THE ENTERPRISE
A legend is gone. The passing of Peter F. Drucker signals the end of an era in management thought. There have been many brilliant people who have contributed to the practice of management over the past century, some living and some dead. But NONE, that's right NONE, have contributed as much or as broadly to our body of knowledge and our understanding of the business of corporate management as Peter F. Drucker.
I read his first book, The Concept of the Corporation--a study of General Motors circa 1946--while I was in college. I quickly then read his legendary classic, The Practice of Management (1954). Anyone who is involved in business or management in any way that has not read this book should buy it and read it. You won't believe how much of it is as timely today as it was when it was written half a century ago.
Drucker didn't come up with trite concepts. He rejected simplistic solutions. What he did was contribute deep, probing and profound knowledge and wisdom to millions around the world. I cannot name another thinker who has so significantly contributed to my knowledge...and to the extent I have been successful...to that success. The world will miss him. I only hope I can contribute a small fraction of what he did to the world's knowledge base (and I hope I am blessed with 30 more years in which to do it!)
What follows are excerpts from the AP story on his passing at age 95.
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AP, LOS ANGELES - Peter F. Drucker, revered as the father of modern management for his numerous books and articles stressing innovation, entrepreneurship and strategies for dealing with a changing world, died Friday. He was 95. Drucker died of natural causes at his home in Claremont, east of Los Angeles where Drucker taught at Claremont Graduate University,
Drucker was considered a management visionary for his recognition that dedicated employees are key to the success of any corporation, and that marketing and innovation should come before worries about finances. His ability to explain his principles in plain language helped them resonate with ordinary managers, said former Intel Corp. Chairman Andy Grove. "Consequently, simple statements from him have influenced untold numbers of daily actions. They did mine over decades," Grove said.
Drucker championed concepts such as management by objective and decentralization, and his motivational techniques have been used by executives at some of the biggest companies in corporate America, including Intel and Sears, Roebuck & Co. In the early 1940s, Drucker was invited to study General Motors' inner workings, an experience that led to his 1946 management book, "Concept of the Corporation." He went on to write more than 30 books and start a foundation for non-profit management. Drucker showed a knack for identifying sea changes in business and economics years in advance. He foresaw the emergence of a new type of worker whose occupation would be based on knowledge, not physical labor or management.
Drucker was born in Vienna, and educated there and in England. He received a doctorate in international law while working as a newspaper reporter in Frankfurt, Germany. He remained in Germany until 1933, when one of his essays was banned by the Nazi regime. For a time, he worked as an economist for a bank in London, then moved to the United States in 1937. He taught politics and philosophy at Bennington College in Vermont and for more than 20 years was a professor of management at New York University's graduate business school. Beginning in 1971, he taught a course for midcareer executives at Claremont Graduate School in California, which named its business school after him.
Drucker's management books included: "The Effective Executive," 1966; "Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices," 1974; and "Managing in a Time of Great Change," 1995. While much of his career was spent studying employees in the workplace, Drucker also dedicated time to the service sector, founding the New York-based Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, known since 2003 as the Leader to Leader Institute.
Drucker is survived by his wife, Doris, and four children.
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I could fill pages with the ideas, concepts, thoughts and conclusions I've learned from Peter Drucker. At times, as with all learning, it has been hard for me to delineate where my original thought started and ended since his wisdom was so broad, deep and insightful. Because of that, the only suitable topic for this edition of THE ENTERPRISE is a tribute to him and a heartfelt thank you on behalf of the millions who have learned from him. May God bless Professor Drucker and his family.
Best, John
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