BOOK REVIEW: 'PETER DRUCKER SHAPING THE MANAGERIAL MIND', by John Flaherty

I have found it very refreshing to read again Peter Drucker's published thoughtwares!

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.

To my great delight, 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 personal 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 (WFS)'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 this 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' - it's precursor is 'Innovation Formula'.]

- 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 organisational 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!

[Subsequently, I have also acquired & read 'Inside Drucker's Brain' (2007), by Jeffrey Krames, & 'A Class with Drucker: The Lost Lessons of the World's Greatest Management Teacher' (2008), by William Cohen. I will post my book reviews separately.]