Peter Drucker’s Wisdom From Simple Things
Fresh thinking. Why is it so rare? Perhaps it is because fresh thinking flows from argument, rather than repetition of commonly shared beliefs. And it appears that despite the volume of our expression, we are not used to this rather painful way of thinking and speaking. To Peter Drucker, however, they were like mother’s milk. Perhaps this kep his thinking fresh even as he grew more wise with age.
Much of Peter Drucker’s wisdom was based on a few simple principles. He argued, for example, that the modern corporation exists at society’s whim for the purpose of serving the customer. In other words, the corporation’s role in society is limited and functional. From this, he offered a wide range of insights that were fresh. Incisive. For example, excessive executive compensation is a cancer eating away at the credibility of management. For example, successful management is boring — not the work of celebrities. For example, there is no real contradiction between corporations pursuing profit and social welfare.
Peter Drucker was born in 1909 in Austria, and he died at the age of 95 in 2005 in California. In the meantime, he wrote 39 books and created the discipline of management studies. Michael Hiltzik writes about him for LA Times. Here is the link.
Enjoy!