The father of modern management, Peter F. Drucker, wasn’t simply an academian. He wrote volumes of information about pertinent issues that people actually use in their daily business lives. Mr. Drucker helped transform the teaching of business into an academic discipline.Business schools in the ‘60s were more or less trade schools, turning out bookkeepers. There was no field of study that looked at management at a credible level. Students weren’t truly being taught or talked about. Peter F. Drucker led the way to making an MBA really meaning something.
A bit vague about Peter F. Drucker’s teachings? That’s okay. Much of what he espoused in the 1960s, revolutionary then, is now so engrained in the business today that he doesn’t even get credit. Mr. Drucker considered labor the most critical asset of any business — a resource to be nurtured, not a cost to be slashed. If you look at the companies that have done well over the long haul, this single issue has played a critical role in their success.
Peter F. Drucker talked about being consumer-centric decades ago. He knew it was not what the company wants to sell, but what the customer wants to buy that matters. He also preached the importance of a well-rounded life and giving back to society — good lessons for all of us working too many hours and forgetting about the other parts of our world in which we live.
Sometimes I try to separate what thoughts are mine and which come from Mr. Drucker. Doctors have their Physicians’ Desk Reference. I have Peter F. Drucker.
Peter F. Drucker, died Friday, November 11, 2005 at the age 95. He wrote more than 30 books, some of his more well-known titles include:
- Concept of the Corporation, 1946
- The Effective Executive, 1966
- Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, 1974
- Managing in a Time of Great Change, 1995
- The Essential Drucker, 2001
- The Daily Drucker. 2004.
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