employees as we develop our own management theories that we can share with our managers, and when we inevitably become managers or business owners, we will have developed ideas that will help us to be better leaders.