is an affiliate of the drucker school of management
In 1973, Peter Drucker spent
several days meeting with top
executives from furniture designer
Herman Miller to talk about their
business.
They came away with some
clear guidance
on how to
approach the
years ahead—
and how to
convey this
strategy.
“ Keep it
short and
sweet and not too complicated,” one
participant recalled Drucker advising
them. “ Our strongest communication
is our products. They communicate."
Thirty- seven years later, those
products still speak to us— which is
why we are so excited to be
partnering with Herman Miller in a
redesign of the Drucker Institute’s
physical space.
Herman Miller was more just
than a Drucker client. As much as
any company, it embodies many of
the core principles that Drucker
espoused.
Innovation. Herman Miller has
long been
known for its
cutting- edge
design, from
working in
the 1940s
with Charles
and Ray
Eames to its
award- winning 1994 Aeron chair.
For the Drucker Institute— which
has grown from two employees to
nine in just three years— Herman
Miller’s ingenuity has given our old
facility new life. We will soon have a
full complement of work stations and
conference areas, all in less than
1,000 square feet. The key: furniture
Rick Wartzman, executive director of
the Drucker Institute, writes a column for
Bloomberg 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:
• The Rules of Alliance August 27, 2010
• Facebook's Privacy Puzzle August 13, 2010
• BP Needed an Andon Cord July 30, 2010
• Facing the Wreckage Head- on July 16, 2010
Letter from Claremont
“ The Drucker Difference” on Bloomberg Businessweek
Drucker Society Spotlight
How Drucker Societies worldwide are
advancing effective management and
responsible leadership.
Sometimes the best way to answer a
question is with another question— or, in
this case, with five questions.
That, anyway, is what a group of high
school students from Auckland, New
Zealand’s Mt. Roskill School did, using
Peter Drucker’s “ Five Most Important
Questions” management tool to win a
social- enterprise competition on how to
combat alcohol abuse by local teens.
The students’ Five- Questions- based
anti- binge- drinking proposal focused on
customer and results. Through a Facebook
survey, the Mt. Roskill students
Continued on the next page Continued on the next page
claremont graduate university
rucker Apps ties Drucker’s timeless wisdom to the hottest issues of today. Right now, readers are talking
about whether our education system gives students the right tools to be both thinkers and doers.
1021 n dartmouth ave, claremont, ca 91711
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 Sept/ Oct 2010
Drucker’s Five Questions
1. What is our mission?
2. Who is our customer?
3. What does the customer value?
4. What are our results?
5. What is our plan?
is an affiliate of the drucker school of management
with multiple uses ( like file units that double as benches) and is reconfigurable.
Values. Drucker was ahead of his time when he called himself “ an old
environmentalist” in 1971. But as early as the 1950s, Herman Miller had dedicated
itself to environmental stewardship. About one- third of the materials used in our
new desk chairs, bookshelves and file cabinets will come from post- consumer
recycled content. And all of that furniture is itself nearly 100% recyclable.
People. Nothing mattered more to Drucker than the way a company treats its
people. And judging by the folks we’re collaborating with, it’s clear that Herman
Miller’s ranking by Fortune as one of the 100 best companies to work for is well
deserved. They’ve been creative, committed and equally pleased to be writing a
new chapter in the long relationship between Drucker and Herman Miller.
We’re looking forward to that— and to the new digs.
Rick Wartzman and Zach First
Executive Director and Managing Director
Learn more about the
Drucker Management Path at
www. DruckerUnpacked. com.
About 40 years ago, the CEO of
Herman Miller, Max De Pree, called
Peter Drucker to ask him to consider
consulting with the company’s
management team. At that point, De
Pree knew Drucker only through his
books and articles.
De Pree turned to
the famed writer and
business consultant
because he felt that
Herman Miller, which
had just gone public,
needed advice on how
to handle what
promised to be an
extraordinary growth
period. To De Pree’s
surprise, Drucker
already knew quite a
lot about Herman Miller
and happily accepted the opportunity.
Although Drucker’s consulting job
with Herman Miller formally ended in
the 1970s, the relationship between De
Pree and Drucker continued for many
years. Drucker featured an interview
with De Pree in his book Managing the
Nonprofit Organization: Principles and
Practices. And he praised De Pree’s
bestseller, Leadership Is an Art, saying
that “ this is a wonderful book; it
captures Max’s spirit— and he’s a truly
exceptional person.”
In the 1998 letter to
Drucker shown here, De
Pree returned the warm
feelings. He noted that
he was going to give a
copy of Jack Beatty’s
biography of Drucker to
his children—” partly
for a selfish reason.”
“ Mr. Beatty,” De Pree
explained, “ refers to me
as your friend. Of
course over many years
and at challenging
moments you’ve been my teacher and
mentor for which I will always be
indebted.
“ But to be identified as your friend
— there’s nothing I cherish more. And I
want my children to know that.”
determined that their peers lacked
awareness of the dangers that
alcohol presents. Their plan involved
an educational expo designed to
raise, by more than 30%, the
students’ level of “ general alcohol
knowledge.”
For their efforts, the Drucker- in-
High- Schools student team won a
cash prize as well as mentoring and
support from New Zealand’s P3
Foundation in order to implement
their plan.
Mercy Jumo, of the Drucker
Society of New Zealand and its
sponsoring organization, Save the
Children, reflected that “ Drucker’s
Five Questions provided a step- by-step
framework,” which allowed the
students “ not only to engage in a
discussion about underage binge
drinking but to propose tangible
solutions that would have an impact
in the community.
“ In this case,” Jumo said, “ the
students found answers by asking
questions.”
Society Spotlight, cont’d
Letter from Claremont, cont’d
The newsletter of the Drucker Institute www. druckerinstitute. com Sept/ Oct 2010
FROM THE ARCHIVES
