Everyone knows that Peter Drucker was the founder of modern management. But how do we come to terms with the writings of a man who wrote 39 books? Even to read his 811-page classic, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices (1973) or the revised edition of 572 pages (2008), is more than most readers get round to. Inevitably most of us pick and choose.
An excellent introduction to Drucker’s thinking—and one of the real “raisins in the cake”— which was recently flagged by Jim Hays, is Peter Drucker’s nine-page paper for The Economist in November 2001: “Will The Corporation Survive?” Drucker’s answer to his own question was: “Yes, but not in the form that we know it.” The paper was incorporated into the 2008 edition of Drucker’s Management, but it is also available here.