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Peter F. Drucker
When I first
met Peter Drucker, I was a young economist with the econometric
imprint of Ragnar Frisch[i]
and a belief that productivity improvement could save the
world.
Peter Drucker
was then about the age I am now.
I was totally
unaware at the time that my meeting with the famous Austrian icon of
management would change my life.
Peter Drucker
kept resetting a timer that would go off every twenty minutes or
so. Each time it pinged, he would apologize for the
interruption, and then walk outside and move the water sprinkler to
a new place in his lush garden.
I had come
armed with data from people at work who had responded to another
type of "ping," this one set at random intervals throughout their
workday. After six weeks, they had given us a pretty accurate
picture of what they did, how productive they thought they were, how
stressed or satisfied they were, and responses to a number of other
questions.
From the
data, we had concluded a number of things — some that were in tune
with Professor Drucker's theories, some that were not. Mr.
Drucker's gracious responses revealed him to be a seeker of
truth. He had seen fads come and go, but he had always looked
for the bedrock that was buried below, or that which was right
around the corner but not yet visible. Most of his writings
remain as true today as they were when he first published
them.
He said, "The
instrument you have used, Tor, is to the field of management what
the invention of the telescope is to the field of
astronomy!"
I felt
challenged, and resolved to live up to his expectation.
Eventually, five Ph.D. dissertations were produced based on data
from the instrument, and countless papers were written by other
investigators using the same approach.
He talked
about the greatest challenge that he saw for the future: How
to improve the productivity of knowledge workers. A stopwatch
and a clipboard would not do for these workers, who created value
through creativity, intelligence and experience, all of which
resided inside their heads. The data I had shown him described
some of what was inside their heads.
We talked about how
the data were converted into information, and information into
knowledge, and knowledge, perhaps, into wisdom. How capitalism
had succeeded in making the work force the owners of the means of
production in the new knowledge economy — the very opposite of what
Karl Marx had espoused.
He showed me his
own system for keeping track of information: A 365-day tickler
file — a set of cards in a rectangular box. In it, he
had listed the birthdays of his grandsons, his deadlines for papers
and books, and all reminders he needed to execute his busy
schedule. It was simple, and effective.
Henrik Ibsen once
said that we are all born with sealed marching orders. If we
ever open them, they will all say the same thing: We are to be
all that we can be. Through sharp questioning and attentive
listening, Peter Drucker probed for my marching orders.
Why he did it
was clearly revealed in a 1989 interview he granted Isaac Cheifetz[ii].
Drucker stated then, "I have a very simple rule: As long as
it's neither completely insane nor immoral, I'm willing to help you
accomplish it."
My youthful
and ambitious mission was to lift the productive contribution of
every man, woman and child on this earth[iii].
Peter Drucker was
willing to help, and he pushed me hard for how that could be
achieved.
He thought my
best chance for early gains would be with nonprofit organizations,
where people had idealistic reasons for being productive. When
you believe in a cause, you will find profound satisfaction in
seeing it succeed, he noted[iv].
A couple of
decades later, I led a gathering of some of the most productive
leaders in the world at Leeds Castle in Kent, England. Our
task? Express in one sentence what would explain the
extraordinary accomplishments of all the people who gathered
there. Among the participants were Curt Nicolin, the Chairman
of Asea Brown-Boveri; Jorma Olilla, CEO of Nokia; and Richard
Branson, Chief Executive of Virgin Airlines. Being who they
were, they finished their task in two hours. Here is what they
agreed upon: "To be on a quest, that you freely choose, and
that never ends." That pretty much describes a volunteer
organization.
So,
when business behaves like voluntary organizations, the same
satisfaction, and success, might occur.
When I sent
Professor Drucker a paper on White Collar Productivity that I was to
present at the World Productivity Congress in Oslo, Norway, in 1984,
he returned the paper with the note: "It's over my head,
Tor!"
The paper was
full of production functions, multivariate analyses and the "secret"
passwords that keep economics isolated and impenetrable to a wider
public. I barely understood it myself. I rewrote the
paper. In the October 24, 2005, issue of U.S. News and
World Report, Thomas Schelling, the 2005 Nobel Laureate in
economics, noted: "I think math is used too much to show
off. It's a lazy way to write an article."
I learned
this particular lesson from Mr. Drucker years ago. It is much
harder to write in a manner that everyone can understand, but
whenever an economist does so, he might have a best seller on his
hands. The latest example of this is the book
Freakonomics, that makes economics come alive, relevant and
interesting, without containing a single equation[v].
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My favorite
insights from Professor Drucker's work:
1.
People should be viewed as a resource to be developed, not as
a cost that should be reduced.
2.
If anything could be done faster, better or cheaper outside
the organization, it should either spur it to meet and beat those
standards, or outsource the work.
3.
Appropriate technology for an economy is simply that which
makes its existing resources most productive.
4.
Development is whatever multiplies productive jobs and
creates purchasing power.
5.
There are no profits — only cost. Profit is simply the
cost of staying in business. It allows the business to meet
its social and economic responsibilities. Failing to
make a profit is failing to meet the risks and responsibilities of
tomorrow.
Peter Drucker
was a brilliant writer, and I always enjoy reading him. I have
never known anyone else who could tell anecdotes about Archduke
Franz Ferdinand of Austria and Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., of General
Motors, tie the two of them together, and creatively drive his point
home. Drucker's contempt for fads showed through when I asked
him about "participative management," then the current
buzzword. He said, "If I were on the sinking Titanic, I would
not want to see a participative manager at the helm."
A leader
carries a heavy burden, and ultimately, it cannot be shed. If
leaders shun that responsibility, they must take leave.
Peter Drucker
led his field for a remarkable six decades. We may not see the
likes of him again.
In the days
that followed Mr. Drucker's death, I read a number of articles about
him. Professor Drucker belonged to that tiny part of humanity
whose obituaries are pre-written, and where any number of
commentators are ready and willing to pass judgment on his
contributions, and on his life.
"Professor
Drucker would not have been hired by any leading business school
today," said one academic. "The Drucker brand is fading," said
another. "I went through business school without a single
professor mentioning his name even once," said a third.
Peter Drucker
was what he was: A man of substance, erudition, and with an
ability to communicate that matched or exceeded that of any other
scholar in his field. It did not much matter to him what
others thought he should have been. Peter Drucker was
himself. On that sunlit day in Claremont, he did for me what
he has done for thousands of students, executives, leaders, girl
scouts, clergy and, yes, academics.
1.
He treated me with almost courtly respect, attentiveness and
hospitality.
2.
He steered me, gently but firmly, towards addressing the
questions that must be faced and resolved by anyone who wants to
make a contribution to this world.
3.
And this self-effacing man, whose fame exceeded that of
anyone in his field, knew how to motivate and delight a young
colleague from the University of Minnesota. He lifted my own
self-esteem at a time when it was most needed, at the start of a
major shift in my career.
When I left
his modest home, I knew what I had to do. My task had little
to do with what Drucker had done. But I did take up a few of
his practices. In the years that have passed, I have never
turned down a student who asked to see me. I have tried to
write as clearly and truthfully as possible. I have answered
the questions he asked me, and acted on what that challenging
exercise taught me.
Peter F.
Drucker changed lives. And that is what it is all about, isn't
it?
[i]
Ragnar Frisch was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics, and
who inspired my early work and interest in productivity.
[iii]
I remember cringing a bit when I shared this lofty ambition.
But in 1976, I formed Tor Dahl & Associates, which adopted this
mission as its own. And in 1987, I became Chairman of the
World Confederation of Productivity Science (WCPS); the WCPS's own
mission is comparable to mine.
[iv]
This I found to be true in several non-profit and volunteer
organizations that I helped found after my meeting with Professor
Drucker. Some of the best times of my life occurred while
working with Ski for Light, Vinland National Center and as head of a
foundation.
[v]
Levitt, Stevan D. and Dubner, Stephen J. Freakonomics: A Rogue
Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. Harper
Collins. New York. 2005.
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