“Good intentions don’t move mountains, bulldozers do”

“There is an old saying that good intentions don’t move mountains; bulldozers do,” wrote management author Peter F. Drucker (1909-2005) in Managing the Non-Profit Organization: Principles and Practices (1990). While it’s long been an “old saying” that bulldozers can move mountains, “good intentions don’t move mountains, bulldozers do” has been credited to Drucker.
 
Drucker added to the saying in Managing Oneself (1999):
 
“For example, a planner may find that his beautiful plans fail because he does not follow through on them. Like so many brilliant people, he believes that ideas move mountains. But bulldozers move mountains; ideas show where the bulldozers should go to work.”
 
   
Wikipedia: Peter Drucker
Peter Ferdinand Drucker (November 19, 1909 – November 11, 2005) was an Austrian-born American management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of the modern business corporation. He was also a leader in the development of management education, and he invented the concept known as management by objectives.
 
29 November 1963, Florence (SC) Morning News, “Paragraphs,” pg. 4, col. 7:
Faith can move mountains especially if you have one of these big bulldozers to help.
 
Google Books
Managing the Non-Profit Organization:
Principles and Practices
By Peter F. Drucker
New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
1990
Pg. 59:
There is an old saying that good intentions don’t move mountains; bulldozers do.
 
Inc. magazine
May 15, 1996
‘Flashes of Genius’
Inc.: You’ve said that more and more community jobs are being handled by local institutions, for-profits and nonprofits. Why are so many small nonprofits, to use your phrase, “grotesquely mismanaged”?
Drucker: Because they wrongly believe that good intentions move mountains. Bulldozers move mountains. But there are exceptions.
   
Google Books
Managing Oneself
By Peter F Drucker
Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business Review
1999
Pg. 7:
For example, a planner may find that his beautiful plans fail because he does not follow through on them. Like so many brilliant people, he believes that ideas move mountains. But bulldozers move mountains; ideas show where the bulldozers should go to work.
   
flickr
By Bjorn Ruwald
This photo was taken on January 26, 2010.
Ideas don’t move mountains. Bulldozers move mountains. Ideas show where bulldozers should go to work.
(Photo of the book Managing Oneself by Peter F. Drucker—ed.)
   
Twitter
Gautham Ram Pingali
‏@gauthampingali
Ideas don’t move mountains, bulldozers do. Ideas show where the bulldozers should go to work.
6:45 AM - 8 Sep 10
 
Forbes.com
9/14/2011 @ 3:20PM
Intuit’s Current and Former CEO Drive Value Proposition In Sync
By George Bradt,
As Intuit CEO Brad Smith puts it, “Strategies alone don’t move mountains. Bulldozers do.”
 
Twitter
Ben Kerschberg
‏@BenKerschberg
“Bulldozers move mountains; #IDEAS show where the bulldozers should go to work.”—Peter #Drucker @HarvardBiz #business #management.
7:35 AM - 22 Nov 12 ·