Page 137 - The Drucker Lectures

118 [ The Drucker Lectures

until they’re met with a lawsuit. I have learned that manage-
ments don’t react until they have lost at least one lawsuit.
If we don’t do what makes sense—what is productive both
for the company and the employees—then I’m afraid that, yes,
20 years from now we’ll find ourselves under very severe restric-
tive and punitive rules. We don’t have forever, and maybe being
forced by lawsuits to accept the fact that there has been social
change is the only way we will ever accept it. Certainly, we are
now getting enough lawsuits so that people ought to accept the
fact something is happening here. And maybe it’s a good idea to
move before we are pushed.

From a lecture delivered at Claremont Graduate School (currently known
as Claremont Graduate University).