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Peter Drucker Biography

Peter Drucker was an Austrian-American management consultant, academician, author and a
selfdefined “social ecologist”. Check out this biography to know about his childhood, family
life,achievements and fun facts about his life.

Also Known As Peter Ferdinand Drucker

Famous as Management Consultant

Nationality American

Born on 19 November 1909 AD

Zodiac Sign Scorpio

Born in Vienna, Austria

Died on 11 November 2005 AD

Place of death Claremont, California

Father Adolph Bertram Drucker

Mother Caroline Bond Drucker

Spouse Doris Schmitz

Education Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt am

Works & Achievements The End of Economic Man, The Future of

Industrial Man, Concept of the Corporation, The
New Society, The Practice of Management,
America's Next Twenty Years and Landmarks of
Tomorrow

Awards 2002 - Presidential Medal of Freedom

2004 - McKinsey Award
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
- United States Poet Laureate
- Congressional Gold Medal
- Bollingen Prize
- Robert Frost Medal
- American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold
Medal for Poetry
Peter Drucker was an Austrian-American management consultant, academician, author and a
selfdefined “social ecologist”. Peter is among the best known and most influential thinkers on the
matter of management theory and practices. Born in Vienna, after completing his education at the local
gymnasium he moved to Germany, where he started working as a journalist, concurrently studying
law in private, receiving his doctoral degree from the University of Frankfurt. Thereafter, he moved
first to London and then to the USA, becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1943.
Starting his career in the USA as an advisor to British banks and a correspondent to several journals
and newspapers he soon switched to academics, continuing to write all along. However, it was in his
role as a management consultant that he reached his peak. It started with an invitation from General
Motors to analyze its organizational structure, resulting in his 1946 book, ‘Concept of the Corporation’,
which offers assessment of large corporations as social institutions. Later he served as consultant to
many wellknown corporations, governmental departments as well as non-governmental
organizations; all the while continuing to teach and write. Working almost till the end, he died at the
age of ninety-five in Claremont, USA.

Childhood & Early Years:

 Peter Druker was born on November 19, 1909 in Kaasgrabengasse, at that time a tranquil
avenue in the Viennese suburb of Dö bling. His father, Adolph Bertram Drucker, was an
economist and a lawyer, occupying a high position in the government service.
His mother, Caroline Bond Drucker, was a student of medicine with an interest in psychiatry. A
strong-willed and independent lady, she was the one who ran the household. For a brief
period, she also worked in the medicinal field.
The couple was an ardent supporter of social reformer Eugenia "Genia" Schwarzwald. They
were also socially very active, holding frequent soirées at home. In these gatherings, everybody
from state officials to lawyers, doctors, psychologists, scientists and philosophers were invited
and they would discuss all kinds of topics over dinner.
Peter was the elder of his parents’ two children, having a younger brother named Gerhard.
From an early age, Peter and his brother were allowed to take part in the soirées. Thus Peter
came to know intellectual giants like Joseph Schumpeter, Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises
and Hans Kelson from an early age.
It is not known where he started his education; but when he was in the fourth grade, he was
enrolled at a co-educational school set up by Genia. Here, he imbibed an appreciation for
craftsmanship, respect for the task, value of discipline and also learned to organize his tasks.
Genia was an important influence on Peter’s early life. Although he was still in his teens, she
always invited him to the talk shows she arranged at her summer villa "Seeblick" in Grundlsee,
allowing him to ask questions. His adoring grandmother also played an important part in his
upbringing.

In Germany:
 In 1927, Peter Drucker passed from Dö bling Gymnasium and thereafter moved to Hamburg for
a one-year apprenticeship at a cotton export-import firm. But due to the apathy of the manager
he did learn anything. Instead, he spent the time reading—mostly literature and 19th century
history.
 Sometime during this period, he discovered the work of Danish philosopher Kierkegaar, which
would later have immense influence on him. Moreover, this was also the time when he made
his first attempt at journalism, writing articles for ‘Der Ö sterreichische Volkswirt’. He also
started studying law at the behest of his father.
 In 1928, Peter Drucker moved to Frankfurt, where he found employment with the F’rankfurter
General-Anzeiger’, a daily newspaper and a rival to the famous ‘Frankfurter Zeitung’. Here, he
quickly rose to become one of the paper’s three editors.
 Although Peter was primarily responsible for the foreign affairs and economic departments, he
was required to work in all the departments, including women’s section or even music. He also
had to cover political rallies and press conference, thus acquiring a wide experience.
 In 1931, studying in private, Peter Drucker earned his doctorate in international and public
law from the University of Frankfurt. Thereafter, he remained in Germany for two more
years.In 1933, when Hitler came to power, Peter left the country, moving first to England and
then to the USA.
In London:
 On reaching London in 1933, Peter Ducker first obtained the position of a trainee at an
insurance company. Later he was appointed an economist at a bank, whose director was an
Austrian. All the while, he continued to record his experiences in Germany since the takeover
of the Nationalist Socialist Party.
 In 1934, he was sponsored by his director to attend Lord John Maynard Keynes’ seminar in
Cambridge; but was sorely disappointed. He later said, while Keynes was only interested in the
behavior of commodities, he wanted to learn about the behavior of people.
 In 1936, he published his first work, 'Die Judenfrage in Deutschland' (The Jewish Question in
Germany). It was later revised and republished in English as ‘The End of Economic Man’ and
met with a broad and positive response. However in Germany, the book was banned and
burned.

In the USA:
 In 1937, Drucker moved to the USA, where he initially worked as a freelance journalist for
Harper. Concurrently, he began contributing to the Washington Post and a few British financial
publications before embarking on an academic career as professor of economics at Sarah
Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York.
 In 1942, he was appointed a professor of political science and philosophy at Bennington
College in Vermont, a position he held till 1949. He had later said, his main impetus in teaching
was to find out what he thought.
 Also in 1942, he had his second work, ‘The Future of Industrial Man’, published. In this book,
he tried to decipher how decision-makers of large corporations impacted the society in an
industrially developed country. The work opened another avenue for him.
 In 1943, General Motors, at that time the world’s largest corporation, asked him to conduct a
two-year social-scientific analysis of its management practices. His colleagues advised him not
to accept the offer because it would mean end of his academic career. Nonetheless, Drucker
decided to accept the challenge.
 For next two years, Drucker attended every board meeting at General Motor, analyzing
decisions made and also the production processes. He also visited the plants, conducting
countless interviews with workers, departmental heads as well as top managers.
 In 1946, Drucker published the results of this study as ‘Concept of the Corporation’.
Althoughthe focus was on General Motors, he went beyond it, discussing the corporation as a
social institution. He also recommended decentralization of power and rethink in many of the
company’s long standing policies.
 The top management at the General Motors was highly disappointed with the book, going to
the extent of forbidding it. It was also criticized by many others as it posed a challenge to their
managerial authority; the only exception being Henry Ford II, who used its ideas to reconstruct
his company.
  In spite of the criticism, the book laid the foundations of management as a scientific discipline.
In 1950, Drucker was appointed Professor of Management at the New York University, where
he remained until 1971.
 In 1971, Drucker moved to California as the Clarke Professor of Social Science and
Management at Claremont Graduate University, then known as Claremont Graduate School. It
was here that he established one of the first executive MBA programs for working
professionals in the USA.
 All the while he continued to act as consultant for number of major corporations, such as
General Electric, Coca-Cola, Citicorp, IBM and Intel. In addition, he worked with many
governmental departments as well as non-governmental organizations, both home and abroad.
 He also continued writing, producing 39 books in his lifetime. Most of these books focused on
relationship among men rather than on numbers, teaching how to bring out the best in the
employees. They also taught workers how they could lead a dignified life in an industrial set
up.
 Although he remained with the Claremont Graduate University till his death in 2005, he took
his last classes in 2002, at that time 92 years old. Meanwhile in 1999, he established the
Drucker Archives at the same University, which in 2006 became the Drucker Institute.

Major Works:
 ‘The End of Economic Man’, published first in 1939, is recognized as one of Drucker’s
cornerstone work. The book explains the consequences of war and its resulting upheavals,
concentrating on the social as well as political structure of Europe, which gave rise to the Nazi
power.
 ’The Essential Drucker’ is another of his well-known works. Written in 2001, the book
summarizes the sixty years of his work on management and covers the basic principle of
management along with its challenges, problems and opportunities. It also provides the tool
with which deal with future challenges.

Awards & Achievements:

 In 1966, he was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 3rd class by the government of
Japan.
 In 1969 he was awarded Presidential Citation, the highest honor awarded by New York
University.
 On July 9, 2002, Drucker received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from US President George
W. Bush.
 In June 2004, he received the McKinsey Award from the Harvard Business Review for his
article, ‘What Makes an Effective Executive’.
 He received several honors from government of Austria and they include the Grand Silver
Medal for Services to the Republic of Austria (1974), the Grand Gold Decoration for Services to
the Republic of Austria in (1991) and the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, 1st
class (1999)
  He received 25 honorary doctorates from different universities in the USA, Belgium,
Czechoslovakia, England, Spain and Switzerland.

Personal Life & Legacy:

In 1934, Peter Drucker married Doris Schmitz, whom he had known since he was a student at
the University of Frankfurt. They had four children; three daughters and one son.
In 1943, Drucker became a naturalized American citizen. He had a varied interest and an
affinity to Japanese culture, coauthoring a book on Japanese painting. His works were also very
popular in Japan.
Even after he stopped taking classes, Drucker continued to work, acting as consultant to
business houses as well as non-profit organizations. In many cases, he did not take any fees.
Drucker died November 11, 2005 in Claremont, California of natural causes. He was then
ninetyfive years old and was survived by his wife, four children and six grandchildren.
In 1996, Drucker was inducted into the Junior Achievement US Business Hall of Fame.
In 2009, he was posthumously inducted into Outsourcing Hall of Fame by the International
Association of Outsourcing Professionals.
His ‘The Practice of Management’ (1954) was declared the third most influential management
book of the century by the Fellows of the Academy of Management.
In October 2009, to commemorate his birth centenary, the Eleventh Street between College
Avenue and Dartmouth Avenue in Claremont was renamed ‘Drucker Way’.

Trivia:
Apart from his books on managements, Drucker had written two novels and one
autobiography. He had also made eight educational films on management topics.
’Moshi K?k? Yaky? no Joshi Manager ga Drucker no "Management" o Yondara’ is Japanese novel
by Natsumi Iwasaki. In this novel, Minami Kawashima, a high school girl, manages the baseball
team of her school, using tricks from Drucker's 1973 book, ‘Management: Tasks,
Responsibilities, Practices’. It was later adapted into a ten episode television series by Nippon
H?s? Ky?ka

PETER DRUCKER MANAGEMENT THEORY

His first book, The end of economic man, appeared in 1939. In 1940 he set up as a private
consultant to business and government policy makers, specialising in the German economy
and external politics. From 1940-42 he was a teacher at Sarah Lawrence College and this was
followed by the post of Professor of Philosophy, Politics, History and Religion at Bennington
College, Vermont. It was in the early stages of this appointment that he was invited by the
Vice-President of General Motors (GM) to investigate what constitutes the modern
organisation and to examine what the managers running it actually do. Although Drucker was
relatively inexperienced in business at the time, his analysis led to the publication, in 1946,
of The concept of the corporation - published as Big business in Britain. This had a mixed
reception but nonetheless confirmed Drucker's future as a management writer.

The period 1950-1972 was a time of prolific writing, teaching and consulting activity while he
was Professor of Management at New York University Graduate School of Business. From
1971 to 2002 he was the Marie Rankin Clarke Professor of Social Science and Management at
the Graduate School in Claremont. In 1994 he was named Godkin Lecturer at Harvard
University. Drucker held decorations from the governments of Austria and Japan as well as 22
honorary doctorates from universities in Belgium, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the
USA. He was also:

o Fellow of the American Association of Science

o Honorary Member of the National Academy of Public Administration
o Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
o Fellow of the American, British, Irish and International Academies of Management.
('Interview with Peter Drucker', Financial Times)

Drucker lived in Claremont, 40 miles east of Los Angeles, and had four children and six
grandchildren. He died on 11 November 2005.

Key theories
Drucker's management writings were phenomenal in their coverage and impressive in their
clarity. With more than 33 books to his credit, we can only provide a snapshot of his thinking
here. His earlier works made a significant contribution to establishing what constitutes
management practice; his later works tackle the complexities - and the management
implications - of the post-industrial 1980s and beyond. It is that range and development that
we have tried to represent in our comments on the books covered here.

The end of economic man concentrated on the politics and economics of the 1930s in
general and the rise of Nazism in particular; Drucker signalled a warning about the Holocaust
and predicted that Hitler would forge an alliance with Stalin. This was Drucker's first book in
English as sole author and it prompted J B Priestley to say: 'At once the most penetrating and
the most stimulating book I have read on the world crisis. At last there is a ray of light in the
dark chaos'.

This was followed by The future of industrial man (1942), which assumed Hitler's defeat
and started to look ahead to peacetime, warning of the dangers of an approach to planning
founded on the denial of freedom. It attracted the interest of critics who argued that it mixed
economics with social sciences; it was, in fact, the first book which argued that any
organisation is both an economic and social organ. As such it laid the foundations for
Drucker's interest in management in general and, as it turned out, General Motors in
particular.
The concept of the corporation - 1946

When General Motors invited Drucker to write about the company, it was to be expected that
the invitation would result in a glowing description of GM's success. What resulted was
something different, something that recognised success but also looked to the future.

General Motors provided Drucker with the opportunity to test in practice the theory he had
propounded in The future of industrial man, i.e. that an organisation was essentially a social
system as well as an economic one. The concept of the corporation questioned whether
what had worked in the past - a foolproof system of objective policies and procedures
throughout every layer of the organisation - would also work in a future of global competition,
changing social values, automation, the drive for quality and the growth of the knowledge
worker.

The assembly line, he argued, actually created inefficiency because activity was at the pace of
the slowest. Demotivation was rife because no one saw the end result, and initiative was
reduced to the minutiae of checks, rules and controls. The layers of bureaucracy slowed down
decision-making, created adversarial labour relations and did nothing for 'creating the self-
governing plant community' (the phrase Drucker used for an empowered workforce).
Drucker reported the benefits of decentralised operations - an issue which critics were quick
to praise and organisations quick to mimic - but suggested that the GM hierarchy of
commands and controls would be slow to respond in a rapidly changing future.

The fundamental difference between Drucker and GM was that GM saw the workforce as a
cost in the quest for profits, whereas Drucker saw people as a resource, and considered that
they would be more able to satisfy customers if they had more involvement in their jobs and
gained some satisfaction from doing them. As such, The concept of the corporation was
decades ahead of its time in terms of its espousal of empowerment and self-management.
Although Alfred Sloan - the Chief Executive and powerhouse behind General Motors' success -
had no time for Drucker's book, Drucker was, in the early 1950s, to advise Sloan on setting up
a School of Administration at MIT. Drucker's criticism of Sloan was implicit rather than
explicit, saying he had vision rather than perspective, and implying that leadership had been
sacrificed to the rulebook. Sloan was measured in his reply - after all, at the time, General
Motors was the largest and arguably one of the most successful companies in the world. His
response came in 1963 with the publication of My Years with General Motors which sets out
the scientific credo of GM's philosophy, yet talks little of people, transparently because they
had comparably insignificant importance relative to the systems they were following.

Another effect of The concept of the corporation was the establishment of the beginnings of
management as a discipline, bringing out the notions of the:

o social and environmental responsibility of the organisation

o relationship between the individual and the organisation
o role of top management and the decision-making process
o need for continual training and re-training of managers with the focus on their own
responsibility for self-development
o nature of labour relations
o imperatives of community and customer relations.

It is interesting that Japanese industry listened to these messages and American industry did
not.

The practice of management - 1954

The practice of management was Drucker's second book on management and it established

him as a leader in his field. It set trends in management for decades and reputations were
built by adopting and expanding on the ideas which Drucker set out. It is still regarded by
many as the definitive management text.

Drucker stated that there was only one valid purpose for the existence of a business: to create
a customer. He argued that an organisation is kept afloat not by internal structure, controls,
organisation and procedures, but rather by the customer, who pays, and decides what is
important. He set out eight areas in which objectives should be set and performance should be
measured:

o market standing
o innovation
o productivity
o physical and financial resources
o profitability
o manager's performance and development
o worker's performance and attitude, and
o public responsibility.

The practice of management is probably best-remembered for setting out Management by

Objectives and Self Control (Drucker's term - he didn't coin the MBO acronym).

The book also identified the seven tasks for the manager of tomorrow. He or she must:

o manage by objectives
o take risks and allow risk-taking decisions to take place at lower levels in the
organisation
o be able to make strategic decisions
o be able to build an integrated team with team members capable of managing and
measuring their own performance and results in relation to overall objectives
o be able to communicate information quickly and clearly, and motivate employees to
gain commitment and participation
o be able to see the business as a whole and to integrate their function within it, and 
o be able to relate the product and industry to the total environment, to find out what is
important and what needs to be taken into account. This perspective must embrace
developments outside the company's particular market or country and the manager must
begin to see economic, political and social developments on a world-wide scale.

Management: Tasks, responsibilities, practices – 1974

Much of the work in The practice of management was updated, expanded and revised
in Management: Tasks, responsibilities, practices, which established where management
has come from, where it is now and where it needed to go. It drew upon a wide range of
international examples and set out principles for managers and management. It was,
effectively, a complete management handbook.

Moving on from his earlier work, Drucker defined the manager's work in terms of five basic
operations. He or she:

o sets objectives
o organises
o motivates and communicates
o measures, and
o develops people, including him/herself.

Top management's tasks are to:

o define the business mission

o set standards
o build and maintain the human organisation
o develop and maintain external relationships
o perform social and civic functions, and
o know how to get on with the task in hand if and when necessary.

Management: Tasks, responsibilities, practices is regarded by many as Drucker's finest

book. It was the only management book to be selected by a Desert Island Discs castaway.

The age of discontinuity - 1969 (re-issued 1992)

It was in The age of discontinuity that Drucker described those very changes which he had
signalled to General Motors 23 years earlier.

Drucker wrote in the preface:

This book does not project trends; it examines discontinuities. It does not forecast tomorrow;
it looks at today. It does not ask: 'What will tomorrow look like?' It asks instead: 'What do we
have to tackle today to make tomorrow?'

The book dealt with forces he considered were changing society, such as the impact of new
technology on old industries, the effects of changing social values on consumer behaviour and
the internationalization of markets. Drucker was an advocate of privatisation, pointing out the
ineffectiveness of government in leading and stimulating change. He examined the role of
organisations in society in an age of discontinuity and looked at different ways of managing
the knowledge worker.

Managing in turbulent times - 1980

The issues raised in The age of discontinuity were re-visited a decade later in Managing in
turbulent times. Change, uncertainty and turbulence were the underpinning themes as
Drucker highlighted the new realities of changing population demographics, global markets
and a 'bisexual' workforce.

Drucker issued challenges to junior, middle and senior management:

In the knowledge organization, the 'supervisor' has to become an 'assistant', a 'resource', a

'teacher'.

The very term 'middle management' is becoming meaningless [as some] will have to learn
how to work with people over whom they have no direct line control, to work transnationally,
and to create, maintain, and run systems - none of which are traditionally middle
management tasks.

It is top management that faces the challenge of setting directions for the enterprise, of
managing the fundamentals. It is top management that will have to re-structure itself to meet
the challenges of the 'sea-change', the changes in population structure and population
dynamics... And it is top management that will have to concern itself with the turbulences of
the environment, the emergence of the world economy, the emergence of the employee
society, and the need for the enterprises in its care to take the lead in respect to political
process, political concepts and social policies.

He said it first

Part of Drucker's success and longevity as a management expert was that he had a remarkable
knack of spotting trends which have since been picked up and made fashionable by others.
Invariably, research will trace the origin back to something Drucker wrote 10 or 20 years ago.
It is interesting that Drucker noted that one of the key aspects of leadership is timing; he has,
in fact, upbraided himself for being 10 years ahead with his forecasts.
This section is adapted from work by Clutterbuck and Crainer, who have summarised the
work of James O'Toole, Professor of Management at the University of Southern California.
O'Toole said that Drucker was the first to:

o define the role of top managers as the keepers of corporate culture

o advocate mentoring, career planning and executive development as top management
tasks
o say that success hinges on the vision expressed by the CEO
o show that structure follows strategy
o suggest a reduction of management layers between the top and the bottom
o argue that success comes from sticking to the basics
o state that the primary purpose of the organisation is to create a customer
o say that success boils down to consumer sensitivity and the marketing of innovative
products
o suggest that quality is a measure of productivity
o describe the coming knowledge worker, and
o state that new approaches to management would be needed in the post-industrial age.

One thing Drucker forecast which has not quite happened as he foretold, however, was that
the middle manager would continue to develop and evolve into the knowledge worker of
post-industrial society.

'Druckerisms'

On business

A business is not defined by the company's name, statutes, or articles of incorporation. It is

defined by the want the customer satisfies when he buys a product or service. (Management:
Tasks, responsibilities, practices.)

On leadership

There is no substitute for leadership. But management cannot create leaders. It can only
create the conditions under which potential leadership qualities become effective; or it can
stifle potential leadership. (The practice of management)

On management

The function which distinguishes the manager above all others is his educational one. The one
contribution he is uniquely expected to make is to give others vision and ability to perform. It
is vision and moral responsibility that, in the last analysis, define the manager... (The practice
of management)
On decision-making

...in these specifically managerial decisions, the important and difficult job is never to find the
right answer, it is to find the right question. For there are few things as useless - if not as
dangerous - as the right answer to the wrong question. (The practice of management)

On the knowledge worker

Increasingly, the knowledge workers of tomorrow will have to know and accept the values,
the goals and the policies of the organization - to use current buzzwords, they must be willing
-nay, eager - to buy into the company's mission. (Drucker speaks his mind, Management
Review).

(The knowledge worker) may realize that he depends on the organization for access to
income and opportunity, and that without the investment the organization has made - and a
high investment at that - there would be no opportunity for him. But he also realizes, and
rightly so, that the organization equally depends on him. (The age of discontinuity)

In perspective
Critical of the Business School system in general, Drucker always set himself apart from
mainstream management education. He said of himself: 'I have always been a loner. I work
best outside. That's where I'm most effective. I would be a very poor manager. Hopeless. And
a company job would bore me to death. I enjoy being an outsider.'

An outsider maybe, but commentators pointed consistently to his gentlemanly, old-world

charm, his humility and the fact that he never criticised negatively, always politely and
constructively.

The content of Drucker's earlier works will not strike current readers with the same force it
would have had on people in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and this is to Drucker's enduring
credit. His thinking has become absorbed and adopted into the prevailing wisdom behind the
philosophy and practice of modern management.

What may strike the modern reader, however, is the sheer force of Drucker's writing, his clear
mastery of his subject matter and the clarity of his expression. It is as well to remember that
readable books on management were very few and far between when Drucker wrote The
concept of the corporation and The practice of management. At that time, texts for
managers tended to concentrate on technical and industrial engineering and were too
complex to have a wide readership, or to gain the sort of impact or influence that Drucker's
work achieved.
For many business leaders across the world... (Drucker) remains the doyen of modern
management theory, not so much because he can lay claim to being the founder of any
particular concept such as business re-engineering, or total quality management, rather that
he has demonstrated a rare ability to apply common sense understanding to the analysis of
management challenges and their solutions. (Interview with Peter Drucker, Financial
Times).

Drucker, while a devotee of the Human Relations school, recognised the value of Taylor's
scientific, work-study approach, and struck a successful balance between the two approaches.
Management by Objectives, when carried out properly, is an effective marriage of both
schools which attaches significance to culture and recognizes that organisations are held
together by a shared rather than a dictated vision of the future.

So, although Drucker cast the accolade of 'guru's guru' on F W Taylor, the world of
management will always attribute it to Drucker himself. His ability to see management with a
long historical perspective and in a broad social and political context is very rare in
management writers. With his capacity for demystifying the apparent complexities of
management for millions worldwide, he stands, as he said of himself, quite alone.

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