Peter Drucker Dies

Gwynne Young
Managing Editor, CRMGuru.com
Member

Posted 14-Nov-2005 11:49 AM

Peter F. Drucker, who was often called the father of modern management, died Nov. 11 of natural causes. In his 60 years writing about, analyzing and teaching management principles, Drucker turned the corporate world's reliance on command and control on its head with a focus on people and motivation.

He was eulogized by Intel co-founder Andrew Grove, and is famously credited for helping Jack Welch revive General Electric Co.

I imagine Mr. Drucker's approach holds resonance with many in CRM. What are your thoughts about him?

Gwynne Young
Managing Editor, CRMGuru.com
Member

Posted 14-Nov-2005 11:50 AM

[Posted for Michael Lowenstein]

His ideas, and now his legacy--five decades of
contributions to creating superior, customer-centric organizations--have been critically important to everyone in the marketing profession.

Gwynne Young
Managing Editor, CRMGuru.com
Member

Posted 14-Nov-2005 11:53 AM

[Posted for Paul R. Niven, The Senalosa Group]

As with most management consultants, I have long been a student of the man who considered himself above all else, a student. To this day, I begin every Balanced Scorecard presentation I deliver with a quote from Peter Drucker regarding the rise of the knowledge worker. It was just one of many, many examples of prescient thinking from a man whose work spanned a century and will inspire management thought for generations to come. What I admire most about Drucker was his near obsession not with finding answers but, more importantly, asking the right questions. There will never be another.

Gwynne Young
Managing Editor, CRMGuru.com
Member

Posted 14-Nov-2005 11:54 AM

[Posted for Barry Trailer, CSO Insights]

My favorite Druckerism:

quote:

The problem with Management is they're measuring the wrong things.

I heard Drucker described his biggest nightmare/fear about the "service economy" as everyone doing everyone else's laundry. That cracked me up!

Gwynne Young
Managing Editor, CRMGuru.com
Member

Posted 14-Nov-2005 11:55 AM

[Posted for Dick Lee, High-Yield Methods]

Peter Drucker was the very first to put the capital "C" in Customer. He understood the importance of customer-centricity long before the corporate world began catching on—and he'll remain a thought leader long after his death. The full measure of him is that he passed on far more business wisdom than we could possibly absorb.

Dick Lee

Graham Hill
Guru
Member

Posted 16-Nov-2005 12:40 AM

Peter Drucker was a giant amongst 20th Century business thinkers.

Although he was an academic for most of his life, his focus on the real-world problems of business managers rather than the abstract hypotheses of business academics helped bridge the gap between the two different views of business.

For me personally, although I only read one of his books ("Innovation & Entrepreneurship" on holiday in Istanbul, Turkey in 1985), his writings on marketing, innovation and knowledge work have influenced my own thinking over many years.

If you want to learn a wee bit more about Drucker's impact on business without being overwhelmed in eulogy, take a look at John Hagel's recent blog entry at http://edgeperspectives.typepad.com/edge_perspectives/2...1/druckers_gone.html.

You might also want to take a look at the McKinsey Quarterly Special Collection of articles in honour of Drucker, available this week only at http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/se.aspx?seid=54.

Graham Hill
Independent Management Consultant