Good Bye Peter F. Drucker

Peter Drucker died on Friday, November 11. Being the self-absorbed and trivial person that I was on Friday, I didn't read the news so I am a little late in my comments. His passing is a sad moment for management everywhere as he was truly one of the great minds of modern business.

I began reading Drucker in earnest last year and his accessible style and reasonable arguments resonated with me. He made me think that there could be a place for me in management theory afterall. Drucker is known for always being ahead of his time, but to me, his greatest contribution is never letting us forget that business is essentially about people. He was a supporter of the non-profit sector and believed that many of the best lessons could be learned from this arena. He was the first to recognize the advent of the "knowledge worker" that we know take as a given.

A CBC article on his passing presented the following:
Drucker viewed management as an art. "It deals with people, their values, their growth and development, social structure, the community and even with spiritual concerns ... the nature of humankind, good and evil."
It is for these beliefs, those so close to mine in many ways, that he will be remembered.