John J. Tarrant

I don’t know why I picked up this book – other than the excuse for all things, “It seemed like a good idea at the time.” It sat on my “To-be-read” shelf for quite a while and I finally grabbed it from the stack in what can only be described as a moment of self-defiance. “I don’t know why I bought this book, I don’t even remember when or where I bought it, and I won’t like this book. But I’ll show myself. I’ll read it.” And I’m glad I did.

My fear was that this was 300+ pages of Drucker’s life. Well, that’s only part of the first chapter. My next fear was that it would be a scholarly dissection of Drucker’s work. And there is a little of that – but not much. My final fear was that a book written in 1976 that is basically talking about management would have no relevance. And the pure descriptions of office life and (no surprise) computers do smack of some of that – but not enough to be a distraction. Instead, what I found was an interesting assortment of approaches and information that made me refresh my look at management and, maybe most importantly, made for an interesting assessment and application of the ideas of Peter Drucker.

The most interesting thing about this is the different approaches the author has taken. One approach is an analysis of Drucker’s work – an analysis of each of the books written at that time and how accurate they provide to be. Another approach is a sometimes esoteric look at what these thoughts can mean. (These parts of the book come off the most academic and – well – boring.) And another approach is almost a catch-all which includes case studies from a class he taught, excerpts from interviews with Drucker, and a blow-by-blow description of two lectures. It all comes together in some strange way. And, again, this could have been very dated. Here’s a quote from chapter 4. “They say before long the manager will enjoy the privilege of working with a computer terminal at his elbow.” Looking back we can smugly say to ourselves, “Good guess.” But it is the way the rest of the chapter uses this - how it shows that the computer as a number generator is not the solution - that shows how prescient Drucker (and the author) could be.

Much to my surprise, I enjoyed this book. The different approaches kept me reading, as did the insights that are still so practical today. Probably the best way to learn these things is from Drucker’s books. But, if you want a synopsis, this book does an excellent job. Oh yeah. It also throws in a few speeches, sayings, and part of class to give you the full flavor of what Drucker might be all about.… (meer)