Page 174 - The Drucker Lectures

The Era of the Social Sector [ 155

And so we have all kinds of social needs. But we also know
one thing: A nonprofit agency has to be specialized. It does one
thing. Yesterday, I had lunch with a group of friends of our host
here today and it was very interesting. There was a gentleman
there who represented motorboat fans, a kind of sporting club.
Next to him was somebody from an environmental group; and
the motorboat man is not a bit concerned about the environment,
and the environment man is not a bit concerned about motor-
boats. That way they are effective. They have a single purpose
with a single focus, something to believe in, something they are
committed to; and that is what a nonprofit requires.
Most people here who know me think of me as somebody
concerned with business management, and so do most people
in the United States. But that is a misunderstanding. I learned
almost 50 years ago that management is management. This
was largely because I did such a poor job running a university.
I did a terrible job. I was the worst manager you could imagine.
I learned that one has to know what one is doing. I learned that
good intentions are not good enough. And I learned that being
bright is not good enough. One has to know how to manage.
So for 40 or 50 years, I have been spending half my time work-
ing with nonprofits—with symphony orchestras (which, by the
way, are the most interesting organizations I know), hospitals,
universities, and churches in the United States. If there is one
contribution I can make, it is to help people to manage a little
better. At first, the nonprofit people were very much surprised.
They said, “We run nonprofit institutions. What do we need
management for? That’s for business. We don’t have a bottom
line.” And the answer: “Precisely because you don’t have a bot-
tom line, you need management all the more.”
And so how do you appraise your performance? I’m going
home next Tuesday and then immediately to Washington to a
conference at which we will introduce what we have been work-