An interview with Peter Drucker

Abstract

Executive Overview Peter F. Drucker is a writer, teacher, and consultant specializing in strategy and policy for businesses and social sector organizations. For nearly 60 years now, he has been one of the most influential thinkers and writers about management. He has consulted with many of the world's largest corporations as well as with nonprofit organizations, small and entrepreneurial companies, and with agencies of the US government. He has also worked with free-world governments such as those of Canada, Japan, and Mexico. He is the author of thirty-four books which have been translated into more than twenty languages. Thirteen books deal with society, economics, and politics; fifteen deal with management. Two of his books are novels, one is autobiographical, and he is a co-author of a book on Japanese painting. He has made four series of educational films based on his management books. He has been an editorial columnist for the Wall Street Journal and a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review and other periodicals. Drucker was born in 1909 in Vienna and was educated there and in England. He took his doctorate in public and international law while working as a newspaper reporter in Frankfurt, Germany. He then worked as an economist for an international bank in London. Drucker came to the United States in 1937. He began his teaching career as professor of politics and philosophy at Bennington College; for more than twenty years he was professor of management at the Graduate Business School of New York University. The recipient of many awards and honorary degrees, Peter Drucker has, since 1971, been Clarke Professor of Social Sciences at Claremont Graduate University. Its Graduate Management School was named after him in 1984. Peter Drucker has been hailed in the United States and abroad as the seminal thinker, writer, and lecturer on the contemporary organization. In 1997, he was featured on the cover of Forbes magazine under the headline “Still the Youngest Mind,” and BusinessWeek has called him “the most enduring management thinker of our time.” On July 9, 2002 President George W. Bush presented Peter Drucker with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award. The award was presented at a special ceremony at the White House. He is married and has four children and six grandchildren. While Drucker's contributions to the study and practice of management have been enduring, varied, and profound, his book The Practice of Management which appeared in 1954 stands out as a seminal and timeless source of influence on the field. Many credit this book with making management a legitimate field of intellectual inquiry, thoughtful analysis and, above all, practice. In the interview that follows, Drucker looks back into the sources of his inspiration to write this important book, assesses the book's impact, and reflects on the value of management education. As noted in the companion academic commentary, Drucker was one of the first champions of management education, advocating a close link between practice and scientific inquiry, a view that he continues to hold today.