Page 96 - Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

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GREAT COMMUNICATION SECRETS OF GREAT LEADERS
PIONEERING MANAGEMENT WRITER
Born in Vienna in 1909, Drucker recalls his earliest memory at age 5 as some-
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one in his family referring to the “end . . . of civilization.” It was the beginning
of World War I, which ended the spirit of the nineteenth century and ushered in
the modern age, complete with its own horrors but also its possibilities. Some-
how it seems fitting that Drucker, the creator of a new way of viewing manage-
ment that would destroy an older form, would have this as his first memory.
First and foremost, Drucker considers himself a writer. In fact, he had
been an accomplished financial writer prior to his emigrating to the United
States from Germany as Hitler was coming to power. While his views have
evolved over the decades, chiefly under the influence of behavioral scientists
like Abraham Maslow, Drucker is noted for the significance of his work, the
constancy of his message, and the frequency of his messages. He is a leader-
ship communicator par excellence.
NEW IDEAS FOR A NEW AGE
His exploration of the management scene began with an assignment from a
senior vice president at General Motors who wanted to find out what made his
company tick. The result was The Concept of the Corporation. Alfred Sloan,
the chairman of General Motors, hated the book, but he did not discourage
Drucker from publishing it. Fortunately, Drucker did so. American manage-
ment was never to be quite the same. 6
The Concept of the Corporation made a strong case for a reexamination
of the social contract between labor and management. Workers should be
regarded as a “resource, not a cost,” and they should have a role in the corpo-
ration’s governance. Drucker also examined the dehumanization that occurs in
large industrial corporations. At the same time, as his biographer, Jack Beatty,
points out, Drucker was not a “Bolshie”; he argued that profit was “the
pre-condition of industrial society.” Furthermore, this was the book that intro-
duced Sloan’s concept of decentralization; over time, this concept was adopted
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by more than three-quarters of American businesses. And while Drucker may
have been unwelcome at General Motors, he emerged as a leading consultant
to American businesses. (It is worth noting that General Motors has repaired
the breach and now maintains good relations with Drucker.) 8

MANAGEMENT UNLEASHED
Drucker’s seminal management work—in fact, the work that many credit
with inventing the field of management—is The Practice of Management.
Appearing in 1954, this book quantified the role of the manager as the person
responsible for goals (management by objectives) and concerned with the
accomplishment of results through others, as well as having a total perspec-
tive on the business and its place in the competitive landscape. 9