Peter Drucker: Shaping the Managerial Mind--How the World's Foremost Management Thinker Crafted the Essentials of Business Success

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Very refreshing to read again Peter Drucker's published thoughtwares!

For Those Who Want to Study Drucker

Highly Recommended!

Context and Themes for Drucker's Management Ideas

Concise and Precise

Peter Drucker: Shaping the Managerial Mind--How the World's Foremost Management Thinker Crafted the Essentials of Business Success
John E. Flaherty
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0787960667

Book Description

A Definitive Overview of Peter Drucker's Contributions to Management

"Flaherty has accomplished the impossible: making a systematic thinker out of me. I am particularly impressed by his skill in balancing chronology and themes, and that over a sixty-year time span. I have learned a great deal about my work from this book." --Peter F. Drucker

"Peter F. Drucker is the organizational thought leader of the twentieth century. For the sake of our economy, our community, and our society, every citizen needs to be familiar with his work. John Flaherty's book is both an intellectual adventure and a practical guide to Peter Drucker's thinking. Peter Drucker: Shaping the Managerial Mind should be in the book bag of everyone hoping to lead change or build an effective organization." --Frances Hesselbein, chairman of the board, The Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management

"At last! This much-needed comprehensive review of Drucker's thought will prove invaluable for those seeking a course in Drucker 101." --Sally Helgesen, author of The Web of Inclusion: Building a New Architecture for Great Organizations

"There is no doubt that Peter Drucker is our most significant contributor to the concept of modern management. There is also no doubt that John Flaherty has produced our most significant analysis of Drucker's contributions to date. The scope of this effort is extraordinary." --Leonard A. Schlesinger, senior vice president for development and professor of sociology and public policy, Brown University

To leaders, students, and admirers everywhere, he is "the father of modern management" and "the man who invented corporate America." According to Forbes magazine, he is still "the youngest managerial mind" after sixty prolific years of writing, lecturing, and consulting. He is Peter F. Drucker, the world's most widely read and influential thinker on business and management.

While there have been several books about Peter Drucker and his life, this is the first to present a comprehensive synthesis and in-depth analysis of his works and insights on management. Drawing from over forty years as a student, follower, and friend, John E. Flaherty has created a definitive account of Drucker's managerial achievements. An expert on management himself, Flaherty provides readers with a practical overview of Drucker's most important contributions to management and business strategy. He not only captures Drucker's fundamental management concepts and ideas but also shows how these principles have current relevance for today's practitioners.

For those new to Peter Drucker, this essential compendium is a crash course on his most profound discoveries on management, change, entrepreneurial endeavor, and executive effectiveness. For those who have read Drucker's extensive writings, this significant volume offers deeper insight into his more novel and far-reaching concepts. Filled with useful summaries and checklists of key lessons, Peter Drucker: Shaping the Managerial Mind distills a lifetime of wisdom and experience for managers and students everywhere.

Customer Reviews:

Very refreshing to read again Peter Drucker's published thoughtwares!.......2006-10-05

Over the years since I started working as an engineer in the late sixties & also at different times in my life till now, I have read many of Peter Drucker's works on management, change, entrepreneurial endeavour & executive effectiveness.

I had bought this book just after it was published. What attracted me was firstly, the author's credentials: He had followed Peter Drucker for over forty years & had kept notes on materials from Drucker's lectures, books, articles, conversations & correspondence. Secondly, the book had covered some sixty years of Drucker's thoughtwares. I thought I could have access to further insights & new perspectives.

I have not been disappointed at all.

In the context of my own interests, I have found it very refreshing to re-read & attain a finer understanding of many important concepts. Let me share some of my favourites with readers:

- Drucker talked about perception. He defined perception as seeing what everybody else had seen but ignored & thinking through what nobody else had thought through. He observed that "people see what is presented to them; what is not presented tends to be "problems" - especially in the areas where performance skills falls below expectations - which means that managers tend not to see opportunities. They are simply not being presented with them."
[This reconciles in some way with the work of Edward de Bono, another great throught leader. Please read his 'Opportunities: A Handbook of Business Opportunity Search.]

- In dealing with the future, Drucker suggested thinking about the future in three classifications: 1) projection (the future that has already happened); 2) anticipation (the future that one expects to happen); 3) innovation (a systematic methodology for inventing the future);
[Many of the intellectual works from the World Future Society's members, nothwithstanding other consultants, are based essentially on these concepts.]

- Innovation is purposeful planned change, the sowing of seeds today for an entirely new & different business tomorrow;
[Many innovation consultants/authors have exploited this concept through their books & seminars.]

- Drucker provided an array of practical tactics for identifying entrepreneurial opportunities, namely: 1) the unexpected (success, failure, outside event); 2) incongruities; 3) demographics; 4) industry & market structure; 5) creative imitation; 6) entrepreneurial judo; 7) the ecological niche; (Frankly, I thought the author did a much better job than Drucker in enlightening me here!)
[Michel Robert, a well-known international consultant in strategic thinking, readily exploited these concepts & even created a very successful proprietary methodology called 'Strategic Product Innovation Process', under Decision Processes International, which he founded in 1980. Please read his book, Strategic Product Innovation, Pure & Simple.]

- Drucker maintained that inside a business were only costs, efforts, problems, frictions, & crises but never results. In seeking the source of business purpose, he concluded that it was the creation & satisfaction of the customer - in essence what has come to be known as the marketing concept;

- in the broadest sense, only marketing produced results; everything else in the business was cost. Drucker argued strenously that there were no results inside the business, only costs; the outside factors of the customer & innovation were the crucial factors to performance & no business had control of them;

What I also like about this book is that it is filled with useful summaries & checklists of key lessons at the end of each chapter. The author must be complimented for doing a marvellous job.

Peter Drucker is undoubtedly the organisation thought leader of the 20th Century & our most significant contributor to the concepts of modern management & business strategy.

I concur that this book can serve as a practical crash course for first time readers who want to explore Peter Drucker's most profound discoveries in management, change, entrepreneurial endeavour, & executive effectiveness.

For all entrepreneur-wannabes out there, please read - & reread - this book. Your effort & time will be well-spent & also ambly rewarded at the end of your exploration!

For Those Who Want to Study Drucker.......2002-03-19

REVIEW: This book performs a tremendously important task in reviewing and organizing most of teachings found in the public work of Peter Drucker. However, it is not a book for those new to Drucker and it is not aimed at mass market appeal. The author is obviously very knowledgeable about Drucker's work and often adds new insight, but the book has an academic aire and is just plain sterile. The style/tone choosen by the author is an academic one which is totally devoid of the author's personality and opinion. Flaherty wouldn't dare state something that isn't a provable fact. Thus, too many sentences begin with "According to Drucker . . .", or "Drucker maintained . . .", or "Drucker argued . . ." which gets boring quickly and makes for less enjoyable reading.

The book is at its best when it goes beyond organizing the content of Drucker's writings and gives the reader context and additional information. I found this mostly occured in the beginning third of the book when the author injected more of Drucker's personal history and his relationship with others (e.g. Drucker and Sloan). There was just too few of these moments in the book. Despite these limitations, I did find new insights into Drucker. Overall, I'd consider the book an essential for the serious Drucker student only. Others have plenty of other Drucker material to choose from first.

STRENGTHS: A very thorough, analytical look at Drucker's work. I liked the summary list of key concepts ending each chapter. Exhaustively footnoted and indexed. I repeatedly refer to the thorough list of "Published Works of Peter Drucker" at the end of the book.

WEAKNESSES: The book is too academic for my taste. It is totally devoid of the author's opinions and personality. The author has a tendency to use "big" words e.g. "chimerical", "propinquity", "insouciance", "shibboleth", "obsequious") not used by the average person.

WHO SHOULD READ THIS BOOK: Serious students of Drucker who've already read a number of his works. The casual Drucker reader or reader of mass market management/business books should look elsewhere.

ALSO CONSIDER: "Adventures of a Bystander" by P. Drucker (for an autobiographical-like look at Drucker); "The World According to Peter Drucker" by J Beatty (for a biographical look and an overview of Drucker's thoughts); and "The Essential Drucker" by P. Drucker (for a select sample of Drucker's writings).

[feedback welcome]

Highly Recommended!.......2001-08-15

Peter Drucker is perhaps the most influential thinker on business and management in the world today, and John E. Flaherty explains why in this in-depth analysis of Drucker's work and ideas. He starts with biographical details and provides a definitive account of Drucker's achievements as a management researcher, thinker, and writer. Flaherty's fascinating book highlights Drucker's contributions to the fields of management and business strategy. Of necessity, the author includes summaries of Drucker's books and quotes from his work. But, reaching a little deeper, Flaherty also shows how Drucker, who began as a social and political theorist, came to create the new academic field of management. Many of Drucker's early ideas are still applicable today, as Flaherty makes abundantly clear in this book, which we [...] strongly recommend to managers of all levels and students of business.

Context and Themes for Drucker's Management Ideas.......2000-08-25

The book came out after Jack Beatty's excellent book, The World According to Peter Drucker. That ordering of publication was fortuitous for the two authors, and for those who will read their books.

Beatty's book works from the level of the detail, exposing critical sections of Drucker's writings that few will have read. Based on that, many (myself included) found new works of Drucker's to examine. As a result, one's knowledge and understanding grew.

Flaherty's book works from the opposite direction. It begins with the themes and works towards the detail. After being immersed in Beatty's detail and intellectual history approach, this book extends your knowledge in another useful way.

He indentifies the six dominating themes as: (1) a systems approach (2) continuity and change (3) challenge of productivity (4) role of the practitioner (5) moral dimension (6) organization of ignorance.

Anyone who is familiar with Drucker's writings will immediately recognize these themes and recall favorite passages and examples. On the other hand, those who are new to the writings will find them helpful to put Drucker's work in context as the work is learned.

One of the things that amazes all those who know Drucker is the astonishing extent of his knowledge and perspective. He is just as likely to use an example from 1215 as one from 1995. He will refer to the evolution of Japanese art as readily as to the divisionalization of General Motors. Professor Flaherty has a wonderful quote from Drucker that explains that perspective. Drucker defines himself as a " . . . social ecologist concerned with man's man-made environment." Does that sound like any other management thinker you have ever met or read?

As Professor Flaherty points out, almost all management writings draw something from Drucker so these themes will also help you to see the Drucker influence in newer books.

More significantly, these themes are also deeply imbedded in the way almost every manager and executive thinks about managerial tasks and responsibilities. So, you can also connect Drucker to your own thinking and proclivities.

After reading this book, you will probably come away with an expanded and more appropriate understanding of the pervasive and defining influence that Professor Peter Ferdinand Drucker has had on us and our world. Our debt to him can never be repaid.

I congratulate Professor Flaherty on the fine job he has done in this important defining work. For future generations yet unborn, this book will become an important primer into the social effects of Peter Drucker's thinking and life. Even he does not realize how pervasive his influence is. What a wonderful tribute for his 90th birthday!

Use this book to consider how you could create more positive influences on the people who come into contact with you, your ideas, and your ideals.

Concise and Precise.......2000-07-12

Peter Drucker is a subject in and of itself. His insights into the movement of people and their actions are legendary within the business world. This book provides a clear, essential summary of his life work. If you are in business (which is most of us), if you are looking for ideas, or just plain interested in who thought up some of the "common" business maps of the day, chances are you can read this book and find out that they are all linked to Mr. Drucker. This is not your normal biography- there is real substance here.

Peter Drucker: Shaping the Managerial Mind.

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Peter Drucker: Shaping the Managerial Mind.

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ICNG92

Book Description

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