is an affiliate of the drucker school of management
We couldn’t have asked for a
more exciting end to 2009.
The Drucker Centennial— a
global celebration of what would
have been Peter Drucker’s 100th
birthday— was capped this fall by
conferences and lectures in Southern
California, Vienna ( Drucker’s
birthplace), Sao Paulo and Tokyo.
Their quality was extraordinary.
Among the speakers at these
Centennial events were 10 of the
Thinkers 50, the definitive list of the
world’s leading management minds:
C. K. Prahalad, Paul Krugman, Philip
Kotler, Jim Collins, Jack Welch,
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Stephen
Covey, Roger Martin, Warren Bennis
and Charles Handy.
But as tempting as it is to revel
in the recent past, Drucker would
have been the first to urge us to look
forward. And so, our attention now
turns to our Drucker- inspired New
Year’s resolutions for a healthier and
more productive 2010:
We will not simply set
priorities for the new year; we
will set “ posteriorities” too.
This was Drucker’s word for
those tasks that you consciously
decide not to tackle. “ Setting a
posteriority is . . . unpleasant,”
Drucker warned. “ Every posteriority
is somebody else’s top priority. It is
much easier to draw up a nice list of
top priorities and then to hedge by
trying to do ‘ just a little bit’ of
everything . . . This makes everybody
happy. The only drawback is, of
course, that nothing whatever gets
done.”
We pledge to slow down,
unplug from the iPhone and the
avalanche of email, and find more
time to think.
“ Follow effective action with
quiet reflection,” Drucker advised.
“ From the quiet reflection will come
even more effective action.”
Rick Wartzman, executive director of
the Drucker Institute, writes a bimonthly
column for BusinessWeek online that ties
Peter Drucker’s work to today’s headlines.
For a list of all of his columns, click here.
Rick’s recent “ Drucker Difference” columns:
• Getting Toyota Out of Reverse Dec 18, 2009
• Authentic Engagement, Truly Dec 4, 2009
• Management Lessons on Nothingness, Drawn from Art Nov 13, 2009
• Executives Are Wrong to Devalue Values Oct 30, 2009
Letter from Claremont
“ The Drucker Difference” on BusinessWeek. com
Drucker Society Spotlight
How Drucker Societies worldwide are
advancing ethical leadership and effective
management.
The Drucker Society of Japan ( known
there as the Drucker Workshop) recently
helped to mark the Drucker Centennial
with a one- day conference at Tokyo's
Waseda University. The event was a home
run, with one presenter using Drucker
literally to hit the ball out of the park.
Keynote speakers included Waseda
Business School Associate Dean Isao
Endo, who highlighted the practical value
of Drucker’s dictum that workers be valued
as assets and not liabilities. Ira Jackson,
dean of the Peter F. Drucker and
Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of
Management, made the case that
Drucker's insights are more relevant now
than ever, while Mr. Ito himself reflected
on his decades- long personal and
professional relationship with Drucker.
Two of the most intriguing
presentations, meanwhile, were made at
the post- conference reception. Kunio
Continued on the next page Continued on the next page
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THE WINDOW “ I don’t predict. I just look out the window and see what’s visible but not yet seen.”
— Peter F. Drucker
The newsletter of the Drucker Institute www. druckerinstitute. com Jan/ Feb 2010
is an affiliate of the drucker school of management
When we do get back to work, we will stop multitasking.
“ We rightly consider keeping many balls in the air a circus stunt,” Drucker
observed. “ Yet even the juggler does it for only 10 minutes or so. If he were trying
to do it longer, he would soon drop all the balls.”
We will actively encourage dissent from our colleagues.
Decisions, Drucker wrote, “ are made well only if based on the clash of
conflicting views . . . the choice between different judgments.”
We will turn a great 2009 into an even better 2010.
“ The first— and usually the best— opportunity . . . is to exploit one’s own
successes and build on them. Problems cannot be ignored . . . But to be change
leaders, enterprises have to . . . starve problems and feed opportunities.”
Rick Wartzman and Zach First
Executive Director and Managing Director
Learn more about the
Drucker Management Path at
www. DruckerUnpacked. com.
If none of the New Year’s
resolutions in our “ Letter from
Claremont” grab you, how about another
that Peter Drucker surely would have
recommended? Find a nonprofit you’re
passionate about and sign up to
volunteer.
“ Where you have responsibility, you
see results and you quickly learn what
your values are,” Drucker explained.
“ There is no better way to understand
your strengths and discover where you
belong than to volunteer in a nonprofit.”
Throughout his career, Drucker was
actively involved with nonprofit
organizations. He had an especially
close relationship with the Cooperative
for Assistance and Relief Everywhere
( CARE), a leading humanitarian
organization dedicated
to fighting global
poverty.
Drucker began his
working relationship
with CARE in 1967.
Not only did he give
the organization pro
bono management advice, he also
helped it develop a brochure and video
in which he underscored the importance
of giving to CARE.
In his role as consultant, Drucker
helped CARE officials see that they have
“ two constituencies: the people of the
developing world to whom they must
provide increasing support, and the
American public with whom they must
generate awareness and understanding
of critical issues.”
In 1995, CARE honored Drucker for
his philanthropic contributions to the
organization with its International
Humanitarian Award.
In the years ahead, Drucker wrote,
“ Americans will look increasingly to the
nonprofits to tackle the problems of a
fast- changing society.”
There’s no time like the
New Year, he might
have added, to start
lending a hand to
others— and to start
learning a bit about
yourself in the process.
Tsukamoto, a high school senior and
winner of the Workshop's " Boys and
Girls, Read Drucker Now!" essay
contest, explained how he has
applied Drucker's management
principles to his own life.
Specifically, Kunio is using
Drucker’s ideas on self- management
to prepare for study at an
undergraduate business program in a
foreign country. His ultimate goal is
to pursue a graduate degree at the
Drucker- Ito School.
Finally, conferees heard from
Natsumi Iwasaki, author of the just-released
Japanese best- seller If a
Girl Manager of a High School
Baseball Team Read Drucker's
Management.
In this fictional account, a high
school baseball team is transformed
from a perennial loser into a
champion with the help of Drucker's
management lessons.
Farfetched? Drucker did advise
the Cleveland Indians one season,
and helped turn around the ball club.
Society Spotlight, cont’d
Letter from Claremont, cont’d
The newsletter of the Drucker Institute www. druckerinstitute. com Jan/ Feb 2010
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