Peter Drucker 1909-2005

Posted on 13. Nov, 2005 by Wayne in General

The Weasels’ jobs just got easier.

Peter Drucker died yesterday at the age of 96, with a new book coming out and a legacy of change in the management and leadership world unrivalled by anyone since Machiavelli- and to infinitely more positive results.

Here’s a bio on him

Here are some of the most important things I’ve learned from Peter Drucker:

- Even though radio hadn’t even been invented when he was born, he was one of the first to recognize how computers would forever change the way companies worked and the rise of the Japanese corporations. At 96 he wrote his 31st book which comes out in January. You’re never too old to have a fresh take on the world and challenge common wisdom
- He thumped on companies big and small with a trademark question: “What business are you in?” Then told them they were probably wrong- they were in the business of developing people. Think about what organizations that know that have done…now think about where you work and how you develop the people in your charge
- The modern job evaluation process- for good or evil- is largely founded on his belief that you can’t measure results ifyou didn’t have concrete goals to start with. Every time you ask one of your employees to set SMART goals or define outcomes, you’re marching to a tune Drucker popularized, even if he didn’t write it by himself
- That didn’t mean you tolerated underperformance for long. He’s also the guy who said, “Executives owe it to the organization and to their fellow workers not to tolerate nonperforming individuals in important jobs.”
- He coined the term “Knowledge Worker”, which helped explain how the workplace had become more dependent on what people knew than what they did
-It also helped explain to the Old Man that I was busting my hump and doing “real work” even though I didn’t actually make anything myself or could point to what I did today. A lot of us have had THAT conversation

Most importantly, Drucker helped change thinking about the role of manager- from militaristic “command and control” to an inclusive, strategic model that most of us are still aspiring to.

Peter Drucker didn’t want the weasels to get you down either. He’d just say it in a more professional way , with hard science behind him and with that Austrian accent.

Wayne