« Secrets and lies | Main | Love, money and podcasting »
Peter Drucker, RIP
November 11, 2005
I had almost come to believe that Peter Drucker was immortal, but sadly it's not so. He died earlier today, at 95. Drucker was one of the great writers on business and management, who over the course of 70 years tirelessly championed the dignity and the intelligence of workers. In his 1946 book Concept of the Corporation, he made an eloquent case against mindless bureaucracy, arguing that managers should give workers the power to make decisions and take the initiative. A radical thought then, it's become the common wisdom today, though few businesses actually live up to Drucker's ideal.
There are good obituaries in the New York Times, Financial Times, and Business Week, and Drucker's grandson, Nova Spivack, has written a tribute on his blog.
Advertisement: Coming this spring: Nicholas Carr's new book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. Preorder now from Amazon.
Comments
He sounds unborn, like a true sage indeed. More than not, I notice one charactastic in amazing people: at one point in their life, they connect with the East. His grandson really highlighted this.
Posted by: Justin Pfister at November 12, 2005 05:41 PM
I've talked to Nova Spivack, his grandson, this weekend via email and he let me know that the best way to get to know Peter's sources of inspiration was through his book, "Adventures of a Bystander" -- his autobiography. I ordered it on Amazon [Amazon Link]
Posted by: Justin Pfister at November 13, 2005 09:05 PM
I like this statement from Peter:
"The best way to predict the future is to create it." Peter Drucker
Posted by: Jan Erik at November 14, 2005 12:23 PM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
Nick's next book:
Nick's latest book:
"Future Shock for the web-apps era" -Fast Company
"Ominously prescient" -Kirkus Reviews
"Riveting stuff" -New York Post
Greatest hits
Avatars consume as much electricity as Brazilians
The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock's avatar
Flight of the wingless coffin fly
Other writing
The end of corporate computing
Nick's first book:
Order from Amazon
Visit book site