The newsletter of the Drucker Institute www. druckerinstitute. com Jan/ Feb 2008
claremont graduate university
Rick Wartzman, director of
the Drucker Institute, writes an
every- other- week column for
BusinessWeek that ties Peter
Drucker’s work to today’s
headlines. Read more at
www. businessweek. com/ bios/
Rick_ Wartzman. htm.
Rick’s recent Drucker Difference columns:
• For Managers, Ignorance Isn't Bliss December 9, 2007
• Has Toyota Lost Its Way? November 26, 2007
• The Countrywide Conundrum November 9, 2007
• Google: A Druckerian Ideal? October 25, 2007
• Drucker on . . . Radiohead? October 11, 2007
• The Problem with GM’s UAW Deal September 30, 2007
Letter from Claremont
Welcome to the first issue
of The Window, the Drucker
Institute newsletter.
The last few months have
been a whirlwind, as the
Institute transitions from an
archive of Peter Drucker’s
writings into a full- blown think
tank and action tank.
You can read more on our
totally revamped website ( at
www. DRUCKERinstitute. com),
including reports on the
conference we held in
November on the future of the
social sector, the release on CD
of The Nonprofit Drucker, and
the winner of the Peter F.
Drucker Award for Nonprofit
Innovation.
Even with all of this activity,
however, we remain mindful
that simply being busy isn’t our
goal. What we aim to do is
improve lives— to help make
people more effective managers
and ethical leaders through
Peter Drucker’s teachings.
Several of our conference
speakers focused on a central
challenge for all nonprofits:
measuring impact. As Tom
Tierney, chairman of the
Bridgespan Group, explained it,
the first question every
organization must ask itself is,
“ What are we going to hold
ourselves accountable for?”
With so many worthy
causes seeking time, talent and
treasure these days, the best
nonprofits are those that make
a clear and compelling case that
an investment in us is an
investment in effectiveness.
In taking Peter Drucker’s
ideas and ideals to new
audiences, we publish columns
and sponsor events, among
many other things. But foot
“ The Drucker Difference” on BusinessWeek. com
Drucker Society Spotlight
An update on Drucker Society
activities from around the globe.
Drucker Societies have sprung
up around the world to bring Peter
Drucker's wisdom and practical
insights to a new generation of
corporate and social sector leaders
and scholars. They now number 11
strong, and are growing fast.
Societies exist in eight countries and
span the globe from China to
Argentina, from New York to
Vienna.
Their progress is amazing,
whether it is the 6,000 new
graduates of the Peter F. Drucker
Academy in China this year, the
launch of South Korea’s Drucker
Innovation awards, or Vienna
rediscovering itself as the proud
birthplace of the father of modern
management.
And just five months after the
inaugural Global Symposium of
Continued on the next page
THE WINDOW “ I don’t predict. I just look out the window and see what’s visible but not yet seen.”
– Peter F. Drucker
Continued on the next page
an affiliate of the peter f. drucker and masatoshi ito graduate school of management
The newsletter of the Drucker Institute www. druckerinstitute. com Jan/ Feb 2008
claremont graduate university
The Evidence
The need for ethical
leadership and effective
management— that is, the
need for Peter Drucker’s
principles and practices— has
never been greater.
Over 50% of cancers
in the U. S. could be prevented if
we would simply act on what we
already know about the causes
of the disease.
That’s not a medical problem.
That’s a management problem.
Source: 1996 Harvard Reports on Cancer Prevention
FROM THE ARCHIVES
In 1969, just weeks after one
of America’s most wrenching
national elections, President
Nixon’s newly minted assistant,
Daniel Moynihan, wrote to Peter
Drucker to report that he was so
taken with one of Drucker’s
articles, he sent it along to the
president “ to read over the
weekend.”
In the article—“ The Sickness
of Government”— Drucker
lamented the ineffectiveness of
the public sector and declared that
it “ is sick— and just at the time
when we need a strong, healthy,
and vigorous government.”
Moynihan later wrote again to
say that Nixon ordered the piece
reproduced and sent to “ major
members” of the administration.
Drucker Societies here in
Claremont, there is already
evidence of the bright future
ahead.
Urs Jaeger, managing
director of the Center for Social
Enterprise at St. Gallen
University— home of the
Drucker Society of Switzerland
— is working with Cecilia
Regueira, founder of Instituto
Hartmann- Regueira ( IHR)—
home of the Drucker Society of
Brazil— to bring young faculty
from St. Gallen to help IHR
teach effective management
practices to Brazilian NGOs.
Plans are taking shape now.
“ We are still dreaming,” says
Jaeger. Clearly, though, with
foundation representatives, a
former Latin American
university president, and St.
Gallen faculty and students set
to gather this spring, the dream
is ready to come alive.
Society Spotlight, cont’d
traffic and eyeballs, though keys to success, are only means, not ends.
Too many nonprofits confuse activities with results, says Harvard
Business School professor Robert Kaplan, and envision only what they
will do, not what they will achieve. Although every organization should
be efficient and fiscally sound, adds Kaplan, nonprofits should
ultimately be accountable “ for how well they meet a need in society.”
At our conference, we worked like mad to build our audience. We
asked our 100+ attendees to rank the event on a scale of 1 to 10, and
they came back rating it an 8- plus. That’s a number to celebrate.
The true test of the event, though, was in the minds we changed.
And of the 50% of attendees who arrived with either moderate or no
knowledge of Peter Drucker’s work, 80% said they finished the day
deeply inspired to learn more. That’s a number that motivates.
Rick Wartzman and Zach First
Director and Assistant Director
Letter from Claremont, cont’d
1021 n dartmouth ave, claremont, ca 91711
The Window
