In monasteries quietly awakening of
a scholarly Peter Drucker was born in 1909 in Austria. His father was an economist and was the Minister of Finance in Austria; his mother was one of the first women to study medicine in Austria, who had studied under the famous psychoanalyst Freud; Drucker’s grandmother was also a famous family member. I learned piano from the famous female pianist Clara Schumann, and she is a humorous and intelligent old lady in her life.
In his childhood, Drucker’s parents often entertained people from all walks of life at home. They discussed medicine, philosophy, politics, and music, etc. This allowed Drucker to get in touch with knowledge in many fields from an early age. Father’s rational thinking, mother’s perceptual insights, grandma’s clever humor and good family cultural atmosphere have enabled Drucker to have the ability to integrate knowledge since childhood, which has had a profound impact on his growth.
In his youth, Drucker also met Miss Elsa, a mentor who influenced his life. What Miss Elsa taught Drucker was work discipline and organizational skills, and taught Drucker to set reasonable goals based on his current situation, draw up plans based on this, follow up on the implementation of the plans and make timely adjustments. Following this planned and goal-oriented approach, Drucker obtained his Ph.D. at the age of 22 and achieved a high-performance life.
Rapid growth in perceptive reflection
In 1927, Drucker entered the University of Hamburg in Germany to study law after graduating from middle school, and later became a reporter, financial columnist and senior editor of the “Frankfurt Volkswagen”. In 1931, Drucker obtained a doctorate degree in public law and state relations from the University of Frankfurt with self-study. In 1933, due to dissatisfaction with the German Nazi forces, Drucker left Germany and came to London, England. In 1937, Drucker moved to the United States with his new wife.
From 1937 to 1950, Drucker published a total of 4 books, namely “The Doomsday of Economic Man”, “The Future of Industrial Man”, “The Concept of Company” and “New Society”.
In the first book “The End of the Economic Man” published in 1939, he deeply analyzed the absurdity of fascism. At the time, British Prime Minister Churchill listed the book as a must-read in the British military academy, and wrote an article in the London Times that highly praised Drucker’s insight and deep criticism of fascist totalitarianism.
The “Future of Industrial Man” published in 1942 attracted the attention of the then president of General Motors. Drucker was invited to GM to conduct research and was subsequently hired as a consultant for General Motors. This gave Drucker a chance. Carefully study the internal structure of the company.
On this basis, Drucker published “The Concept of Company” in 1946 and put forward the concept of “organization” for the first time, laying the foundation for histology. In the book “New Society” published in 1950, Drucker analyzed the essence, internal structure and operating mechanism of industrial society, as well as the basic units of industrial society (the overall picture of enterprises and their management), and analyzed the problems of industrial social order (economic conflicts). , Management and labor unions, factory communities, management functions), and put forward 4 basic principles of industrial order (poverty eradication, federal management organization, autonomy of factory communities, and labor unions as citizens).
During that period, Drucker began to serve as a faculty member and taught at Harvard University and Columbia University in the United States. Teachers became his lifelong career. During this period, well-known companies, famous universities, government agencies, etc. all rushed to seek his help. For the next 20 years, Drucker has been committed to combining management theory and practice. In his view, “Management is a practice, and its essence lies not in knowledge but in action, and its verification lies not in logic but in results. Any kind of knowledge is only valuable if it can be applied to practice and change people’s lives. “This also triggered Drucker’s lifelong commitment to “management practice” research.
In the classical academy achievements of
Drucker’s life, with reporters, consultants, professors and novelists such as multiple roles, his book informative, involving art, literature, history, philosophy and religion, and many other fields. But throughout his life, his most important contribution was in the field of management.
In 1954, Drucker’s book “Management Practice” came out, marking the birth of modern management as a discipline. “Objective management, participation management, knowledge employee management, customer-oriented marketing, performance appraisal, career management, business department decentralization management, corporate culture” and most of the management ideas and practices that are popular today can be read from this book To find the root cause in this, he was hailed as the “Father of Modern Management.”
Drucker pointed out in “Management Practice” that the purpose of an enterprise is to create customers and provide customers with products or services, not to maximize profits. He also emphasized that workers should be regarded as corporate assets rather than debts, and companies should not be just profitable machines, but communities built on the foundation of trust and respect for workers.
”Effective Managers” published in 1966 is one of Drucker’s most famous management books, which has profoundly influenced the global business, political and academic circles. He pointed out in the book that managers should understand where they should spend their time and energy, they must devote their limited time to systematic and effective work, and they should be good at using external forces to achieve work results instead of doing everything by themselves; they should pay attention Give full play to the advantages of the group and strive for perfect collaboration; focus on the main areas and key areas, and pay attention to the effectiveness of decision-making.
”Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practice” published in 1973 is a systematic management manual for business operators and a systematic textbook for students. It is known as the “Bible of Management.” In this classic book, Drucker tells us: Management is not only a job, a discipline, but also human-centered. Every achievement is a manager’s achievement, and every failure is a manager’s failure. It is people who manage, not “power” or “facts”. Proper management or mismanagement depends on the manager’s performance in personal ideals, dedication, and integrity.
Stay young in lifelong learning
Drucker’s intensive self-study in his youth not only quickly expanded his knowledge, but also cultivated his lifelong learning habits. For more than 60 years, he insisted on elective courses and studied each new subject for three or four years. This learning method made him knowledgeable and exposed to new theories and new methods, which kept him at the forefront of the times. In addition to Drucker’s works involving management, sociology, economics, and politics, there is also a book on Japanese painting and two novels. Drucker has written column articles for the Wall Street Journal for 20 consecutive years and published more than 30 articles in the Harvard Business Review throughout his life. No one has broken this record so far. He has written quite a lot and has published more than 10 books even after he was 70 years old.
In 1997, “Forbes” magazine said in a cover article that he “still has the youngest mind”, when Drucker was nearly ninety years old. In 2002, Drucker received the “Presidential Medal of Freedom” awarded by US President Bush, which is the highest honor a US citizen can obtain. On November 11, 2005, Drucker passed away at home for a long time.
