The Economist online has an excellent appreciation of Peter Drucker, the management theorist who died on November 11. The article’s assessment of Drucker’s legacy makes it worth reading if you have the slightest interest in this field. After a thoughtful, balanced examination of Drucker’s achievements in business management, the unsigned article says:
Moreover, Mr Drucker continued to produce new ideas up until his 90s. His work on the management of voluntary organisations—particularly religious organisations—remained at the cutting edge.
Cutting edge, and very useful — his work continues to guide what I do in congregational life. I only hope that Drucker’s work in management of voluntary organizations is now taken up by a new generation of talented thinkers.
I have never heard of this fellow, but having seen some dysfunctional volunteer and community agencies in my time I’m curious about what he has to say. So I did a quick search and found his website and The Leader to Leader Institute, which seems to be a repository of his thinking as it applies to nonprofit and volunteer groups.
Since he seems to have written something just shy of a gazillion books and articles in the last 60 years, Dan, can you make any recommendations?
For management in congregations, the book of Drucker’s which I refer to regularly is “Managing the Nonprofit Organization” (1990; reprint ed. HarperCollins 1992). Still in print, but also widely available used. As with any book on mangement, you have to read this book critically, but I find its insights challenging and relentlessly useful. I’m planning to reread it again in the coming month, and if I have anything useful to report, I’ll post it on this blog.
Drucker had a huge influence on Bush. The verdict on our first MBA President still out
(although many readers of this blog have probably decided). It will be interesting to
see how the history books treat this in ten years.