German
375g
Managing
Tomorrow
Known
today as the “Father of Modern Management”, Peter Drucker was an influential
and prodigious writer, management consultant, and later in life, a professor. While
much of the documentation of Peter Drucker focuses on his accomplishments in
the field of business and consulting, few sources detail what in his life would
inspire him to become the Father of modern management. By focusing on Drucker’s
early life and inspirations, we can see how the influences in his childhood as
well as his experiences as an exile would shape the way that he viewed the
world.
As
the child of a high ranking civil servant father and a strong willed, socially
active mother, Peter Drucker and his younger brother, Gerhard Drucker, grew up
in a household that was constantly hosting intellectuals from all around
Austria for social gatherings. From an early age, Drucker was allowed to attend
these “soirees” as they were called which contained intellectuals that ranged
from lawyers, to state officials, to social reformers, doctors, and scientists
who discussed varying ideas and philosophical ideals. It was at these many
gatherings of high minded individuals (Drucker would later state that “[Those
gatherings] actually were my education”[1]) that
Drucker would meet some of his earliest inspirations, including political
economist Joseph Schumpeter who would impress upon Drucker the importance of
innovation and entrepreneurship. The Drucker family was also very close to
social reformer Dr. Eugenia “Genia” Schwarzwald who created the first
coeducational primary school in Austria which Drucker attended in the fourth
grade. In grade school he would learn a “lifelong appreciation for
craftsmanship” and how “one organizes for a performance” (Adventures of a
Bystander) along with other important lessons that he would carry into the
future. His early teachers, Miss Elsa and Miss Sophy, also would serve as his
inspiration to become a teacher later in life as they showed him “that teaching
could be something quite different from what it was to the poor drudges who
suffered such dreadful boredom while trying to make us learn Latin grammar, the
Greek dramatists, or world history” (Adventures of a Bystander).
After
graduating from the Döbling
Gymnasium in 1927, Drucker left his hometown of Kaasgrabengasse to apprentice
at a trading company in Hamburg for one year in search of a new perspective
outside from his education. However, the managing director of the company was
apathetic about the apprenticeship program and thus did not pay much attention
to Drucker or his fellow apprentices. However, despite not learning much from
his apprenticeship, Drucker instead chose to use the year to explore 19th
century novels and histories including English, French, Italian, and Spanish
literature. It was through this year of literary exploration that he discovered
the works of the Danish Philosopher Kierkegaard who would be a lasting
influence on Drucker and his considerations of people and the self for years to
come. In 1928 after his apprenticeship, Drucker began writing for a daily
newspaper called the Frankfurter General-Anzeiger where he would quickly ascend
the ranks as one of the three primary editors. During his time as an editor, he
was required to oversee all the departments despite his focus in foreign
affairs and economics and as such was able to gain a broad perspective on the
many happenings within the Weimar Republic at the time and the lives of people
from all levels of society. This deeply intimate view of the country also
allowed Drucker to see the rise of Nazism and the threat that it posed to the
world which would eventually contribute to his departure from Germany in 1933.
Drucker
decided to leave Germany after two of his pieces were banned and burned by the
new Nazi government and left Germany in 1933 to go to London. Even as an exile,
Drucker thrived. In London, he started out as a trainee at an insurance company
before becoming one of the chief economists at a private bank that was directed
by a fellow Austrian. It was during this time that he would attend a lecture by
John Maynard Keynes which would inspire Drucker to pursue people as a factor in
businesses rather than the movement of commodities that Keynes espoused. In
1934, Drucker married his longtime acquaintance Doris Schmidt and moved to
America in 1937, settling around the Bronxville, New York area. From that point
on Drucker would go on to become an esteemed professor, writer, and consultant
culminating in his work for General Motors that would give him the title of
“Father of Modern Management” in 1946.
As an exile,
Drucker had little problem finding work and friends wherever he went. Although
his experience as an exile is rarely documented, it is clear from his
experiences that he adjusted and became very successful even in a foreign land.
Part of Drucker’s success could be attributed to his multi-faceted upbringing
that oftentimes had him exploring the perspective and cultures of different
people. As an extremely erudite individual, Drucker also had a gift with
languages and was said to have learned law by reading the books in three
different languages and then earning his law degree without ever attending a
class. Because of that, Drucker did not have to face the language barrier that
many other exiles had to contend with. In fact, Drucker’s use of language has
been described as scalpel-like in its precision and clarity and was one of his
strongest skills both as a writer and a professor. However, despite Drucker’s professional
success as an exile, I think that the experience of having to leave his
homeland allowed for Drucker to better empathize with the struggles of people
as a whole which would lead to one of his primary concepts in his teachings;
the need for community where people could find a sense of belonging and civic
pride. Drucker also kept close records of the events happening in Germany
during the rise of the National Socialist party which lead him to write the
book The End of Economic Man that
attempts to explain the consequences of social upheavals caused by warfare and
the nature of totalitarianism in human society. Without the perspective granted
to him as an exile, it may have been impossible for him to write what would be
considered a cornerstone piece in the Drucker library.
Peter Drucker
moved to California in 1971 to teach at Claremont Graduate University where he
would teach and learn at until his death in 2005 at 92 years old. Although he
is known today for establishing the foundations of modern management, Peter
Drucker’s foundations were established by the numerous intellectuals he
interacted with during his youth. The figures of his childhood are what
inspired within him his broad and varied philosophical perspectives of the
world as well as the compassion and empathy required for teaching that would
allow him to pass on that wisdom to future generations. And although Peter
Drucker adapted rapidly to life as an exile, quickly achieving professional
success soon after leaving Germany, the innate struggles with being forced out
of your homeland allowed Drucker to empathize with people’s need for community
and gave him the perspective required to write one of his greatest works. By
looking at the life and achievements of Peter Drucker, we are reminded that
even the greatest of individuals today were built from the kindness and wisdom
of those that came before them.
Bibliography
Administrator. “Drucker's
Childhood and Youth in Vienna.” Drucker Society,
druckersociety.at/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=9
Drucker Institute. “Drucker's
Career Timeline and Bibliography.” The Drucker Institute,
bibliography/
Drucker, Peter F. Adventures
of a Bystander. Harper & Row, 1979.
Drucker, Peter F. The
End of Economic Man: a Study of the New Totalitarianism. John Day, 1939.
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