Peter Drucker
The Innovative Peter Drucker
February / March 06
Volume 4 Number 1
Amidst many fond remembrances of the late Peter Drucker, I can add to the chorus recalling his good humor, generosity of spirit and awesome intellect. I joined the faculty of the Claremont Graduate School of Business shortly before the name change in 1987 to the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Business—€”a most uncommon tribute for a living professor as colleges usually wait for a death or a large donation. The Drucker name attracted not only better students but also more money—€”millions from the Burkle family—€”to build a new high-tech building and a $20 million grant from Masatoshi Ito, the Japanese 7-Eleven licensee who bought the parent Southland Corporation, which added the Ito name to the school in 2003 with Peter's blessing.
A keen grasp of the present and phenomenal memory of the past were Peter Drucker hallmarks. In the summer of 2001 he was interviewed by the editor of Business 2.0, a publication he had yet to see. As I collected a few past issues for him to peruse before meeting the man, he mentioned the similarities between the expansion and decline of the internet with the growth and turbulence the railroads beginning in England in the 1820s. "Both grew more rapidly than the commerce required to support them," Peter observed. "Yet they were the major innovations of their respective decades."
Peter possessed an intriguing, circular logic. One Spring the visiting commencement speaker was Dr. Sol Dutka, CEO, Audits and Surveys, and among his clients at the time were Coca Cola and President Clinton. At a small, arranged luncheon we talked about the paradox of consumer surveys for government. While politicians use polls extensively to campaign toward voter desires, government agencies show little interest in customer preferences as guidelines for providing services. I suggested if customer satisfaction were a prerequisite for government agencies, the Bureau of Indian Affairs would be the first to disappear. Peter, politely disagreed, "No, it would be the Veterans Administration." He then proceeded with a luncheon discourse that had a familiar, cyclical pattern. As he first mentioned Greek politics, I wondered what he was talking about, had he heard anything, then realized he had heard everything and finally sensed he was answering me personally. In the process of explaining why veterans thought so little of the VA, Peter explained why government doesn't work: first, it never tests anything before it launches a program—€”Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" his best example—€”and second, once a program is launched it is never reconfigured or killed, regardless of diminishing returns, such as with the VA.
Peter defined productivity in the knowledge worker era, differentiating between managing for efficiency, doing things right, and effective leadership, doing the right things. One of his keys to effectiveness is time management and Peter led by example. He had three full-time careers—€”writing, teaching and consulting—€”and budgeted his time for each, spending two hours a day writing. He taught on Saturdays, I first thought for his own convenience, until I realized his customer orientation brought him to offer classes at the best times for working middle managers, his favorite audience.
A frequent venue for visiting executive consultations was sitting around the Drucker kitchen table. He also found time to swim every day.
Peter maintained his old world charm and his Viennese accent throughout his life. He grew increasingly hard of hearing in his 80s and 90s and asked that you sit to his left as his left ear was the better one. He avoided crowded events, only because his hearing aids amplified all the ambient noise, making it hard to hear individual conversations. He was not much for personal computers and operated with typewriter, fax and phone. If you had a complex question, he liked it typed out and faxed because, he'd say, "You can't think in your head, only on paper."
If the topic did not interest him, he would politely tell you he knew little about the subject in question. If the question intrigued him, your phone would ring immediately, with the distinctive voice, "Hello, this is Peter Drucker—€¦"
The call would prompt a long lunch at a favorite Claremont bistro, one with quiet booths in the back suitable to lengthy conversations over a wide range of topics, accompanied by a glass or two of merlot. For me the lunches were the equivalent of a series of postdoctoral seminars, as I invariably came away enlightened on novel subjects, including the question prompting the lunch. Peter once explained his healthy disdain for macroeconomics, favoring a micro view, as sharp turns by consumers and businesses thwarted government policy as seen in the second collapse of the stock market in 1937 and again in 1981. Harry Truman was Peter's favorite president, for his intellectual integrity, collecting a most talented cabinet to support his abrupt ascension to the presidency. "I'd always vote for Harry," he'd say.
Peter's 42 books reflect the expanse of his interests: 19 on management, 11 on economics and society, an autobiography, 2 novels, as well as collections of essays on business, on Asia and on Japanese art. He liked to discuss the management styles of the heroines in Jane Austen novels or characters from Shakespeare, from Richard II to King Lear. He saw the world from 30,000 feet and spanned decades in his references. He liked to say he was the last living student who attended classes taught by Keynes and by Schumpeter, the latter being Peter's favorite. Schumpeter's idea of "creative destruction" in which traditional ways are replaced by the new ones, influenced Peter's ideas about innovation, a lifelong interest. When asked how he could foretell coming changes, he often replied, "I don't predict; I just look out my window."
I often wished my windows looked out on as much territory as did Peter's. He disliked rehashing his old books but loved to update his ideas on current events. In recent years he wrote extensively on the consequences of an aging population and falling birth rates in industrialized countries, conditions without modern precedence. Forbes ran a cover story about him in 1997, under the title, "Still the Youngest Mind." Although his hearing and a broken hip slowed his body in recent years, his discussions always remained agile and his mind young, the innovative legacy I shall always remember.
Robert W. Sweitzer is a director of project development and business assistance at Technology Ventures Corporation.
Copyright © 2012 | Innovation America